Skip to main content

Growing things

For those of you who are interested in my attempts at balcony gardening, I thought I'd update you a little. For those who aren't, don't skip this post. You may find something else of interest.

Apart from the ever-present herbs, tomatoes and cayenne peppers are on the go this year. The peppers are really on the go - we went away for a week and came back to find them twice the size as when we left. Now they're producing fruit which is growing at a similarly rapid rate, though none has ripened to red yet.


I realised I should have given you some kind of scale, so I just went out and measured. They're about 22 cm long, or 8 1/2 inches for you non-metric types. I may have to find out how to dry peppers if they all ripen at once.

A couple of tomato plants are looking pretty healthy and beginning to flower. A few died; one, apparently, by being eaten whole by a bird, a trouble I've never had before. I had two seedlings left so used those as replacements, but they are still smaller than the other two. Last year we reaped a bountiful total of eight cherry tomatoes, so if I do better than that I'll be happy. However, I think next year I'll try sweet peppers instead. They're so expensive to buy, and I figure if chillis do well I may have a chance with the non-spicy kind.


Ooh, that's my toes, too!


And with all this talk of growing things, it seems like a good time to say that Graham and I are also nurturing a new addition to the family! All things being well, Baby White should be making an appearance around the end of November, probably proving its all-Americanism by popping out just in time for some Thanksgiving turkey.

In answer to the usual questions:
  • I'm feeling very well, thank you. I'm now past the morning sickness stage, which was more like afternoon nausea anyway, so I had no excuse to make Graham bring me breakfast in bed. Drat!

  • We're expecting to find out what it is in advance, but have no strong preference for boy or girl. I'm sure either will be equally adorable and messy.

  • Despite our innate preference for the "socialised medicine" of home, we are planning to have the baby here. Apart from other considerations, this will facilitate getting it dual nationality, which we'll probably regret in 18 years' time when it moves to the opposite side of the Atlantic (whichever direction that happens to be).

  • We have a few names in mind but no final choices yet. Graham delights in coming up with off-the-wall suggestions, so I'm a little worried that I will wake up the morning after giving birth to find our darling bundle named Horatio Frederick.

  • Yes, we are very excited!!!

Comments

Besi and Mim said…
Hey Martha and Graham congratulations! hope the next few months treat u better than the first few months (nausea and heartburn were the worst for me!) but motherhood is fantastic! so good to hear from u, now ive found ur blog ill be able to hear more! take care of ur little family, and all ur pepper plants! love mims xx
Sally Eyre said…
Hey there, glad to hear you are over the morning sickness - I never made it that far despite having two kids! I've finally found your blog again having had the new computer for a couple of months so you can expect more comments. Love to all three. Sal

Popular posts from this blog

One hundred churches

About the middle of January, I was walking to school one afternoon when it occurred to me that I must have visited quite a few churches on my explorations. I started counting them. But I quickly ran out of fingers, so when I got home I plotted them on Google Maps. Not only was the number much higher than I was expecting, it was also tantalisingly close to one hundred. Only a few dozen to go. So of course, every walk since then has had to include at least one church! Last Monday I visited my hundredth church: St John the Baptist, Dethick. It was a beautiful little 13-century building with an unusual tower - I was glad it had claimed the 100 spot. I haven't been inside every church. Sometimes they were locked; sometimes I was in a hurry and didn't try the door. St Leonard's Church in Alton had bellringers practicing, and I almost interrupted a funeral when I stuck my head through the door of St Mary's, Marston-on-Dove. A few, such as St Oswald's, Ashbourne, and St Wys...

Derwent Valley Heritage Way: Steep drops ahead

It's been a long time since I fitted that much up and down into an eight-mile walk! 740m of steep climbs and steps. My legs were not very happy with me the next day. Between Matlock and Cromford, the Derwent River runs through a deep valley, with Matlock Bath - a landlocked town which pretends to be a seaside resort - down at the bottom. The ridge of high ground used to run all the way round to Scarthin Rock, cutting off Cromford from the rest of the valley, until somebody blasted a hole through it to build the A6. Matlock Bath: pavilion and amusement park I started in Cromford and climbed over the ridge at Harp Edge, then followed a path along through the woods, with the ground dropping sharply away to my right. There were a few small caves among the trees. At Upperwood someone had thoughtfully provided a bench. I wasn't in need of a rest just yet, though. In fact, I was feeling so bouncy that I went down an entirely unnecessary flight of steps, instead of staying on the reaso...

Limestone Way - the end! (for now...)

Bonsall is a pretty little village just up the road from Cromford. It was the centre point for my final Limestone Way walk. First I walked one way, back towards Ible, then I walked the other way to Matlock. I started at the fountain and climbed up to a tree in which a mistle thrush was singing loudly (helpfully identified by the Merlin app). A few fields took me across to the hamlet of Slaley. Then there was a pleasant walk through the woods, which dropped steeply to my left down to the Via Gellia. At Dunsley Springs the stream went right over the edge.  I made my way down more gradually, and then was faced with the long climb up again to the point near Leys Farm where I was rejoining the Limestone Way. Tree down! Rejoining the Limestone Way Once I'd reached the top, it was a very pleasant walk across dry grassy fields. There were signs of old mining activity, which suddenly made the ground feel less solid under my feet - how many holes were hiding under the turf? Back at Bonsall, ...