Plants at 6 weeks old

Marmande Beef Tomato at 6 weeks

Cucumber in greenhouse. 6 weeks old

Sweet Million tomato.  6 weeks. Outside now

6 week carrots - outside

Pumpkins at 6 weeks inside greenhouse

Runners Beans 6 weeks.  Been outside for a few days now.

Petunia at 6 weeks

Parsley and Thyme at 6 weeks

Black Eyed Susans at 6 weeks

This courgette is 6 weeks and I planted this out today 27th April.

Dahlia at 6 weeks

Here are all the plants that are six weeks old today.  I have never planted so many things before and it has been really exciting watching everything grow.  All plants in greenhouse have had to to watered morning and evening as we have had fantastic hot weather over the last week or so.

Tomorrow plants will be six weeks old

I will take pics tomorrow of all the plants and I will then be able to compare what they looked like at 4 weeks and two weeks later.

The day I learned I'd got breast cancer and six months later

 At the clinic (from my diary)
It was hard to understand really.  You look at a picture and tell me I have cancer.  I suddenly want to be on my own and throw myself onto the floor and cry my eyes out, but I can’t.  You’re there, you see, telling me I have a rocky road ahead of me.  I want to scream – stop stop – I don’t want to know, please just make it go away.  But you cant, I know you are only trying to be helpful but I can’t take all this in at the moment.

 I try not to cry when I walk through the waiting room in front of all the others who are going in for their mammograms, there you go again always thinking of other peoples’ feelings.

I’m going to die I think, oh my gosh I am going to die, that’s all that is going round in my head.  I go to my grandmother’s graveside on the way home. Oh nan, I might be coming to join you but I’m not ready yet I say.  I miss you, even now I miss you, the kindest woman that you could ever wish to meet.  I remember your hugs and your roly poly puddings and spotted dick.  My you could cook!

Later......

Well  it was a rocky road, they weren’t kidding, but do you know what, they tell me they got all the cancer out and that with any luck with the radiotherapy and the pills I am taking it won't be coming back!!! I’m happy to be alive, be in my garden looking at the sky and the birds and thanking God for my wonderful life.

Easter Sunday

It has been a long time since I last posted.  This has been because I have been a bit under the weather and what with doctors and hospital appoinments I just havent had the time or the inclination.  My partner brings me a big bucket of compost and I sit in the shady part of the greenhouse and plant my seeds and water them in with my pump sprayer.  This is about as much exercise as  I can manage.  There is nothing more satisfying than seeing those little seedlings appear. Everything is at about five and a half weeks.It is the 24th April and I took a chance and planted my dahlias and runners beans, as the long range forecast does not include any frosts.  I hope this indeed will be the case - fingers crossed!! There are plenty more plants in the greenhouse though if the worst comes to the worst.  If not I will be picking runner beans on the 1st July.  Watch this space!

Plants at 4 weeks old

Pumpkins

Dahlias

Beef Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Black Eyed Susan

All my plants are doing well in the greenhouse and are 4 weeks old now.  I am going to try a box of Miracle Gro this year that I got on offer at Squires. It is their 75th anniversary and their booklet has been really useful with lots of offers this year.  Yesterday I got four fuchsias.  Very pretty -  Happy Wedding Day, New Millenium, Torville and Dean and Carmel Blue.  I took cuttings of these straight away to get extra plants and to also encourage bushy growth on the original plants.

Chickens

I was quite distressed yesterday to see one of my chickens eat a field mouse.  This cute little thing had been around the garden for a while and was quite tame but it stupidly went into the chicken run and I didn't like what happened!

Flowers and Veg I grew last year

Charlotte potatoes

My Duchess of Edinburgh clematis
It can grow up to a height of 10 feet. Mine flowers early May. The flowers are 4-6″(10-15cm) in size. They are large,  creamy white and green. 

Passion flower

Red dahlia

I hope everything grows as much as it did last year.  Here are a few of the things I grew.  Tomorrow we are supposed to have a sunny day so lets hope so and I can get out into the garden again.

Beef Tomatoes

Planted these 9 days ago and had them on the windowsill.  These I am doing for a friend and I pricked them out carefully, picking them up by the two leaves and dropping them gently into the prepared hole in a 2.75 in. pot.  Don't touch the stem as this will bruise and encourage disease.  I sunk the stem right down in the soil and this will make more roots.

The above beef tomatoes were planted a week before my friends and have their third and fourth set
of leaves.















Here are the same beef tomatoes at four weeks.
Now here they are at 13 weeks:-

Squash

My squash went in at the same time as the pumpkins and have been on a warm windowsill and the transferred to the conservatory and now transferred to larger pots into the greenhouse.  Have just got a small heater for the greenhouse so hoping they will do better in there until the frosts have disappeared.

Pumpkins

My pumpkins were big enough to be transplanted into some large pots.  The roots were coming out the bottom of the small cups so it was time to move them on.  Pumpkins don't like their roots being disturbed so hopefully they will grow on nicely.

Pumpkins at 4 weeks old

Pumpkins turned out well in the end and was able to give my daughter a pumpkin for her birthday in October.

She carved it like this:-

Chickens

My 'Blue' Chicken

The top light coloured egg is hers.

This chicken laid the middle egg and it was a double yolk.

Fresh eggs do not spread across the pan like shop bought eggs and they taste so much better.