Gardening

I'm not particularly green-fingered, but I want to try and grow my own. I've bought a book (any excuse for another book!) and back in the Autumn I cut the grass on my proposed site, weed-killered it to remove the perennials (using the recommended 'safe' weedkiller), and started digging up the turf.  It turns out that "hard labour" is indeed hard and, before the frost and ssnow came, I only managed an area of 1ft x 2ft, which DH helped me expand to 1ft x 3ft.

Tuesday, this week, was lovely, so I finally managed to get back into the garden.  I wrapped up DD2, and put her in the bouncy chair, got out DD1's balance bike of the shed, took out my spade, put my hand on the door to close the shed and got a hand full of splinters. Ouch. There's at least 20 of them in there, so if anyone knows of a easy way to get them out? Or is it best to leave them until they work themselves out? I've soaked my hand in hot water, and had a go with some tweezers, but they're all so small I only managed to remove one.After looking up various techniques of removing splinters on the web, I've tried glue - didn't work at all, so I doubt Sellotape will work.  The other interesting ideas are using Vicks Vapour Rub (to open the pores), using a paste of baking powder (to cause the skin to swell and push the splinters out) or leave them alone.  For now, I'm leaving them.

But, I did double the size of my vegetable patch. It was much easier than when I tried before, so I think the frosts must have helped. It is now 1.5ft x nearly 4ft, so I'm happy with that, and will start on the double digging next (so hopefully by the time the warmer weather arrives, I'll have finished this much). Somehow, though, over the winter the compost container shifted and sunken slightly, with the base-opening bit (it opens like a door) fallen behind the patio slabs. Maybe it was a silly place to put the compost heap, but it's conveniently using up non-used space and is hidden from the kitchen view by a large bush. I'll need DH to lift the container back up onto the edge of the slab, so I can open the door again, to get my compost out.

So, my plans are to grow strawberries in a hanging baskets, tomatoes from a grow-bag over the trellis-arch, and carrots and onions in the ground.  I don't want to be too ambitious, but I would like to grow something tasty.