2021 Week 2 - Bubbles, glitching, edible perennials, shallots and pilates.

Lockdown
Surely no-one can write a blog at the moment without mentioning lockdown. 

Covid-19 has become scary again. If I could I would be happy staying here on the smallholding sheltered from the rest of the world. But schools remain open. We have over a quarter of our pupils coming in daily along with the added complication of teaching the rest on Zoom and furnishing them with enough learning activities to keep busy and engaged.

To reduce the number of 'bubbles' within the school, we now have the school split into two halves. Teachers are physically in school every other week, teaching from home on alternate weeks.

If I hear the words "Mr Pegden, it's glitching" one more time...

The zoom classroom.
There's a problem on the board for you to solve!

 

We've had a couple of foggy days this week

A bit of sun, a bit of snow, a bit of fog, a lot of rain
And no English conversation can proceed without being preceded by the weather. The week started wet and the water still takes an eternity to drain away so we have puddles the size of small lakes. We are still in the middle of winter though, so temperatures haven't strayed too far from zero. At least the ground is not so slippery when it's frozen solid, but by midday it has usually thawed. This is the time of day when I can work most comfortably outside though I have now adapted to the cold and don't really feel it as long as I wear a few layers.

The dyke is full again and the puddles are back.
The hardy Shetland sheep don't really mind.

My Edible Perennial Patch
The big project in the veg patch at the moment is an edible perennial garden. The postie has been bringing me strange tubers and new seed varieties and I have been moving some of the existing perennials around. Now is a good time to move or divide them while they are dormant.

Many of the tubers I have received, such as chufa, apios, oca and Madeiran vine, need to be stored awhile before they go in the ground. Others, such as yacon, eddoe and galangal have been potted up and I am hoping they will begin to shoot so they can get a headstart for the year. I'll write more about these unusual food plants as the year progresses.

The perennial patch is starting to take shape. I have a basic plan so that it can incorporate the asparagus plants already there (I spent three days hands and knees weeding these to restore the bed to vitality) as well as sorrel and horseradish. An existing greengauge tree and  cider apple tree are at the centre of the design. The aim is to create a small forest garden. 
We shifted a rhubarb to the base of the greengauge, where I also intend to cultivate mushrooms later in the season. We dug up and moved quite a few of the elephant grasses too, filling gaps and creating a tall, swishy backdrop for the garden - the savanna bordering the forest! Dividing a bamboo was a trickier job than I had anticipated. There were several attempts by the bamboo to poke out my eyes!

Chinese artichoke
about to be transplanted

I also dug up my existing bed of Chinese artichokes which were sited where my greenhouse is going to go (I have put off constructing this for longer than I care to remember). They had been long forgotten and invaded by couch grass and willowherb, but the tubers persisted. I selected out the strongest tubers and replanted them in the gaps where the asparagus has failed.

The perennial patch will become a regular feature of this blog as it develops throughout the year.

Early seed sowing
The annual cycle of seed sowing has started too. Just a few crops for now and mostly those which will end up in the polytunnel. Mangetout and coriander are the first. But patience is required as there is no point starting seeds too early in the year. They will struggle without sufficient heat and light and will be held back waiting for correct conditions outside.

Seed sowing has begun!

As usual I am super organised and have now received all my seeds for the year. Many people don't even think about this until early Spring, but they may well be disappointed for a second year in succession. One of the good effects of lockdown is a renewed interest in growing your own which has resulted in some seed companies having to stop orders or limit quantities. Of course, staff sickness and fewer staff due to space is affecting the suppliers too. So if you're still with me and planning on doing some growing this year, best get onto those seed purchases without further delay.

Shallots
The shallots have been planted out this week too. I save the bulbs from year to year but I am never quite sure when to set them out in the soil. I think any time between January and March is fine. Some were beginning to rot though as I failed to give them enough air flow in storage, so it seemed a good time to sort through them. On average each bulb should split into between four and nine shallots. That's not a bad return. I know that with garlic a period of cold is supposed to help make sure they divide and don't just grow into one big bulb, so I wonder if the same might be true of shallots.

Pilates - an unexpected New Year Resolution
Finally it's back to school again. We still have a dance teacher come in for the children who are attending school - we also zoom the lesson into homes for others to join in. This week part of the routine was pilates. I had always dismissed this without knowing anything about it. But as I watched I was struck by the elements of yoga and some similarities with tai chi. I have been vaguely considering both of these as a bit of gentle lockdown exercise and mindfulness.
As I have gotten older, despite leading quite an active lifestyle, my body has started to seize up. I am about as flexible as a gnarled, stubborn old oak tree! I have been having back problems too. I have found myself having to limit what I do to accommodate the preservation of my body. My mind finds it frustrating.
But as I watched the pilates I began to notice how it focused on strength through the core of the body. I used to have very strong stomach and back muscles until some major internal replumbing when I was forty. Even watching from the sidelines I could see how pilates might just be the form of exercise I needed.Then along came an exercise which was exactly the same as one the hospital physio had given me to do.  When I got home I looked up pilates on Youtube and was in for more surprises. The second clip I watched was a perfect match for the first set of physio exercises I had been given for my back troubles. The physios had just nabbed everything from Youtube pilates!!!

So there is my new year resolution. Sue is keen to join in too so that will make it all the more enjoyable.

Anyway, I can't put off feeding the chickens any longer. We've had a little snow overnight followed by rain so the ground will be treacherous outside.

Next week I'll show you my latest seed storage solution. We'll be sowing spinach, lettuce, onion and aubergine too. And hopefully my kaffir lime seeds will have germinated.