Growing madness.....

Well, today was the day that the chilli plants had their first taste of the outdoors. I must say, I think they rather liked it!


A lot has happened since my last blog and one of the brilliant bits of news is that I am now the proud owner of a greenhouse! I've been working on the assumption that the conservatory would be my only covered growing space (along with any free window-sill!) I didn't think I'd be able to get a greenhouse this year, however; It seems I was wrong and here it is:


Possibly one of the most awkward projects I've had, it was a bugger to build!
But I got there, even if I was a little dead afterwards.....


I still have 29 chilli plants, though I've started to locate new homes for a couple to free up some space. I won't be giving them away until they are in their final pots though; I want them to have the best start, wherever they end up! I also bought a hygrometer/thermometer - set it to work keeping track of the overnight readings in the conservatory.
At the lowest point, the temperature currently goes down to around 5 degrees. Not bad, but still a bit chilly to leave the plants overnight. Having said that, I really dont think it will be long!

So 29 chilli plants, 8 tomato plants:



12 cucumber plants:


And numerous flower seeds sewn.....
Busy, busy, busy!

I dread to think how much I've spent on compost... it's dirt! Fancy dirt, I'll give you that, but still dirt! It'll be worth it though. I'm going to start collecting recipes for sauces. It seems I may end up with far more chilli pods than I could ever use as I'm going along and I cant think of anything worse than just picking them off and binning them! I rather love the idea of making up batches of sauce, though I fear this is going to lead me down a path of even more projects.... There must be more to sauce making than just shoving it in a jar - I bet there's all manner of processes for making it safe and hygenic.

But the idea is in there now; no sense in resisting :-)

Chilli Update and new plants!

Time for the latest on my plants! They've had a dilute feed of 'Chilli Focus' and now live in the conservatory for most of the day. It's not warm enough for them to stay in there permanently yet, so they have a little routine - under the lights in the spare room from 7am until the conservatory warms up by about 10am, then they go back under the lights for a few hours in the evening once they've been returned to the side room at about 5pm.

It's a bit of a faff, but I'm sure it'll all be worth it when I take my first bite out of the crop!!

I've also decided to plants some other bits and pieces now that I've been well and truly bitten by the growing bug; first there's the 'Tumbling Toms'- a tomato that's grown in hanging baskets and pots due to it's growing habit and has a wonderful shape:



I've plated enough for a few baskets so they can be given away to family.

Also, I decided to grow some cucumbers. I've chosen the 'Bush Champion' variety:

....not because it's a rude name, though it is rather funny, but because they have a compact habit and produce many fruits whilst living quite hapilly in pots.

So it's 'all grow' here!
::groan:: sorry about that.

:-)

Prop Off!

A quick update on my plants - today found me switching off the propagator! They'll be staying under the artificial light for now, but I'll be gradually introducing them to the sun for an hour or two a day until they are ready to move to their permanent home.



I did have a bit of a situation yesterday when they suddenly went all limp! I gave them a good drenching and they are as right as rain today... hence my decision to switch off the propagator now. The heat is drying them out, especially as they are taking in water far more now than they did when they were seedlings.

I am always amazed by how well these plants bounce back after something like this, they really are quite hardy; They can be practically lying on their side and all shrivelled up - but with a good drenching and a few hours recuperation, they'll be standing tall and proud again. Now that's my kind of plant... ;-)

Kat :-) xx

I'm 29 tomorrow.....

Wherever did those years go.
I remember it as clear as a bell; on my 18th birthday, my father said to me: "Just wait till you hit twenty one - they'll fly by then...."
I laughed; I had no concept of how it feels when time seems to go so much quicker because you have less of it....

But there you go - you can't stop it, you just have to enjoy the ride!

I'm off out for a meal with my brother and sister, I'm not sure where yet; it'll be nice though, whatever we end up doing. The evening will be spent cuddled up on the sofa with a bottle of something nice and a good film or a few episodes of Scrubs or 'Black Books' -Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey & Tamsin Greig have to be the funniest mix ever!

I strongly urge anyone who hasn't see it to get a copy - you'll laugh your socks off, I promise you.

This will be my first birthday for a long time as a non smoker - I haven't touched a cigarette since Halloween last year.... over 4 months now, I must confess to being more than a little pleased with myself!

I'm surprised at how much healthier I don't feel though; I expected to have so much more energy, I guess maybe I wasn't so unhealthy in the first place! Though giving up does still have it's advantages - everything smells nice in the house, I don't have to go ouside if it's raining just to get a crappy fix and it is rather nice to kiss someone without worrying about how I taste...


...I leave that to the garlic now ;-)
So - 29, feeling fine, happy with my lot, that's for sure. Looking forward to many more healthy and happy birthdays!! I'm off out for a run. Bye! x

Chilli Mania!

Well, I've had far greater success on the chilli seedling front than I had expected. Only 7 out of the 51 seeds I planted failed to germinate; leaving me with 44 seedlings!

As they were coming up to re-potting time and my propagator will take 30 small pots nicely, I made the decision to cull 14 of them. Let's be fair, 30 plants is still overkill so I won't miss the ones I've gotten rid of.

These were taken just after re-potting:




And these more recent photographs shows their current status:


The Cayennes are the biggest:



The Alberto's Locoto Rocoto are looking lovely:


How pretty is this 'Adorno' variety?!:


So it's all going well here.
Also, I suffered a case of The 'JUST....GOTTA.... PLANT IT' phenomenon.

There I was a few nights ago, making a curry - quite happily, minding my own business.....

.....that's when it got me.
It was around the time I was chopping up my chillies; first a nice green one, then a nice fat juicy red one... all of a sudden I was ramming seeds into damp kitchen roll and into the airing cupboard before I could say Jack Robinson.

I DO NOT NEED any more plants; but the urge was irresistible.

So my grow list might 'grow' again.... :-)

Thank you, Dorothy and Rob x

I read something today:

"If something anticipated arrives too late it finds us numb, wrung out from waiting, and we feel - nothing at all. The best things arrive on time." ~ Dorothy Gilman, A New Kind of Country, 1978

It's perfect.

It puts into words so succinctly, something that I've been struggling to do as simply.... and without essay. At first it may seem a sombre statement, but it's so far from a sad realisation for me; It is an enlightenment that I can barely keep in. It's a confirmation that what I've felt so strongly and raged about - actually makes perfect sense.

I don't know Dorothy Gilman, but I love her for that quote. It seems anger and frustration have been the theme for so many events that have occurred in my life over the last few years. There have been long periods where I've struggled to make myself heard - verbally bashing my head against a brick wall in an attempt to be understood, to be appreciated; to be respected.

Have you ever got to that point when you realise that you've pushed so hard for something that, when it finally threatens to happen, you realise you no longer want it. It's not being spoilt, or that you don't know what you really want or that you can never be satisfied; it's that the continual fight to achieve something leaves the end result tainted. The pain, frustration and eventual exhaustion were just not worth it - the balance wasn't fair; the effort unjustified.

I have stood at the bottom of the mountain looking up; I tried my best to get to the top. At first, full of naive hope and positivity; slowly turning into a bitterness and anger that eventually gave way to indifference... and then I cried as I turned my back on what I saw was up there waiting for me... the realisation that this was someone else's mountain.

It's the pits. And what makes it worse is the paranoia that those around you believe that not only did you never make it to the top - but you didn't even try, didn't give it your all.
Well what good is giving your all when you end up spent and wasted with nothing left - there's being selfless and then there's plain stupidity. You HAVE to keep a bit for yourself otherwise what is left for somebody else to love?

The last part of Dorothy's quote also holds great weight for me.

It's true that the best things arrive on time and after all the sadness and disappointment, I realise now that I wouldn't change a thing if I could. If I'd not started that climb, I never would have experienced the view - I wouldn't have met the person I did on the way back down.

Now, there's no mountain.

Rob and I become closer after both going through divorces; we helped each other through the inevitable hardships that come with break-ups and the like, only to discover whilst doing so that actually, we are perfect for each other.

Perfect on so many levels. Ok, so there's the obvious one being we both love music and plan to start making music together,** though that is but a dusting on the already huge cake..... We're both creative, passionate and enthusiastic about the things we like; we love to talk well into the small hours about anything and everything.
**No rudeness intended; though yeah, there’s that as well ;-)

We go for walks along beaches and countryside, we drive to the shops just to nose around with no intention of buying anything.
Rob knows I love to make things, and always encourages my interests and hobbies, just as I try to bring out the things that make him tick (However; there's only so much Gary Moore I can take before I feel the need to start killing people).

We both love our food, particularly Italian, and find there’s nothing better than to share a lovely meal together with a nice bottle of something whilst watching crappy outtake television, Scrubs, Holby City, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, or one of the other many shows that we both share an appreciation of. We go on adventures… sometimes without even having to go past the front door.

But most of all, we laugh. I love a good giggle and have never spent so much time holding my stomach in pain from laughing so much. I feel comfortable in my own skin, utterly free to be myself. I don’t have to prove anything.

There is a whole new world opening up for me and I am so incredibly lucky.

There's an ocean of possibilities, let's go the whole cheesy hog and say that it's a field of dreams! I don't care, I'll crack open the bag of naff metaphors if that's what it takes to get it across; I am truly blessed.

I never thought I'd want to get married again. I thought that it should be a one time deal and who needs marriage anyway....
And now, here I am engaged to be married, doe eyed and with more vision of hope and promise than I did the first time around!! Oh no.... no tentative cynicism for me; no holding back. I'm gonna give it everything I have. Just because it wasn't right before, doesn't mean I should never be allowed to experience how it should be - in fact, after everything that has happened, I deserve a little happiness (The fact that I am now overwhelmed with it is not my fault, I don't mean to be greedy; it's just how it's turned out!!) and after all, as Dorothy said - the best things arrive on time; and now is my time.... our time.

I love him with every breath.
I just hope he knows it, and will spend the rest of my life making sure he does.

Kat - soppy, happy and overwhelmingly lucky xxx

Chilli Growing...again!

Nearly a month between posts - that shall never do!
I've been rather busy as I recenlty decided to have another crack at growing chilli plants. I've tried this once before, but had rather a poor result; by poor result, I mean I killed them all.

This time, I'm determined to get some plants; I'd love to eat something that I have grown myself, I imagine that the sense of achievement must be immense. My mother and grandfather were keen growers and often, most of what was on the dinner table had come from their gardens. Obviously being a kid, I never fully appreciated the brilliance of that; I would now... but isn't that always the way? Well, it's never too late - I'm going to have a go at this home growing and experience the joy for myself!

However, I'd better not get carried away just yet - I have to grow some plants before I can even entertain eating any fruit...
So, here's the story so far:



I have the following seeds on my grow list:

Adorno
Alberto's Locoto
Apache F1 Hybrid
Bulgarian Carrot
Cayenne
Corno Di Torro Rosso
Jamaican Red Hot
Mustard Habanero
Orange Habanero
Prairie Fire
Sante Fe Grante
Worldbeater

This morning I awoke to find we have some Cayenne seedlings coming up!!:



I also have 2 loops in the 'Adorno' variety:



...both of these types were planted a few days before the other seeds so they've had a head start. I have a little while to wait before any of the other varieties show their faces.

Whilst waiting for the seedlings I've been building a lighting rig for them - they'll have more chance of success if I ply them with as much daylight as possible! I've made a holder for 3 artificial daylight bulbs - these mimic the spectrum of light given off by natural sunlight and will help to make the plants shoot up!





I just have to build a reflector now; that will hang over the light fitting. This will bounce the light down over the plants making sure they get the full benefit of the bulbs instead of the light merely lighting the whole room.

On another note, I will also have to knit a chilly toy - it only seems right to mix the two hobbies at some point!

Kat xx