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Vivi’s Kitchen Garden 247: Chitting potatoes & odd jobs.

It’s that time of year, once more, when gardeners up and down the land are talking about chitting their potatoes….and I’m no exception. I have missed so many days in the garden through January so I gird myself for a full day to catch up on all sorts of little jobs…….if the weather will allow…..

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Sunday on the Sofa…..what the heck has been going on?

January has been a bit of a naughty month…..if it can go wrong, it has gone wrong! But……with the help of good friends I’m getting back on track. I owe a HUGE thank you to Wendy, Nancy, Richard & Paul……they have all been amazing and I can’t imagine what I would have done without them…… Onwards and upwards now. Thank you for bearing with me.

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Vivi’s Kitchen Garden 246: Secateurs (pruning shears); cleaning and sharpening.

Our heavy rain days continue so there’s nothing for it but to get on with some tool maintenance. I have never cleaned or sharpened my secateurs (pruning shears) and it’s high time I learned how to do it. A huge part of living a self-reliant life is being prepared to have a go at anything and everything. Update: Sadly it seems my friend was ripped off by someone selling on-line and that my secateurs are not genuine Felcos. The genuine Felcos should not have a screw in the blade nor cross head screws. The link below is for genuine ones.

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A postcard from……London: St James’s.

I had a few errands to run in the centre of London so I decided to bring you along with me to show you some of my favourite places. (Note: this is a reissue of a video released last year but which had some music copyright issues so had to be removed and re-edited).

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Vivi’s Kitchen Garden 244: Organising my seeds; what do I have & what do I need?

It’s another exciting moment in the year…….the first delve into the seed tin! I have so many odds and ends of seeds I need to have a thorough go through to see what I already have and to check if there are any ‘gaps’ that need plugging. It’s not a job to rush….but rather one to immerse myself in and begin to dream of the garden I hope to create this year…..

 

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Vivi’s Kitchen Garden 243: Wassail! Blessing our community orchard.

Wassailing is an old tradition of blessing the orchard trees to bring a good harvest. This year, on my site, a few of us gathered to wassail our communal fruit trees……..oh dear, we may not have known the words to the songs but we had a wonderful time trying. This is what I love about gardening on an allotment…..the community laughing and celebrating together.