Is it worth it?

It's been a little while since I've posted a blog, the weather has been mostly grim which makes it harder to get a good photo, plus Leah had nabbed the batteries from my camera which didn't help either.

Breathed a huge sigh of relief when I spotted flowers (admittedly very juvenile ones) on both of the grow house aubergines. The 3rd aubergine hasn't fared so well being in the raised bed but it shows that if I grow them again, undercover is the way to go.

The squash and pumpkin are producing a good number of male and female flowers, unfortunately they are not open at the same time so no pollination happening so far but that was not unexpected. Time will tell.

I had found that my rocket kept on bolting almost as soon as it got to a reasonable size, after some investigation it seems it was just getting too much sun (surprising, I know!) so I moved all my lettuces, parsley and coriander closer to the house where it has partial shade and now everything looks much happier. This is also great for going out and picking leaves for salads, it's hard to put into words how it feels to be able to just step into the garden and take what I need from what is there. The cut and come again lettuce have served us well and the thinnings from the young cos lettuce are a bit of a revelation to someone like me who really isn't a paragon of health and virtue.

My favourite has to be the garlic, the delicately pungent garlic smell that comes from the pile stored in the grow house makes me very happy. It feels like a real treat using them instead of regular shop bought garlic in my cooking. All I can say is wow!

Last Friday, I went and did some gardening at Leah's school. Actually ended up helping two mums who work in the allotment plot sized veg garden at the school. They want to be able to cook on site with the kids  using food that they've grown and it looks like I'll be helping. I took some peas from home I'd picked just a while earlier, the joy came from the response from the kids who wouldn't try them at first and then when they did seeing their faces light up. "These taste better than the peas we have at school!" cried some of the boys. Today I had put some peas in their pods in Leah's lunch box and she ended up sharing with about 6 kids and the dinner lady. Things like this lift the spirit, this and all of the above answer the question I posed in the title. Yes, it is worth it!

When I was sorting out the grow houses the other week, I found an old broken up wind chime that had sat hidden away waiting for me to get around to restringing and fixing (a good few years I'm afraid). So I finally resolved to repair it, there were several bits missing or broken, I started fixing it, got bored, left it for another week then got inspired.....



Bits and pieces



Add in some bits from Ikea and a few beads from my jewellery making stuff.



     Quite chuffed with it really and it is completely unique which makes it

even better.

Off to bed soon, last night I dreamt that the tomatoes developed blight. How's that for obsession?

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