Sunday 24th May 2020

Every time I go for a walk lately, I can't wait to scan the meadows to see what new flowers are emerging. It's unbelievable! I don't think I've ever seen so many different ones in such a small area, and they're just so stunning. Delicate little clusters of petals in such a variety of colours; honestly, if my garden was half as colourful I'd be thrilled. So, yesterday, when I took Alfie for a walk, I finally remembered to take my camera and capture as many different flowers as I could see, et voila!

Not that my garden is empty, it's just all rather green instead of being in bloom, but I'm getting quite a variety of things in there in addition to the plants left by the previous owners. Friends have been donating plants too, so I now have a variety of poppies, some aquilegias, calendular, evening primrose and purple irises to add to the mix. I'd planned on putting some of the flowers up in the little top meadow, but on clambering over the rocks to get there the other day I spotted a rotten horned viper lying right in my path. They're not particularly aggressive, but they are poisonous, so for the time being I'm not heading up that way unless I really have to. Maybe a vulture or something will come and take it away meanwhile.

The veggies have mostly survived transplanting into various beds and are putting out more leaves. I'm hoping to have a steadier supply of spuds this year due to the crate of seed potatoes given to me by Simeon over the road:

I've decided to grow them all in various bin type containers this year as it keeps them all in one place and it means the other veggies don't get swamped in foliage. I line a bin with some straw and soil and then place three or four seed potatoes in and lightly cover with soil:

At the same time I have other potatoes sprouting in separate plastic containers:

Once the potatoes in the bin have put out leaves about 6 inches high, I cover them in more straw and then add in another layer of sprouting spuds from the smaller containers, again sprinkling soil and straw on top so that the old leaves are just poking through:

This process is repeated until the bin is almost full, and then they're all just left to finish putting out leaves. Eventually they should flower, and once the foliage has died down, the spuds are ready for tipping out. The first bin which was begun mid-March now looks like this:

Once a bin has been harvested then I should be able to start the process all over again.

Something I'm massively proud of is my little potting shed. It's lovely having a place just for garden related things, not least because I can drop as much dirt on the floor as I like and never have to clear it up! It's also lovely and bright thanks to re-using the thick plastic windows from the balcony of my old house (no I didn't pinch them, the new owners didn't want them).

There'll be lots more shelving going up and probably a bench of some kind under the window... ah, let's face it. I'm going to spend hours on end playing in here. It took a fair bit of work barrowing out all the old straw and hay which was heaped in here, under which there's a wonderful packed layer of decades of animal poop from the sheep and goats which used to live here. Not one to waste anything manure related, I've started pulling up the big dry slabs and breaking them into smaller pieces to soak in tubs of water. Once they're all dissolved and squishy I can use the mush as fertiliser to boost my veggies. Here's the first batch fermenting nicely:

Be glad that you only get to see the picture because it really stinks!

Work should soon be starting on the solar hot water system. I had a guy come out a couple of seeks ago to give me a quote for doing all the work, though I did explain that I'd need a couple of weeks at least to clear all the junk from the rooms he would be working in. Thankfully Gabrovo is pretty well equipped with various recycling bins including ones for clothing and shoes, as I bagged up about 12 sacks of items from the room which will be the bathroom. Here are before and after pictures:

Naturally the heaps of things contained several treasures which I've put to one side, and a few curious items including two of these:

Apparently, in the old days, an entire family had to share one facemask...