Chilli potting and er... a pond!

I spent a chunk of yesterday, and a fair lump of today decorating my lawn with pots....

With 40 plants on the go, I had some serious sorting to do!
I now have 30 chilli plants in the greenhouse, all cuddled up in their final buckets:


I had 40 before I started, but just didn't have the room! I ended up giving 7 to my sister and killed 3 stragglers.

I feel a lot better now that is done. Now I can carry on with the pond that I decided to start digging!!

It all started when I picked up a copy of the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening; I got to a page showing how to make a pond and thought "I could do that!" Moments later I was on freecycle and found a lady advertising natural stone - just what I wanted to edge the pond that half an hour previously I'd never even considered.......

We picked them up a day or so later and busted out a funky shape on the lawn:


Then I roped poor ole Rob digging:


While I began bashing up the leftovers........ FOR A WISHING WELL!!



All I have to do now is learn how to cement........

Firewalking For The Furries!!

I did it!
Not that there was any chance of me backing out after raising a grand total of £268 for the furries :-)

I also knitted them a kitty hat for their raffle:


Whilst I was in training, Rob took some pics of the fire being started:













And then I was off!!!





One of the best experiences ever - not just for the walk; in the grand scheme of it, the walk itself was a passing moment, even though a very awesome passing moment; what I really got something out of was the talk beforehand. I learned so much - dare I say (at the risk of sounding like I've gone all weird) I may have even learned a bit about myself!

Go on.... laugh!

Anyway, my feet were disgusting afterwards - lovely!:


And here I am with my certificate:


I couldn't recommend it highly enough, it was truly uplifting.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped me by sponsoring and geeing me on. Kat xxx

NOT ALL GREENS ARE GOOD FOR YOU!

A mixed bag of news from the little Welsh chilli conservatory;

Here is the brood as of 5 minutes ago:



GOOD GREEN THINGS:

My Cap 253C is pushing out it's first pods already!!

BAD GREEN THINGS:

At least 7 of my plants are INFESTED with greenfly. They've been swiftly relegated to the black towel of doom....



I've got some plants that have been treated with Bayer ultimate bug killer previously, and some that haven't.... the ones that haven't are far bigger and healthier looking, if possible, I'd like to keep them that way - so I'm trying the fairy liquid method as an experiment. If I don't get any joy, I'll be getting the bayer out again!!

After googling around for the correct ratio of fairy liquid to water, I've decided there isn't one.
Therefore, I settled on the following recipe:

1 GOOD SQUIRT PER LITRE.

Before spraying, I placed the pots onto their side in an effort to prevent masses of soapy suds going into the compost - I've no idea what effect it would have, but I'd rather play it safe. Then I blasted the buggers to heck:



I'll leave them like this until they dry; I don't imagine it will do them any harm to be on their sides for an hour.

After 15 mins, if you look closely, you can see there are already little green dots on the black towel:



Scores on the door so far -

KAT 1 - GREEN GITS 0......

Taking cuttings :-)

Today found me making my first serious attempt at taking cuttings from my shrubs. I say mine, the yellow Euonymus Fortunei 'Emerald 'n' Gold' came from my neighbour as a thank you for helping her to dig out her dandelions! Both the Euonymus Fortunei 'Silver Queen' and Pieris japonica "Flaming Silver" came from the raised bed in my front garden. My hope is that at least 2 or 3 of each variety manage to root so that I have free shrubs to plant in the back garden; a garden that up until fairly recently, has been devoid of anything; and therefore didn't really deserve the description "garden"....

Fingers crossed the little buggers make it!

My cat wants to be a drummer.......

......so all we need now, is a bassist!!

Shitty Dog Owners.

There are dog owners who pick up after their pets and there are those who don't. Though I prefer the former, I can kind of understand the latter; but what I cannot even begin to comprehend is the idiotic bastards in the middle.

How many times have you seen a little black poo-bag hanging in a bush or strewn by the wayside? For Christ sake what is the matter with these people? Why go to the trouble of bagging a turd, only to lob it back down on the floor or make a hideous tree ornament out of it?

At least if you just left it, nature could take it's course and eventually the smelly pet present would disappear of it's own accord, but you twits have wrapped it in a non biodegradable bag and added that to the environment. I am at a loss... you utter plonkers! Especially as you've gone to the effort of picking up the damn thing in the first place. If it were up to me, I'd make you eat it.

Kat’s Floppy Sun Hat

Spring has sprung and I was in need of a hat to shield my eyes from the sun whilst out painting the fence! It went so well, I'm sharing it here.

This crochet lark is far quicker than knitting; So much so that (and I never thought I'd say it)I think I'm turning into a crochet queen rather than a knitting nutter!

Once I've typed this pattern up I'll be off out to take on the fence... it's a horrible job, but you've got to look after your wood! Besides it's an absolute stunner of a day, the daffodils are out and the birds are singing; what more could you want? Ooooo I know - a floppy sun hat!!

Ok - here's the pattern:

Abbreviations:
sts - stitches
sl st - slip Stitch
ch - chain
sc - single crochet

HAT

Using a 5.5mm (size I) hook, and DK yarn, start by making a chain of four sts and then join with a sl st.

Round 1: ch 1 and do 10 sc into the loop. If you are changing the colour for a striped effect like mine, join by adding the new colour through your first and last sc. - 10 sts.

Round 2: ch 1, do 2 sc in every st of the round and join by adding the original colour through your first and last sc. - 20 sts.

Round 3: ch 1, then sc all sts, increasing every third st by doing 2 sc in the same space. Join with alternate colour.

Round 4: ch 1, do 1 sc in each st of the round then join with alternate colour as before.

Round 5: ch 1, then sc all sts, increasing every third st by doing 2 sc in the same space. Join with alternate colour.

Round 6: ch 1, do 1 sc in each st of the round then join with alternate colour.

Round 7: ch 1, then sc all sts, increasing every third st by doing 2 sc in the same space. Join with alternate colour.

Round 8: ch 1, do 1 sc in each st of the round then join with alternate colour as before.

Round 9: ch 1, then sc all sts, increasing every third st by doing 2 sc in the same space. Join with alternate colour.

(If you want the pattern to continue as it is and have all stripes the same width, continue your colour changes as established. If you want them like mine, you now change colour on every other row, giving you a 2 row thickness.)

Round 10: ch 1, do 1 sc in each st of the round then join with alternate colour as before.

Round 11: Count your sts - we want 66, you’ll have less. ch 1, then make up the difference by increasing evenly across this row.

Round 12 - 31: ch 1, do 1 sc in each st of the round then join, remembering to colour change where required in order to obtain your desired stripe pattern.

FLOPPY BRIM

Round 32: sc every st, increasing 8 sc evenly across the round.

33 - 42: Continue to increase 8 sc on each round as established, alternating the spacing of your increases so as to avoid developing an increase line.

Final Round: working in the back loop only, sc in each st of the round and join with a sl st. Fasten off and weave in ends.

You can make the brim as big as you like….I did mine so it was just enough to shield my eyes, but you could do a huge silly one! (If you really want to.)

Right, that's me done - I'm off out in the sun.... lookk out fence, here I come!