Hey Hoe, Lets Grow

Due to the stunning weather as of late I have been able to carry on planting up the garden. The chillies are now all at a stage of being able to go into final pots and allowed to flower. With this in mind I have planted up 2 new varieties, Fish (Pepper)  and Joe’s Long Cayenne  so I am looking forward to seeing both develop. I have 5 of each planted.

I have also planted up 10 sweetcorn plants and a few carrots to see if they will be more successful than last years, I have made sure that they have suitable drainage and look forward to seeing those first leaves appear. My radishes have been a great success, none eaten yet but I have one to try in my lunches this week pre the full harvest.

After a glorious weekend, I have actually been very glad to see some rain, for my plants it is pure bliss. A bit of sunshine, a bit of warmth then straight back to being soaked. All seems to be going well in my little garden, I’m currently wanting to plant more but I think part of that is being a little impatient.

Courgettes, green beans and aubergines are on my list as well as some more herbs. I have also been promised some lovely strawberry plants….no idea where I’ll keep them!

That’s all for now

Amy

My Chilli Grow Log 6th Jan

I grow chilli plants, there I said it and I can never take it back (google never forgets right?). I grew a lot of chillies last year and this year I am set to grow more.

I have planted up 15 little peat pots with seeds from Birds Eye Chilli, Hungarian black chilli and a plant we rescued from homebase (Possibly a hot wax chilli but who knows). They are currently in my little propagator sat on the window sill of my room. It will probably be a good few weeks before I see any movement but for now I am planning my next lot of planting which will be some seeds from my Fillius blue RHS plant and maybe some others if I can ever find the pods I harvested!

The great thing about keeping a grow log is the ability to track progress (and lack there of), I am a member of a forum where I also post and comment on grow logs. Being able to chat to others who are passionate about growing chillies allows me to learn without it being too much of a struggle. Although keeping a log is not a skill I think is particularly useful right now for me on a personal level. For work it is a great way to see what achievements I have made during my working week.

Now its time for the pictures!

New Month & New Seeds

New Month

It’s May, day 2, the final month of my degree. I would love to say I am wishing the days would slow down. Unfortunately I am counting down to end of May, the end of my deadlines and the chance to start fresh as a full-time employee….somewhere. The new start is a great way to re-evaluate what has changed since the last month. A new focus is required for me, a focus on job hunt and refining my skills so I can be welcomed into the tough job market with a smile and a firm handshake.

New Seeds

Sweetcorn and Courgettes, are my newly planted seeds. This will be my second year of growing sweetcorn so I am looking forward to the new sprouts, courgettes are a new seed to me. Taking care of such a delicate object is relaxing, the plants just rely on water and light to grow. I am hoping to plant more seeds later this week, compost and weather depending.

New CV

The job hunt starts again after a short hiatus, meaning a new version of the CV needs to be developed after all the feedback I had received. Fingers crossed by the 2nd of June I will have had the opportunity to practice my interview techniques further.

That’s All For Now
Amy

Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone

It’s beginning to sink in the fact I have very little of my time at university left. It has been a very up and down journey. I have become a different person and met many different people who I am so thankful for.

My job hunt is leading me to apply outside of the immediate Preston area which is where I am currently based. The idea of moving again is scary, a new place with new people and new friends not to mention a new job. A steady wage opposed to student finance every three months (estimated). No more essay deadlines, just focusing on the task in hand. No more 2 o’clock sessions in the library getting freaked out as the lights slowly turn off. Just the average 9-5 job, with overtime and a different kind of deadline.

 

To keep me sane during these final few weeks of my degree I have been focusing on the plants I can grow, last year I grew sweetcorn on my desk. This year I have started with chillies, aubergine and strawberries. As I type this there are 5 seed packets in front of me which are begging to be planted up and out. It’s good to distract myself from the work and job hunt, although the ever grim grey skies of Preston does make it difficult to successfully grow healthy crops. Even if I put myself on the waiting list for an allotment it would be years until I had access to one so for now all the windowsills are full of seedling waiting for the sunshine so they can grow big and strong.

The song “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone” is one that always gives me grounds to remember why I work so hard and make the effort for those I care about.

That’s All For Now

Amy

The things that make it feel like home

To me home is seeing shoes littered by the front door, the smell of food cooking in the oven or more often than not the smell of a freshly lit fire.

Trying to make somewhere else feel like home is very difficult, from putting posters up in halls and baking cakes all times of day (and night). It is hard to re-create the feeling of being at home. Although like many others, you adapt to the new environment. Learning what things you like opposed to what you were brought up with.

For me it was buying fairy lights, growing plants and listening to music….oddly enough with my headphones on.In my current house I am looking to update some old pieces of furniture to make them feel like new. Which includes the trial of paint colours and hanging up pictures.

A while back I would always wonder why people spent hours deciding between two paints which looked exactly the same and often a pale shade. Now when looking at paints myself I see exactly why. There are so many variations, it’s not just a question of white its rodeo drive, snowfall, ash and so many other descriptive words which give no real hint to the tint or shade.

In regards to plants, currently there are 31 chilli seedlings upstairs. 12 still needing to be planted out and a whole load of aubergines waiting to get out the propagator too.

Yet another relaxing sunday pottering around the house

That’s All For Now

Amy

Making Jam – Not just a sticky mess

After a few weeks of the Able & Cole delivery we have had our first unpopular fruit.

The plum

Although tasty, it was not as sweet as some of the other fruit in the fruit bowl which left us with a question of how to make use of a punnet of plums.

So after much googling, plum sauce requires plum jam not plums themselves and aside from making a plum crumble or various desserts there was not much that could be done to use these plums and make the most of their unique flavour.

JAM!

The answer was Jam, although sticky very satisfying to watch the fruit boil down into a bright and colourful liquid. With careful temperature checking and vanilla sugar after a few hours the smell was amazing.

One sterilised jar and 15 minutes later here was the result.

After making some chutney at christmas, honeycomb and truffles at new year it’s been fun and messy creating treats by hand. I look forward to the day when I can see the fruit growing from flower to then enjoy it on toast as Jam. Next on the cooking list is making chilli sauce with our home-grown chillies.

That’s All For Now
Amy

First signs of life

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.”…Buddha

Keeping a plant in the house is said to improve your mood, we as a race are meant to see greenery and not spend all our time looking at concrete.

At present I take care of 2 chilli plants, one which seems to take over every pot I move it into. The other takes a slower approach to growth and produces much larger chillies.

After 2 good crops last summer, I dried out a few chillies to plant out to increase the chilli plant numbers. These precious seeds have been put into a propagator, with some strawberry and aubergine seeds (from a packet).

It’s been just under a week since the seeds were planted and it is possible to see some growth already.

Last march I planted some sweetcorn for a celebration of coursework ending but still being in the house. Without thinking through the size that the corn would grow too I kept the plants on my desk until I went home.

By May they had all grown 1 ft tall and were replanted into much larger pots. By August they were at least 4-5 ft tall and starting to produce cobs. The experience of watching these plants develop from tiny seeds to 5 ft high plants was amazing.

Sometimes all it takes is a seed, to help get a new perspective
That’s All For Now
Amy