Last week was a pretty hectic week although gardening hardly featured at all.
The only remotely gardening related occurrence was the delivery of a small parcel of seeds from D T Brown.
We bought:Broad bean - Luz de Otono for a late sowing
Climbing French bean - Golden Gate
Lettuce - Headed Mix
Radish - Icicle
Cabbage - Rigoletto
Mooli - April Cross
Tomato - Crimson Crush
Swede - Invitation
Broccoli - Rudolf
I’m really disappointed that our main seed order from Kings Seeds is being seriously delayed. A group of the plot holders on our site have group membership of the NAS which entitles us to discounted seeds from Kings. This year we placed our order as usual but received notification that due to COVID related issues and higher than expected demand our order could be delayed for up to 8 weeks. It seems retail and individual orders are being processed before allotment group orders. This means that we will not receive our seeds until March and even then some items could be missing. I have expressed my disappointment that orders from long standing allotment customers seem to be at the bottom of their list of priorities.
So if we have not been gardening why have things been so hectic.
Last Wednesday, Ruby was booked in at the veterinary hospital to be spayed. This was something that we were dreading as she hasn’t had an anaesthetic before and we didn’t know how she would react. To make matters more stressful we had another fall of snow on Tuesday so we were worried that we wouldn’t make the appointment.
Then my sister rang to say she had received a telephone call to arrange for her to have her COVID vaccination on the Saturday.
Fortunately the snow didn’t hang around and Ruby minus her breakfast was duly delivered to the hospital where the hand over was arranged under pandemic protocol conditions. We’d opted to have her surgery done laparoscopically and also for her to have an optional blood test to check whether she was likely to react badly to the anaesthetic. It was then a case of going home to wait for a call. This is always a fraught experience.
After what seemed to be a lifetime we had a call to say everything had gone according to plan and Ruby had come out of the anaesthetic but was still groggy. A pickup appointment was arranged and we could breathe again.
Her fur that was nicely groomed the previous week is now rather patchy but it will soon grow.
Meanwhile, Martyn received a text inviting him to book his Covid jab which he did for the following day.
We picked up Ruby who although still a little wobbly was ecstatic to see us. On arriving hone she was ready for a small meal, the portion size didn’t impress but as advised she had another small meal an hour later.
The next day she was her normal self. The vet told us to keep her calm which is being a full time job as she is so full of bouncy energy. She thinks our attempts at play are pathetic and can’t understand why we won’t let her have crackerdog or doughnuttting sessions. We also have to keep her constantly in sight to ensure that she does interfere with her stitches. On Sunday we had to send a photo of her stitches for the vet to check that everything was OK and hopefully her stitches will come our next week.
Both vaccination appointments were kept so now I am the only non-vaccinated member of our social bubble. I did, however receive a text today and am booked in for my first jab on Thursday.
Weather wise when it hasn’t been snowing it has been raining which has resulted in flooding. Fortunately we escape flooding at home but some roads around us are flooded.
Despite being on Ruby watch I did manage to do some cooking.
On Monday we had Chicken curry with green beans that incorporated our frozen French beans and onion. I used yoghurt instead of creme fraiche as it was what I had in the fridge and my own spice mix instead of curry powder.
On Wednesday we needed something quick and so had some of our frozen tomato sauce with shop bought aubergine, mozzarella and tomato ravioli.
Thursday I made a stir fry using our onions, frozen peas, and green beans. I also added carrot, peppers and spinach. Instead of adding soy sauce which we don’t use I used sweet chilli sauce. This was served with noodles.
Friday I used the slow cooker to make a vegetable hotpot. Into this went our parsnip, Crown Prince squash, onion, and carrot. There was enough here for two days so on Friday it was served with dumplings and on Saturday with Apache potatoes.
That’s it for this week. With another week of Ruby watch to look forward to wish us luck.
As always stay safe and healthy.
