Back Home Again

Hello, there!

I’ve been away for a few days in Welsh Wales, just up over on the Llyn Peninsula outside of Llanbedrog. My parents would take us there when we were children, and a few weeks ago I had an urge to revisit. So off we set with our camping gear, winding our way through the Welsh mountains to a small, but very lovely camping site called Bolmynydd, where we met up with a friend.

On the first gloriously sunny evening, we strolled along the beach, skimming stones. I paddled in the water, did cartwheels along the sand and took in the scenery. We also did some horse riding through Snowdonia (my first time since falling off in canter when I was 11 or 12 years old), and I was lucky enough to ride the naughty but nice Kazak - unfazed, bold, with a huge appetite, and great fun to ride. As I hadn’t ridden a horse for so long, we were in a novice group, so only got as far as doing some fast trots through the countryside. But I really enjoyed getting some speed up. I enjoyed riding so much that I wouldn’t mind taking it up again, but I have a feeling that it’ll just cost too much. We shall see!

I also ended up walking up to the summit of Snowdon. I don’t know how it happened - I never intended to go that far, but once I saw the peak, and despite my dodgy knee, my mind was set and I slowly made my way up some horribly steep and seemingly endless paths to stand at the top. We were lucky in that it didn’t rain and there was relatively little cloud, so to be able to survey the scenery all the way to the top was pretty spectacular. Although I grumbled a lot of the way up, and am in no hurry to climb my way up any other mountains, I’m glad I did it.

On my return home, to pissier weather than we’d experienced at any time during our Welsh adventure, I found that my Smallest Smallholding was looking a bit… well, quiet really. My runner beans have grown to big and too stringy to be any good to anyone, and everything else bar a second wave of my Polka raspberries and my winter squashes have finished. My repeated failure to repot my chillis and peppers means that most have ended up on the compost heap. I really need to rectify this problem. I could have had a lovely crop, but instead I was lazy and wasted an opportunity. The chillis that I gave to Mum have, of course, been looked after and are now fruiting from luscious, leafy plants. I also handed over my Echinop seedlings into Mum’s care, and they’re not putting on growth and may even be able to be planted in my garden at some point.

I think I need to actually put some money aside to kitting out my greenhouse properly. At present, it’s covered in bindweed AGAIN, and has fallen into disrepair, currently in use as a dumping ground for pots and tools. I have four missing roof panes, and still NO GREENHOUSE STAGING. I think this needs to become my autumn project, along with the construction of a cold frame.  I suppose in the back of my mind, I always think that at some point we may have to move, so I suppose I don’t want to feel I’m putting in a lot of effort, only to have to leave it all behind and start again. Not that I’m adverse to starting over, but I wonder whether my efforts would be better spent elsewhere. Who knows. There’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment so I’m just doing what I can, when I can.

So for now, my plan is this; in the big plot, I’m going to grow some green manure, and maybe leave a little space for some overwintering garlic, and maybe some japanese/overwintering onions. My winter squashes are doing very well, although I’m a bit disappointed because I think I may have two trombone-shaped courgettes, and I DO NOT LIKE COURGETTES. There are definitely a couple of cobnut butternut squashes in there (hurray!!!), and the others - well, they’ll be a surprise. Once they’re picked and curing I’ll take some pictures so you can help me identify them. But once they’re out… hmmmm. Planning. Some planning ahead is obviously on the cards.