Fish!

We've spent this weekend either eating fish or gardening, not something you get to say very often.

The fish came in at Joensuu's Kalamarkkinat, which was held down by the harbour. There were lots of stalls selling the usual kind of thing (woolly jumpers and socks, dried flowers), but this time there was lots of food too - we tasted olives and pickled gherkins (good), corned fish (like eating cat food), a strange sort of porridgey/oatmeal mix (good, but bizarre), all sorts of rye bread (excellent), and some smoked salmon (amazing, so we bought some). The 'Best of British' stall was hilarious - lots of flavoured cheddar, Wills and Kate celebration mugs, and an awful lot of overpriced lemon curd and jams. It was interesting seeing what is considered 'exotic' enough to export...

There were also some 'interesting' karaoke singers, who won points for effort if nothing else. We never did work out if you had to sing songs about fish (the advert for the event had said there would be 'fish karaoke'), or what the man playing the accordion was singing about.

We had lunch at the market too - no fish and chips or kipper in a bun like at home, but small whitebait-style fried fish (muikku), and some hot smoked fish with fried potatoes, vegetables and a garlicky sauce. M demanded grilled sausage, but then proceeded to demolish the muikku... We couldn't move afterwards, but it was so worth it.

The gardening must have worked off some of the calories, I think. Our landlord has bought a whole load of plants and trees for the (rather bare) garden, which we have agreed to put in. So we have dug lots of holes (surprisingly easy on the sandy soil), and planted 10 shrubs and two lilacs. There's still three fruit trees to go - this may be a bit harder as the holes for them need to be a metre deep. We may need more fish before we can tackle that one...

Vegetables!

The box scheme continues....it's amazing what you can fit into quite a small space. Here's the sweetcorn/beetroot/radish box (with a rogue french bean). I'm not completely convinced there's enough room for the sweetcorn...they might end up being rather tiny.

Up next, potatoes. Plus several of the many onions dotted around the place (this is what happens when you buy an enormous bag at the allotment shop) and some mint.


And finally, the bean/salad fest. To be honest, I've forgotten what I actually planted in here. I think there's carrots, rocket, lettuce, beetroot and peas, as well as the french/borlotti beans at the back. That'll teach me to write things down.

In which the tomato plants continue to take over the world...

Annoyingly, M's tomato plants are still far larger than mine. Humph.

In other news, the new planter is ready, so the beans are off shortly to a new home. Bet you never knew there could be such excitement in the world of gardening...

Gardening

We have gone slightly vegetable mad in the garden at the moment. I've planted what feels like nine million red onions, lots of salad/beetroot/radishes, potatoes, some sweetcorn (which may be a tad optimistic, in Gateshead) and several punnets-worth of strawberries. This year I've decided not to do the allotment, hence our new range of pots:




Excitingly, there's a new planter under construction, which is going to be perfect for the various beans (french, borlotti, runner) which are currently invading the living room.


It's rather sad to have to give up on the idea of the allotment. But I just don't have the time - hopefully it will be much easier to spend 10 minutes each evening pottering about in the garden, rather than feeling permanently guilty that I've only been to the allotment for an hour all week. I've already planted more things than I did in all of last year - not having to weed makes such a difference. Now all I need is for the slugs to steer well clear of all this food!

You say potato...

We've had a bit of a potato fest this week. First of all, M planted some with her Grandad on Monday, then we did these at the allotment on Friday, and today we've been helping some friends do theirs. And we had roast potatoes and potatoes dauphinoise for tea. I'm potatoed out.

Spring is here! (part 9,487)

As you can tell, I get pretty excited by gardens in spring. It's all about bright lime green colours, an abundance of foliage and beautiful bulbs.

Here's my patently-not-very-abundant-as-yet new herb bed (rosemary, lemon balm, bay, sage, mint, curry plant and lavender). I got fed up of trogging down the back steps in the rain to the back yard to pick slug-ravaged plants, so I've installed them all in the front garden instead.


In fact, the slugs are going to have to make do with raspberry canes (which they don't appear to like), and mint (ditto). Sorry, chaps.

In other news...

I'm over at Enjoy the Ride for the next two weeks, with a series of tips on kids and gardens.

I will definitely be planting nasturtiums again next year

They're about the only thing the slugs and snails haven't managed to get their teeth into. I think baskets might be the way forward...

Ramblings about gardens

I love the idea of guerrilla gardening which the Guardian's picked up on today - there's so much waste ground or dull grassy roundabouts that could be made beautiful with a few bulbs or flowers. Maybe I should get a few packets of seed, throw them about and see what happens...

Mind, in Gateshead, the council is really proactive about its gardening. True, it specialises in 'municipal', with serried ranks of brightly coloured flowers, but it's none the worse for that. I love the oddities that turn up like the random daffodils outside the Springfield Hotel. More hanging baskets would be lovely (but I guess the watering requirements are rather high).

Speaking of which, it's time for me to get a handle on my garden. Lots of veg planted (runner beans, sugar snap peas, broad beans, tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes, swiss chard); lots more to go - spring onions, carrots, salad...it's amazing what you can get into a few containers/baskets.

I'm also attempting to turn our balcony into a sensory experience with bamboo and grasses - it could all get quite noisy as the force 9 gales swoosh past down the hill.