Morning Bloomers,
Well, it's a chilly one this morning. -5c when we popped our heads out of the warmth of the house and trudged to the plot. Everything was crisp underfoot and the air was more than a little bracing here in the Beacons. Winter is here and judging by some of the plants in the hedgerows, I'd hazard a (completely un-technical) guess that this year it's going to be a 'hard' winter. This is purely judged on the berries in the hedges and how cold my toes are today. Really technical stuff.
On the flower plots it is far too cold and frosty to even think about digging, mulching, or to do anything really. Thankfully, a week or so ago we spent a lot of time putting the plots to bed for winter. So fingers crossed the well rotted 'moo and chicky poo' will keep the less hardy plants warm and safe over winter.
Meanwhile, in the polytunnel things are ticking along nicely and the autumn sown seedlings are looking strong and healthy. If we have more cold snaps like this then we'll have to start and insulate and wrap up the seedlings, but at the moment we should be ok.
So today is a day of making wreaths for early December/Christmas. Every flat space in the sheds, polytunnel, house (and other people's houses if they're daft enough to let us) will be turning into a Christmas workshop whilst we make all of our natural Christmas decorations, wreaths, and in the week before Christmas, flower arrangments.
We've already been around the farm on the quad bike collecting holly, ivy, pine cones, moss, berries and the like and the flower heads we've had drying since Autumn are looking good strung up in various places ranging from the polytunnel, to peoples porches, kitchens and sheds. Not to mention the gorgeous smell that's coming from the cinnamon sticks and fruit slices that have been dried and are ready to be used on our wreaths for the 'natural' way to decorate your door.
We'll all end up with the usual scratches, grazes and cuts from working with the spikey Holly and florists wire as we go wreath crazy. Also, if it gets much colder we'll be wearing our fetching fingerless gloves inbetween dunking our hands in the flower buckets and inevitably getting icy cold water all down ourselves. Mind you, it's all worth it once we stand back and admire all of our hardwork. The wreaths we make, and the festive Christmas arrangements and decorations all laid out make us all feel Christmassy after the mad rush that is the run up to Christmas. In the next few days we'll be putting photos up on our website and also here on our blog.
If you're in the area, this year we'll be at the Talgarth Christmas Market on Saturday December 4th, and also the Merthyr Tydfill Farmers Market on Saturday the 18th of December.
Right. Scissors, Twine, Moss and Cinnamon Sticks at the ready.
Keep bloomin
Cathy
www.breconblooms.com
It was certainly a cold one this morning, it's half past two in the afternoon and I still have frost on parts of my garden!
ReplyDeleteThe description you give of your natural wreaths is making me feel it's time to get down to my vegetable plot to see what wonders are there for us to use this Christmas.
Hi Growing Vegetables,
ReplyDeleteThe sun finally came out but now it's started to get nippy again. I think my toes might snap off they're so cold. Time to get my (as I call them) Ooompaloompa boots out with the fleecy wool liners.
Hope you find some lovely things on your plot to make a wreath with. If you have any Chillis left over then they look fab on a wreath in bunches and wrapped with a piece of raffia. Or for a more traditional look... dried red apple slices look great too but we find that the birds like to peck at the wreath a bit too much when there's apple on it.
I have no trouble believing that cold toes are a harbinger of hard winters! I'd love to see photos of your polytunnels. :)
ReplyDeleteI believe cold toes are the first indicators shown in weather reports.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the coming winter. Hope your plot is ok
Maybe I should let the UK Met Office know about my weather predicting toes (chuckle.) Even with their fancy computers, the Met Office seem to get the weather forecast wrong more often than not.
ReplyDeleteWill try and find some photos of the polytunnel when it was looking a little more cheery back in the summer. Will also pop some photos on here when we build the new one (which is currently sat in a barn ready for a less windy/rainy day.)
Natural is the way to go. I can imagine how lovely the wreaths will look. I used to have a friend who can predict our weather better than the Met Office. She's got a back problem and can feel the rain coming even when the sun is shining brightly.
ReplyDeleteWow a great idea about the chillies, I have got several long red chillies left on the plants in the green house so they will be used on the wreath, just need to find the rest of the items needed now.
ReplyDelete