Tuesday 15 March 2016

A Grand Day Out



I went over the border into England and headed down South at the end of last week, to spend the weekend with Lovely Hubby at his digs in Newbury.  The reason ... we were going to the Edible Garden Show and Good Life Live on the Saturday and it was closer to him than it was to home.


We had a great time, reconnecting with our love of Large Black pigs, the sort that we will be back breeding in the not too distant future.  One of the reasons we chose this property was the woodland that they will be able to live in.


And while we were there we fell in love with Golden Guernsey goats and got the details of breeders of these relatively rare goats.  Goats, pigs and chickens seems like a good mix of animals to both of us.


We also gave ourselves the day off from our 'no spend year', and purchased a few things.  
A couple of Cucamelons for just £3.


Some copper tape and Nematodes for slug control in the polytunnel so I don't have to resort to chemicals.  The slugs have overwintered extremely well in amongst the plants in the relative warmth of the polytunnel.  I have sore fingertips today as I have just managed to get it all the beds in the polytunnel done, it gives you little cuts like paper cuts if you are not careful :-(  

But one tunnel done and one to go so it's not too bad.  Once my fingers have healed I will do the net tunnel and on a couple of the outdoor beds if I have enough tape.


Two little tops that turn drinking bottles into fine waterers for young plants and a judges guides, to give me standards to aim for ready for this years country shows and vegetable competitions.


A little treat for the dogs .... because we are soft like that  ;-)


And a big treat for us, supporting a small business and buying some delicious oils to use on our homegrown salads.


And finally we bought a couple of new Rhubarb plants.  A 'Pink Champagne' and a 'Raspberry Red'.  I don't know what the rhubarb is that we have got in the rhubarb patch at the moment but both of the plants seem to stay green and not turn that lovely shade of red that makes rhubarb look so much more delicious.

I spent an hour yesterday planting these two and moving the strawberry plants that were in the bed. We never got to eat any of them last year as the birds pinched them as soon as they turned red, and I didn't want to net them as we have the bird bath there and I didn't want any birds to get entangled in the netting, so now the problem is solved and we will have much more rhubarb later in the year.


We sat and listened to a talk by Pippa Greenwood, well I listened and Lovely Hubby snoozed, all about the pests and bugs in the garden and what to do if you have them, she advised copper tape and Nematodes for slug control .... I smiled  :-)


There were lots of magazine stands at the show and one of them was The Simple Things, the guy approached me as I walked past so I told him that I already have a subscription and that I have every copy since the very first edition .... he grinned, said 'well done', and gave me a little scented candle for my loyalty.

We had a really good day, spent more money than we have spent all year, but as you can see it was all on very useful or very necessary things so it was nice to have a day off, an amnesty from our 'no spend year'.

Sue xx 



22 comments:

  1. I take it you are going for the cup this year?

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  2. We went on Friday and thoroughly enjoyed it - we also brought the same rhubarb as you and 6 raspberries and 2 black gooseberries - we also got a large piece of micromesh from the same stall for our leeks - I got carried away with Italian food stall and came back with a fair sized chunk of feta and sun dried tomatoes and hubby brought a walk in mesh tunnel from one of the stalls outside for our cabbages - we thought all the prices were fair and reasonable and would definitely go again - glad you enjoyed it too xx

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  3. I live in the US now, but Newbury is my home town and I go back for a visit nearly every year. Also love to visit Wales. I miss the countryside in the UK, even after 40 years. Your blog, along with some others, keeps me connected to all of it. Thank you.

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  4. It sounds like you had a fantastic day out and a lovely way to have an amnesty from your no spend year.

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  5. Having tried them last year, I will say don't bother with the Cucamelons, but you have them now so I hope you care for them more than I did!

    There is an excellent breeder of Golden Guersneys not that far from us near Llanfynydd. If you buy from them, you are welcome to visit for tea and cake.

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    1. I wasn't going to bother with them but for £3 I thought it worth a go, much cheaper than the Tomtatoes I fell for last year ;-)

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  6. That's my idea of a great day out Sue. :)

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  7. I missed it this year, but really enjoyed it when I last went (I went to a talk by James Wong).

    I love Golden Guernseys- they're on my wish list :)

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    1. I missed James Wongs talk, unfortunately we arrived just as he was finishing :-(

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  8. The goats look adorable - such a beautiful colour! Your day out sounds great and I betbthe items you purchased felt even better because you don't normally spend :)

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  9. It's good to have a day off, looks like a smashing event. We don't have anything like that around here, only small village shows.

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  10. I think that relaxing your spending rules for the day and buying things like that is a jolly good antidote to a wet winter and certainly the way to go. We don'tgrow strawberries as neither of us care for them, but we grow lots of raspberries in a cage and they do well every year.

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  11. I would have loved to have gone to this event I saw it being advertised on the web it looks great. How exciting about getting some black Pigs and goats to :-) I think its great to treat yourselves and have a special day out. I haven't heard of that magazine "The Simple Things" can you get in the shops? dee x

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    1. Yes, it's available at all newsagents and supermarkets, it's been out a couple of years now :-)

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    2. That's great, thank you will try and find it :-)

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  12. Sounds idyllic to me. Love those sorts of day out.

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  13. What a great day! Have you a photo of cucamelons? I've never heard of that. Cheers!

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    1. You'll have to Google them to see a photo, mine are tiny little plug plants at the moment ;-)

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  14. Very abstemious purchases I would say! Hope you enjoyed it, it looks as though you did! xx

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  15. Does Nemaslug work? Have tried everything else.... Tape is good but quite expensive!

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    1. This is the first time I have ever tried it. I watered them onto the polytunnel beds yesterday, which are riddled with baby slugs .... so I'll let you know. It says on the pack that you should see the difference in a week.

      Because we bought three rolls of the copper tape and it was at the end of the day we got a good discount ;-)

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