Ecological washing takes time!

I have just had to buy a new washing machine. Got a John Lewis A++ one instead of the Siemens  A+++ one, as it was slightly smaller and I have a very narrow hall between the stairs and the wall.

A wash is going to take 240 minutes - 4 hours!!!

I used to get up weekday time on a Saturday to get the sheets and the towels done before going kayaking, then after kayaking put in the clothes while I went shopping.

I think I will have to learn how to set the timer for the delayed wash so I wash my clothes overnight and my sheets and towels while I am kayaking.

This means understanding instructions, and modern-day instructions don't seem as simple as instructions used to be (and I don't think this is my age!!!).

Delivery Thursday, so I have to clean the hall, the conservatory and the kitchen ready.

Pied wagtail in the High Road

This morning I was waiting in Leyton High Road outside the shops for a bus up to Walthamstow so I could get some vegetables at the Farmers Market. There was a female pied wagtail fluttering about and then landing and walking up and down the pavement with a jerky movement of her tail.

She seemed very unfazed by the people walking past!

I shall have to start carrying my camera around with me.

I think I am a fillyjonk!

I have been reading Tove Jansson's "Tales from Moomingvalley" and recognise myself in the fillyjonk. Not the fear of disasters (though I am a worrier) but all the possessions!

Tove likes simplicity and no unnecessary possessions, whereas I am a pack rat collecting, amongst other things, china and ornaments.

And I got more today! Walked 4 miles to the National Trust's Sutton House in Homerton High Street, finally getting to see the house and visit the craft fair. I didn't spend anything there but I did pass through Chatsworth Road market.

I got some black and white plates showing commedia characters, which will be a present for a friend who is a clown, so that's OK. I also got a green denby looking salt and pepper set to go with the other green denby items I am collecting. I got a brown earthenware cereal bowl that will go with some dinner plates and side plates in that style. From a charity shop I got a blue and white bowl with a lip where you can put your bread when you are having soup, but that turns out to have a hairline crack, so that will become a pot plant saucer. And lastly a glass paperweight.

All second hand, but somehow I feel that's not the point when one is trying to live a greener, simpler life. It's easier to avoid buying new stuff. I can go away and think about it!

green gadgets have a grudge against me!

I had a plug to plug in my mobile when recharging - nothing happened.

I had a charger that was supposed to use the sun to charge itself, but that doesn't work (but I will try out in the garden next summer just in case that works!)

I've just tried a gadget for recharging batteries. The red lights are supposed to turn green when the batteries are charged. I put the old batteries in and get a red and green flashing light show.

And it is not even technology that doesn't work!

I had some plastic covered magnets to go in the cistern to stop limescale. The water within a few days was disgusting gungy. No limescale in sight, couldn't see the enamel below the water line! I cleaned the lavatory and tried again (several times) but no luck, just disgusting looking water!

I feel got at!

House warmth

Out collecting logs from the woodpile this morning in a very heavy frost. Pond frozen but not frozen over. Noticed ice on the water in the watering can 6 ft (2 metres) from the house, but the water in the watering can only 2 ft (66cm) had only just begun to freeze.

Shows how much heat coming from the house, even beside the unheated conservatory. I already have the small pots of plants near the house, and this morning I dragged the bay tree a little nearer.

Today the first evening I have had the central heating on, though probably should have put it on on Thursday evening as I had to shut the door into the hall for the stove to keep the dining room and sitting room warm enough.

With the stove on, the central heating on, and lots of fleecy layers, I am lovely and warm. I am thankful for this when I read of the problems people are having keeping warm in Greece.

Only weight lifters with cars can get potting compost

My strawberry plants arrived yesterday from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

I didn't have enough potting compost so trundled off with my shopping trolley to Homebase. Remembered when I got there that the bags Homebase sell are usually too big. Too heavy for me to lift and likely to damage my shopping trolley beyond repair. But thought I would check. They had very little selection, and all huge bags, except for some growbags.

Who uses growbags in winter?

So off I trundled to B&Q. They had some peat-free potting compost but in 50 litre bags. They had a bigger selection than Homebase but all 50 litre or 60 litre bags. So I got a growbag instead - which I could have got 25 minutes earlier!

I got "Alice" which the catalogue said had sweet fruit. The ones I got from a garden centre this year were virtually tasteless so are for the bin!. I noticed in the Organic Gardening Catalogue that their best seller "Cambridge Favourite" had no mention of what the fruit tasted like!

Ramson puzzle

My order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue arrived at work and I have been bringing the contents of the box home in stages.

I ordered some Ramson (wild garlic) bulbs. The packet told me how deep to plant them and they preferred quick draining soil (good, I've got that) and full sun (not so good, I'm short of that). However, there was nothing about when to plant them.

I googled and found a site that said they should be well watered and they will start to appear in February. Watering over the winter????

I've planted them, mainly along the back of the flower bed where they will get morning sun, and a few in the bed that will have the leaks next year.

Hoping for the best.

As snug as a bug in a rug

It's an old camping trick to keep you warm, to have as much underneath you as above you at night. I apply the same tip to keep me warm in bed as I don't have the heating on overnight.

I have a thick sleeping bag opened out, then a fleecy underblanket on top of that, then the sheet. Then I am as snug as a bug in a rug.

I told this tip to a friend who was complaining of being cold at night in his cold bedroom. He has folded up two blankets and put them under his sheet and says it made a big difference.

Leaving leaves

Had a day off today and spent some time clearing ash tree leaves from the concrete path and the concrete at the bottom of the garden for the leaf mould bin (a large, old birdcage someone had dumped by a lamppost several years ago).

All the leaves on the long flower bed and the vegetable plot I left. It is cover for the soil over winter and saves two lots of carting, to the leaf mould bin and then back on to the beds. This left-where-it-fell leaf mould is all the fertiliser the flower bed gets!

I notice how leaves just left where they lie on the soil rot down much, much quicker than piles of leaves.

I then went to the end of the road and collected several buckets of sycamore leaves for the bed in the front garden. This is for hibernating animals - a couple of autumns ago I saw a large toad, so I want plenty of insulation for her if she is still returning to spend the winter in my front garden.

Pleased to see no sign of ash die back in my neighbours' ash trees - long may that continue.

night shirt becomes a cushion

This was a night shirt that had seen better days so I turned it into a cushion cover for the desk chair,

The chair has a broken seat where I stood on it to reach something one day. I'd like to get it mended, but it would need to be someone within a reasonable taxi ride as the chair is an old-fashioned office chair rescued from being thrown out where I used to work. It is very heavy and not on casters. With a large cushion the chair is still usable.

Need the heating to dry the clothes!

I had a big, double layer, fleece zip-up top which I am wearing. It keeps me warm enough that I don't need the heating on in the evening at the moment.

I am tonight going to treat myself to the woodburning stove so I can bring some clothes downstairs from the clothes "horses" upstairs to try and get them dry.

Last Saturday my kayaking trousers were still damp from the Saturday before! This morning I was having a day off and leaving the house nearly an hour and a half later than a usual weekday. I did have windows open but the air outside was so damp it could have made my clothes wetter rather than dryer!

Pickling onions requires forethought!

Today I started to pickle onions using my mother's very simple recipe: put peeled shallots in a jar, put in pickling spices, pour over malt vinegar, seal jar, leave for 3 weeks.

I got 500g (1 lb) of organic shallots from Waitrose which I peeled. I cut them in half lengthwise to help them fit in the jar I was using. I put in the pickling spices. Then I realised I had hardly any malt vinegar.

I did have plenty of white wine vinegar as I had bought a bottle when I didn't need to last year for the recipe I have used for pickled onions for the last couple of years: put peeled shallots and masses of fresh thyme in a jar, pour over white wine (or cider) vinegar, leave for 3 weeks.

So I've used white wine vinegar. A bit of a waste of the more delicate flavour when using pickling spices, but never mind. The pickled onions should still be good (my mouth is wastering just thinking of them!).

Gold fabric necklace gets made and worn

I have been wanting to make a fabric necklace using suffolk puffs for years. This last month I have made one using gold fabric and gilt buttons from my stash.

It looks more "gold" in reality.

It did not turn out how I imagined it, mainly because the fabric I had was not flimsy enough, but I am still pleased with it and I wore it to a birthday party yesterday.

I want to have another go using finer fabric. I have some in my stash. However I need to think what outfit it will go with. Then I will need to get more party invitations so I can wear it. Very few events I got to involve dressing up (before yesterday, the last party I went to was Christmas eve!).

I have been getting a little frustrated recently not having a car. But travelling by tube yesterday (nearly 2 hours each way) did mean I could enjoy the cocktails. I had 3 "London flower" cocktails which included vodka, elderflower and grapefruit juice.

fuchsia berries eddible!

Fuchsia berries are edible according to James Wong's new book "Homegrown Revolution".

All berries are edible but some varieties are tastier than others.

I do have a space for a pot with a fuchsia in that gets a reasonable amount of sun. Unfortunately they are moisture lovers so that means lots of watering and I am trying to use less water in the garden. (My mother used to bring her fuchsia indoors every day in hot weather and soak the pot in the sink.) I think I will leave it to fate. If I find a bush of one the varieties James mentions then I'll get it.

I will be able to try the berries - my neighbour has a bush in her front garden and I am sure she won't mind if I ask. [Today I looked at my neighbour's fuchsia - full of flowers and no sign of berries!]

Journalists should not be allowed how to books!

My mother bought me the book "Window-box allotment" by Penelope Bennett.

She actually has a roof garden measuring 5 x 2.5 metres (16 x 8 feet) - so one pretty big window box! But that is not what I have found annoying as it will still be useful for me with my small area of garden that gets the sun.

No, it is her instructions for growing tomato seeds:
".....it is time for them to go outside. First into a miniature outdoor 'greenhouse' (ie a large plastic cloche), but only for choicest slice of the day - its middle. Then back they come in the late afternoon."

Despite the high unemployment figures and the rising number of people who work at home, including presumably Penelope Bennett, large numbers of us go out to work. We are not around to take plants out late morning and back in again early afternoon!

Grrrr!

Wet weeks and sunny weekends!

I believe we should take at least as much notice, and preferably more, of the good things that happen to us as the bad.

We have had some very wet weather these last few weeks. Someone at work was in her doctor's waiting room and a women in a wheelchair came in with her lap full of hail! But last weekend and this weekend it has been dry and sunny. So I must remember this the next time it happens the other way round!

It was a bit chilly when I started out on my bike ride this morning, though already 9.30. So this afternoon I moved most of the pots near the house. They get no sun there, but we could have frost any day. Still need to put fleece on the fig tree.

A pumpkin is forming, but don't expect that to come to anything before the cold weather come.

Vegan vegetable grower on Gardeners World

I haven't watched Gardeners World for years, but Friday night a friend rang me to say that there was a vegan vegetable grower featured. So yesterday I watched it on i-player.

The section on the vegan's vegetable growing was very interesting. Monty Don was definitely impressed!

He does use manure (which makes him a vegan by diet rather than a someone who practises vegan gardening. However, the manure was only mentioned in passing. Instead was featured how he used old path mulch (I didn't take it what it was) which is sieved 3 times and each sieving used for a different purpose. and how he fertilised his tomatoes EVERY day.

He uses nettles, comfrey and potash. I don't have nettles except the occasional small plant. I used to do liquid comfrey fertiliser but then the comfrey stated getting rust so have to pick the leaves when they are small, so only small quantities now. I do have plenty of potash from the wood burning stove. Each week over the winter I put it on to the bed that is going to have tomatoes next season. This winter I am going to put it into a thick plastic bag and then make liquid potash fertiliser when the tomatoes start fruiting. I will also get some comfrey pellets from the organic gardening catalogue.

The organic gardening catalogue has already arrived; it is usually worryingly late! I have had my first go through, ticking what I would like. I will now have to go through again, reducing the order to what I have space for and can afford.

Nice bike ride this morning, to Victoria Park in Hackney along the towpaths. First time in 2 months because the towpath was blocked off during the Olympics. However successful the Olympics were, and I know lots of people really enjoyed them, I don't think they justified the cost or the amount of public space taken.

Pesky foxes

Out in the garden to pick autumn raspberries for my breakfast (which have benefited from the recent rain) to find two pots knocked over and my one and only asparagus pea dug up. Presumably foxes playing and looking for worms.

There is also a hole dug under the fence between my garden and Piers' and Charmaine's. Piers will not be pleased! He goes to great lengths to keep cats and foxes out of his garden and almost succeeds. Now they have an easy route. We will have to block it and hope, having had the idea of digging once, they don't try the same trick again.

Rain bringing me to my senses?

I have often got very nice clothes which receive compliments from "Nomads" , a fair trade catalogue.

In the autumn/winter catalogue just received is a patchwork high collar coat which I was very tempted by. It is rather expensive for me, but very nice, and I could wear it for best for years and years. So I was seriously considering buying it.

But today is very wet, so I am being reminded that, not having a car, I need something to keep me dry as I walk the mile to Leyton or Leytonstone tube stations, or wait at the bus stop for a bus to Walthamstow Central. This cuts down when I could use it quite considerably

It can be a drag being green and sensible!

Further thinking needed!

old jam-jars banned!

"Please take note: this looks like a spoof but it's not" .warned the Churches Legislation Advisory Service leaflet I received at work

They warn you reuse jam-jars at home and for private gifts for friends, but you are not allowed to  make jam, chutney, etc, and put in reused jam-jars to sell or give away at a public event!

CLAS contacted the Women's Institute,on the assumption that if there were a flaw in all this the WI would have spotted it. But no luck!

I know someone who makes a lot of jam and chutney which is sold by various local groups she supports. The fruit and vegetables come from her allotments and from hedgerows, but the sugar etc she donates. The extra cost of buying new jam-jars would be very unfair.

And why? What danger in practice does reusing jam-jars cause?!

Tiny crops

Here is a picture of my one and only cucumber:

And my one and only carrot:

Lucky I am not relying on my vegetable patch to eat!!!

slow picking of sloes for gin

According to the books, if you wait till after the first frosts to pick your sloes for gin you don't have to prick each sloe berry as the frost has softened the skins. The one time I waited, I found the berries had all dropped from the bushes.

So today, a bright, sunny September Sunday, I went to Epping Forest to get sloes for sloe gin, wondering what I would find after our rather odd Spring. Found a great long hedge of sloe bushes but very few berries - though those I did find were a good size. So I picked what I could find, and reach. Then came a few bushes that had lots of berries on, so finished filling my soya dessert tub with no problem.

I walked a little further to check the sloe bushes where I used to pick my sloes, to find separate bushes had grown and spread into a thicket - with not a single sloe.

I have just pricked all the berries and put into a jar with sugar and gin. Official quantities are 450 g (1 lb) sloes, 100g (4oz/1/2 cup) sugar. Put together in a jar, shake every day until sugar has all dissolved and then leave for 3 months. Pour off sloes into bottle. Use the gin-soaked sloes to make sloe brandy (sloes, brandy and more sugar).


I've now tried instructions from Pete F to get paragraphs in my post - fingers crossed!

Kittens make it curtains for curtains

I had some padded curtains in my bedroom that I got years ago at an Oxfam shop. Getting 2 14-week old rescue kittens nearly 3 years ago meant they were badly ripped. They semed to have calmed down so I thought I would get some replacement curtains. I don't go for expensive curtains, especially as the cats might decide to dig their claws into the new pair, but I found some gold ones in a catalogue (my bedroom is dark wood with gold/golden yellow). The curtains are very thin material with very thin linings so they are letting in a bit more light than the old pair, even allowing for the old pair's missing stuffing! The catalogue also sold thermal linings, but black-out, thermal linings. I like to open one eye and tell whether I can roll over and go back to sleep or doze until the alarm goes (autumn and spring) or be able to tell at a glance at the clock if there is time to roll over and go back to sleep even though it is already light without waking properly (summer). When I did a thermal lining curtain workshop with Transition Leytonstone last year I made black-out, thermal linings for the spare room curtains as the window is not far away from a street lamp. At New Year I warned a friend that they were black-out linings but the significance didn't sink in and she would have overslept if I hadn't been up and about watching the time! Hopefully I will see Jan, who ran the curtain lining workshop, at a Transition Leytonstone even and she will have some thermal curtain linings I can buy.

seddum envy

This picture of one of the clumps of autumn seddums at Pashley Gardens does not do it justice. This was one of the smaller clumps, six foot (two metres) across and three foot (one metre) at least deep.

They had lots of honey bees feeding on the tiny flowers:

And this is my largest clump of seddums:

It can't be that my garden in north east London gets comparitively little rain, and that I don't water the flower beds. It has had plenty of rain this year!

Comfrey "cream" turning into comfrey "soup"!

The comfrey cream I made with comfrey and coconut oil has melted in the hot weather. The coconut oil I use on my hands sometimes after gardening is only a tiny bit melted. If I make it again I will have to use petroleum jelly which doesn't seem so natural! Yesterday (Saturday) out with friends so didn't get my weekly wash done. So this morning, before I went out on my bike to pick blackberries, i put in the sheets and the towels. I hung those out to dry, and put in my clothes. I had just started hanging out the clothes when I heard what sounded like gravel landing on the conservatory roof. I suspected rain, looked up - yes, clouds. Then a drop or two landed on me. I wondered what do do, risk it hoping it wouldn't be much and the sun would soon dry up any additional wetness or take everything in. I decided I would take in the sheets and the towels as they were almost dry. As the drops were becoming more frequent, I then decided I would take in everything. I was glad I did - we had a thunderstorm and it would have got soaked!

Butterflies and bees

There was a peacock butterfly in my garden yesterday, the first I have had in my garden for years. Generally, however, less butterflies than usual. Today there was a cabbage white and a large brownish butterfly and a small brownish butterfly. Even though the small one flew past my face only six inches away from my nose, I still couldn't see what it was! Worried about all the bees that were feasting on my foxfloves, bell flower and love in the mist. There's not much for them in my garden now. I do have a bronze fennel is full of flowers for hooverflies and I saw some bees on that today which pleased me. I got a "Herbaceos Coreopsis" from Homebase today. Good for butterflies and bees - and drought tolerant. Does need full sun and I don't get much of that. Have put the pot in a sunny place, but would like to get it into the ground as it should keep going for several years.

Cutting back my neighbour's forest

My neighbour's buddleia has grown since I'd trimmed it in the spring so I went in for another go yesterday evening. While doing so I spotted 6 ash tree saplings and one elderflower sapling so I sawed those down. One ash tree sapling was 2 inches (about 10 cm) in diameter near the bottom. There's probably enough ash of a decent thickness to be sawn up to make an hour's burning in the wood burning stove. Because Dorothy is not doing very much in the middle and the bottom of her garden there was nothing under the buddleia branch that stretches crosswise across her garden so I could saw that down. It now needs lopping and sawing into small peices. The gaffer tape on my loppers have stopped holding the loppers together, and the next time I am in a DIY store I plan to treat myself to a new pair.

Fending off encrouchment

Lovely day today with clear blue sky in the afternoon with the siwfts flying really high. Emptied one of the trays of my wormery. Also cut back a vine, bindweed and bramble coming over from my neighbour's. Dorothy has never been very good at weeding the edges of her garden and I have often to pull up her bindweed (though it goes in a bin so I get the benefit of some of her garden fertily), ann cut down seedling ash trees. She is also surprised if she cuts something down if it grows again! She is now in ther late 70s and slowing down. She is letting the bottom half of the garden go and concentrating on the bit near the house. A friend suggested I ask if I could use it. In theory, yes, but I am not sure I would have the time to tend extra space. I certainy haven't got the time to do the clearing that is needed. The loganberries are nearly over. I won't be going out to pick them to have with my breakfast. I will just treat myself to the few I can find when I am out in the garden. Hope to tidy the shed tomorrow evening. It feels a bit strange to be expecting another dry day!

Making the most of a dry Sunday

Two loads of winter woollies through the machine and out on the line. And an hour and a half's gardening. Then cycled off to the Princess of Wales Pub on the Lea Navigation towpath for a protest against the closing of a large stretch of the path during the Olympics. There were 3 sets of people with bikes outside the pub but no indication which, if any, were the protesters. I did have the self-confidence to ask (I don't always) but didn't. This is very unwelcoming to people who don't already know the group. Experience has shown it is not always an oversight, and once I have realised a group doesn't like outsiders it's a bit late and I am stuck! Any way, it meant I could cycle home and have time for lunch before I go on the History Society walk around the Walthamstow reservoirs this afternoon. (There was a walk round Wanstead F;ats, part of the Leytonstone Festival, I could also go on - it was difficult to choose!). Then home with hopefully time for a shower etc before going to a Pop-up cinema in a local pub (also part of the Leytonstone Festival).

home-made comfrey ointment

Today I made some comfrey ointment using coconut oil I got from the chemist and leaves from comfrey which I got from the garden. I melted the oil in a pan and put in the leaves all chopped up and then stirred and stirred for over 10 minutes before pouring through a mini sieve into a jar. The ointment is very dark green. It is nearly cool now but hasn't set whereas I was expecting it to be solid by now! It is good for scratches and grazes. Rub it on twice a day and keeping doing so - for months if necessary - until you either have problem finding the scars or there has been no improvement for aome time. It is good on papercuts as it starts the healing quickly so the cut stops hurting.

Tardy Courgettes

This morning I recorded in my perpetual diary my first loganberries (4) and saw that on 25 June 2008 (ie 4 years ago yesterday) I picked my first courgette. The only courgette this year that has survived the snails and slugs is still small, leaves not big enough or tough enough to put off slugs and snails if they get over the slug collars. And they have managed this for the other 2 courgettes and the pumpkin, which are now just stalks! We've had the rain, but not much warmth. Hopefully as time passes everything will catch up and we won't have early frosts to shorten the growing season the other end!

Robin Hood herb walk

This afternoon I went on a herb walk in a small community garden in Clapton near the Lea Navigation. The Robin Hood Community Garden has not been going very long (2 years, I think)but it already has a lot in it. The "walk" was led by Elsa Hamaz, a medical herbalist, and it was very interesting. We looked at both the medicinal herbs that had been planted in the garden and the medicinal weeds. We must have looked at several dozen, sheltering under the elder and talking about the uses of its flowers and berries during the shower. It was interesting to hear how many herbs are anti-allergic, considering how many allergies people seem to have nowadays. Also,what I thought was sow thistle is actually wild lettuce. I have checked my wild flower book and both the sow thistles do look more thistley. We were invited by two people who help look after the garden to take samples of anything of interest, and I took a handful of mugwort leaves which is supposed to give you vivid dreams that you remember. I'll make a tea later and test it out!

Elderflower Champagne started at last

The elders came into flower late this year, and then we had wet weather on the wrong days. Last Sunday would have been a good day to pick some blossom but as the weather forecast was for heavy showers I hadn't brought any lemons. Friday I got lemons and I picked the blossom on the way back from kayaking with the clouds looking threathening. Luckily I was only needing 5/6 heads for elderflower champagne rather than a lot for elderflower cordial as there were not many heads still in full bloom. I realised after I had poured the hot water onto the sugar that usually I make half the amount of the recipe. Luckily I've collected over this last year more of the Lorina Sicilian lemonade bottles (with the wired on caps), so if I treat myself to another bottle on Monday I should have enough. You need to leave plenty of room in the bottles otherwise they explode. The lemonade bottles are 75ml and I'll put about a pint in.

Bee flowers not bee hives

I have thought it strange that in the face of the problems bees are facing we are often encouraged to start keeping bees. I thought this would increase the competition bees faced finding food. I thought growing more flowers that beeds liked would be a far better thing to do (and am delighted with how many bees and other insects I have feeding in my garden between the showers). In the Evening Standard today there was an article telling how "Too many hives mean not enough food and falling honey yields". So my logic was right! If you look carefully you can see a bumble bee's bottom! Apologies - there must be a trick to getting the photo to appear it the right place!

First strawberry

My grandmother's birthday was 13 June and we always had strawberries for her birthday tea. Sometimes just 2 or 3 strawberries each, sometimes a bowlful each. So I always judge whether strawberries are early or late by whether they ripen before or after Grandma's birthday. Yesterday, 13 June, I ate my first strawberry, from one of the new plants in the blue-glazed strawberry planter. Not particularly tasty so I probably won't set up my green-glazed planter with runners from these plants. (I am planning 3, each a different colour, so I know which pot has first year, which has second year, and which has third year strawberries.) I also had 8 autumn raspberries. Lots of fruit on the loganberries, but a long way from ripening yet.

Getting ready for winter

Getting ready for winter doesn't seem out of place when I wearing a thick woolly jumper on a cool, dull June day. I had my logs delivered this afternoon. I only got about half way down the log pile as the winter was so mild - several nights when putting on my double-layered man's fleece jacket was all I needed to keep warm. So this year only 10 bags instead of 30. It took me over two hours to get them through the house and stacked.

London Green Fair

On monday I missed the Redbridge Green Fair because I was out with friends. This afternoon I went to the London Green Fair in Regents Park. As it was not local(ish) I didn't see anyone I knew, whereas at Redbridge Green Fair I would expect to meet quite a few. There were masses of food stalls, so I treated myself to a vegan burger Chose this as I don't cook burgers at home so it was a real treat. I got some vipers bugloss at the River of Flowers stall. I've never heard of this plant before but apparently bees love it and it flowers late June and early July when I will be needing bee/insect food. River of Flowers supports the creation of wildflower meadows in the form of 'floral stepping stones' that flow through the urban landscape like 'rivers' of flowers. www.riverofflowers.org At another stall I got a yarrow - also for insects, and at yet another stall a corriander (for me). I got 3 second hand books, a necklace of second hand cornelian beads and a poncho that looked like it was made of wool but was made from recycled plastic bottles. It is very light and won't take up much room in a bag, so just right for a cool morning that will warm up, or a warm day that will lead into a cool evening. It rained, though not heavily, on the journey home, but stopped so I could plant out the yarrow and vipers bugloss and put the corriander into a bigger pot. My garden was really buzzing this morning, I haven't had as many bumblebees for some years, so I am really pleased with myself.

Lovely evening amongst the bees

Cool but otherwise a lovely evening which I spent potting up seedlings on my bench and other quick chores in the garden. Seen my largest number of bumble bees so far this year - and other insects too. The foxgloves are proving very popular, and the sage, just in flower, is a hit as well. The plants I know as "Grandmothers' bonnets" are going to seed now, so I am cutting them down as they selfseed like weeds! They were oopular with the bees when out. Here are pictures of the garden which unfortunately don't show how colourful it is at the moment. Met a friend today who has a garden in Sudbury. She tries to grow wildflowers in her front garden and cottage garden flowers in the back. She has had trouble getting foxgloves to grow from seed to last year I gave her 3 first year plants from my garden which are flowering this year. I forgot I was planning to give her some more this year so all the ones in the way in the vegetable beds ended up either in the compost bin or the womery. But found several tiny plants in the corners of the bed (there are advantages to not being tidy) so able to put those in some soil in a plastic mushroom tray and give them to her.

Mammals lose out, insects benefit

This has been a glorious sight for over a week now on my cycle route to the Lea Valley: It is a small stretch between a path and the Ruckholt Relief Road (now officially "Orient Way"). Orient Way runs between Ruckholt Road (A106)and Leabridge Road (A104). For years it has been some small trees with scrub underneath. Then last year they cleared all the scrub - Olympic clear-up work, I think. On the one hand I was pleased as the brambles tend to grow out onto the path making cycling along it difficult, and risky for my cuycling jacket, and usually means I had to ring the Council to get them cut back. On the other hand it was rather worrying that all that habitat for small mammals, etc, had been taken away (a feature of a lot of the Olympic clear-up work it seems). I didn't see any insects while I was taking the photos, but hopefully a lot are taking advantage of all these wonderful flowers. Hopefully too, they will be allowed to seed, then cut and removed, so we can have this again next year even though the Olympics will all be over by then.

First frog found!

Yesterday one of my courgettes had a leaf nibbled. Could not see how a snail or slug had reached it, but I put a twig in to stand the plant more upright. I went out this morning in the drizzle to check on it when I disturbed a frog in the low-lying seddum around the pond. This is the first frog I've seen the garden this year. I had been worried that the cats had killed them all, so very pleased to see it.

Wormery working in the heat

Below is a photo of my womery taken on Saturday. The brown sludge was still kitchen veg and weeds, etc, a week earlier, but a few days of heat had turned it to sludge. No signs of worms in the top layer though. Last year I sowed carrots between my leeks and I didn't see a single one come up. Two must have done though, as when I went to clear the bed for the beans (planted out this evening) I found two carrots with long frothy fronds. So in they went into the worm compost. Hopefully on the Tuesday Jubilee holiday I will have time to get the compost from the lower trays.

Wanted: wholemeal, organic sourdough bread

As there wasn't my usual Thursday lunchtime yoga class I was able to go to the farmers' market in Torrington Square near Euston station yesterday lunchtime. For a vegan there's not much, but there is a bread stall and I was able to get a wholemeal sourdough loaf. Very expensive, but I love bread and decided a few years ago that, as I could afford it, I would pay for good bread when I could get it. Usually I have to choose between, organic, wholemeal and sourdough, so good to get two out of three!

Geraniums get the Chelsea Chop

A few years ago I heard about the Chelsea-Chop: at the time of the Chelsea flower show you chop down to about a third or a quarter certain plants so they don't get too tall and floppy. I have done this with the autumn seddums for the last 2 years and it seems to work. This year, despite all the rain making most things in the garden tall and lush, the seddums are quite short and stocky so I have left them. Instead I have cut down 2 of the 3 outdoor geraniums. The one left uncut is 18 inches to 2 feet high (45-60 cm) and I cut the other two down to about 6 inches high - it looks a bit drastic:

I will compare them and see which does best. On a lovely, warm evening I also sowed corriander, carrots, poppies and flower sprouts.

French marigolds to see off conservatory green fly

Several years ago I got greenfly in the conservatory and couldn't get rid of them until I tried french marigolds which worked like a charm. Now every year I buy a strip of 6 french marigolds and put 2 or 3 in the conservatory and the rest in the garden where the slugs eat them. This year in B&Q and Homebase they only had sets of 12 marigolds for sale, and giving up 9 or 10 marigolds for slug food seemed a bit much. I didn't buy any, hoping that not having had any greenfly in the conservatory for years would mean for a year at least I would be OK. Then last weekend I had taken some puppetry books I no longer wanted for the Puppet and Toy Theatre Guild stall at the May Fayre at the Actors Church in Covent Garden (every year lots of Punch & Judy Professrs come to this "fayre" to celebrate the first recorded sighting of Punch in England - in Pepys' diary). On a residents association plant stall were some french marigolds, so I brough 2 at £2 each. This was about the price of 12 at the DIY store, but it was money for a good cause and no waste so I didn't mind. I put them in a small planter today. I also put the mint into a slightly bigger plot. Was pleased to see 2 bumblebees feeding from my wysteria.

Tomatoes suffering from cold nights

I had Tuesday off and, in between the showers, was able to spend some time in the garden. My tomato plants, which I had put out at the weekend, were looking good. Tuesday night was cold (colleagues at work living outside London had had ice on their car windscreens), I checked the tomatoes before leaving for work. They had been badly hit but had survived. Waiting for the bus home from the the local Radical History Group talk last night at ten o'clock it felt a bit nippy, but I forgot to check the tomatoes this morning. If they have no more cold nights they can recover; repeated hits of frosty weather and I won't be having homegrown tomatoes this year!

Ash trees doing it differently

Here is a photo of 3 ash trees, the right hand two are in my neighbours' garden and the left hand one is in the garden next door to them. (There is also another one behind the third tree).

I hope it is clear that the middle tree is nearly fully in leaf and the side two are only just starting to come into leaf. One year my neighbour and I noticed that the tree near the fence between us looked as if it was struggling to keep going. I didn't say anything, but I was rather hoping it would die as I am worried about shade, especially as the trees are still relatively young - and small. But next year it was looking all healthy, and another tree was slow to leaf and was much less leafy when it was in leaf. Also each year one tree doesn't have many ash keys. Beech trees have their "mast" years where all the beeches in an area have loads of seeds (nuts?) and other years hardly any. Other trees are supposed to have a similar pattern, just so extreme. But it seems these ash trees don't read the right books! My neighbours who have liked the trees for the privacy they give them are beginning to be worried by the shade, but it is the tree in their neighbour's garden which gives the most shade to their garden. However, I live in hope that they will get the chop as I don't get any evening sun in garden.

Beating the Bounds bonanza!

I haven't been beating the bounds of the Lammas lands of the Leyton Marches for several years, but the weather was nice and I wasn't elsewhere so off I cycled. Arrived in plenty of time to find I'd missed the beginning as the election of the thanes had already taken place. Then discovered the 2.15 walk I had been aiming for was the Walthamstow Marches beating the bounds, this was the Leyton Marches one. As I was there and Leyton is after all where I live I decided to go on that one. Here we are being warned of the dangers of giant hogweed:

But then I found that part of the route would not be suitable for a bike (over a fence and along a right of way through the paddock of the riding stable) so I went back to join the Walthamstow beating of the bounds. Not as much fun as the Leyton one - no electing thanes, no bouncing of children upside down on suitable boundary markers - even though we had a small child to use!) but I enjoyed the walk in some lovely weather. Only two people I knew, Laurence and Adrian, both of whom I'd last seen at a 65th birthday party only last weekend. Here is me before we beat the waters of the Lea Navigation. We then strip the wands of the ribbons and toss them into the Navigation. In the background is the temporary (we hope) basketball practice court they've built on Leyton Marsh. Even if they keep their promises and return the land to us, it is a dangerous precedent.

As well as the two groups beating the bounds of the Lammas lands, there was a group from St Saviours Church beating their parish boundaries, so at one point there were 3 groups on the marshes!

Bicycle diaries -

In the staff room at work we have book shelves where people put books they have read, don't want to keep but think others might like to read. Had some photocopying to do and had left the book I was reading at home so went to have a look and chose "Bicycle Diaries" by David Byrne. As a musician and artist he travels a lot for his work and started riding a bicycle round the cities he was visiting. "This point of view - faster than a walk, slower than a train, often slightly higher than a person - became my window on the world over the last thirty years - and it still is. It's a big window and it looks out on a mainly urban landscape....Through this window I catch glimpses of the mind of my fellow man, as expressed in the cities he lives in. Cities, it occured to me, are physical manifestations of our deepest beliefs, and our often unconscious thoughts, not so much as individuals, but as the social animinals we are. A cognitive scientist need only look at what we have made - the hives we have created - to know what we think and what we believe to be important, as well as how we structure those thoughts and beliefs....you don't need CAT scans and cultural anthropologists to show you what's going on inside the human mind; its inner workings are manifested in three dimensions all around us. Our values and hopes are sometimes awfully embarrasingly easy to read. They're right there - in the store fronts, museums, temples, shops and office buildings and in how these strcutures interrelate, or sometimes don't. They say, in their unique visual language, "This is what we think matters, this is how we live and how we play."..... I am only half way through the book, and haven't got to the chapter on London yet, I am now thinking how British cities might change if green thinking/living really took off. Road layouts would be designed for cycles and pedestrians. More local shops. But I am a bit stuck as to what else. But I will try to think, as it is easier to get the future you want if you can visualise it first!

Chocolate fudge brownie good for the spirits

But not for the body! But if you don't eat too much at one time (try sharing it!)..... http://wwww.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/raw-chocolate-fudge-brownies-recipe I've made it last night to take it with me to a friend's tomorrow. The recipe talks of a "small" jar of roasted almond butter - but a small jar is less than one cup, so I made up the difference with crunchy peanut butter. When looking for my small mixing bowl I found another bowl which I had got from the charity shop a few years ago and have never used. Couldn't think why I would particularly need it, and it is not particularly amazing to look at, so it's off the the charity shop next Saturday.

Wisty Wisteria

I've seen wisteria out in gardens elsewhere the past fortnight, but only now is my wisteria is out. I've a north facing garden, so that is probably the reason. I have the bush behind the shed:

For several years now I've trained it along the fence:

In the middle of last year I decided to let it continue up my neighbour's ash tree, as the wisteria flowers before the ash comes into leaf. It has reached half way up the tree, but no flowers this year. Next year I hope to have an ash tree full of bloom. Wisteria are supposed to be good for insects, but I've never seen any feeding from the flowers.

Showers make my feet look dirty!

I've always preferred baths to showers - you can sink into a bath. At my flat I used to, as a small nod to water saving, have a shower once or twice a week in summer. When I moved here I didn't have a shower so was able to enjoy my baths with a clear conscience. When I finally got round to having the bathroom done I had a shower installed in the bath and started with a shower and hairwash twice a week. Then I started to increase the number of showers and, unless very stiff or needing to use aromotherpy oils, I've got used to having a shower. Problem is my feet! When I have a bath I use a body scrub on my feet and ankles. When I have a shower I don't, and dry skin builds up on my feet and makes them look slightly grubby - embarrassing when my yoga teacher comes to move them! I did try putting the body scrub on my feet before my shower, but it makes my feet liable to slip and I daren't risk it again. One bath a week with attention to my feet is not enough, so having got used to showers I am going to have to up the number of baths!

Not alone with paper burning problems

I have a wood burning stove. I have it on this evening. It took 2 goes to get it going, the first time the newspaper burnt but nothing caught. At least it was better than one evening last week when it took me ages and try after try to get the fire going, and it only got going enough to start heating up the stove when I was off to get ready for bed! There is the occasional evening where I have problems getting even the paper to burn. Went for a walk with friends yesterday, one of whom, Tina, also has a wood burning stove. Pleased to learn that sometimes she has the same problem! However, I am glad I've got it. I have been slowly (not wanting to upset my back) sawing up a pallet that was dumped by the church up the road. My kindling is twigs, either from the birch trees up the street outside, or fallen from my neighbour's ash tree, or cuttings from my neighbour's shrubs which he drops over the fence for me. This satisfies my inner hunter-gatherer!

peat-free luck

HomeBase at the weekend only had 60 litre sacks of potting compost, too heavy for me to lift and would wreck my shopping trolley getting it home even if I could. Day off today, so off to B&Q and they had two types of potting compost in 20 litre bags, one peat free, so I was able to choose that.

So often the desire to be green can be thwarted by the lack of a car!!!

Urban birding

Great article about urban birding

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/15/urban-birdwatching-david-lindo

Back survived yesterday's gardening

Yesterday I potted up the indoor tomato into its final pot. I potted the cucumber and the 8 outdoor tomatoes in to their tempotary pots. I potted the 6 strawberry plants into the planter. I emptied the oldest perennial weed bin on to the beds where the tomatoes and the courgettes will be. I emptied a black compost bin, put it all back, watering layers as I went, in the hope it will now rot down some more. I also did a little sawing of slats from a pallet. I did some weeding, particularly of bindweed coming under the fence.

Then I went on a cycle ride and did some yoga before I went to bed.

And my back feels OK. Hopefully it is not delayed reaction and it hits me tomorrow.

I've been cleaning windows this morning, and hoovering behind the furniture I moved to get at the windows. And housework is so bad for my back!

Wren in the garden...

..singing away.

When one considers the number of cats who visit my urban garden (even if the woman with the 17, 20, 30 - depending on which neighbour is telling me - cats has now moved) I am delighted with every bird I see.

Ne'er cast a clout till May be out

We need the rain, but I'd rather it wasn't so cool. I don't think it safe to be sowing my April seeds just yet, despite today's sunshine.

I did go off to B&Q to get some tomato plants. The new offices don't have window ledges for me to grow tomatoes from seed as I have done for the last 2 years. Although I don't put the plants out till May, I wanted to get them early as the plants are not looked after properly in the shops. Even this early in April, some of the trays of tomato plants were looking decidedly sickly.

I got one heritage variety Black cherry for indoor growing "sweet, juicy flavour". Then 2 Heritage Golden Nugget "balanced acid/sweet flavour", 2 mini Italian plum "exceptional flavour" and 4 x Gardener's delight "flavourful. I also got one outdoor cucumber and 6 Darselect strawberry plants along with a glazed planter.

I'll pot up the outdoor tomatoes into slightly bigger pots this weekend and, if the weather isn't too bad, get the strawberries into the planter.

Third puncture in 5 weeks

Yesterday wheeled the bike out of the house to go to kayaking only to find the front wheel flat. So hastily wheel it into the kitchen, unload the gear, get the folding bike out of the dining room into the hall, reload gear, and off I go.

Tempted to just take it to the bike shop again, but eventually got the better of my lazy side and got the bike upside down only to find I couldn't undo the nuts to get the wheel off.

This morning wheeled the bike round to the bike shop to find it closed. Wondered if their other shop would be open so wheeled it the mile and a half there to find the sign that showed that shop doesn't normally open on Sundays anyway.

Hope I will have time to get puncture done Saturday afternoon as I find folding bike doesn't get up the short, steep slopes by locks and I would like to get out on the bike several times over the Easter weekend. It also keeps slipping its gears.

The main bike has the fancy tyres, but you never know about the punctures you would have got - just the ones you do!

First bindweed of spring!

I've got rid of bindweed twice. Once when I had an allotment, and once here. It takes about 4 years, pulling up every bit of bind weed, digging into the soil to get as much root out as possible, everytime it is spotted. Then once a week time spent actually searching it out.

It gets going again later in the season than most weeds, so you can think you've seen it off till one sunny spring morning there it is!

I still get it coming under my neighbour's fence, and this morning there some was, looking very strong and lively after its winter rest.

I have 3 black bins with drainage holes drilled near the bottom where I put bindweed and other nasty weeds. I empty the oldest bin in spring and use that bin for that year's weeds. If anything looks as if it hasn't rotted down enough it is popped into one of the other bins. So the bindweed pulled up today will be feeding my tomatoes in 3 years time!

Will popularity of Boris Bikes lead to a critical mass of cyclists?

Today in Victoria Park, Hackney, there was someone obviously on a ride for pleasure on a Boris Bike. Last weekend I saw 3 women on Boris Bikes out cycling together on the towpath. Great!

I notice if I go out to the shops at lunchtime (near Euston station) not only all the Boris Bikes but more other bikes as well.

It would be wonderful if this rise in cycling could continue until the authorities will play more than lip service to the safety and eof cycling and we could be like Denmark and the the Netherlands with masses of people regularly cycling (and in ordinary clothes!)

Amaryllis ago go

Because my amaryllis are in an unheated conservatory, experience has taught me there is no point repotting them in January. I wait till the first leaf shows through - which happened last weekend.

Tonight, with the conservatory light on and the potting tray on the ground just outside the conservatory door I repotted them, disturbing the roots as little as possible. I also repotted the begonia and some small bulbs which give orange flowers in late summer.

One of the bulblets growing on the main amaryllis bulbs was big enough to break off and repot on its own. I put in a metal plant marker so I would know this was its first year and not expect too much of it.

One colleague who took one of the seven spare amaryllis I took into work last year reports that his has flowered well this year.

Plum awkward

Last year I got 2 plum trees (a Country Living offer, I think). They weren't designed for pots but, as they were not going to grow very large, I thought I would try.

One is a mass of blossom, the other has not a single flower!

I can't remember if they are self-fertile, but, as they were sold as a pair, I doubt it.

So no plums this year then. Fingers crossed for next year!

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where my daffodils iz?!

Spring is sprung.
The grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies iz?
The bird is on the wing.
But that's absurd -
the wing is on the bird!
(Nonsense rhyme from my childhood)

The daffodils in the long flower bed have very few flowers. But they have been there 15 years so I should dig them up and spread them out a bit (been meaning to do this for a few years!). The early daffodils by the pond, which have only been there a few years, have had only 3 flowers. And the new ones under the rotary clothes dryer which have been there hardly any time at all don't seem to have grown at all! At least that will mean there is somewhere to put the paperwhite daffodils I have had indoors.

Will Olympics be a barrier to my blackberries?

Yet another public space being taken from the public. This time on Leyton Marshes where they are building (within weeks of it first being made public) practice court, though the sign on the wire fence says Olympic village.

I ride up the side of Leyton Marshes,then under the railway bridge, to pick my blackberries. If where the fence is now is the outer edge, then I'll be OK - as long a security doesn't block yet further our rights of way.

Rosemary, where are your flowers?

I like Rosemary as it flowers early which is a help for insects out early in the year.

My new rosemary bush - in the front garden - in its third year has yet to have a single flower, but I noticed this morning that a rosemary in the front garden around the corner has flowers on. This is later than I remember the rosemary bush I had in the back garden used to flower.

You are not supposed to feed and water rosemary too much, but one year my neglect went too far and the rosemary in a pot in the back garden died. I had another, newer, rosemary that a fox used to sleep on, so it looked like a postrate variety, and then it got covered up by a large geranium and that died too!

Not much for insects in the front garden but crocus, primroses and primulas, a few wall flowers, and daffodils just beginning to open in the back garden. My neighbours forsythia which is right by my fence is also just beginning to break into flower.

Bees, butterflies and blooms

I watched the third episode of "Bees, butterflies and blooms" yesterday, a programme by Sarah Raven promoting her campaign to halt the decline of habitats for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects in the city.

I then watched episode two, set in towns.

Excellent, very inspiring and informative.

I plan to get some single dahlias and some cosmos. As well as helping insects, they should give me some late summer colour as well.

There was a bumble bee in my garden yesterday. I hope he found the crocus, primroses and primulas.

Making the most of February sunshine

I washed some jumpers today and hung them to dry outside. While they were in the machine I cut away my neighbour's clematis that was covering my wisteria and pruned the autumn raspberries.

I then did the "Limehouse Loop", the longest bike journey I do on my own, about 14 miles. As I was leaving late morning there were more walkers/joggers/cyclists than if I had left earlier but, considering what a wonderful day it was, I would have expected more people. Every now and then a bush or tree covered with small white flowers.

Back home, after a quick lunch, I was out in the garden again with the stepladder cutting back as much of the clematis climbing over my shed as I could reach. I also did a bit of weeding.

I saw a bumble bee.

This warm February weather is not unusual. In my perpetual diary I noted two days before this time last year that it was so warm I went to the post office without wearing a coat.

Fox brooch from old jumper and buttons

On the Lea Navigation there is a painting of a fox on a building which is very simply done but wonderfully foxy. I have used the design to make a brooch.

I had an old orange jumper which got a moth hole. So I washed it in hot water to shrink it and matt the fibres. I cut out 2 x 3 shapes - the head, body and tail. I sewed each setof 2 shapes together, but didn't turn them inside out. I then sewed the shapes together and added buttons for the eyes and nose from my button stash. Then a brooch clip on the back.

It is 5 inches (13 cms)tall, which is bigger than I would have liked but I am not neat enough to attempt making it smaller. I am still very pleased with it though.

Cycling: not just safer roads but less broken glass

To encourage cycling we need not just safer roads but less broken glass so less punctures.

I got a puncture on the way home from kayaking today. That spot has had a lot of broken glass for a couple of weeks and I have been getting off and pushing the bike so less weight and hopefully less likely to get glass stuck in the tyre. Today I was planning to go another way to avoid this bit of cycle path but it was very windy and I wanted to be off the towpath as soon as possible. Didn't fancy being blown into the Navigation!

The glass had been cleared so I was cycling over the area, seeing the odd bit of glass, so hoped for the best (as I do on similar stretches the other side of the road on the way to kayaking). To the crossroads, across the junction, along a little way, then thump,thump thump from the back wheel.

My third bike as an adult and yet again it's the back wheel that gets the puncture. I am about to have supper then will grit my teeth and change the inner tube. Grrrh!

First of the early daffs in the garden in flower in the garden today.

Sourdough bread - like the bread, not the washing up

The March edition of Country Living has 2 sourdough recipes and I fancied using some of the sourdough starter from the Friendship Cake to make bread.

The Country Living recipe required mixing/kneading 5 times, so I did an online search to try and find a simpler method. All took ages (one including leaving the dough to rise overnight) but decided to try this one

http://www.shipton-mill.com/the-bakery/recipes/article-328/

I made this yesterday as I had the day off and could light the wood burning stove in the late afternoon to start getting the sitting room warm.

My was very wet and the first rising it seemed hardly to have grown at all. The second rising was better but the dough had not risen as much as ordinary bread dough. But in the oven it went, it cooked in the time stated in the recipe and tastes fine. I can taste it slightly sweet, but then I know it is using cake starter. Someone else not knowing this might not spot the sweetness.

Reading the notes at the bottom on the recipe (after cooking!) I see I should held back some of the water to stop the dough getting too wet. But one is supposed to add the water, except for some to disolve the salt in. So to hold some in reserve would have meant another jug - yet more washing up. My washing up as a result of breadmaking is:

Two large mixing bowls
one jug
one wooden spoon & 3 spatulas (I can't remember how I needed quite so many!)
one baking tray and one loaf tin

I don't see myself making sourdough again, but ordinary bread seems easy by comparison so I plan to be making that more often, especially for the next month when I should be having the woodburning stove on so can raise the dough in front of that.

Smells of a country home

The new March issue of Country Living magazine has a "Promotion" feature (ie an advert done to look like an article) on 'Refresh your home for spring'. Some nice pictures, but the advert is for something you plug into a socket and it gives out a fragrance. Fake fragrance doesn't seem at all country to me!

The (real) smells I associate with a country home (even a one in the city) are:

Freshly made bread
Home made jam and marmelade
Soup
Cakes made with ginger, cloves, mixed spice etc,
Indoor hyacinths
Sweet peas
Other scented cottage garden flowers
Wet dog!
Geranium leaves (From my memories of A level English, T S Elliot thought geraniums represented dryness and aridity, but as both my mother and my father's mother both loved geraniums to me they represent home)
Herbs, including Lavender bags

Recycling plastic bottles as bouyancy for kayaks

My kayak club (Leaside in Clapton) had a trip with the teenagers to the Dart recently - whitewater river kayaking. Bryan spent so much time emptying kayaks after capsizes he came back determined to have bouyancy bags in the back of the kayaks so greatly reducing the amount of water he has to lift and empty next time. He has asked for plastic bottles which will go in a heavy duty bag which will be stuffed into the bag of the kayaks.

I use 5 litre bottles of water (I know, not supposed to be green, but no fluoride, no excreted medicines such as the pill, and no lead from pipes). Luckily these have a little handle so I can tie that to the handle of the back of the dry bag I use as a ruck sack as I cycle with all my gear to the club. I hope I don't look too odd!

As I have mentioned kayaking anyway, I will write about today, even though I can't find a particular link between in and being green and country in the city! I was in a kayak this morning, but not on the water, instead using it as a sled to come down Wilsons Hill in Springfield Park. Only a trip of packed snow down the middle of the hill, so off that and the grass acted as a brake (except for the guys, 4 or 5 at a time in a double kiwi when the weight meant they kept going even when they hit the grass).

Surprise prize

A book called "More rag rugs & recycled textile products" came in the post. I couldn't remember ordering it, and thought, I am getting far too many books if I can't remember what I've ordered. Then I found a compliments slip inside - it was from Makeitandmendit - a website http://www.makeitandmendit.com/

I had entered a competition. I had to suggest something they could cover on their website and I suggested how to make patterns for 3D objects, being particularly intrested in making cloth masks.

There are some lovely rugs pictured in it and I am trying to find something I could have a go at.

Snow!

We've had 6 inches (15cms) of snow overnight. The reosemary in the front garden was flattened by it - branches lying along the ground, so I went out and kicked the branches up, dislodging the snow as I did so.

I haven't the heating on at the moment, so the snow on my roof could be looking as good as that on my neighboours' because of there's not much heat to escape. I did notice on the roofs over the road that a couple of those with loft conversions weren't looking as thickly covered, though the snow on the loft conversation immediately opposite me is nice and thick.

It is now 10.30 and the first children are playing in the street. I don't want to show my age, but I'll say it anyway - in my youth we couldn't get out into the snow fast enough and had to be forced to eat our breakfasts first. I don't think London gets that much more snow than West Cornwall so the children round here can't all be blase - it's been a year since the last lot!!!

Layered up on the bike

On my bottom half it's pants, winter cycling leggings, cycling pants (because the leggings don't pad my bottom enough), cycling trousers (because even if I wasn't wearing the horrible cycling pants, I am a slow cyclist and would look silly pottling along in cycling leggings). I think it will be my fleeced-lined trousers as top layer if this cold keeps up.

On my top half it is vest, jumper, cycling jacket and scarf.

I wear a fleece band that covers my ears which I got from the skiing section in a sports shop. My helmet fits over this. I could feel the cold wind through the gaps in my cycling helmet today, but usually that keeps my head warn enough.

Socks and fleece-lined boots on my feet.

It's snowing now (Saturday evening) so probably not my usual cycle ride tomorrow.

Frugal soup needs less cooking!

This evening I tried a frugal bread and soup recipe from the Metro newspaper.

I fried onions and garlic, then added a tin of tomatoes. I sprinkled with cinnamon (don't know why, it was in the recipe!).

I was then supposed to simmer for 20 mins then pour in half the stock, season if necessary, add the chunks of bread, pour in the rest of the stock and simmer until the soup gets a thick texture.

That uses an awful lot of gas, so hardly frugal! Instead I added a little water, pepper and dried thyme only, so cooking much reduced. It made a very satisfying soup, so I'd make my version of this soup again.

The soup "bowl" is a large cup I got at a charity shop.

Big Garden Birdwatch & snowdrops

This is the weekend when people count birds for an hour in their garden or park, recording the numbers in the largest group (so not to double count the same bird) of each species.

I cheated a bit by counting the birds in next door's garden (none in mine, but I did have a neighbour's cat in it most of the time). Even so I got only one feral pigeon, one blackbird and 3 house sparrows.

Snowdrops just about to open in the garden. Looking at my perpetual diary I see they are usually open the first week of February, so not much advance on most years despite the mild winter.

"Friendship" cake - oh, the responsibility!

Kate, the clerk of one of the committees I look after, brought down some batches of "Friendship" Cake on Wednesday and I took one. It is a sourdough mixture that has to be stirred and fed for nine days before dividing into quarters. one quarter made into a cake and the other three quarters given away to friends for them to undertake the process themselves.

It's called "Herman the German" for some reason; perhaps this batch orginated from someone German.

The ninth day will be a Saturday. Cat at work has expressed an interest, so I have emailed Kate to see if the mixture will last till Monday. It lasted one day extra this time, as Kate brought it down from Scotland on the sleeper.

I've had to feed the mixture today with flour, sugar and milk. I only had rice milk which was rather thin, so hope that will do. Some Plamil soya milk would probably have been better, but I don't drink much milk (mainly just a little on my breakfast cereal) and soya milk goes all thick at the bottom of the carton and I waste a load.

The cake recipe has eggs, I am planning to use silken tofu (Cat found this suggestion as an egg substitute on the internet) and some vinegar and bicarb. It also has chopped up apple which I will leave out.

As my kitchen scales have their own plastic bowl I rarely using my mixing bowls, so it was nice to get one out to use for this.

Sorting Larder cupboard to cut waste

The tall cupboard I use as a larder needs a good sort out and I am working on it shelf by shelf. This time though, rather than just clearing a shelf, cleaning everything including the shelf, and putting it all back tidily, I am really thinking about what I store there and what is just wasting space.

I have decided to keep dried lentils of various kinds as I use those regularly in my cooking. But other pulses I will just have a couple of tins of to use as and when. I have loads of dried chickpeas, and quite a few aduki beans and mung beans. I am soaking a couple of handfuls each weekend to have with a rice dish I usually use green lentils for. It'll take me most of this year to get through them all!

I also have some dried maize I made popcorn with once. I am soaking a couple of handfuls that to see if it will soak up the liquid. If so, I'll add it to my rice dishes. If not, the wormery will have them all.

I also have a unopened pack of gram flour which I can't remember what I bought it for. Can't think what to use that for so am trying to convince myself that would be better off in the wormery!

I am not too fussy about use by dates on tins but the tin of pineapple rings was ready to blow. I was presumably given this as I don't like pineapple. I opened it, drained the juice into the garden and put the can into the recycling. The "use by" date was June 1996!

Welcome, Frost!

Leyton has just had several days of frost, and I feel "about time!".

Dorothy next door watched a programme about rhubbarb growers who are having problems because the rhubbarb roots need some cold weather. And I have 3 rhubbarb plants (though one I plan to get rid of as soon as I decide what I want to put in its place - it goes to seed so quickly).

I believe garlic needs a certain number of cold nights as well, and I have half a bed of that.

I went on a cycle ride this morning with the frost still heavy in the shade and any puddles frozen. As I needed to get back to get ready to go out I only went 6+ miles. The tips of my fingers were just beginning to warm up when I got back and my toes had just got cold!

heat out the window!

Part of our staff meeting this month was led by the sustainability group who are leading the move to make our building and the work within it more sustainable. We were split into groups and wrote down ideas of how we might achieve this.

My first point was not to have the windows open when the heating was on. I am often closing windows on stairs and landings. I don't believe in paying to heat up the sky!

The first thing my boss does when we are back in the office is to open the window. I'm then downstairs with the HR manager and Jo, who is actually on the sustainability group, and the window between their desks is open as well!

Actually I couldn't blame them - the offices were rather warm. I could have managed without the windows open, but could understand why others could not. So it is the boilers that are the problem.....

No tv, no internet, no i player

One of my committee members up in Ayrshire had 3 days without electricity last week. The electricity came back on, but her internet service provider had no electricity so she still didn't have the internet. She said that without electricity you can manage, though more work and it takes longer, but without the internet you feel very cut-off.

My television quietly packed it in on Friday morning. It is an old, very small, black and white set. I wasn't planning to go digital, and would watch what little (though more than I readily admit to!) television I watch on i-player and 4od. But I haven't been able to get an internet connection all weekend.

Rang up o2 yesterday evening and they are going to send me a new wireless box. Hopefully this will arrive tomorrow and I will get it up and running in time to watch Sherlock Holmes on iplayer. My neighbour invited me in to see it on her tv, but all 3 of her tvs were having problems with BBC1 on
Sunday evening!

I have only had internet at home for 18 months, but I did feel cut off without it over the weekend, and was glad to get into the office and have a quick check before I started work of who had emailed me.

Spring is sprung far too early!

On my cycle ride on Sunday I saw hazel trees covered in catkins and a false acaia with one branch in full leaf!

New Year

I did mention to Hilda, the friend staying with me over Christmas, that the thermal linings of the curtains in the spare bedroom were also blackout ones, However she hadn't appreciated the significance of this.

After seeing in the New Year we'd agreed that we'd get up about 8.30. I was up a few minutes after that, had my shower and hairwash, did the washing up, made an apple crumble (using the spiced apples another friend had made for my Christmas oresent) so it was ready for the oven, brought in some logs from the log pile, and she still hadn't appeared.

I called her - her room was so dark she hadn't realised the time (nearly 10 am)!

We did get our walk, around Hollow Ponds on the edge of Epping Forest, before home for leek, onions and mushrooms on toast and the apple crumble.

By the time she left for the bus just after 2 pm it had started to rain and by mid afternoon was raining heavily.

I'm now trying to get the wood burning stove to light. It seems to be taking my 3 goes most evenings this year!