The Saga Recommences!

So I haven't updated for the last few days, but I HAVE been with the action making. Oh yes. As you can see, this is the site about three days ago when I started digging, and then realised it was far too dry. I had to move the frame, obviously, because the frame has to be slightly sunk in, thus the dug out section must be larger than the frame.


Behold the new and prettier sign! Some people mentioned lack of colour, so THERE YOU GO.
Now, this is what the site looks like TODAY, after having been dug out, and then having the grass put back in, upside down. I'm just supposed to leave that now... On the sides, you can see stones that I picked out. Cause there were too many stones!



In a different part of the garden, on an unrelated note, here are my onions! They're just regular cooking onions that started growing, instead of cooking, so I planted them. They look like they might flower. It's a bit tricky to see, but I've got the staked up, else they'll flop all over the place. Also, slugs LOVE THEM. To slugs, onions are like.. candy floss. Irresistable. Seriously. I put down pellets, thinking I would find a few dead slugs, but there were about TWENTY. And that was only the first time. I did it again a few days ago and there were still about ten! Where do they come from? I don't know. I feel bad killing them, but what can I do?


Here are my extremely stylish wellies, covered in dust, and being glared at by Olive, who you can see in the top right hand corner.

THIS is a beautiful poppy that I grew. it's MAGNIFICIENT, no? You thought poppies were always red? WRONG. This is a gorgeous one. Unfortunately, they have short lives, and three days after this picture was taken (TODAY) the petals all fell. I picked them up and stuck them in the back of my diary :) Coincidentally, all the petals I find in good condition, I stick in the front of my favourite books :)


That's all for now!!! OH also I planted some radish seeds in a pot. We'll see how that goes.

The Saga Experiences a Mild Delay

So.. basically the next step in Project vegetable patch, was to dig out the grass.. unfortunately, due to the high temperatures and lack of rain, it's pretty much impossible. Thus I will have to wait a few days, for it to rain.

it SAID it was going to rain today! But nothing! not even a little shower.
So the NEW plan, is to go to the shops tomorrow and buy seeds, pesticides, compost (maybe) and get a book or two out of the library to do with gardening. And one about poetry you can read in the garden. I thought that might be a nice thing to do while I wait for it to rain.

Anyway, here are some photos of the garden instead, I took them about a month ago, but not much has changed.

These are our chives, which have flowered this year, they've got this lovely purple flowers that you can see, which produce seeds that drop on the pavement and then grow like weeds... so yeah. We can't eat them fast enough :P The sun is setting here, so it's turning some of them pink.



Chives again. Gosh, who would have thought a herb could be so pretty?


This is.. an unnamed plant. It's kinda boring if you want my opinion. Lots of little flowers.


This is quite nice, it's these red flowers (who knows what they are) shot through with wild long grasses. As a matter of fact, right now, they're shot through with LOADS of lavender. I might take a picture. Then again, there aren't so many red flowers now :P

Now my poppies! Many of you have heard of my poppy woes, mainly that they do not transplant well at all :( However, they're doing pretty well in the pot, some more opened today. So here's a nice picture.



And here's one of the new ones that opened today. I planted a mixture of poppy seeds, so most of them are different.



And this is the one I am proudest of! Basically, I started growing them in this ice cream tub but unfortunately, when I transplanted the bigger ones OUT of the tub, many of the remaining ones died, or became very small. However, this one, which is actually quite tiny, produced a lovely flower! It's white and pink. *smiles* I'm so proud of it!



Anyway, enough of me being a complete loser. Lol. What am I talking about? I never stop being a complete loser. Let's name my top five activities: gardening, reading, video games, writing a book where nothing happends and reading fanfiction. Hoyes.

Anyway. Enjoy the summer. :)

The Saga Begins!

This summer, I'm trying to make a vegetable patch! It's going to take a while, so I'll keep you updated here, with photos (if the batteries in my camera hold out :P) and stuffs!

Today, I started. I'm hoping to convert a patch of grass behind some shrubs to a vegetable patch. It'll be hidden by the shrubs so you shouldn't be able to see it from the house, but there should still be plenty of sunlight!

Here is the ever so professional sign that I made. It looks like it's painted in blood, I know :P



And here's the site SO FAR.
WISH ME LUCK

Stubbornability

Today, I repotted my Azelea which was still sulking, in the garden where it can hopefully have a jolly good time. I also adopted a small pine-like tree as my bonsai tree. It's very small. but it seems to be like that because it's in such a small pot, not because it's a bonsai tree. Is that cheating?

Mum spent a good hour and a bit calling Olive while she sat on the step and Olive lounged a few metres away. Mum was insistent that if she just varied her tone, or continued for long enough, Olive would heed her. It was not to be. I can't believe my mum has so much time on her hands.

NATURE!

Here are two photos I took yesterday.

Do you know the story about the tulip? Everyone knows it really.
Basically, Sarah bought a tulip bulb, well, the guy didn't charge her because she looked so pitiful, buying a single tulip bulb. And her mother didn't believe it would grow, but it DID.
We've been placing bets on what colour it would be, and so HERE IT IS.

It's PEACH. With white on the edges. Isn't it goooorgeous? I think so too. I'm so proud, my first tulip!! I hope it grows back next year!

Here's the second photo, it's a bad one, you might have to open the picture in a new window to make it big enough. See the fence covered in ivy? The bit above the reflection of the picture of the sunflowers has a baby fox sleeping on it!! It was SO CUTE. I had to take a picture, even though it's rubbish quality.

The Gardener Diaries. Part Two

I could hardly sleep last night, thinking about the lack of composting being done in my composter. I mean it's like having a dish washer and putting your dirty dishes there but not turning it on. Or having a laptop and not using it. The lack of productivity is just heinous.

Olive woke me up this morning at nine o'clock, making a sound like a food processor for reasons unknown. But enough of this, to the point.

At approximately three forty, I put on my coat, welllies, outdoor headscarf and headed for the door.
Now my plan was to empty the composter of the little detritus it contained, dig up the earth and replant it, before refilling it with it's contents, cursing the gardener the whole time. The first problem I encountered was lack of shovel.

The Lack of Shovel Problem
Basically, lack of shovel put a bit of a hole in my plans. I could hardly dig up the earth with my little spade, nor could I effectively plant the composter.
First stop was the shed.
Or should it be: The Shed.

Otherwise known as the End Of The World For Junk We don't Want to Get Rid of. You know what I'm talking about. When you have items that you don't use and don't want to clutter up your room, they first go to the landing, then maybe to the kitchen. Sometimes they'll get shoved in a cupboard, sometimes under someone's bed. Eventually they get sent to either the loft or the shed. In my house, it's the shed.

I unlocked the door and peered in, trying to ignore thoughts of creepy spiders creeping around and maybe jumping on my head and creeping around there, and instead very quickly did a search for a shovel. None was apparent. I braved the shed for a few more seconds, before turning tail.

I know, I showed cowardice in the face of danger. If this was Lord of the Rings, I would have been all "SURE SAURON! Have the shiny ring! Just don't make me go with the creepy spiders, mkay?!"I'm fairly disgusted with myself, I can tell you.

But I still didn't have a shovel, so I had to go to get one from the neighbours, unfortunately I was obstructed by momom.

Me: I'm going next door.
momom: why?
me: to get a shovel
momom: oh no, you're not doing anything like that.

Momom was concerned for my wellbeing, thought that shovelling compost was a dangerous activity, etc. She tried to convince me to let the gardener handle it. She was SO on his side. Obviously he'd got to her first. Luckily I explained carefully (with necessary drama) the situation and she became a late convert to the Sarah V Gardener cause, becoming quite vocal and enthusiastic by the end, and let me go get the shovel.

At the neighbours house
me: Please can I borrow your shovel?
neighbour: what for? the compost?
me: I'm going to kill someone! (elderly couple walk past and stare at us, I smile manically)
neighbour: Well the shovel might dent a bit, I suggest a knife.

I did get the shovel, however.

End: Lack of Shovel Problem

So I picked up the unsteady composter and pretty much threw it away, letting the grass cuttings inside flop over. Then I set to work digging a hole to put the composter in, for added contact with the worms.

The first problem was ..well I don't know how to use a shovel. I tried stepping on it and letting it sink into the soil like they do on tv, but I wasn't heavy enough and nothing happened. Eventually I settled for bracing myself against the shed (the outside isn't scary) and pushing against the top of the shovel, and in this way managed to get it in a bit. Eventually I made something of a hole. I began to sympathise with the Gardender a little bit. I mean, I was motivated by .. justice.. really, and even I didn't dig for as long as I could have. I mean the ground was SOLID. And my back really started to hurt, and the shovel was heavy! The Gardener isn't motivated by justice, he's motivated by money to spend half the year in Australia, as is his custom, and since he wasn't being paid more for the composter, it's understandable.

Eventually the composter was buried, the compost refilled, and the shovel returned.

Phew. At least it's clear that I won.

Like to see him mess with me again.

The Gardener Diaries.

I do not know what my problem is! I am SUCH a mess for so many reasons. I mean I'm in good spirits because you know, it's all so stupid it's funny, but any minute now I'm going to have a breakdown. At least it'll be the hysterical laughing kind. I mean I'm kinda looking forward to it, you know? I bet my mum isn't.

The damn gardener and I are having a war. He doesn't know that I'm having a war with him at this point. I don't want to tell him because he'd either
a. Get annoyed and stop mowing our lawn,
b. get upset and stop mowing our lawn or
c. not hear me over the sound of the lawn mower.

It's like this, the gardener and I have never been on good terms, because he always appears in the garden when I'm not wearing my headscarf, because I don't wear it in the house, obviously. So he pops up all the time and I'm like "ARG! *falls out of chair."
But now it's personal.
See, I have a composter. And by that, I mean I have a hollow plastic cylinder with a lid and no bottom. You're supposed to 'plant' it in the ground, so the worms can get in , and it'll be steady an shit. HOWEVER the gardener, last year, when I got it, set it up before I could, and by set it up, i mean he just PUT it on some rocks (like you're supposed to do that!?!?!?) and was like "yes, it's done. "

I am so sure.

So then this year, he not only emptied it without first telling me but he AGAIN set it up, and put a load of grass in it. The problems are many fold.

1. You are supposed to PLANT IT. As I said! If you don't plant it, it wobbles. You know what I have now, a wobbling composter.
1b. In addition, the lack of planting, and the uneven ground means that there are some gaps between the bottom of the composter and the ground. So when I put in scraps, I get eggshells rolling out of the bottom.
1c. In addition to both of these points, the composter lacks stability if you don't 'plant' it. Therefore it's difficult to mix the contents of it without having the composter tipping over and spilling vegetable peelings all over the garden. Since mixing the compost is pretty much the second step in the important two step plan of composting, expecting compost without mixing is like expecting a snow day if you live on Mercury. It's not gonna happen.

2. You are supposed to 'work the earth' beneath the composter, so that the worms can get up from the soil into the compost and turn cucumber peel into soil. HOW ARE THE WORMS TO DO THIS IF THE GROUND IS ROCK HARD? Does he expect the worms to wear hard hats? The worms will not do this, I guarantee it.

On top of this, I mean hello, it's my composter. I get that he's a gardener (although I doubt he has a phD in horticulture) but it doesn't mean he should just DO things. I had a leaflet and everything! It totally told me what needed doing! He didn't even read the leaflet! (He didn't even ask if I had one.)

And I accepted this all last year, but he's done it AGAIN. And he's started filling it with grass so I can't even take it away, work the earth below and plant it properly. so he thinks! I will not be stopped by something so insignificant. Instead, I'm going to EMPTY the composter and start from scractch. He came today, so he wont be back for a few days.

Teach him to mess with my compost.

I grew it!!

From a bulb!! I'm so proud!

I don't know what it's called because I threw away the label so I wouldn't see what it would look like.

Year Twelve

Wow! I've pretty much finished year twelve! I've had my exams, two in each subject, and on monday I go back to school to start my year thirteen syllabus. It's just unbelievable, me, in year thirteen. Doing my A-Levels.

So let's summarise the year. I've made tonnes of new friends, and stayed in touch with most of my old ones which is something. I've probably got more work done than your average seventeen year old. And look at that, I'm seventeen! I wrote the Marmalade Chronicles which were fantastic, if you don't mind my saying. I did a ridiculous amount of extra curricular activities. I really go into Doctor Who :p I went out more than I'm used to, and I had a great time. I made some very responsible decisions, and I slept a lot.

I think I developed well as a person, and I've kept my temper remarkably well. I've also managed to tone down my bitchyness and not really been particularly mean to anyone, I don't think.

It's strange to have nothing to do, but School on Monday, and it'll be work work work. No idea what subject I'm dropping, and no idea what course I'm taking. I still want to develop as a person, I'm not finished yet, so I don't know what kind of person I'll be or what job would be most suited.

Kim and I are getting way excited about the 21st of July which is of course the release of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Does anyone know what a Deathly Hallow could be? It sounds a bit like Godric's Hollow. Hallow, Hollow. It sounds like I'm talking on a telephone.

I got myspace, which means I have another website to go to.

My internet life is a bit dull right now, but my regular life is pretty good. On Thursday, Rachel came around to my house at about 2ish, and we met Kim and Ellen at school at 3.45. Then we all went to eat at this nice restaurant which is lovely, because it's never full and they never turn you away. It wasn't vair expensive either, even though we were completely full afterwards, and we got tricked into buying olives and bread. I didn't want to, but Ellen and Kim insisted that it would be free. Shows what THEY know. Lollerskates.

I think it's great when you get to a place where you stop wanting to be friends with someone, or wishing that you could meet someone, and start to really appreciate your friends, instead of constantly reaching for something you can't attain, you just float. I feel like this year I've gotten that with Rachel and Kim, who are lovely, both for different reasons, both equally.

I'm also at war with one of my friends. We've divided into two teams. There is team Sarah, and Team phishy. I kidnapped Team phishy's most treasured possessions and held them ransom, then they stole my lunch and stationary, next I have something big planned, but I cannot divulge any information here, for fear of it being intercepted.

Todays Doctor Who was vair scary. I was scared. Hummm I'm going to have some hot chocolate. Also, Jess sent me a lovely mixed tape and I did some gardening.