Vineyard progress

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

Again, BP drugs messing me up, so it took until the last few days of March to get the vineyard pruning done, but eventually I got there. I really should go back and have another look now to see how they’re getting on.

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More baking

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

Not mine this time — my wife’s, in fact. But who doesn’t love a hot cross bun?

For a change though, this year it has been suggested to me that I should try them with bacon. Then I started asking around and received a few other ideas, some of which I will have to try:

  • ginger marmelade
  • Roquefort and chunky lime marmelade
  • cheddar cheese

Or, use them as a burger bun. Though we tend to use brioche buns for that.

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Sourdough loaves from the bakery

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

I made these. I am unnecessarily proud 😀

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Artificial stupidity strikes again

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

After my previous post I tried to search online for “UK bright green caterpillar”. The AI search summary came back with

Bright green caterpillars in the UK can include species like the Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar, which is chunky and has purple and white stripes, and the Cinnabar moth caterpillar, known for its distinctive black and yellow stripes. These caterpillars are often found on various plants and can vary in appearance as they grow.

So not the Cinnabar moth at all then?

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Don’t think I’ve seen one of these before

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

Thanks to problems with my blood pressure medication, it’s taking me a long time to do a first weeding pass through the veg plot. I did one last November, but the mild Winter seems to have allowed them to keep growing and there are now so many. Unfortunately we’ve had several months of very wet weather too, so until recently I couldn’t even get onto the plot to start work.

As I was weeding today, this wee little beastie popped out of the greenery.

I have no idea what this is and I’ve not been able to find anything that matches online. I’m intrigued.

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No dig diary, 29th March 2026

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

Today marks the day when we finished filling up the compost bin that we’ve been using since the start of Winter. Always seems to be the one that takes longest to fill. To try to keep the pile moist and warm, this time I’m putting a layer of grass clippings on top, followed by some thick cardboard. Before I closed it up though, I had to see what the temperature was inside.

Pretty toasty! 😀

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A real Cornish pasty

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

Spending some time at the bakery has rekindled my desire to bake more and one thing I’ve always said I wanted to do was to make some proper Cornish pasties. Clearing the veggie plot uncovered some small swedes left over from last year so that finally pushed me into doing it. We had a few potatoes and onions left over from the last harvest too, so other than the beef skirt, pastry and seasoning, everything came from our garden.

A little more practice wouldn’t go amiss, but I’m not at all unhappy with the result. And they taste great, which is the most important thing 😀

The next step is to make some veggie pasties that my daughter will be willing to eat. We have some leeks still standing in the plot, so I reckon they should be in the filling.

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Don’t you love that cars have no spare these days?

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

My son’s Fiesta doesn’t, and had a puncture that I wasn’t sure would be safe to drive on far enough to get it fixed. Fortunately I still have the set of standard profile wheels that I fitted to my own Fiesta in place of the low profiles (because the ride is much better on our roads with the standard profiles).

The original wheel (opposite side of the car):

My old one:

So I was able to take off the wheel with the punctured tyre and still drive the car to park it out of the way.

And the actual puncture:

No idea what that rusty piece of junk is in the tread, but it certainly shouldn’t have been there.

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No dig diary, 18th February 2026

Posted on May 11, 2026 by james

The greenhouse is starting to fill with module trays and seedlings now…

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Late Winter potatoes

Posted on May 8, 2026 by james

Back in January I took some of the green Charlotte potatoes that I saved from last year’s harvest and put them into bags of compost in the greenhouse. By mid-February they were starting to sprout.

And by the tail end of March they were looking pretty healthy.

The instructions on the original seed potatoes said that they’d take around twelve weeks to be ready to harvest, so I think it might be time to have a look at them this weekend 🙂

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