Fat Balls for the Birds

Winter is still here, so this week we melted some lard...
...and mixed in porridge oats and bird seed...
...to make fat balls for the birds. We cut the string on Wednesday and got the yoghurt pots ready, then completed the task on Thursday.

Stirring Compost

This week was very cold in the garden - about minus 3 degrees centigrade, but beautifully sunny! It was just Danielle and Miss Swallow on Wednesday, so we chatted whilst stirring the big compost bin. A whole bag of shredded paper from the office had been added along with more canteen waste.
This is the "after" picture - lots for the worms to get into!
On Thursday, the ground was just too hard for digging despite us thinking we might start levelling a spot in readiness for another greenhouse that we have been offered (someone wants to get rid of theirs and is willing to give it to us - that's too good an offer to refuse!)
Instead we finished tidying the garden by collecting sticks from everywhere.
We added them to our "hedgehog pile" by the fence (no creatures spotted yet, but we live in hope!)

Tidying Sticks and Windfall

We finished working on our Potato Day posters on Wednesday this week. On Thursday, we just wanted to be in the garden! Lewis and Catriona potted on some winter pansies in the shed whilst Danielle and Grigor started to clear winter debris from the raised beds and surrounding area. We have had a lot of gales that have strewn the garden with branches and twigs!
The Walking Stick Cabbages looked a lot neater once we cleared the debris. Some were a little lopsided too, so we pushed the support sticks deeper into the ground.
Here you can see a solitary wasp nest in the greenhouse. Not sure if it will still contain an egg that will emerge as a wasp in Spring, or if the hole means one already emerged at the end of last summer?? I have read that a solitary wasp will build a nest, lay an egg and bring a paralysed insect into it for the lava to eat when it hatches. It will then seal it, so seeing as there's a hole in this one I think it must now be empty. Any entomologists that could confirm this - please add a comment!

Potato Day Planning

Welcome back after the Christmas Break! Not much happening this week in the garden - it's pretty wintry so we've been indoors creating posters to advertise the "Transition Black Isle's Potato Day" that we are going to help out with.

The idea is to have over 50 varieties of seed potato for people to buy at a reasonable price (10p each) and in any quantity. It should be an interesting event, with lots of varieties to talk about and try. We'll be buying our own for the garden this year, and also hope to take orders from staff to encourage them to "grow their own".

A home-grown Christmas Dinner

On Thursday this week, we ate our Chrismas Dinner. All the ingredients (except bacon, walnuts and gravy) had been grown by us!

We had potato carrot and parsnip mash served with a fried up dish of bacon, walnuts, garlic, onions, curly kale, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and even a walking stick cabbage leaf!

Grigor's mother also very kindly cooked us a delicious carrot cake for our dessert - thank you!

On Wednesday, Miss Swallow was out on a school trip. Catriona Charlotte Danielle Annie and Lewis did a sterling job decorating the shed.

A little outdoor touch to spread the festivities!

Extreme Weather - snow and wind!

On Wednesday this week, just Lewis attended. There was deep snow so we didn't do any gardening! Instead, we made a snowman!

There was a late start all week due to inclement weather and difficult road conditions.

The walking stick cabbages are still standing against the weight of some snow,

and the water butt has a snowy hat - having slid off the greenhouse roof!

The curly Kale is still looking good - we'll be cooking some next week for our Christmas dinner.

We may add some purple sprouting broccoli into the recipe too!

The leeks too should feature, though they are still quite thin - we'll leave some to keep growing slowly.

Lewis took this moody shot of the garden,

and caught the stormy sky well here!

On Thursday, a big windy storm hit - with torrential rain too. Danielle took this shot of Connorhan putting the compost into the bin, then we hot-footed it to Miss Swallow's computer room as there are big branches overhanging the shed, and we didn't want one to fall on us!

Re-potting and Weeding

It has been a cold week, but we continue to work in the garden! Well, in the shelter of the shed actually! The school was closed on Wednesday due to industrial action. On Thursday, we potted up some winter pansies. We hope to grow them on a little in the greenhouse before planting them into the barrels outside the front of the school.

Also, at the end of last week Isabela was back to help with more weeding! Here is a before...

...and after picture - great work!The leeks are still quite small but will continue to grow through the winter months.

The curly Kale is also recovering well - the leaves are no longer being eaten by caterpillars! Maybe some will be ready for our Christmas dinner in a couple of weeks!