Chatback number 22

[Purple Primrose]

Took our youngest into town this morning as it was their their very first job interview and they were quite nervous. We arrived in plenty of time and were wandering along the street when I spotted a sign on a lamp post indicating a local church was having a plant sale starting at the same time the interview. Youngest went to their interview and I nipped into the plant sale. Came out with 2 honeysuckles, 3 blue hardy geraniums, 1 Jacob's ladder, 2 lupins, 1 Honesty, 1 Astrantia, a pot of chives and a tray of large Stachys seedlings.

Next we went to our favourite place for lunch so youngest could tell me all about the interview - apparently it went OK and was better than they were expecting. Then I bought a pair of waterproof trousers and an onion hoe, before doing a bit of food shopping in the CoOp and then back home.

Apart from the masks, social-distancing and hand-sanitising, it almost felt like a normal, pre-covid day out.

[Containergardener]

I didn't even know there was a thing called an onion hoe.
Hope youngest is lucky with job. Well done on the plant purchases.

[Containergardener]

Went over to mums with some plants , sunflowers and sweetpeas . Got them planted for her and some other things. OH cut her grass..
Came home and had dogs walk then a bbq.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Phew - looks like it’s going to be another scorchio out there

CG - I used to give my mom sweet pea plants every year when she had a garden and she was amazing at growing them, waaay better than I ever could! Happy memories

I’ve been fancying a mandolin slicer for a few years and came across a review comparison the other day and decided to go for one!
It arrived on Friday so OH made crisps with it straight away.
yesterday I made a grated carrot salad which tasted much nicer than shop bought ones ( and no synthetic additives!) I’m soooo looking forward to using my own carrots. I even went to chat to them to encourage them to grow faster! I may even sow a few more now Te he.

I was just thinking that freshly grown carrots are so much sweeter than stored ones and I wondered how freshly grated raw carrot might freeze? Does it go rubbery, does it stay super sweet/ flavoursome? Anyone tried freezing freshly grated carrot

Right, enough pondering…time to get that kettle earning a living!
Help yourselves - I’ve left a few homemade cinnamon rolls out for you too. ( wonderful with yogurt!)

Enjoy your day peeps - hopefully everyone has sunshine now?

[Mr Bones]

Morning Nicos and all
Thanks for the cuppa and cinnamon rolls Nicos

Was right about chin-wagging yesterday, ended up showing a couple of new tenants round the plot to give them ideas and moral support about setting up their newly acquired overgrown allotment.

Forecast for a sunny one today
Have fun

[Containergardener]

Morning
Tea for me .
Grey here but no breeze, warm. Found a flatworm trail before 6am so set to lifting a wood planter with a trolley whilst being eaten by mozzies. I know they are laying eggs now so have to keep finding them and eradicating best I can. Found and destroyed. Maybe a tad early for that though

Mum has a bug mature garden jam packed with stuff. Hard to find space to plant anything. It's sandy and free draining, total opposite of mine .

Better walk these dogs .

[Snoop Puss]

Morning, all.

Sounds like good times have been had. Always good.

I'm off to sow carrots this morning. Never thought about freezing grated carrots. Interesting. Does anyone freeze carrots in roundels? Does that work well? I should be so lucky as to have a surplus, but I love carrots.

Busy morning ahead out in the veg patch. Got lots of things ready to be planted out. Mr Snoop says he'll help again with a couple of small beds. I'm feeling very blessed today. Though Frankie is being a menace and a half. Looking forward to him growing up.

Have a good one. Smiles by the kettle. A bit subdued this morning as it was a cool night and they haven't yet warmed up fully. Should be easy to catch.

[greenishfing]

Morning all. Another hot one. It's forecast to hit 27°C. I cleaned out and weeded another greenhouse yesterday as I've got cucumbers, aubergines and peppers desperate to go in their final spots. My tomatoes are looking particularly happy in the greenhouse next door.
Nicos I'm glad you're enjoying your mandolin. I ended up with two of them a few years ago as I had one in the cupboard (used mostly for slicing things like cucumber for pickles) and then my husband ended up at a county show where someone was demonstrating them and bought one without asking me. I gave one to my sister.
I think time for another coffee, a quick shower and then off to the allotment before it gets any hotter.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All I'm virtually stuffed with the lovely stuff, but still have room for the BET on its way to me. Scorchio here already too. Have a lovely Sunday

[Snadger]

Morning all

We have a mandolin in a box that I have never used. I must get it out and have a go at slicing summat! It won't be my fingers as there is a little gadget with it to stop you doing that.

Where's all this sunshine and heat we were promised? Dull, overcast and windy here.

After sorting Sunday dinner had planned to try and tidy behind the shed where I am setting up a workshop. Problem is its full of scrounged wood at the moment so need to sort the 'wheat from the chaff' and create another pile ready to be chopped up for firewood with the chain saw..

TTFN

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Some early morning watering not much else needs doing today in the garden just harvesting salad and veg for later.

Nicos I've frozen grated carrots mostly to use in carrots cake or fritters seems to work out fine. not so good to use in salads though.

Enjoy your day

[lottie dolly]

Morning all,scorchio here,and it still early,Nicos,grate a small amount freeze,then experiment,thats what i did last year,as bren said,fine in cooking,but never tried and thawed out,but if you DO have freezer room,then great for use in things like soups,keich,chuck a few in mashed spuds,grated cheese on top,mmmm grill or oven,many options,
Still no confirmed date,but we still pressing on with moving stuff,
Now for something really nice,a stray chicken came into my world,she now has a new home with me and the other girls ,glad you feeling better Snoop,good job you never dozed of Nicos,oooerrrr,have a good day all,stay safe out the sun,get some breky and see whats next x

[mothhawk]

Morning all, any cinnamon rolls left perchance, Nicos? they are one of my favourites but I seldom make them as there's only me likes cinnamon, and even hiding them away in the freezer, I hear their siren call and am irresistibly drawn to them every time I open the door.

Lovely weather, just the right amount of puffy clouds about. Happy Sunday all.

[mothhawk]

Glad you took in the stray chook, LD.

For sure it wouldn't have lasted long out on its own.

[Purple Primrose]

Overcast, windy and only 11°C again but today was a good day as I found my favourite trowel. I lost it a few weeks back when planting up the asparagus bed and had assumed it must be somewhere buried in there. Checking the whole bed over with a strong magnet didn't result in me finding anything (except the odd rusty nail) and I didn't fancy digging up all the plants that had settled in nicely so I just assumed I'd never see my trowel again. I've had that trowel over 30 years and have been missing it a lot and been making do with a plastic trowel that was lurking in the shed. I gave up hope a couple of days ago and reluctantly ordered a new trowel online. Went out to weed the asparagus bed this morning and remove a couple of large rhubarb leaves that were shading out one of the asparagus plants. Picked the first rhubarb leaf and spotted the trowel hidden under it on top of the dry stone wall. A bit daft really for something so insignificant, but finding my old trowel really made my day!