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!!!
Labels:

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
28 May 2010 at 02:35
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
27 June 2010 at 22:51
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Erewash Valley Trail: Ilkeston

You could spend a lot of time following old canals and railways in the Erewash Valley. This walk included parts of the Erewash Canal, the Nottingham Canal, the Nutbrook Canal, and the Stanton branch line, and I could have continued further along any one of those, if I'd had the time. I started in Kirk Hallam, which is mostly a post-war housing estate with a distinctive outline on the map: the main road to Ilkeston through the middle, and a loop road encircling the village. It looks like the London Underground logo. I parked at the lake at the top of the loop. There was a sculpture commemorating the nearby Stanton Ironworks - the ground remembers the roar of the blast  read the inscription around the base - and the remains of a lock on the Nutbrook Canal. Heading towards Ilkeston, I crossed a former golf course, now a nature reserve called Pewit Coronation Meadows, passed a large sports centre, and was soon in the town centre. There was a general impression of red-brickiness, with l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ten books that shaped my life

Ten books that shaped my life in some way.  Now that wasn't a problem.  I scanned the bookshelves and picked out nine favourites without the slightest difficulty (the tenth took a little longer). The problem was that, on the Facebook challenge, I wasn't supposed to explain why .  Nope.  Having picked out my ten, I couldn't let them go without saying why they were special to me. These books are more than a collection of words by an author.  They are particular editions of those words - taped-up, egg-stained, dust-jacketless and battered - which have come into my life, been carried around to different homes, and become part of who I am. How to Be a Domestic Goddess Well, every woman needs an instruction manual, doesn't she? Nigella's recipes mean lazy Saturday mornings eating pancakes, comforting crumbles on a rainy night, Christmas cakes, savoury onion pies and mounds of bread dough.  If you avoid the occasional extravagance (20 mini Bundt tins...
3 comments
Read more

Erewash Valley Trail: Stapleford

It had been a long wait for this walk. All through the Christmas holidays, and an inset day, and weeks and weeks of appalling weather. Now it was the end of January and there was still a dull grey layer of cloud, but at least it wasn't raining. I set out. If you like a good ex-industrial landscape, the Erewash Valley is the place to be. It is veined with old canals and railways, freckled with former factories and mills, and pitted with coal mines. The M1 and a railway run north to south through it, but parts of it still feel surprisingly rural. I had been drawn in by all that there was to discover, so I'd shelved the Portway for a little while and diverted onto the Erewash Valley Trail. I parked in Bramcote Hills Park again and had a quick look at the walled garden, overlooked by the  Hemlock Stone. Hickings Lane heads towards the centre of Stapleford. It looks like it should be a dual carriageway but it's not; there are two separate roads with a wide grass strip between th...
Post a Comment
Read more