03/11/23 11:38
After a fairly prolonged period of illness, I am finally starting to feel well enough to continue with the garden restoration as well as pick up where we left off with the plans for an extension.
This year we have had reasonable success with the pumpkin squashes Crown Prince and Galeux d'Eysines
Pumpkins and squashes are some of the easiest vegetables to grow, once you understand their (relatively simple) requirements; They need a relatively long growing season but are sensitive to frost. This means that they need sowing in March or early April under glass or on a windowsill, at Darncombe this is well before the risk of frost has passed and as a result the seedlings will need protecting in the greenhouse until it is safe to plant them out; They are relatively large plants with a tendency spread widely so I have created a space to allow for this.They love really rich moist soil and after levelling an area to create a large area easy to maintain we had a rather poor area of soil. As I was generating plenty of hedge trimmings and green waste I dug some shallow trenches keeping the top soil to one side and filled the trenches with the coarse green and woody waste. replacing the topsoil over this created a number of small ridges. it is my intention to build on these ridges with layers of compost in a "no dig" manner to build the value of this rather poor area of heavy clay soil.
01/12/20 21:11
Frankly the last few months have been a mixed bag, we have spent our time staying safely isolated so that we can enjoy occasional cuddles with our new grandson; whilst working flat out restoring the old house, and keeping our holiday cottage business running safely.
The Coronavirus pandemic has massively affected our ability to meet or socialise with our new neighbours, something that I'm sure we will resolve as soon as the vaccines start to reduce risk of more normal social interactions. As a family we have made a number of balanced risk assessments and are planning to meet up in a manner that is safe for all concerned, by taking time to self isolate prior to getting together. This self imposed quarantine period will ensure that those of us who are vulnerable will remain safe and we will be able to enjoy each others company safely.
03/06/20 10:21
Well, the further release of certain businesses from Covid 19 Lockdown means that Mcarthy's storage can finally return all our stuff. To be honest we are not really ready for everything but we do need some of our stuff and the ongoing cost of storage is mounting up. We have decided to use two of our rooms as makeshift stores, whilst we work through the boxes one at a time. When we planned to downsize we made great attempts to sensibly dispose of things that we would no longer need. The process of decluttering that we went through prior to moving last year has definitely paid dividends now, BUT it is clear that everything will not fit and so a second cull of our stuff is required. This process is definitely made easier by the fact that we can see the rooms now and are better able to dress them. Things that no longer fit into our new lifestyle will be disposed of as before by a process of selling, giving to charity or recycling.
