Itsy Bitsy Spider

The house next door is finally being renovated...after sitting sad and empty for nearly three years. I have befriended the builders and they are putting aside tarnished treasures for me. One of them called me a magpie the other day as I glimpsed an old square window among the rubble and squirreled it away (think Golum, but with a better skin care routine). I am not sure he meant it as a compliment, but I like it. Magpies are beautiful and they like shiny things. And the window will be shiny, and will be painted with stained glass paints at some point and be beautiful too.

A few weeks ago, I took all the old drainpipes from the builders, drilled holes in them, taped the ends off with black tape and filled them with compost. I've put them on a couple of bricks in the garden and I'm currently growing salad leaves in them. One of the easiest things to grow, and it is wonderful to have fresh (and free) salad leaves whenever I want them - they taste better, they last longer and they don't come in a crappy non-recyclable plastic coffin. If you stagger the sowing of the seeds, you can keep a continuous supply going right through the year as you use up the plants.  

                                                                                                                                                                
I stole the idea from my parents' garden, and they may have taken it from Gardeners World. My parents' garden is still my favourite garden in the world. It is the type of magical garden that children love, full of pathways which demand exploring and hidden corners in hidden rooms. It is a natural, cottage garden, teeming with wildlife and spilling over with colour and scents. Most of the plants I have in my garden are stolen from my parents, dug up or propagated after frequent 'shopping' walks, with me pointing out to my parents things that are quite lovely and which would also look quite lovely in my small city garden hint hint...

I have also been nervously watching the Brexit chaos and, based on my strong conviction that the Tories couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery (some clichés cannot be improved), and that we are likely to crash out of the EU with no back up plan, I have decided to increase my vegetable growing activity - to channel the Good Life. I am following a month by month guide from the Allotment Source Book, by Caroline Foley. Generally I spend whole summers nurturing vegetables to only end up with a small handful of potatoes, some mangetout and a fat courgette, but this year I am determined it will be different. I have started an informal vegetable co-operative with friends (a triumph of hope over experience), so that all the vegetable glut which we will inevitably have next year can be shared out.... 

Unfortunately, gardening is also the best teacher of delayed gratification there is. You have to plan one or two seasons ahead with the garden, putting bulbs in during the Autumn so they flower in Spring, sowing vegetables in Winter and Spring so they crop in Summer. My onion seeds will be ready next August (which is a fat lot of good if we have an onion shortage in May next year...)
But anyway, I have sown small carrots and peas for October harvests, and stolen some spring onions and spring cabbage from my parents' greenhouse to get me going. I have also frozen rosemary, bay and mint from the garden for the winter months when I don't want to go outside; and taken cuttings of basil for rooting and potting off; and planted garlic chives for the windowsill. As things stand, I could probably ride through a herb shortage unscathed. However, I really need the Brexit chaos to be delayed until after next Summer when my vegetable crops come in if anyone in Government is listening.