Fireplace Sorted and the “Haven” Coming to Life

 4th May 2022 - Fireplace Sorted and the “Haven” Coming to Life

It is nice to see the “Haven” with greenery again. Yes we still had some brassicas growing from last year but in the main the whole plot was looking a bit sorry for itself from December without anything properly drying out.

The winter salad stuff has had it, as it is now going to seed with the yellow flowers in the foreground of the first picture. The herbs, bottom left (chives, oregano), mints, are doing well too. The pallets have been moved as there is a big space now on the lower plot, and check out the Purple Sprouting, which is doing very well now.

The Fireplace / BBQ has been emptied and rebuilt. The firewood has been sorted, and we have implemented some kind of fire guard to prevent the netting from being destroyed by hot air/flying ashes. You can see how the netting has already fallen to the hot ash problem, we will monitor and correct as necessary.

Over on the other side of the plot. We still have a couple of brussels to clear and pull up, plus some kale, which to be honest needs removing as we’re not really eating it now. We have learnt a few lessons about growing what we like eating. If you’re not keen on it, best not to grow it.

Looking down the recently seeded grass path, there is now a green tinge to it. We couldn’t see anything growing for a while, then there was this green tinge and grass everywhere. So pleased that this has been a success, neither of us have really sown a lawn before and it will make a change to have some decent grass rather than the couch grass that we inherited.

Looking up the central path, the wood chip is providing a functional (dry to walk on) path and beyond it you can see we still have to complete the area in front of the polytunnel… that is an imminent smallish task once the concrete slabs are put in position.

In the polytunnel we are keeping the wood ash from the fire. This contains potassium and is good to put on the soil during winter, not now, so storing it for later.

Looking through the gap between the polytunnel and the compost bins we can see in the foreground that the Jerusalem Artichokes are doing amazingly well after their relocation and the broad beans beyond them continue to grow nicely. We have now placed a lot of yoghurt pots on the shelf between the polytunnel and the broad beans. Desi has sown radish in these… we’ll see how they get on.

At the front, a close up shot of a wild primrose, sweet peas, grape hyacinth and a blackberry that we hope will grow here… those other green stalks might be daffodil’s but too late to flower now.

In the last picture, I think these are early signs / shoots of a clematis that we planted last year as a cutting from the one in my sister's garden. Hopefully it will make it… we watch with interest on this. It really didn’t do anything last year so we’ll see.