Friday 21 April 2017

A frosting, and Jakie plays dead........


Thursday.....
 
Had some beans growing in pots in our mini greenhouse, but they were not looking happy so I put them outside yesterday, and did not cover them up. Thought that they would succumb to the cold / frost but this morning they are standing very upright like bold little soldiers.
 
....but this morning they aren't, because we had a severe overnight frost which left an overlay of whiteness across the fields. It is now the afternoon of the day, and yesterday's little soldiers are looking very sick and wounded.
 

 
Ah well, always lessons to be learned, this one being that we need to make some more covers on the raised beds, like this one......
 

 
 
...... which is working very well. I did have difficulty in lifting the panels on and off at first, but with a bit of encouragement my arm muscles are now able to rise to the challenge. In fact all of me is rising to the challenge of being a trainee market gardener, and I am finding a strength and energy that I thought had slipped away from me when I was not well last year.
 
You will probably have to enlarge the above photo now, because I have a sunbed, and it is up, and I have laid on it, and it is in the background, behind the plastic covered raised bed, the very same plastic I took and folded away the other day because it looked untidy. However, because the sunbed is white it got troubled by flies, as indeed I did when I laid on that very same sunbed. So there I was, having a doze, meanwhile the flies were buzzing me, the dogs were giving me kisses in the hope that I would make a fuss of them, which they could do because I was at the height they could get to, and yet still I managed to visit dreamland. It is surprising what one can do if one puts one's mind to it!
 
So the sunbed is now folded away until I get time to make a dark cover for it. Not to worry, at least we have the table and chairs to sit out on. Meanwhile, Lester has finished fencing most of the trees so the sheep are free to wander round again, and now he is working on the watering system for the Veg Plots.
 
I continue to tend the seeds, and have found a delight in starting to plant those raised beds. And did you know that sheep have dreams too.......This morning Lester say Jacob, our ram, lying with his back legs dangling out of the doorway of the sheep barn, and with his head all bend backwards in what looked like a very awkward angle, just as he would do if he had crumpled himself down in a heap on the floor. He looked dead, that is what Lester thought. So Lester went to ask him if he was indeed dead, and no, he wasn't, because he suddenly sprang up, all of a daze after having obviously been somewhere else in himself. So, for today, Jakie is alive and well.
 
Am off to talk to the poorly beans to see if I can encourage them to keep with life, but I fear that a few will not as the frost has given them quite a singe.
 
Bye for now,
 
Vx
 
 
 

21 comments:

DUTA said...

A farmer's life is sprinkled with failures; that's because it depends on the weather elements: frost, rain, sun etc.. Even indoor plants are often frustrating. Luckily, those who chose to be farmers embrace whatever comes -the good and the bad, and don't give up. That's the beauty of it, and the good fortune of agriculture.

Vera said...

DUTA, you are right about 'farmer's needing to embrace whatever comes'.....we have learnt to be very flexible about what happens here on our smallholding.

Dawn said...

There is still time to get more beans on the go, I sit all the pots in crates and take the out in the morning and back in again in the evening to harden them off, I was only thinking of a sun lounger the other day, we got rid of the old ones when we moved perhaps I will get myself a new one this year :-)

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

That's too bad about the beans. At least they are easy to replant if necessary. Do sheep move their legs while dreaming the way dogs do, I wonder? Or do they just dream about eating? -Jenn

Cro Magnon said...

The bigger leaves of my Courgette plants were nipped, but the main shoots look OK. Mother Nature playing silly boggars again.

Vera said...

DAWN, you work so hard that you deserve a sun lounger, even if you do not spend time in actually lounging about on it!

JENN, I think Jakie might have been dreaming about a field full of ewes all waiting to be served by him!

CRO MAGNON, I agree about Mother Nature playing 'silly boggers' again! Just as we think we are clear of frosts another one comes visiting!

Rhodesia said...

Dreaming sheep, now I wonder what was going on in his head. This cold in the last few mornings is a pain, I have seedlings that really should be out, but they are still inside waiting for the last of the cold weather which I think has still not gone :-(( Take care Diane

Vera said...

DIANE, we are due for a day time temperature drop next week but the temperatures will be warmer at night, so it will be interesting what the seedlings make of that! At the moment ours are up but still thinking about whether to grow bigger, or not!

northsider said...

I like the covers on the raised beds. Very clever indeed.

Vera said...

N.DAVE, it was thought about for days, if not weeks, before that cover got done, but it does give some protection to the seedlings while we sort out whether to buy a poly tunnel or make a greenhouse.

Mama Pea said...

What kind of beans to you have planted in the pots? (Just curious as I've never started beans inside but rather planted them directly into the garden.) As for the struggle of the beans, what do they say? "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Go little beans, go!!

Vera said...

MAMA PEA, we have planted Borlotti beans, which are red and white, and Blue Lake, which are all white. These are climbing beans and we shall use them as dried beans. The reason why we are starting them off in pots is because in previous years we have planted them directly into the ground but quite a few got eaten by something when they are very young, so we are running a trial to see if they will not be eaten if they are planted as older developing plants. We have also planted bush beans, and we shall harvest them as green beans, but they have gone straight into the ground.

Mama Pea said...

Your bean "experiment" sounds like my experimenting with broccoli to see when I can either plant the seeds directly in the ground (early or later) or start them indoors (early or later) to avoid the egg laying cycle of the cabbage moths! In more than over 50 years of gardening, you have no idea how often I've had to repeat to myself, "In gardening there are no failures, only experiments." Sometimes I've repeated that mantra through frustrated tears!!

Vera said...

MAMA PEA, a couple of years ago I planted a row of coriander seeds tightly in between a row of cabbages and a row broccoli, for no other reason than I wanted to get rid of the seed packet. Well the coriander grew quicker than the cabbages and broccoli, which had already been directly sown in to the ground so took a while to establish, so those seedlings started off smaller than the coriander, which then quickly went to flowering and then to seed. Meanwhile, under the shelter of the maturing coriander, the broccoli and cabbages flourished because the cabbage whites could not get to them! This was successful experiment, even though it did not start off as an experiment in the first place!

Mama Pea said...

OMG, I wonder if I should try that? I love the way coriander looks as it's flowering. Who knew the spreading/flowering coriander would be enough of a screen to foil the blasted moths??! If it works, that would be brilliant!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

You are well on your way! We had a number of days of solid rain, and I fear it may have done in my seedlings. We have streams in places we have never had streams right now.

Vera said...

LISA, Oh I do hope your seedlings survive.....it is so disappointing when the weather takes a turn for the worse and hammers seedlings and new Spring growth on the trees and shrubs. We had a good weather for the flowering of the fruit trees, but then a heavy frost killed off the new leaf growth on some of the trees!

Kerry said...

I hope your little soldiers perk up after their chilly evenings outside. I'm so looking forward to laying on a sunbed soon x

Vera said...

KERRY, our 'little soldiers' have perked up, and have even grown a little bit!

Elizabeth at Eiffel Tells said...

Living with nature is always a challenge, but the rewards are worth the effort. My veggie garden constantly keeps me on my toes with the fickle weather patterns that have occurred during the last few years. Bonne chance

Vera said...

ELIZABETH,....the weather keeps us on our toes as well, but not to worry, at least it makes life interesting!