Some of our peas and beans are sprouted but many are not.
Mrs Whyte told us that peas and sweet peas in particular, have thick coats.
Some people soak them in water for a day before they plant them to make the
coats a bit softer. We didn’t do that and so she has given them a good soaking now
– even though they have been watered each day by the “water monitors”. So that might get them going. The sunflowers
Mrs Morrison took home last week to her greenhouse are doing well. We could
transfer them to our cold frame once we build it. A cold frame is like a mini
green house. Once seeds are germinated inside, it’s a bit much to put them
straight outside, so we can shelter them in a cold frame for a wee while to
“harden them up” and then plant them in the ground.
We chose another two “water monitors” for the week.
Our interesting fact
this week is that if you squeeze mint leaves they taste like peppermint. Mint
is a herb – that’s a plant that flavours food, is used as a perfume or as a
medicine. Some herbs that we might grow this year in the courtyard are mint
(very nice with lamb in mint sauce), oregano (used in pizzas and pasta dishes),
rosemary (great with lamb as well or in a stew) and chives which are onion
flavoured. These all smell good when you rub them just like mint does. Lavender
is another herb. Some people use it to cook with, but mostly we use it as a
perfume.
We had hoped that a big bag of earth might be delivered
today to fill up the beds for our fruit and vegetables, but it has not arrived.
So we decided to finish planting the hedge trees, to carry on cutting down some
of the bushes at the far side of the car park and to do the edges of the grass
at the front entrance and clear up the paths.
Mrs Thomson and Miss McKenzie helped us with the edges and
the path clearing while Mrs Whyte helped us with the hedge. Mrs Morrison helped
with some of the big roots that were growing into the grass at the front door.
We also planted a poppy plant in a pot in the courtyard. It should last from
year to year.
The front entrance is looking much tidier now and once the
grass starts to grow as it gets warmer, it will look nice and green.
Next week will be our last before the Easter holidays. We
are hoping to get some potatoes started – chitting is when we put the seed
potatoes out in trays to let the “eyes” sprout before the potatoes get planted.
We also need to dig a border for the sweet peas and sunflowers against the
paling fence beside the beds. So still lots to do before the beds are ready and
it’s warm enough to get going with our vegetables and flowers.
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| Nice clean path edges |
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| Nice clean path edges |
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| Grass edges cleared |
