Instead I want to show you how my garden is coming along - I've been neglecting it a bit for the last fortnight or so but it seems to be getting on fine without me!
Above: first flower buds on the loofa!
Above: first pods on the dwarf beans! And the peas are podding too.
Above: flower buds on one of the cucumbers - the other plant has flowers open already, but this plant is literally dripping with flower buds, it's completely covered. So both cucumbers look like they're doing well...
Above: the squashes are flowering, and the first fruit has set! In the past my squashes have always produced lots of leaves and one or two fruit, but they've been very disappointing in size, and have usually gone mushy before I get round to harvesting them. I've done my research this year though, and have thus cut back on the number of plants and varieties, given them lovely rich soil enriched with comfrey leaves and put them in a nice sunny spot. Fingers crossed!
Above: I just love allium buds, they're even prettier than the flowers!
The main problem now is aphids in the greenhouse. I've planted chives in there but things are still getting attacked. They were on the peppers, and after giving up on the amazing power of chives, I used the bug gun. Now, however, they have moved on to my aubergines! I need to act quickly, but I appear to have damaged my rotator cuff (shoulder - my dad is prone to the same injury) so typing this blog let alone gardening feels like a huge painful effort right now. It'll have to wait till the weekend when I have my minions to help me! We did sow some marigolds this year (supposed to repel just about every bug you can think of, but not as good as chives!) but they've been a complete disaster.
Above: just look what aphids have done to this pepper! Luckily the new leaves are coming through nice and healthy, and the plant will recover.
And let me share with you this beautiful picture of one of our apiaries - it's part of a 360 degree pic and we haven't quite got it matched up right, but it still shows what a pretty spot our bees live in.
And let me show you my latest craft project. Beadweaving used to be my thing, before I ran out of the special thread and sort of gave up on it, but I have now rediscovered it...and this time I'm just using normal sewing thread - it seams to work fine! (I know, that was really terrible, but I couldn't stop myself). The pattern is one I just scketched out on some graph paper. I really love all those Native American crafts - I just love the use of pattern and they're made so skillfully it's unreal.
Recently we've also been harvesting some of our beeswax using a solar extractor. But this isn't any solar extractor, oh no! This is a special homemade cobbled-together one, made from 2 OSBs, a cooling rack, a collander and an old sheet of glass. It's quite a sight, especially as it's right outside our front door.
We put a load of really old black comb in there and just look at the result! The purest golden-yellow beeswax! When you compare it to some beeswax bought from Thornes (on the left) you'll notice the huge difference in colour - but then again, home produced stuff is always better! I can't wait to use it in my homemade cosmetics...I just need a bit more of it before I can start experimenting!
And I leave you with a portrait of our house guardian, a small clay gremlin Mum made at pottery one time. Despite the creepy yellow eyes he's quite cute ^^.
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