It’s a Beautiful Day in the life!

Lovely post Liz thank you for sharing

Green Lizard's Blog

This blogging place is amazing. But more of that in a moment.

Yesterday (Friday) we were feeling the spring. Our black hen, Bronte sister number II, has been feeling it too.

She’s been sitting in the nest box all day, for around a week. pecking all who approach her and guarding an empty nest box most of the time.

Now it’s tricky to explain to the hens, but without a male, brooding over eggs is a bit pointless. And brooding over a rubber egg is probably worse still!

Bronte II (perhaps Emily?) isn’t listening.

So The Chef Beekeeper, (he’s such a softie : )

decides that she should be rewarded for her efforts.

We bought our hens in a place called Stolwijk. It’s a menagerie with dozens of domestic birds for sale and some other curiosities.

They sometimes also have fertilised hens eggs.

So we headed off in the…

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Em’s Story.

Em's Story..

The joys of spring

Lovely post Martha thank you for sharing

Martha's Kitchen/Garden

It’s getting to the time of year when you start to see something for all the backbreaking, freezing your arse hard work of winter. There are things coming up all over the place. Potatoes emerging, parsnips that I’d given up all hope on finally struggling in to existence and of course millions of weeds in every shape and size.

The hawthorn hedge that I was determined to cut back in the winter is now shooting off wildly out of control. But it’s a beautiful place, for all the wonky beds, and great tufts of grass growing up around the paths, the broad beans riddled with holes and the nibbled cabbages. It’s mine, it’s alive and it’s bloody wonderful.

I planted up a new bed last weekend. Rather than the usual block planting I did a bit of a meddle and it was very satisfying. I suspect when I return this…

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Green Week – Three Things You Can Do To Make A Difference

lovely post thanks for sharing

Sunny Sleevez

 

 

Looking to make an impact this Green Week, but aren’t sure what you can do? Below are three great tips on how you can make a difference by changing simple, everyday things. It’s easy and these tips will teach you how to make a difference not just on Green Week, but all year long no matter where you are!

In The Office

Working in an office you may see a lot of paper waste. This is a great opportunity to build team moral by going to your manager and asking to implement a recycling program. When others get involved it truly can make a difference. If you drive to work, cut down on emissions by carpooling. Send an email offering others to carpool with you. You may discover some great company while doing your part to keep our air clean.

At Home

When it comes to your…

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How does your garden grow? Part II

Lovely post Liz

Green Lizard's Blog

Getting Weirder!

So after I wrote about some of the gardens at the allotments, I got more observant and decided there were other neighbours who deserved a mention.

Their ingenuity is outstanding!

Some will be hard to believe.

Now if you were making raised beds you’d use wood. Wooden you? Or slabs maybe?

Ah, now you see you’re doing it wrong you should be considering windscreens! No, not wind breaks as in beach but windscreens as in car!

It’s hard to believe but there they are. Dozens of flat glass panels. They went like that after severe frost a few years ago.

So I think this neighbour is The Glazier.

We have rules at our garden about construction and height. If your plot is directly below the pylons. (What a choice location!) you can’t have a shed or anything over 1.5m as it’s apparently a fire risk. Subterranean…

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Lithuanian Verruca Cure: unbelievable!

lovely post it amazing how mother nature knows how to heal us if only we listen to her more often

Green Lizard's Blog

So if you don’t like pictures of people’s feet or warts or verrucas…

Look away now!

This is not a post for the faint-hearted but it may well be useful for the afflicted.

I’m not a filthy person. But I’ve noticed that people don’t talk about warts much.

If you mention a verruca there’s an exodus from the pool faster that the Jaws movie cleared the water!

Okay….

Set aside your disgust.

This is meant to help people, okay?

Here’s the back story. (C’mon there’s always a back story.)

I’ve had a verruca for about five years. They’re persistent little b#%$$*rs.

And me? I am too!

You name it, I’ve tried it!

There’s significant shelf space of stuff to tackle these things in the pharmacy.

Now I’m not saying those potions, creams, patches, gases and plasters don’t work.

They just didn’t work for me!

In fact the last…

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How to finish a PhD – part one: BREATHE!

awesome post

Dr Kirsty MacLeod

It’s hard to find an image that better fits a PhD (and in fact, an academic career) than that of the juggler with a dozen balls in the air and all the pressure in the world not to drop any. Except for me it’s not quite accurate – I’m the one who is so inept at juggling that I’m cowering somewhere away from the scene, frankly a little afraid of even trying to keep all the things I’m meant to be doing on the go.

Top academics (and Harry Styles):

Me:

I’m not a disorganised person, and I don’t struggle with stiff workloads, so I’m certain that I’m not the only nearly-finished PhD student who occasionally feels overwhelmed by the multiple pressures of finishing a thesis, publishing papers, reviewing for journals, applying for postdocs, AND doing as much paid teaching as much as possible to survive.

Looking back over the last…

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The Big Lunch Resourceful Week

Lovely post and thank you for sharing Jen

My Make Do and Mend Year

Have you heard of The Big Lunch?

“The Big Lunch is a very simple idea from the Eden Project.
A Big Lunch can be anything from a few neighbours getting together in the garden or on the street, to a full blown street party with food, music and decoration that quite literally stops the traffic. The aim is to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours annually on the first Sunday in June in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.
Since starting in 2009, thousands of Big Lunches have taken place in all types of community across the UK, and last year 3.65 million people took to their streets, gardens and community spaces for the fifth annual Big Lunch.”
(Snaffled from The Big Lunch website, as they explain it much better than I could!)

So why…

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Argh, allotment challenge Epi 2

Lovely post and thank you for sharing

horticultural 'obbit

Argh, allotment challenge epi 2

A marginally better episode.

“It’s a bean…why’s it gotta be straight? It’s a bean.” Those were my words, said over and over. “good beans are wonky.”

Straight beans? I had a surprise when the first ever dwarf bean I grew were like little question marks. I have never ever tried to grow a straight bean. I mean, why? I am not growing to model them on a cat walk. And the first mention of pestilence. Blackfly, as I’m glad that Jo squished then. (Incidentally, she is local to me, so hello Jo!) squishing. We all do it! Not so sure about the bean sandwiches at all though. But no, I am never ever going to want straight beans. Mama H’s curry just wouldn’t be the same, I tell you.

Roses, I love. My plot has them all over. Both bushes and climbers, red, white, blue…

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A Cautionary Tale

lovely post Liz

Green Lizard's Blog

Last November, at the allotment there was little going on. Most of the vegetable patches were cleared and the permanent plants were dormant.

It was cold and crisp. The sky was relatively clear. What happens at allotments on days like this?

Maintenance and weeding.
Checking things out. Looking for surprises like the odd parsnip. If there’s been frost they’ll be extra sweet.

So I spot that the cabbage family is a bit neglected and weedy looking. They’re a highlight of my veg plans. Last winter we had Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, broccoli and kohl rabi.

Cabbages are very tempting to birds in winter. Pigeons in particular can have a field day, stripping the leaves back to their central ribs.

To protect our precious winter greens, we had assembled a set of plastic tubing and covered it with netting. The nets are held in place with two pronged pins.

I fetched…

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