Growing Season

If there is one thing that makes Mr Cloister happy, it's growing things. And, now that 'growing season' is upon us life at the Lodge House is chaotically delightful. 

We are not in danger of waking up with frostbitten toes, for starters. 

In the lean-to there are a multitude of plants. There are three types of squash: Turk's Turban, Potimorron, and a squash I call Avis, after the wonderful lady who gave me the seed. Every single seed has sprouted, and I spent the afternoon potting on and re-homing them to a hand crafted cold frame, viz. old IKEA bookcase with Velux window found in garage.

There are three types of tomato, chilli peppers, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and sweetcorn. For me, there is hollyhock and lavender. And, for immediate use we have thyme, basil, parsley, chives and mint. Next to be sown are the carrots and beetroots, the peas and beans, as well as some salad crops.

It is delightful to come home to a house full of growing things. We are all growing too, especially little B. For each new seedling, or for plants we have not grown before, we have to research, learn and put into practice our findings. Added to that, you can build some muscles digging a half acre! It is good to see barren land being brought back into cultivation.

We have now planted three long rows of Wilja potatoes, my favourite variety of spud. They make the most delicious roast potatoes in the world. I cannot wait to dig them up!

Leeks and savoy cabbage are starting off in the nursery bed, and broad beans are sprouting under our cloches too. In the end we dug our vegetable patches out of part of the back lawn. The clearing of the original kitchen garden proved too large a task for now, and we wanted to have a harvest this year.

Where the Wiljas are sown will become, in time, my medicinal herb garden. It was covered with St. John's Wort. Never before have I seen such tangled root systems. It was a nightmare to clear the area and get the potatoes in. After breaking our garden fork, Mr Cloister bought a mattock - a heavy duty tool like a pick-axe for breaking up tough soil and woody roots. Once we had the right kit for the task we made better progress, and finally, finally, we have cleared this patch to home the spuds, rhubarb, asparagus (maybe, not yet in) and sweetcorn. 

Where the old conifer trees have been cleared I have followed the advice of my Ma. I dug holes from between the old stumps large enough to hold herb plants. These plants have now been bedded with good compost to create a lovely border: lavender, thyme, lemon balm, marjoram, loveage, rosemary, bay, forget-me-not, sweet woodruff, sweet cicely and chives. It looks as though we have a cared for garden as you drive in. I am very proud.

Bertie has started to enjoy gardening. He crawls around after us and gets in a pickle: with mud on his face, his hands and his chest! He seems idyllically happy. When there are tasks he can help with, like planting potatoes or helping to collect stones from a cleared patch of earth, he approaches the task (game) with enthusiasm. Under instructions from Mr. Cloister, he crawled around the lawns picking every Dandelion. I made him a daisy chain crown.

Visitors come and we love to have people over! Bertie seems to think the best days are when we have 'visits'. There is always a good meal to be had, we buy car loads of vegetables at the market and love to find good cuts of meat and fish when we go into town. It is great to share a good feast with friends and family. Soon we hope to substitute the home grown for the bought.

The next creatures to call our place home will be the chickens. We have the coop, but need to find the time to build a run that will keep Mr Fox at bay. Of course, Bertie will be in charge of collecting the eggs.