Wednesday, 28 April 2010

May Pole


May Pole
Originally uploaded by A John Walters

Decorating the pole before putting it up.



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Monday, 26 April 2010

Strawberries


Strawberries
Originally uploaded by A John Walters

How my over-wintered strawberries are looking

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

Hops

Today I dug over a plot of land to plant my hops. I've also ordered a5m telegraph pole to act as a trellis.

The varieties, in case anyone's interested, are : Goldings, Fuggles and Northern Brewer.

Tuesday, 6 April 2010

Surprise Post

The Posta lady came to the door today with a package I wasn't expecting. Well, not entirely true, I was expecting it but not today. Last time I checked the order it was still "processing". Anyway, to cut a long story short (too late!) I got 3 varieties of hops delivered. Not the flowers but the actual plants. More digging tomorrow then.

Hops seem to belong to a large class of plants where the root system is so complex that botanists seem to have given up and called them Rhizomes. Others in this group are rhubarb and ginger.

The new apple trees seem to be in a rush as they are sprouting new leaves almost daily while the older ones are barely waking up. The quince trees are looking good and my hedgerow no longer looks like an eccentric stick collection.

Monday, 5 April 2010

Hotel



Originally uploaded by A John Walters

As it was a wet and cold Bank Holiday Monday, we did what all Brits do and went to the seaside. One problem though, Hungary is landlocked so we did the next best thing and went to Lake Balaton at a place called Keszthely.

Saturday, 3 April 2010

Saturday

Yesterday and today moved an old settee/bed thing into an out house while the frame got converted into a bookshelf. Apparently, next Saturday is throw-anything-away day so I'll be dragging some manky mattresses to the gate to get collected.

Finished off the potato patch and planted the last of the spuds.

Thursday, 1 April 2010

Potatoes

Finally dug enough of the potato plot to start some planting. We'd gone to Tescoes yesterday and got some manure which I intend to use to line the bottom of the potato trench. If nothing else it'll improve the fertility of the garden.

Apparently, Colorado Beetle is a big pest out here. To the extent that its not notifiable as everyone has it.

Out of the 5 egg-boxes full of seed potatoes I had, I used 2. I managed to almost double the size of the bed with my daily double digging stint. To be honest I was quite surprised so I think my fitness is improving, I know my tan is!

So, another 2 boxes can go in and it looks like there's very achievable target for this weekend to to plant out all the potatoes. I can then start another bed for my other vegetables that I want to start off (Peas and such like)

Vegetable Plot

A view of the Fruit plot.

Vegetable Plots

Last years plot with the onion/carrot plot at the top. You may just make out the fruit plot on the right hand side.

Oh yes, this is the 1st anniversary of me leaving work. Since then I've bought a new house, emigrated, continued to learn a new language, made new friends and pretended I'm Tom Good and started my own version of "The Good Life".