March 2006

1 Intellectual challenge this month with the start of the table top rally competition tonight (can't download the details until 10pm).  This means quite a few hours hunched over an ordinance survey map in the next four weeks to try to beat last year's effort.  If this is a mystery to you, and you want to know more, see http://table-top-rallying.org.uk
2 Snow showerWhilst dodging the snow showers, I finished digging and spreading my well rotted manure/compost on the original vegetable plot and started to spread on the new vegetable beds.  

Tried a new recipe for dinner, Rabbit with Mustard & Prunes.  So nice, it's got to be this month's Recipe of the Month.
3 Tried a Cherry & Chocolate Chip Cake in the breadmaker.  Tasted ok, but not too impressed with the texture (too heavy) and outside was a little overcooked.
4 Finished that super chunky jumper today - took 2.5 evenings to knit but 1.5 to stitch up!  See it in Chick Originals.
No garden work today, been out visiting and walking.
6 Finished all the compost spreading, luckily just enough for my seven new vegetable beds.
Got a fresh rabbit from the local butcher for only £3!  Great price for three meals - two with the rabbit and a third with the liver & kidneys.
7 Out and about in London with Ray's two daughters, to celebrate youngest one's birthday.  Hope she likes her Chick Original....  An excellent meal in the highly recommended fish restaurant of the Great Eastern hotel.  Very special !
8 Making an attempt to stop the birds nesting in our car port, where there are seemingly ideal places built into the design for them.  Some hardy but flexible green plastic, a hammer and a few steel tacks will hopefully do the job.
9 The table top rally is driving me crazy !!  The immortal complaint of "I can't do it" echoes around the house at regular intervals.  Even when I manage to complete a section, my poor old eyes struggle to see all the fine detail to answer the questions.  Somehow, I don't think I'm going to do very well.....  Still, what do they say - "it's the taking part" and all that.......
Crocheted a belt tonight to give to my god-daughter tomorrow.
10 Shopped in Chelmsford, then visited my best friend and her daughter (my god-daughter).
Finished another crotchet belt (now for sale) and started a bag.
11 Got caught in the snow measuring out my vegetable patch, so I can draw up a detailed planting plan.  Temperature plummeted below zero, so I quickly retreated indoors after sorting out the chicks. 
Crow doing the first of his HRCR rallies and looks like he's done well - but can't say for sure until the results are final.
12 Baking day - brown olive bread and chocolate fudge brownies.  Started to draw up my veg plot on the computer but I'm not very good with graphic drawing so it may take me a while.....
13 Another  lunchtime walk with my best friend from ex-work and some new vegetable patch digging.  Cold weather forecast for the rest of this week.  At this rate it's going to be mid to late April before the soil is warm enough for germination.  Looks like a late start to this season's growing.
15 Posing chicksCrow's birthday so out for lunch with his mum.  Just time to dig a new veg bed each and play with the chickens before coming indoors.  They all perched in a row tonight to pose for a photo  ---->
Rejuvenation of my potting shed has started today.  See the full story in my Vegetable Garden section.
17 Searched for the best deal on electricity today.  What a minefield!  See what I found out under Electricity Research.
First Aggie egg Great celebration as Aggie laid her first egg of the year!!!  Not bad for a nine year old hen.  Being a bantam she only lays a small egg, but a very tasty one nevertheless.
Potting shed revamp is all but finished - new sill, new door, interior cleaned & painted, new shelves fitted.  Just two windows to adapt to allow ventilation, but that has to wait for a couple of weeks.
18 That's it!  I'm not buying any more expensive garden centre plants (Crow says hurrah!) for the rabbits to destroy.  Both of my Skimmias are now pretty well defunct.
We used to have a lot of fish our pond but I thought they had all disappeared.  However, I spotted two in there recently.  Not sure if they have survived after a visit from a heron at 7:00 this morning.
Cooked venison for the first time for dinner - in chocolate red wine sauce - very nice.
19 Friends round for lunch.  Menu: Egg mayonnaise with pesto & pine nut bread, followed by oak-smoked citrus & black pepper salmon, pea & bean salad and new potatoes, followed by tarte de natas and cheese board (cheddar, lancashire with raisins, apple & cinnamon and mature sundried tomato & spring onion). Yum yum!
20 Need heating oil so that calls for a ring around the suppliers for the best price - results here.
Still toiling over the table top map.......
21 Disinfected the potting shed and cleaned some pots and propagator trays ready for use in there.
Just time for a swift 4 mile walk before another trip into London to belatedly celebrate Crow's birthday with his two daughters.
22 This table top rally has me cross-eyed and in despair.......
23 OK - can't wait any longer - just got to plant something!  The ground is still far too wet & cold for my potatoes, so I've planted up two giant pots.  Only get four seed potatoes in each, but it will give us some early pickings.  Also, one onion and one shallot pot planted as test controls to compare with paddock planting.
24 Entertaining again!  Old work friends.  Tonight's menu: Egg & chutney salad with herb bread followed by rabbit in cream with mashed potatoes, cauliflower & green beans, followed by blackberry mess and cheese board (cheddar, lancashire with raisins, apple & cinnamon, ilchester applewood smoked and mature sundried tomato & spring onion cheddar). Yum yum!
25 Time to play the Germination Game! My first seed planting day - risking them in the potting shed and praying the overnight temperature is not too low to stop everything happening.  Cross your fingers for me?
Tomato, courgette, pepper, broccoli, sweetcorn, beans and lavatera (can't eat this but it is a very pretty flower).
26 Mother's Day, so off to visit Crow's mum.  (Sadly, mine's too far away for a day trip.)  Back to do some household chores and final table top checking.
27 Since the weather has turned mild, I decided to prune my three rose bushes.  Don't know exactly how to do it for the best, as I don't know what type of roses they are.  However, they are more of a wild rose than a cultivated one.  So, I just followed basic pruning rules (I think!).
It's after midnight and I have at last finished (or given up on) the table top and submitted my answers.  There is only so much checking, double-checking and triple-checking that I can do.....
28 RabbitCrow caught his first rabbit!
I had a general garden pottering day; assisted with chicken run cleaning, tidied the rose bed and added more gravel, tidied around the pond and added gravel, general clearing/cleaning up around the flower garden, potted up three melon pear pepino plants and took twelve lemon pelargonium cuttings from my favourite plant which is dying (it only got worse after January when the frost got it).
29 A big treat this evening!  We went with friends to The Stables at Milton Keynes to see Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent.  Excellent venue and concert!!
30 Lunchtime walking & gossip, followed by new vegetable patch digging.  I've got half of my potatoes chitting, so I'll be planting them and some onions soon.
Attempting to cook duck breasts with gin & blackberry sauce this evening - exotic huh?
31 Duck update - successfully cooked, tender and very tasty.
Potting shed windows completed today - see Vegetable Garden page.
I put together 2 corner etageres (plant stands), did a bit of garden tidy-up, planted five red Lilium Menorca bulbs (which I got free with my potato order) and put out last year's lily pots, which hopefully will flower again this year.