Someone Else's DIY

We got back around lunch-time from a weekend in Ludlow, visiting Liz's grandmother. It's always a pleasure visiting her, as a relaxing and undemanding schedule is usually obeyed. Breakfast, coffee/elevenses, lunch, tea, dinner, supper. This appeals enormously. In between, she usually has a list of bits-and-pieces that need doing in the house or garden, preferably by someone younger/stronger/more inclined. It seems a fair trade, to me: food and company, for minor handiwork. I fixed her non-filling water-butt (not, as suggested, a problem with the gutter or diverter, but with the tap, which meant it emptied as quickly as it filled); re-levelled her garden swing-sofa-thing; got the pump in the pond working again; put up a shelf; and installed a solar trickle-charger in her car.

Ludlow's a lovely town to visit, and we had a good wander around the Saturday market and Bread Walk, while we were there.

We're on leave this week, and hope to get the finishing touches in the kitchen done (some of them minor, some less so), as well as a bit of pottering in the house and garden. To that end, we've spent a few hours preparing the way in the kitchen; moving the table out, and things off the shelves and windowsills. We've also taken down the cupboards in the utility room, and removed the washing machine.

Hopefully, by the end of the week, the kitchen will look as it is meant to, and I can soon take and post some before vs. after photos.

Soda Bread

As requested, I've put the recipes for two soda breads onto the recipes page. As suggested, the whisky soda bread could be a nice treat for St Patrick's Day (17th March).

Soda bread, for the uninitiated, is a quick bread, whereby the leavening is achieved through an acid-base reaction (instead of fermentation by yeast). It's useful where fermentation flavours are undesirable, where the dough doesn't have the gluten-originating elasticity to hold bubbles; or where you're in a hurry. The reagents are typically the lactic acid present in buttermilk or yoghurt, and sodium bicarbonate. Buttermilk is the slightly fermented milk left after skimming the cream off; yoghurt is rather further fermented. Sometimes 'plain' milk is used, but acid in the form of lemon juice (citric acid) is added. Alternatively, plain milk and baking powder could be used—baking powder contains both the base (bicarbonate of soda) and the acid (e.g., cream of tartar/potassium bitartrate and sodium aluminium sulphate).

Here endeth the chemistry lesson.

Snow!

Saturday morning caught us by surprise, as we hadn't anticipated snowfall: nonetheless, there were a few inches waiting. This rather reduced our enthusiasm for a day outside, which we therefore postponed to today. Saturday then vanished in pottering, tidying, and cleaning, but never mind; at least I got a big (72 rolls) batch of bread made, which should keep us going for two or three weeks.

Today, we've been rather more productive. Although we finished the kitchen curtains some time ago, we didn't make the tie-backs for them (nor are the requisite hooks up, but that's another story). We've started to address this, and have made three pairs, and cut the fabric for a fourth. At the same time, I finished a tablecloth from an off-cut of the curtain fabric, with a cream border to make it large enough. That leaves us with a pair to cut, and two to sew—and curtains and tie-backs for the utility room.

The snow having thawed somewhat, we also ventured outside, to get a few things done. First was pruning the fruit bushes (and a couple of other things), as the currants, gooseberries, and blueberries all needed attention. The acer and buddleja in the front also had a trim, actually. We then sowed some more seeds: peppers, aubergines, leeks, clematis (C. integriflora, a short species), more cauliflowers, carrots and parsnips. Who knows, some may even germinate. Some pyrethrum/chrysanths, which arrived last week, we potted up, too.

It's the time of year when I get excited about buds and shoots. In addition to the daffodils and crocuses which I've incessantly mentioned, the bluebells/scilla/puschkinia are all on their way up, and I've spotted promising buds on the lilac, rose, honeysuckles, rhubarb, fruit bushes, and acer. And some tulips are showing above ground, too. Now, if only I had a bit more time, and it wasn't so cold, I'd spend some more time outside.

The leaky chimney which vexed me a fortnight ago is now hopefully repaired. Our regular builder (he of the kitchen work) popped in on Friday and applied some sort of magic sealant, which should do the job. I suspect another look at it may be on the cards for the summer, but his rates are (very) reasonable, so I'm sanguine for now. There will, no doubt, be enough rain in my immediate future to establish whether it still leaks.

Crocuses Aplenty

A very pleasant weekend, with a couple of walks, a visit to my parents, and plenty of food (including a rather good whisky soda bread). A few plants arrived, too: some single and double freesia bulbs (to go in once the frosts are past), short-stemmed lilies, and six chrysanthemums (Pyrethrum). I also received a very pretty ornamental Japanese cherry (Prunus incisa) Kojo-no mai: it's got zig-zag stems, and grows to around 1.8 m tall and wide. It'll probably remain in its pot for the spring (so the blossom can be inside, spreading its scent), and possibly in a bigger pot for another year (until its permanent home can be determined!). Cherry blossom is a rather short-seasoned treat, but the advantage of Kojo-no mai is the winter interest of its contorted stems.

This morning I've been greeted by a real density of crocuses on the ride to work. They were just coming up last Monday, but they seem to have really taken off since last Thursday, and that stretch of roadside is quite covered.

I've a new toy that I'm looking forward to setting up this week, if I can: a logging weather station. It will allow 15-minute logging of temperature/humidity, pressure, rainfall, and wind direction and speed, which I can then geekily analyse. As well as technophilic satisfaction, the temperature records will, I hope, be of use in the garden (for sowing, planting, cropping and protecting plans), as will the rainfall (because we work on the Other Side of the Pennines, it's sometimes hard to gauge the rain that's fallen at home). The wind gauge is more speculative: mostly interesting, it might be of use in determining the suitability of a wind turbine.

Any way: I plan to mount the sensor suite on a post amongst the fruit cages (where it will hopefully blend in, not be too obvious, and provide relevant data. With some luck, I may manage it this week; otherwise, it'll happen at the weekend.

Seedlings

It looks as though about three-quarters of the cauliflowers we sowed have come up (which is good), but only one of the sweetpeas (which is bad), and so far none of the strawberries (which is worse!). Hopefully they're just tardy, and will yet appear, but it's also entirely credible that the seeds were no longer viable. Nonetheless, I might sow some more, in the hope of getting a few plants.

Otherwise, the bulbs are growing apace, and the mornings are discernibly brightening, both of which are encouraging. The first of our onion sets (the Autumn Gold Improved) arrived a few days ago, so they're ready to go out as soon as it's a bit warmer, and not likely to frost.

At long last, the boiler replacement is complete. It was operational a couple of days after starting (that is, mid January), but the replacement flue was delayed, and was only fitted yesterday. It's a lot thinner than the old one, which is good; I haven't seen the roof-top vent in the light, yet. Apparently, though, the pointing on the roof ridge is in poor shape, so that will need to be added to my list of summer jobs.

Crocuses & Leaks

We've had really strong winds over the last five days or so, and awfully heavy rain. The drain off the hillside opposite the house is struggling, and there's a pair of visible streams running off the hill feeding it (it usually restricts itself to a subterranean source). The big problem with the wind has been that the fleece covering some of the new perennials has been blown about, and is a bit worse for the wear; and there are several split seams in the fruit netting. We stitched the nets together using cord that hasn't worn too well, it transpires, and there were five splits this yesterday. I've repaired four of them, using the same twine (no better material on hand), but will have to find something better: possibly a polypropylene cord. The last split is on one of the raspberry cages, which isn't within reach—and the ground's too wet and the wind too high to go up on a stepladder. Temporary fix, therefore, was all I could manage.

The other unfortunate result of the heavy rain is that we have a leaking roof. Probably not caused by the weather, but potentially. I think the cause is leaking flashing from the chimney, which means rain is running down the outside of the chimney, through the loft space, and coming through the bedroom ceiling. It's not a huge quantity of water, but it's going to require some ceiling repairs, and a careful look at the joist holding up the ceiling. My builder is coming out to look at the flashing as soon as he can...

Old houses: don't you love them? At least it's not as bad as the (new) Glaswegian block of flats that lost its roof last week.

In brighter news, I discovered that several pots of crocuses have come up, so I moved them from the 'out of season' area near the workshop to the more prominent patio outside the kitchen. More daffodils, including a few of the 2009 planting, are coming up: the ones that were already above ground are really getting going now! The bank at the edge of the garden under the track is also thickly covered with new bulbs coming up: puschkinia, scilla, muscari, and narcissi. In the same vein, I spotted a few crocuses on my ride to work (on Upper Brook Street, Manchester). I've been keeping an eye for the last couple of weeks, but today was the first time I've spotted them.

Seed Potatoes and Onion Sets

After a very pleasant weekend with Hazel and Alex staying, we've finally managed to get round to ordering the seed potatoes and onion sets for the year. The potatoes are all from Thompson and Morgan, and we've ordered twenty tubers of each:

• 'Rocket': a very early First Early, which also yields well.
• 'Lady Christl': a fast First Early, but can be left in the ground to crop as a heavier Second Early.
• 'Juliette': can be lifted as a Second Early, but may be left in the ground to bulk out further before cropping as an early Maincrop.
• 'Belle de Fontenay': an early Maincrop.
• 'Druid': a late, heavy-yielding Maincrop which stores well.
• 'Golden Wonder': a late, versatile Maincrop which improves on storage.
• 'Orla': nominally a Second Early, but can be held back (with careful storage) for a Second Cropper (planted out after Second Earlies are lifted).
• 'Vivaldi': another nominal Second Early, which we'll aim to hold back as a Second Cropper.

Second Croppers are allowed to chit, and stored somewhere cool, with bright indirect light. They can then go in the ground in August, and should provide new potatoes through the autumn. They need good insulation to survive frosts: if they're grown in a bag, they can be moved to a greenhouse. Ideally, one wouldn't grow them in a space just vacated by potatoes, but if the soil's re-fed, they'll cope.

Onion-wise, we've gone to Marshalls Seeds, and got the following:

• Autumn Gold improved: not heat-treated, and mainly so that we don't have all our eggs in one basket (x100).
• New Fen Globe: our maincrop! Can get big (250–500 g), and stores well from harvest in autumn until the following May (x200).
• Hyred: a good storer, and rounder than the 'standard' Red Baron (x100).

Red onion sets are no more expensive than the others, hence including 100 red sets for some variety, or when red onions are better. We also ordered some celeriac seed ('Monarch'), which should be fun.

Hopefully they'll all arrive in the next few weeks, and they can go in the ground in March.

Just as a note: the last of the paperwhite narcissi has just gone over; just as the tips of the spring daffodils are coming up outside. The paperwhites will be dead-headed, and then given a low-nitrogen feed, to best prepare them for flowering next year. Once they've died back, we'll lift them, and store them somewhere cool and dry. No guarantee, but with some luck, they'll flower again next Christmas.

First Sign of Daffodils

We've done a few chores in the garden, and had another batch of croissant-making. The latter went well, quicker than last time, and we've frozen the formed croissant pre-proving. We're hoping that these can then be taken out of the freezer one evening, defrost and rise overnight, and then be baked fresh for breakfast. That would be very useful, as they'll then be fresh—the alternative, baking them, freezing them, and reheating them, certainly works, but they're nicer fresh.

Outside, we sowed a few seed: a dozen cauliflowers (with a plan to sow at least one more crop), a tray of alpine strawberries (the plants we've had for a few years are cropping much less well, and probably need replacing), and a few dozen sweet peas. We've had a look through our seed collection, and planned roughly what will go where. A lot are a year past their best-before, but we'll sow them and see what comes up in order to run our stock down, before buying fresh for next year. We need, next, to decide on quantity and variety of potatoes. I'm thinking a couple of kilos of first-earlies, the same of second-earlies, and about 4 kg of main crop seeds. Although we definitely want some Belle de Fontenay, the other positions are up for grabs. Maybe some more Blue Danube? They cropped well, and are storing well; the same's true of the Axona.

While pottering, we also spotted the tips of the new daffodils, and—as best we can tell—some of the Puschkinia or Scilla. There's no sign, as yet, of the daffodils we planted in 2009, or those that were already in the garden (in small groups at the edges of the beds, and under the trees): only the new ones. A little perplexing, but hopefully the older ones will show soon. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see the signs of what I'm hoping will be a really colourful display from late March until mid-May.

Of course, a huge number of weeds have also germinated in the high beds where the Puschkinia/Scilla/daffs went, because we cleared so much undergrowth when planting them. I'm wondering about the best approach: I think mulching with bark, or similar, might be a necessity.

Weekend of Food

Our weekend was spent with university friends, who had assembled by Saturday morning. Much food was consumed, including slow cooker roast pork, a large quantity of cheese (including rather good camembert, and wedges of Roquefort and Saint Agur), the pastries prepared earlier and a bottle of blackberry & elderberry wine. There were, predictably, a number of games played (Settlers, Twaddle, Articulate, and Categorically Speaking) as well, so—in all—it was a very enjoyable weekend. Now we just have to launder a huge pile of bed-linen. Never mind, it's definitely worth it.

Yoghurt and Patisseries

A few years ago, we tried making yoghurt (using our usual off-the-shelf 'live' yoghurt as a starter). It wasn't very successful, turning out very runny and a bit grainy, although it tasted fine. Having found better instructions, and obtained a thermometer (also useful for wine making), we thought we'd try again.

Accordingly, we mixed 900 ml of whole milk with three tablespoons of milk powder (semi-skimmed); warmed it to 46°C; and stirred in a few tablespoons of live yoghurt. We poured the lot into a pair of half-litre vacuum flasks, and left it until this morning (about 15 hours), when I decanted it into a plastic tub and moved it to the fridge.

The result? Considerably more yoghurt-like. It's a bit gooey, I suppose, and not quite the same consistency as the commercial stuff. However, it tastes good, and, hopefully, is good for us. Certainly it works out cheaper: about 60p per litre, compared to £1.70—though I should add a little bit to that for the gas (negligible, seeing as a whole year of cooking gas is about £45) and milk powder (about 8p per litre, I estimate). Probably about a 55% saving, and that can only be good, especially when combined with the satisfaction of making it.

On the topic of making things, I spent a couple of hours during our last days of holiday (Monday/Tuesday) making a new chopping board. When the kitchen sinks were installed, corresponding pieces of worktop had to be cut out, which I saved. I smoothed (chisel) the sides of the smaller, which was about 40 x 30 cm, and gave it a thorough sand, before applying a couple of coats of oil. It'll need more oil, but it's come up really nicely. Obviously, it perfectly matches the sides, and is a nice size for use (though it's pretty heavy, as the sideboard is a really dense oak).

The larger piece (about 60 x 40 cm) will need slightly more preparation (less neat sides), but I'll try to do the same to it when I can. It will, of course, be even heavier, but a big board will be useful. I should also sand and re-oil our old butchers block, because that's badly worn now, after considerable use.

Next weekend, we have a number of friends coming to stay, for a belated Christmas/New Year get-together. It seemed an ideal opportunity to bake stuff, so we had a try at croissant and Danish pastries. We made a foray into pâtisserie a few years ago, making some croissant from a recipe in my big book of bread. They were very tasty, but—as anyone who's tried them will tell you—a labour of love. The traditional 'construction' recipe has several iterations of folding, butter spreading, and refrigerating to build up the 32 layers of butter and 33 layers of pastry/dough that is considered optimal (a process that always makes me think of Damascus steel, but that's my metallurgy background for you). This takes hours, frankly.

However, we—or, I should say, Liz's dad—came across a far better way of making them, which has only a brief refrigeration, one application of butter, and is far more feasible. Basically, after making the dough, and chilling it once, you apply a single slab of butter, and through cunning folding, achieve the 32 layers needed in one session of rolling and folding. No further chilling required. Once the laminated slab is made, it's a 'simple' task to cut into squares, and form into croissant or Danish pastries (we cheated and used the same dough, but encased a blob of marzipan, and adorned with an apricot). We tried one of each, and they're delicious: they'll now be frozen, and brought out for breakfast next Sunday (brief warming through optional, but recommended).

This week, we're having the oil boiler replaced, as the old one has a number of inadequacies, not least that it is non-condensing, and probably about 40% efficient. The new one is a big, high-efficiency condenser (97% nominal efficiency), which should mean less oil use. Unfortunately, this means a couple of days without heating, but the forecast for the week is much less bitter than it has been.

Marmalade

In a moment of madness, I forgot entirely to mention making marmalade yesterday. I attribute it to the enormous number of other activities, if that's credible.

Anyway: I should immediately confess that we cheated. We used a tin of Mar-Made, but made additions. Firstly, we added the peel from two extra oranges, and two extra lemons. Then, instead of just adding water, we used the juice from the extra fruit, and made it up to the required quantity of water, before adding the sugar.

It seems to have worked really well: it got to the setting point a little quicker than the instructions suggested (just by a couple of minutes), probably due to the extra pectin in the peel we added. Very tasty (based on small samples), and now in jars waiting for an excuse to try some... Oh, and much faster than starting from a bag of citrus fruit, though purists might object.

Busy Year-End

A busy, but productive couple of days!

We went out to the garden centre, to take advantage of the post-Christmas sale. No plants (no beds), but some Christmas sundries that were reduced.

Once home, we've been Making. As with many other things, sloe gin/blackberry brandy were delayed from the autumn: we collected the fruit in mid-September, but had to freeze it. We changed the recipes for them, using 340 g of fruit (instead of 225 g), and 110 g of sugar, to 750 ml of spirits. The sloes were noticeably easier to prick, having been frozen, which may be a tip to remember. Last year, we made the gin straight after picking the fruit. As normal, the gin and brandy have both begun taking on the colour of the fruit, and (with regular shaking for the next month or so) they should be ready to bottle in about March.

In The Times' cooking section a week (or so) ago, there was a recipe for lebkuchen. I really like these German gingerbread biscuits, but—despite trying about five recipes—I've never found one that quite replicates the taste of biscuits bought from Germany. Accordingly, I was honour-bound to try this one. Result: a credible biscuit. Still not perfect, sadly, but very good. I shall, when time permits, note the recipe.

Lastly, we made about six pounds of mincemeat, in a display of extravagant organization. It will now have twelve months to mature! It started yesterday, with mixing the ingredients: they then mellow over-night, and we cooked it this afternoon in the slow cooker for about six hours. The alternative was in the oven for three, but the slow cooker seemed more appropriate (and is very abstemious with electricity use: about 0.1 kW, compared to the oven's 3.5 kW). It looks, smells, and tastes delightful, and I'm already looking forward to the mincepies. I finished it off (once cooled) with last year's blackberry brandy. As I said above, when I can, I'll note the recipe: we actually have several, courtesy of our National Trust preserves book, but this was actually from another book. Experimentation, perhaps, next year. The apples were from the hill side, so there'll be plenty more next autumn.

Wine Bottling

Although it was ready for this step a month or two ago, I hadn't had time to get round to it. However, today I have: the blackberry, and blackberry & elderberry wines I made last autumn are now bottled. Straightforward process of syphoning the wine from the demi-johns into 75 cl bottles, and corking: minimal spillage, and I now have six bottles of the former, and four of the latter.

While I had all the kit out, I also racked the elderflower wine I made in July. It has an excellent bouquet (very elderflowery), a good vinous taste, and is also very dry. Possibly too dry, but we'll see. That, at least, is relatively easy to correct, and I was aware when making it that it was a dry recipe.

Cider

After a very pleasant couple of days off, we had a more 'productive' day, tidying the study. Which I shall elaborate upon no further, as it wasn't that enthralling.

Instead: an excellent Christmas day, with very successful cooking. Amusingly, the day started with Liz asking what would happen if the gas ran out while cooking (propane cylinders outside feed the cooker, as we're not on the national gas network). Low-and-behold, the gas ran out while cooking lunch. A quick trip to fetch a spare, and hook it up solved the problem. The one that ran out was hooked up on 22nd December 2009, so the cylinder has lasted a tiny bit over a year. I reckon this one won't make it quite as far—we had a two-week cooking hiatus while the kitchen was being 'done', and with a stove-top kettle now in use, we'll burn it faster. Still, that should mean no repeat of this morning's hilarity. I shall now promptly order a replacement, so we maintain a back-up.

In addition to some cat-featuring coasters and table mats (Cats In Waiting from Ulster Weavers, and 'Ottoline' mats from the British Museum), a Paper Potter that I've had my eye on for a while, we received the excellent River Cottage Every Day. We've been watching the series, and the book seems to have all of the recipes, which until now I've had to write out as we went, which is never satisfactory.

Before tackling the study, we also started a cider kit I bought some time ago, but not got round to. It's a simple one: you mix the contents with sugar and water, and leave it to stand until primary fermentation's complete. You then put it into a pressure barrel with some extra sugar (secondary fermentation on this makes it fizz!), and decant as desired.

Night-Before Preparation

Few more preparations for the Christmas lunch...we've made a batch of mince pies (and bread, but that's not unusual), iced the cake (actually yesterday, but never mind), and I've prepared the turkey (removed the breasts, and re-bundled as a bone-less joint; I also removed the wings and legs (going to the in-laws, who provided the bird, for use), and stripped the carcase of scraps for soup/casserole) and stuffing (a concoction, as normal, of bacon, turkey bits, onion, spices, and breadcrumbs—seems to have worked). Almost ready!

Pipes, Presents, Preparations and Pins

Mum and dad's visit yesterday went well (just quick, not least because it's snowy and travel's unpleasant); today's social worker visit has been rearranged to the New Year—she's fallen in the snow and aggravated an injury, preventing driving.

The house is now fully decorated, and there's an inordinate amount of greenery through the rooms. Upstairs, as normal, has escaped significant adornment, but there's a lot of holly, ivy, pine, and decorations downstairs. We finished making runners for the windows, too, which all look good, and enliven the sills.

This evening, we've done some of the preparing for the Christmas lunch, making a mango sorbet and chicken liver pâté. The latter, we've made before, very successfully and easily. It's good made in advance, and sealed under butter: once it's started, though, it needs to be eaten quite quickly. Which is fine, admittedly, and never a problem. The sorbet is new to us, and was splendidly simple to create...and will, I hope, taste good.

Unfortunately, the recent cold weather froze the pipes in the roof space above the utility room, and they chose this afternoon to thaw...revealing that both pipes had split. After staunching the flow, I had to reach into the loft, remove the split sections of pipe, and spliced in repairs. The only things I had available were, in fact, stopcocks, which aren't quite normal, but function well as over-specified straight connectors. This being a one-man job (the hatch to the space is a foot square, and one can't climb in), I left Liz wrapping the Christmas presents, and at least the tree now looks complete. Extra lagging is on order for the pipes: while I was up there, I've also installed loft insulation, as there was a minimum already in place.

Curtains

Finally, we got on with making curtains for the kitchen. Liz had started on of them, to check how it was going to work, a while ago, but we've spent the weekend working on the set. There are five windows in the dining room, which are all now finished (bearing some tweaking of the gathers). Unfortunately, we didn't quite get to the matching pair for the utility room, but never mind. The kitchen looks much better with curtains that are the right length, and all the same...

It's snowed again, too, and the track is not pleasant. We're not due more snow until Thursday, probably, but it's cold enough that what we have will almost certainly remain.

Of course, the curtains pretty much entirely occupied the weekend, so we've not got anything else to speak of done. It's a bit of a busy week ahead, predictably: we're at work Monday and Tuesday, then have visitors on Wednesday, a social worker coming on Thursday, and then preparations for Christmas Day (we're cooking the dinner...) will probably take up Friday!

Now: where did I put the wrapping paper?

Christmas Decorations

A busy weekend, partly spent outside, and partly in. We lifted the gladioli, which have been flowering since October. They hadn't really stopped, and we cut some of the flowers quite recently—but the snowfall has stopped them in their tracks, and I wanted to get them lifted as soon as possible, as they're not meant to be left out over the winter. As such, the thaw (the soil's no longer frozen, which helps!) was an opportunity. They're not looking in bad shape, considering they've been lifted before having a chance to die back naturally (one is meant to leave them for six weeks after flowering, to all the foliage to yellow and wither—but that would put us in mid-January).

Last year, we lifted them in mid November. Hopefully, they'll go into dormancy safely, and I can tidy them up (trim off the rest of the leaves, and extraneous roots), before putting them somewhere cold and dry until the spring.

After a general tidy-up (more leaves into the leaf-bin, some trimming, and the like), we came in, and have been making some Christmas decorations. We picked up some festive fabric while visiting friends. Some has been cut into two tablecloths (for the dining room), which will need hemming. Another piece has been edged with some red & gold holly print fabric, for a kitchen tablecloth, and several pieces of green & gold holly print have turned into runners to go along the windowsills. We had a few of these from previous years, to brighten the windows and complement the other decorations, and now have a complete set. Few bits still need doing (hems on tablecloths, mainly!), and I have a plan for some table-mats, but they'll all have to wait.

Christmas Cake

As alluded to, we made our Christmas cake on Monday. The recipe is on the recipe page, which I've also updated with some of the chutneys we made last month. There are two apple chutneys (the third, 'Grandma's Hot', will go up at some point, promise); and also a mango chutney which worked nicely.

The Christmas cake is the one we usually make (although I'm tempted to try a different one next year): it's very good, though it takes forever to cook. The original recipe suggests 3/3.5 hours, but it's never done in that. This year took about 4.5 hours, in what is turning out to be a pretty good oven. Never mind: it tastes good when done.

Decorating

It's been a successful weekend, all in all. I've trimmed the new kitchen plinths to length, and then cut them to the right height (complicated by the non-parallel gap): I've put some 'loft' insulation behind the plinth on the sink units, as these (against the outside wall) get very cold, and essentially cause a draught. I've sorted out a join in the skirting board that was bothering me. I cut and installed a replacement end-panel (on the end of the units near the door to the sitting room: the original was veneered MDF, which I didn't like) out of pine-board, and trimmed & installed the filler panel on right-hand end of the other run. The 'spare' cupboard is now in the utility room (very useful); and, lastly, I've put up a high shelf where we took one down (above the units that include the fridge).

Having managed that, we put up a few hooks and nails, so some pictures, etc, are now hung, and the kitchen looks altogether more finished.

We've constructed a (frankly) huge swag from conifer and holly foliage, to go above the sitting room fire, and threaded some lights through it. It might be a little too large, really, but it looks good. The Christmas tree is in place (but unlit or decorated), and we've strung up holly boughs and branches around the sitting room and dining room. Starting to look the part! The rest of the decorations will have to wait.

As it was Liz's birthday, we had today off work, and popped over to Leeds' Christmas Market (good fun; some nice stalls, and we'll probably go again next year), before spending the evening with her parents. She's got some really nice gifts, including a tasteful pair of hand-knitted gloves, a very pretty embroidered table runner, and the Le Creuset stove-top kettle she's been coveting.

We also made our Christmas cake (yes, a bit late): more on that next time.

A pleasant weekend, although the snow's getting a bit much: here's a vote for a bit of a thaw...

White Valley

I didn't think, on Sunday, that we'd be long spared the snow, and so today is no surprise. Heavy snow overnight, and the valley has turned white.

We were working from home, so I went out mid-morning to knock the snow from the fruit cages, and take some photos of the house and garden. It's quite an amusing opportunity to do a series on the construction of the raised vegetable beds, in fact.

The first, obviously, is actually from before constructing the fruit cages. I was struck by their appearance in the snow, which rather obscures the fact that they're not quite full enough of soil—but also stops you seeing the rapidly establishing green manure. Hopefully it's grown enough to cope with the cold; I suspect the geraniums in the front garden, which were still alive at the weekend, may now have had it.

Christmas Markets

We've had a few days dominated by Christmas markets—and very festive it's felt, too.

On Thursday evening, we went into Manchester after work, and strolled around the market(s) in the city centre. They're well laid-out, and we went round them all from Albert Square (with the Town Hall) to the Triangle (under the Wheel). Very busy, and very cold, but some lovely stalls.

We then went down to Ludlow on Friday night, to stay with Liz's grandma. It was the weekend of Ludlow's Medieval Christmas Market, which takes over Ludlow castle. The castle itself is well worth a visit, but with the baileys taken over with stalls, it's a lot of fun. We went after lunch, and spent a few hours wandering: the market then closes 1600-1800, and so we went back after dinner for the evening. We bought more than intended, perhaps, including a pair of welly holders made from recycled horse-shoes, and a candle-stand fashioned from a sika deer's antler. I also picked up three ceramic Green Man faces, which I'm going to hang on the trees in the copse.

While we were staying, I also spent a happy hour chopping firewood. One of the eucalyptus trees in the garden was felled last autumn, and the logs have been seasoning since. They've dried really nicely, and it was a pleasure splitting them into properly sized pieces and stacking them away under a tarp.

We drove home through snow, but there's none, yet, at home. I don't think we'll escape long, however!

Raspberries

After very few (about eight) of the raspberries showed any sign of life this year, we've assumed that most didn't survive, and ordered thirty more. These arrived today, so—as we were working at home—we nipped out at lunch to plant them. They're not in any order, as we've just put them in to fill gaps, but there's ten of each of Glen Cova (June-July), Tulameen (July-August), and Malling Jewel (June-July). I'm hoping that, although they've gone in the ground two days later than last year, they'll establish better: they won't need to be moved around as we construct the raised beds around them, and with a little luck there'll be a milder winter—there was a continuous covering of snow for a month from mid-December last year.

Such a shame that it'll now be summer 2012 before we see any fruit from them!

This evening, I installed the light in the pantry, and also replaced the RCD in the consumer unit for the cooker/lights. It was nuisance tripping when the grill or standard oven was switched on, which was a little problematic. The new RCD has a trip current of 100mA, instead of the standard 30mA: less good for preventing electrocution, but provides fire safety. As it only covers the cooker (next door to the unit) and lighting, this seems reasonable.

Looking back, we had a good weekend, visiting my parents; I also painted the remaining window frames. I also note that, as planned, I did install the new cat flap on the 16th. The boys are getting used to it...slowly.

Curtain Poles

Well, I might not have managed them at the weekend, but they're done now. I've put up the remaining curtain pole in the kitchen, and Liz has hung a motley collection of 'spare' curtains. Surprisingly, they really help finish the room, even though no two windows are the same, and the lengths are—shall we say—incorrect.

Tomorrow night, with a little luck, I'm going to fit a cat flap in the door between kitchen and utility, so it can be kept shut, and also plane the door slightly (it no longer closes...). If I have time, I'll finish by fitting a small strip light in the pantry, which is too dark now. The light at that end of the room used to illuminate it (though imperfectly): having moved, the pantry is rather too dark to identify contents.

Jars and Jars of Chutney

I had such grand plans for getting things done in the kitchen this weekend. Grand plans, which would have left the kitchen looking almost done. Grand plans of glosswork, shelves, and curtains. Grand plans that didn't survive first contact with reality.

I've put up four of the curtain rails, and glossed the outside & frame of the door (inside still to come), and that's it. We got distracted in the middle of yesterday by going to see reindeer (from the wild herd that lives on the Cairngorms, which we visited in 2004), and then today turned into a chutney-making day.

We had meant to make chutney during our week off work at the end of October, but it didn't happen. The apples, though, are starting to look a little unhappy, so we thought we should get round to it. Thus, we appear to have spent the entire day cooking. That said, we've now got some two dozen jars of chutney, in four flavours, so it seems quite well spent.

We started with 'Grandma's Hot' apple chutney (from the National Trust preserves book), and then made some apple, peach and apricot chutney, mango chutney, and simple spiced apple chutney from a birthday present recipe book.

I'm quite fond of mango chutney, but mangoes are pricey, as fruit goes, and so we've only made chutney from them once before. However, I found a kilo tin of 'mango pulp' in the supermarket around Eid, which is 90% pulped mango flesh, with some added water and sugar. Ideal, I thought, for forming the basis of chutney. The recipe bulks out the mango with apple (also in ample supply), making it even more economical. It's turned out really nicely, though a little spicier than I'd like, and I don't think it needed as much vinegar. Notes duly made, and next year's batch will be even tastier.

The apple, peach and apricot version is also good—if a bit spicer than I'd like. It nominally contains dried fruits, but dried apricots and tinned peaches worked nicely.

'Grandma's Hot' is, predictably, properly spicey. The basic apple chutney is bit milder, and I think will mellow really nicely. Modified, as-concocted recipes will eventually make their way to the recipes page. Note, eventually.

Given the state of the apples, we also prepared enough apple mush to make a batch of sloe chutney, and a couple of jars of mincemeat. We probably won't get round to cooking either for a while, but purée-d apple freezes well. For the sloe chutney, one nominally uses the sloes from making sloe gin, but I'd like to make more chutney than one batch of gin will allow, so I plan to soften the sloes by soaking in the chutney vinegar, instead of gin. We'll see if that works!

All the chutney making relied on our lovely preserving pan, and the enormous wok-burner (a triple hob) on the new cooker. An excellent inauguration: it worked really well at heating the big 5l batches.

Colour Time-Bombs

I really like planting bulbs. They go in the ground unprepossessing, and a little boring; then, several months later, they come up and finally make a colourful impact. Spring bulbs, particularly, I like, as they come when it's cold and a bit miserable, and they're often the first thing of the year. I'm pleased, therefore, to have finished planting all the bulbs we'd ordered, having put the last of the Paperwhite narcissi in pots (hoping for Christmas blooms), and the hundred anemones in the wall (I think they failed last year from rotting off in damp ground; hence hoping that the well-drained wall will suit them better).

We also planted up the hanging baskets for their winter display. Two have curry plants, two have a lavender ('Walberton's Silver Edge'); the latter have Cat's Whiskers pansies, the former Amber Kiss. Then, all four have a couple of ivies, and some of the bronze sedge we keep growing.

The rest of the pansies have gone along the wall. I'd forgotten to say that the 'loose' cyclamen bulbs (ten thereof) have gone around the virginia creeper in the front, and a few in a pot with a conifer. Hopefully they'll take: I've never before grown cyclamen from naked corms. We also put another dozen (in four groups of three), but potted plants, outside the kitchen windows, in the wall, to add some colour. They're looking good there, and add some interest to the view: hopefully they'll thrive!

We picked up ten metres of 90cm-wide chicken wire from B&Q yesterday, to make some bins. It's been cut into three equal lengths, and I've twisted the edges together to make three collars (each with a diameter of about a metre: think 2πr). These have been placed near the prospective greenhouse site. We emptied a few bags of chippings from earlier this year into one (not very full); the bags of leaves from last year's clear-up into another (about half-full). Then we started collecting this year's leaves... These filled the hitherto empty bin, and we've had to put the rest on top of last year's, separated by a layer of cardboard. Once they start to rot down, we'll put all of this year's leaves into one bin: but there'll be more to collect, which we'll probably do in about three weeks. Leaf mould (broken down by fungal action, rather than the bacterial action in a compost bin) doesn't need the high temperatures of compost, so wire cages suit it well. On which note: I need to turn, aerate, and water the compost heap. Hopefully when I construct the new bin(s)...

Lastly: Gary's finished the floor, which is looking excellent, while we've been outside. Next weekend we'll hope to start the curtains and do the gloss work, which will both really add the finishing touches (I hope).

Flooring

Our joiner, Gary, started work on the floor yesterday, and continued this morning. He's working on it 'out of hours', as he's in charge of childcare during office hours. Works fine for us, although it has meant that the kitchen is a bit unusable during the day. Never mind: he's got on well, and should be finished tomorrow afternoon.

We were planning to do some of the finishing things in the kitchen today/tomorrow (gloss painting, shelf, things like that), but it's a bit tricky with the floor going down. Terrible shame; we've had to get out into the garden instead.

I finished planting the daffs, in clumps in the copse, and then around the lilac and clematises on the opposite side of the garden. The latter was just the last 40-odd bulbs, mainly 'Mando' and a mix of jonquilla (good scent, and multiple flowers per stem). Meanwhile, Liz finished the puschkinia swathe in the copse, and then pitched in with daffs. Lastly, we put 45 tulips (Shirley, and Attila') in the nursery bed (the long rectangular bed in the veg garden) for cut flowers. Yes, because there wasn't anywhere else to put them. We've still got a hundred Anemone blanda and some more narcissi 'Paperwhite' to go, which hopefully will be done tomorrow.

Meriadoc

Sadly, Merry died last night, probably in the early hours of the morning. It wasn't entirely surprising: she was quiet (unusual for her!) last night, and although she purred through a hug, and a special bowl of cat milk, she looked very tired.

Although she's been a real pain in the last few months, failing to find her litter tray, and getting in the way, I know we'll miss her madness (she 'visited' our neighbour a couple of weeks ago, walking up to her, shouting for several minutes, and then wandering off), and her laser-intent stare as she minced deliberately up to you. I think, though, that she faded away with relative grace, and she didn't seem to stop purring from when she moved in with us, 14 months ago, until we said 'good night' to her for the last time.

It's been awful weather this afternoon—torrential rain, high winds, and fog over the Pennines coming home—but I didn't want to leave her, so we went out this evening to bury her. She's now in the copse, a few feet from her old companion, Christmas (who died last autumn, and who's marked with Christmas Roses). I think we'll plant a catnip there, in the spring, probably a Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low', which she seemed fond of—for now, her grave's marked with an old roof-stone.

Timeless Paint

Another early start (for a Sunday), and the topcoat of Timeless Dulux Kitchen+ paint has gone on the kitchen walls. It's looking good: so too is the white silk on the ceiling. After the kerfuffle with the undercoats, the final coats went on really well. We still need to do the gloss work and make the curtains (next weekend?), and obviously the floor needs to go down (starting next Friday), but it's looking almost complete.

I forgot to say yesterday; once we'd finished the bulbs in the bank and verge, we were left with about 100 daffodils, and about the same of each of the puschkinia and scilla. We're putting the daffs in groups in the copse, and adding the others in two (discrete) swathes.

Finally, we've potted up the perennials from Van Meuwen:

• Echinacea
• Aquilegia
• Gypsophila
• Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
• Chinese Lantern (Physalis alkekengi)
• Lupin
• Kniphophia (Red Hot Pokers)
• Sea holly (Eryngium maritimum)
• Delphinium
• Liatris

I think we're just about sorted for the return to work tomorrow, though everything's finished a bit late. That's because we discovered that the central heating plumbing had a slow leak (radiator at the top of the stairs), which has affected the sitting room ceiling. After getting the floor up, it looks like the connection from the 15mm leg of the radiator to the 8mm supply hasn't sealed. Plumber out tomorrow, and in the mean time a bodge repair (silicon sealant and PVC tape: crude but reasonably effective).

Merry's still not doing well; we've been making her hot water bottles to make sure she's warm (she considers this a fine, and long-overdue, plan), and she's been getting plenty of attention. Poor girl probably doesn't have long, though; but at 17½, she's done alright.

Bulbs, Once More

Well, the kitchen looks like it might finally be ready for a top coat. We started (early) with a second white coat, and had hopes of doing the Timeless (and white silk on the ceiling) late afternoon. However, the white hasn't dried properly (no idea why: it was meant to be over-coatable in four hours), so it must wait until tomorrow.

As there was no option of painting, we spent the afternoon planting yet more bulbs! Having established that a daffodil bulb weighs about 50 g (or that there's about 20 per kilogram), we've got about a thousand to plant; we've done about half today. Liz continued putting the puschkinia, muscari and scilla in the corner bank; I've put the daffodil groups in between these, and also put clumps along the verge outside the house, and on the verge opposite (there's no house opposite, only a field, so I'm not encroaching on someone's plot!). I've done the groups in various sizes, of 3–12 bulbs, and hopefully they'll really brighten the lane when they're up. I don't know why, but I find odd numbers of bulbs (or other plants) seem to work best in groups; hence, most of the groups are 3, 5, 9 or 11.

The other nice thing is that they'll give me an excuse not to trim the verge for a while...as it'd disturb the bulbs!

Paint Resistant Paint

This morning we've been painting the undercoats in the kitchen. Because the new paint is very nearly white (it's called 'Timeless', which leads to questions about marketing teams choosing paint colours), then we're undercoating with pure white (watered down, first, on the new plaster).

The new plaster is straightforward; less so, the old (slightly yellow?) paint. I think it must be something oil based, or 'kitchen' paint, but it's from the '70s, so I have no idea. However, it is stubbornly resisting attempts to cover it, so at least one more coat is going to be called for.

Thus, progress has been a little slow, but everything is now white(-ish), and we also managed to plant some more bulbs.

Unfortunately, Merry is still declining, and is falling over and sleeping (in quite odd places) rather frequently. She's still eating and purring, though, and seems comfortable enough. [The odd places: she appears to believe that she is a door stop or draught excluder, at present.]

Painting Preparations

This morning we finished getting the kitchen in order, ready to start painting tomorrow, and we've spent this afternoon planting bulbs.

We've extended the daffodil collection up towards the lane, still along the edge of the garden, and into the raised bank. To start with, it was a contiguous drift, but as we went along, we've changed it into clumps and groups. These then continue all the way round that corner of the garden, past the arbour, and along the bank that lies beneath the wall at the edge of the garden (next to the lane). The daffs, as mentioned, are from Fentongollen: 50kg (about a thousand) of mixed bulbs for naturalizing.

Once we were into the bank, between the clumps of daffodils, we've planted the Muscari armeniacum (blue grape hyacinths), the Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica (Striped Squill), and the Scilla siberica (Siberian squills, rather like bluebells). These will—hopefully—complement the English bluebells in the ground already, although be a little earlier.

We're not done yet; we've probably put about half the bulbs in the ground, but it's a good start.

Gloss and Garage

I've painted half the window frames' inside today, while Liz and parents have sorted the garage. The windows are much improved, and the garage—which has been in a state since the kitchen units were delivered, and the car's been on the drive since. That's now improved, and although there's a pile of cardboard where the car should go, it will fit in once the cardboard's moved to the compost heap (or nearby). Ticking on with the things we needed to get done, at least!

More Shopping

This afternoon turned into a bit of a mammoth shopping trip. We went out to get some of the things needed to finish the kitchen, and succeeded, at least, in that. We now have curtain poles, for example, a shelf, and bits and pieces. Once that was all done, we've only got a little bit of work in the kitchen done, by way of polyfilla, and the like, but that's life.

Back Home

We've been in Cambridge since Thursday, staying with two sets of friends, and catching up with others. It's been really good to see everyone, including both couples who got married in August, and Hazel and Alex. While we were in a city centre with time to spare, we also did rather a lot of shopping. Too much, perhaps? We are now the proud owners of a ceramic hen (called Henrietta...), several metres of different Christmas-patterned fabrics, a small counter-top bin for the kitchen, and fabric for the kitchen curtains.

On the way home, we stopped off at our 'old' garden centre (that is, the one near the old house), and had a mooch, picking up some Christmas bits and a few plants. Good fun to wander round: I think I still prefer it to our local centre, but there you go. Further on, we called in to the manufacturer of our kitchen units, to pick up some final bits, which will hopefully be installed this week.

We got home to discover our Van Meuwan order of perennials had arrived, so they will need planting out this week, or at least potting up. I'm not sure we're going to get everything we want done, but there you go. Hopefully the bigger tasks can be accomplished.

Unfortunately, it looks as though our eldest cat, Meriadoc, has gone a bit downhill while we were away. She's been doddery for a few months, but she's looking rather thin and tired. We'll try to keep her comfortable as long as possible, but I fear she's on an inevitable decline.

Cold Frame

We had a visit over the weekend from university friends, Ann and Alan. It's been a little while since we saw them properly, though we were at their wedding in August. They set off home earlier today, which left us time to get out in the garden for a bit.

We've planted some pansies (Amber Kiss) in the troughs near the porch, and will try to plant more in the hanging baskets over the next week or so. This necessitated removing the Busy Lizzies from the troughs: they were rather past their best, and I've cut them up and suspended them in jars of water, where they'll hopefully send out adventitious roots. They can then be potted up somewhere, and over-wintered. I think I ought to take some more geranium and fuchsia cuttings, too.

Alongside this, we rescued a few dozen bricks from where they've been loitering near the compost bins, and brought them to outside the dining room window. We've used them to build the walls of a cold frame, which we've topped with some secondary glazing panes rendered redundant by the new windows. Into these we've put the perennials that arrived a little while ago and were potted up. I'm hoping they'll get a bit more light, and grow a bit faster!

The kitchen is almost back together, now: we've restocked almost all the cupboards (that is, we've removed most of the kitchen stuff from the dining room, guest room, and study...), and tidied up almost completely. The floor still needs to go down (probably starting in two weeks), and the walls need painting. We've got some holiday coming up, and hope to do the latter then.

That said, we also have a lot of other bits to get done, such as planting the two thousand-odd bulbs we've got waiting, building a new compost bin (and repairing the current one), finishing the vegetable beds, and brewing some wine and cider. Thus, it will probably be a busy, if fun, holiday.

Green Manure

We've made good progress with the kitchen over the weekend: the cupboard doors are all primed, and we've painted the fronts of all the doors, and the drawer fronts and backs. I've cut, fitted and primed the windowsills, and cut and fitted a replacement filler board (to the left of the cooker). I've had fun trying out the new cooker, too: my initial thoughts are very positive. The lowest flame on the hobs is lower than that on the old hob, which is a great improvement, and allows better simmering. Conversely, I think the highest flame is as powerful, which is just as well. There's also a much better range of hob size: one small, two medium, one large, and then the super-burner for the wok. Which I've not tried yet, admittedly: I think it might first be used on a big stock pan, or for chutney. With the wok cradle, it's designed to go with a Typhoon 35cm wok—I may succumb to the pressure to purchase one. I also did a batch (36 rolls) of bread yesterday, to try the convection oven. Brilliant: cooked in 21 minutes from turning it on. Well; I say 'brilliant', but I've not actually tried the bread yet. Looks good, mind.

The worktops now all have three coats of oil, which I think is enough to get them started. They're looking good, and are hopefully protected. I'm being a little paranoid about them at the moment, but it can't last.

Lastly, we got out into the garden (a real shame to have spent almost the entire weekend inside, when it's been so glorious), and sowed the vegetable plot with the green manure we ordered a few weeks ago. I'd have liked to sow it a week or two ago, but there's just not been time. It's a winter mix of crimson clover, mustard, red clover, and Italian rye-grass. They each have a part to play: the crimson clover provides quick ground cover (to suppress weeds) and fixes nitrogen. The mustard (a brassica) produces lots of leaf, which adds bulk to the soil, and its roots add some soil structure. The red clover, also, produces plenty of organic matter, and has deep nitrogen fixing roots (both clovers are legumes). Lastly, the rye-grass helps the nitrogen fixed by the other three to be released more slowly after they're dug in, and its deep roots help bring nutrients up from the depths. All helpfully supplied by Sow Seeds. Hopefully they'll germinate over the coming week or so, and will protect the bare earth of the vegetable plots over the winter.

While we were down there, we also cut a half-dozen gladiolus stems, to bring the flowers inside. They seem later than I'd expect: I would have thought flowering would end in September, rather than peaking in mid October, which seems likely now. We'll see, next year, if this is normal for the location.

The cyclamen we picked up are now planted out in the front, under the acer, where I'm hoping they'll recover (they don't seem to have enjoyed their spell in the workshop, sadly), and add some winter interest to that bed.

Plumbing and Wiring

I took today off 'work', and got on with some bits of the kitchen. The sinks now drain into the drain (rather than into the cupboard), and the taps are connected to the water supply. Plumbing and wiring the water heater in was a little more involved. The heater's a 9.5kW beauty, and—therefore—requires a fairly beefy cable. This was a little tricky to manipulate into position, but is now sorted. There was also fun and games with plumbing; it's further than I thought from the taps to the water inlet, but I got there in the end. (The 'idiot proof' push-fit fittings also leaked, which was irritating: I have replaced them with compression fittings.)

Having shuffled the cooker out of the way, I also installed the extractor above it: this is a bit louder than I expected, unfortunately, although it's also rather effective. We'll see how much use it gets, given the former characteristic. The fridge is now back in place, as the electrician finished his work yesterday, and chilling.

Lastly, I started filling the gaps in the beams: two of these (they're solely decorative) had extra lengths added because the ceiling has got longer in their direction. I'll need to do a little more filling, and then they can get stained to the same dark finish as the existing lengths.

Tell a lie—lastly was actually oiling the worktop again.

Having squandered a lovely day inside, I then nipped out and cut a bucket of elderberries, which I've frozen. With a little luck, I can make some wine/chutney/jam over the weekend.

After a long day, it was a pleasure to cook on the new cooker, and even more fun to wash up: the new sinks are just the right size (as well as looking good), and it was something I've missed for the last 14 months; being able to turn the hot tap on, and get the sink filled with hot water. The heater seems to work just fine!

Kitchen Nearly Completed

After a busy week (with some ups and downs), the kitchen is nearly complete.

All the units are in, and all but a 250mm length of worktop; the electrics are having their face panels fitted tomorrow, and the plastering is all but done. Still to go: the cooker needs connecting; the last bits of plaster around the beams; fridge needs connecting; extractor hood needs fixing; the taps need water supply, and sinks need drainage. We spent quite a lot of yesterday in B&Q, getting bits and pieces to achieve all of this, and today doing some of the work.

Liz has started priming the cupboards, while I replaced a section of upstand that wasn't quite right. I've also applied the first coat of oil to the worktop, which vastly improves it. It starts looking a bit light and bland, but the first oiling adds some depth of colour, and really pulls out the grain. Obviously, it still needs several more coats, but it's looking really good.

The cut-outs from the sinks are sitting to one side: I'm going to clean them up (they have rough edges and are slightly misshapen at the moment), and then oil them, too, as chopping boards. The floor isn't going to be installed for a couple of weeks, to give the room a chance to dry out, but I'm hoping it will—otherwise—be up and running next weekend.

Potatoes Lifted!

It's been a hard weekend's work, but ultimately quite successful. We finished painting all the windows: cleaning the 'old' ones (sitting and dining room front windows) was really time-consuming, and took as long as painting, but they're done, as are the second coats on all the new windows. While we were about it, we also cleaned and repainted the door to the old coal cellar and the gate to the front garden. It's got a little too gloomy to be sure, but hopefully they'll both look nice and bright white again.

More excitingly, we also lifted all the potatoes. These were planted in May, a bit later than normal, but they've done well. We've had some Belle de Fontenay, which are very tasty. We should have lifted the rest earlier, but they were almost all ok. Similarly, the pink fir apple should have come up sooner, and we lost some of these.

The Axona (red skinned) cropped quite well, and quite shallow-ly: the purple Blue Danube were much deeper, but perhaps lower yielding. The latter seems to have sent tubers off great distances, as we were finding distinctive purple tubers quite a long way from the haulms! There were only a few more King Edwards, and I think the remainder were Marfona (but no guarantee...we were a bit lax in labelling, in haste). Taste-test still to come, but—at the moment—I think we might plant Belle de la Fontaine, pink fir apple, and King Edward next year. And a few Blue Danube for fun.

For now, I've bagged the crop up in hessian sacks, and they're in the workshop.

Work on the kitchen has gone quite well this week: final plastering should be happening tomorrow, and then the fitting starts Tuesday. It should be finished by Friday, and there'll then be a couple of weeks' hiatus (in which we'll decorate!) before the floor goes down. The wait is to give the room to dry out a bit, to minimise swelling/shrinkage of the oak floor. I'm really looking forward to seeing the floor: I laid a few packs out on the sitting room floor, and they looked really attractive.

Potting On

It was a bit wet yesterday, and I've got no further with the window painting, which will have to pause. However, work in the kitchen moved on yesterday. The two joists are now supporting the wall, which has gone down further, although there are still eight or so acros in evidence.

The kitchen units and worktop have moved into the workshop, where they fit beautifully along the walls—somehow, they're the perfect sizes. I've put melamine sheets (perfect examples of 'it'll come in useful someday') over the worktop cut-outs for sink and hobs, and I now have eight cupboards with shelves, and a lot of bench space.

I should say: I did have a lot of bench space. We then immediately started potting up the pansies (132 Cat's Whiskers, 168 Amber Kiss) and primulas (132 Candelabra), which arrived in 2–3 ml modules, and are now in a variety of small pots.

Also recently arrived were six honeyberries (edible honeysuckles, Lonicera kamschatika), and a collection of cottage perennials (four of each):

• Scabiosa 'Perfecta White'
• Hollyhock 'Chaters Mix'
• Kniphofia 'Flamenco'
• Lupin 'Dwarf Mix'
• Achillea 'Summer Pastel'
• Geum 'Lady Strathden'
• Delphinium 'Black Night'
• Lobelia 'Queen Victoria'
• Galliardia 'Arizona Sun'
• Papaver 'Garden Gnome'
• Aquilegia 'Winky'
• Aubretia 'Royal Blue'

These all, also, needed potting up, as did sixteen mixed cyclamen we picked up. On the same trip, we also bought our own pair of loppers, to help with the cotoneaster

Between this lot, I have no bench space left! I'm going to try to rig up a temporary coldframe on the back patio, with some bricks and old secondary glazing. That would give me some space for—for example—the pulsatilla seedlings that are coming on.

Oh: the 50kg of daffodils I ordered from Fentongollen arrived, as did the Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica. The former, I realise, is more like 1100 bulbs, which means for a long session of planting...

Lastly, we popped out between showers yesterday, and collected the apples from the hillside, along with as many sloes as we could find, and the ripe blackberries. The weather hasn't been good for blackberries, and there aren't as many as I'd like—but hopefully enough for some wine! The sloes were better than last year, and I'll start some sloe gin when I have time. The apples are also more plentiful than last autumn, and we'll put them onto racks tomorrow evening. The chutney-making will, of course, need to wait until the kitchen is once more useable!

Glossing

I've made the most of a couple of dry days, and started gloss painting the new window frames. Yesterday, I put the first coat on the hall, kitchen, utility, and en suite windows; today I re-coated the hall windows, and first-coated one of the master bedroom's, the dressing-room, and the three study windows. The last study window was unpleasant: the path in front of the house steps down before that window, so the feet of the ladder are half a metre lower—and then the door to the old coal-cellar is below the window, so when you're painting the window it's effectively on the second floor (third storey). I don't like ladders.

Anyway, they're done, at least: I need to put a second coat on most of them, but they'll be a bit protected, and certainly look better.

Meanwhile, work on the kitchen is progressing nicely. The table is all but gone, and there's a number of acro supports propping up the old external wall (which divided kitchen from hall), as this is gradually removed. The wall with the built-in cooker has gone, as has the fridge housing. All the kitchen units are out (currently sitting on the drive), and there's a growing pile of building stones under the kitchen window.

And a lot of dust.

Preparing the Kitchen

Building work on the kitchen starts next week, so we've spent quite a lot of the weekend getting it ready. This involved taking out eeeeverything (cupboard contents, shelf, bits'n'pieces, fridge, washing machine, microwave, curtains, extractor hood...), and removing the wall tiles. Yes, technically, this could have been done by the builder. But it goes against the grain to entirely hand over work like this, so we took the tiles down. We'll do the decorating, too, including priming and painting the cupboard doors, and oiling the worktops.

The kitchen now looks a mess (especially the walls), but hopefully will begin its transmogrification into something much more attractive. I've created Google SketchUp models of before and after (below), and—of course—taken photos too.

Century

Very nearly finished the vegetable beds, but some complexities (read: mis-located posts) delayed completion of the mini-bed. However, this, and the rectangular bed, are now complete. The latter looks a little odd, as the nursery bed is still within it (un-raised). I now only have the back of the C-bed to go, using up odd lengths as I go.

I forgot: yesterday we lifted the rest of the onion crop, and laid them out to dry—they're now inside to finish drying, then I'll string them up. Quite a nice crop, though the best yield came from the unidentified sets from Thirsk market, which may make obtaining more trickier.

On another note: this is my century post! First post was 28th October last year, so there's another couple of months until the anniversary, but I thought I'd mention the milestone.

Long Weekend

We took yesterday off, and have got a bit further with the vegetable beds. The C-shaped bed is now joined up, but the back length (the outer edge) is waiting. It'll be the last one I do, as it's a good place to use up shorter bits of plank where they won't be too visible. Getting the post into the top-right corner (which is where the bed meets the terrace) was tricky, but I've managed. The planks, there, aren't screwed into the post from the outside, but from the inside, rather than excavate working space 'outside' the bed.

The rectangular bed, the mini-bed in the centre of the Q, and the back of the C are all that's left...well, I say 'all'. All of the topsoil has now come down from where it was delivered on the drive. The beds won't be full, but we'll probably only need about 2m³. That said, I think we'll order a full (6m³) load, as the extra will come in useful over time.

We also went over to Norland, as planned, to see the scarecrows. They were, as predicted, rather good. There was an impressive Dr Who (complete with Tardis and Dalek), and a superb Scooby Gang. Along with a full size Ice Road Trucker.

Tomorrow: bit more vegetable beds? And lunch with Liz's grandparents (visiting t'in-laws).