What a difference a week makes. This time last week we were being battered by storms; this week it’s beautifully sunny and dry. While it’s is good for gardening it does mean the knitting/spinning has taken a bit of a back seat this week.
I made a start earlier this week on planting some early seeds. I usually just throw seeds in any old compost and hope for the best, but this time around I’m trying some woollen seed compost. I usually lose a few seedlings to collapse so I’ve also tried topping off with Vermiculite to see if that helps with damping off. So far I have sown chillies (Jalapeños), leeks (Lancelot), spring greens (Summer Jewel), and cucumber (F1 Baby). The greens are already coming up after only a few days on the windowsill.
Outside I made some progress with the raised beds. I am dismantling one of my older beds and reusing the planks to add a bit more depth to the existing ones. I’ll definitely get another year out of these, maybe two if I’m lucky. I’m replacing them slowly with some more substantial beds which can come with additional hoops for adding a polytunnel. I don’t have the space for a greenhouse, but last year this worked really well with the softer herbs like basil which don’t always work great in my garden.
Once I’d finished with some of the reorganisation I planted up a bed of spring shallots (Meloine) and some garlic (Picardy Wight). I’ve never had much luck with winter garlic so I thought I try this. I’ve sown some in an open bed and some under the polytunnel to see which works best.
It’s not all been hard work this week. There is progress on my endless stockinette sweater (honest!) and I’ve made time for some spinning. I have a better set up with my wheel now so that it’s easier for me to just jump on for an hour in the evening without it being a faff getting myself set up. I have my silk spinning class tomorrow and Tuesday so I’ll try and post something about those later in the week. I’ve also been making notes about my Down breed study so I’ll try and post an update on that too. I spin a lot of Merino and BFL and I’m finding the liveliness of the Downs a bit of a challenge!
Oh and I made the next step in the kitchen project and actually managed to get some people out to take a look at it. They’re going away to mock up some designs and get some estimates together. They’re so busy they won’t be able to do it until next year, but I suppose that gives me plenty of time to save up if I fall in love with something expensive.
Ceulan Fibres 
How lucky that you live where you can start your gardening. Love your spun yarn. Glad you got people to look. Good luck on getting estimates. We had to do a lot of follow-up to get the actual estimates.
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There are only a few things that can go out now, but getting seedlings started makes everything feel like something is happening. And yes, getting estimates is harder than getting the work done!
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Hopefully your garden will take off for you this year. You have some wonderful plants too. T
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I hope so too! I need to work on the flower beds too, but I’m less interested in things I can’t eat!
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I love the idea and look of raised beds! I just never make the time to do them, and when its time to plant, I just throw some stuff onto the dirt and hope for the best. I am impressed with people who put though and effort into their gardens and do the lead-up work in a timely manner!
Your spinning looks beautiful, I love the bright colors.
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I normally quite chaotic so I’m trying to be better this year. As a rule I’m very excited and enthusiastic in spring, it lessens as the year goes on.
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Your spinning is gorgeous. I am glad you have the weather to garden outside. I have been madly repotting my indoor plants. I am itching to get outside onto the back porch, but likely I will have to wait until April.
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I am terrible with indoor plants, I never remember to water them.
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We had our first warm dry yesterday and I said to my husband it’s time to start making some plans, although where we are I won’t plant any seeds until after mid-March. We are usually 3 weeks behind whatever Monty is doing on Gardener’s World. So I’ll start planting 2nd half of March seeds that say February. In the meantime it’ll be nice seeing your seeds coming up. We started planning our kitchen last June and it’s still not quite finished. Our splashback issue is a plug socket placement….I thought I’d planned the sockets well, but clearly not the one near the hob, so don’t forget to have a good think about sockets is my top tip. The colours in your spinning are lovely.
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I need to make sure I don’t get carried away and have too much ready before I can really get away with putting it in the garden. We’re fortunate enough to not get very heavy frosts here, but we do get an awful lot of rain!
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I love your little seed starter sets. I need to look online and see if I can find something similar here. We are still 2 months or so out from being able to plant anything here but I’m enjoying seeing your garden prep and plans! Beautiful spinning as well and cheering you on with your mostly stockinette sock-weight sweater progress!
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I’m hoping to hit a more interesting bit on the sweater this week!
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What a nice variety of activities you had this past week. Our storms are over here too and warming up fast! I love your raised beds with the tunnel. I’ve never seen wool compost but it sounds like a good idea. Your spinning is so pretty! It seems everyone is remodeling their kitchens! 3 right here on YOP! Have a great week!
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Thank you. I managed to cram quite a bit in this week that was actually productive!
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How lovely to be able to make a start in the garden. I have done some tidying but I need to motivate myself to get planting.
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