Struggling along as best I can

nannygladys

Been busy today or busier than I have been! Gathered a small harvest in from the garden and for the very first time I have grown carrots 😂 I'm so pleased I've tried so many times both in the garden and Lottie with no success, but in a bucket - success🌞 I also picked a couple more courgettes, green and yellow beans, a few tomatoes and ONE mangetout 😂 which I ate before I even stood up😂😂. Really pleased with what I've managed to grow in the garden! Oh and I have some more buckets of carrots to use as well.
Eldest DD took me for my eye clinic appt and everything is fine, the pressures etc fine but I still have to go back each week so they can retest, but I'm so pleased, so hopefully after the four weeks have gone I can have the other one done and then it's over and done with🙂 I'll have to wait for an eye test and glasses before I can start driving again though but at least I'm saving money on fuel!!! I caught the bus home, I went to take a photo of the bus timetable and one was due in five minutes so I rang daughter and told her I would catch that one back home. It works out that I should be able to use buses for the next two appts but I don't want to do that on my next op day!! Its about half an hour by bus but today it took a little longer as there was a few road works and I came back as people were going home from work, anyway I have a bus pass so I don't mind and it's not that I'm in a hurry to get anywhere.
I have eldest dgd and dog just for tonight and they haven't arrived yet but it is only for tonight so that's ok and on Saturday I'm having my two dgc that I usually look after on a Tuesday for a couple of hours whilst youngest DD drags her other half to the Barbie movie - don't ask 🤣🤣🤣🤣 poor lad and as he's well over 6ft tall he's going to stick right out 🤣🤣🤣 I'm wondering if he knows where he's going!!!! 
Anyway that's me done, oh I called in Aldi as I got off the bus in town and spent £8.96  on a few bits that should last me until about Wednesday next week, I've done a meal plan and it was bits that I couldn't get the other day, brie, feta, red wine (it's for a recipe - honest!) and red peppers and some rice noodles for youngest DD.
So that's it for today, this week has gone really quickly considering I haven't done much!
Nannyg 

Makingabobor2

Glad to hear your eye is ok.
 Good news with the carrots. I tried growing some in a trough & they were quite successful. Although this year a lot smaller than last year. 

Cherryfudge

Well done on the carrots - my Dad never managed t grow them though everything green did fine. I suppose I just assumed they re tricky if Dad couldn't do them, but I'd like to plant a bucketful and you are inspiring me to try.

It's great your eye is settling down.

Lol over the poor man going to see Barbie!

joedenise

Glad the eye is OK.  Lucky with the bus home only being a 5 minute wait.

I've grown carrots in the past in a large pot.  Fresh carrots like that are lovely but not keen on them from the supermarket - they definitely aren't fresh!

The reason they work in a pot/bucket is that there are no stones.  Carrots don't like stones - bit like parsnips although they're a bit more tolerant than carrots.  My dad grew everything on his lottie but carrots were done in large pots for the same reason - he had a very heavy clay soil as well as plenty of stones, although the soil improved over the years with all the manure and fertilisers he used.  He even used to grow green manure to dig in most years!

Cherryfudge

Mt Dad reckoned the clay soil was the reason carrots wouldn't grow for him, too.

nannygladys

Makingabobor2 - I've grown long carrots in a large pot, one I normally grow potatoes in and small chartonney carrots in one of the large raised  beds. The ones in the large pot are the ones I'm pulling up first but on Saturday dgs pulled up some from the raised bed and they're nearly ready as well!! 

nannygladys

Cherryfudge - the soil at the Lottie is clay based so heavy and I've never had any success there with carrots or parsnips. Parsnips I can live without but I do like raw and fresh carrots, must have been a rabbit in a previous life but it must have been the only short sighted one around!!! 😂

nannygladys

joedenise - your dad was a wise man! 🙂 I'm definitely going to carry on growing them in buckets though and you definitely haven't tasted a proper carrot if you depend on sm ones! 
I've also been thinking about green manure, every year I read about it and then do nothing, but I'm not sure whether it's feasible this year as it's going to a fair few weeks before I can get going on the Lottie again, but next year it's a serious contender to be done.🙂

nannygladys

Just lost my post - my fault I pressed the wrong button so I will repost tomorrow as time is creeping on.
Nannyg 

joedenise

nannygladys said:

joedenise - your dad was a wise man! 🙂 I'm definitely going to carry on growing them in buckets though and you definitely haven't tasted a proper carrot if you depend on sm ones! 
I've also been thinking about green manure, every year I read about it and then do nothing, but I'm not sure whether it's feasible this year as it's going to a fair few weeks before I can get going on the Lottie again, but next year it's a serious contender to be done.🙂

I know it will be a few weeks before you can get going on the Lottie again but you can sow green manure for overwintering until the end of September (and if we get the promised Indian summer) even early October so you might be able to get some in.  It certainly helps heavy soils considerably.