Growing stuff and things

So the raised beds are in, various planters are made and filled with soil and other nice things, and we are now growing a whole bunch of stuff and things in our garden.

A rough list:

• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Green beans
• Augbergines
• Courgettes
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Basil
• Coriander
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Chillies
• Rocket
• Chives
  

We're making it up as we go along a little bit, but it is still nice to have stuff in there.

Ran out of room in the raised beds so had to make some planters out of things.

Oh - and we re-painted a wall so everything looks nice...

Next, adding a new barbecue!

Raised beds, stage two

Fill em up
Originally uploaded by Spacmonster

Here they are then, ready to be filled up. We successfully sunk them below the level of the gravel and started the process of filling them with a mix of compost and tompsoil.

The method?

Mark out the holes and dig them (a foot deep for our fence posts).

Attempt to put frame into holes. Realise holes are in wrong place. Make them even bigger.

Fit frame into holes. Realise that frame still doesn't quite fit. Scrape the holes around the posts bigger until they almost fit.

Give up and whack the whole thing with the heavy end of a pick axe until it is level!

Fill with soil.

Rub back!

More Star Wars goodness

I may be turning 30 this year (shhhhh.)

But lego still features pretty heavily in my wishlists.

And now this:Must. Have.

Star Wars Figures

Got, got, got... need.

Ah happy days. Remember when 77 varieties of action figure was a lot.

Click for bigger.

Nowadays I expect a pokemon collection (or bakugan or whatever) doesn't really get going until you have 77 toys.

Anyway, Princess Leia dressed as a bounty hunter, I still regret burying you in the sand at Albecq. One day I'll find you again...

Piccie nabbed from the Super Fun Blog.

Making some raised beds at Le Braconnier Cottage

Almost there
Originally uploaded by Spacmonster

Major project time, we're making some raised beds in the garden to grow some veg..

The basic idea is to use the bit at the end of the garden, which gets a fair bit of light in the afternoon. Also means that we can put off digging up the patio for a while!

Our design was fool proof - gravel boards and fence posts screwed together into two boxes (joined together in the middle).

All we have to do now is dig the post holes and find some compost and top soil and we are away!

Big question is what to grow first - after our efforts last year in the greenhouse we have a surplus of borlotti beans, so I think we are going to concentrate on green beans, herbs and salad for the time being.

More pictures of this epic construction project...

Prints for the Lounge

House decoration is very nearly done. So much so that rather than thinking about tearing down wallpaper and filling holes or making things out of wood and other things, we're now thinking about putting up pictures.

So I made some art for the lounge, we have a green theme going on, so some trees were in order.

This one is from closer to home - the Bluebell Woods:


And this one is from a bit further afield - the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.

Up Red Creek in the Dolly Sods Wilderness, to be precise.

Did these in photoshop based on some of my photos, just ran them through the 'by numbers' filter a few times until they looked cool.

You can see the rest of our decoration efforts on Flickr...

Cocktails!

The scene - new year's eve. The place - my kitchen. The ingredients, half a bottle of ameretto liqueur and some cherry coke.

A cocktail, thinks I, harnessing the power of almonds and cherries....

To recreate my moment of clarity - here is how to do it...

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a couple of maraschino cherries (and some syrup from the jar), next, chuck in a good double measure of ameretto.

Top up with Cherry Coke.

I call it a Bakewell Tart.


Piccie - Tarts by pikaluk.

Endings

Not mine, obviously - but these:



Are great. I particularly like 'EAGLES'. For obvious reasons.

Dresden Codak.

Via Boing Boing

Star Wars Awesome

Artists, comic book creators, toy designers, and celebrity fans are getting out their markers, paint brushes and glue guns to transform blank Mighty Muggs into one-of-a-kind Star Wars art to be auctioned by The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Seriously, seriously cool...

I was in a race

Keeping my weight down
Originally uploaded by Spacmonster

I was in a sailing race, from Jersey to Guernsey. We came 4th. As you can see from the pic, much of this was due to my amazing weight distribution skills. I lay there for hours!

For more details on my sailing adventures you need to head over to the blog of the good ship Blue J'Ade.

That is all.