Winter Greens!

I decided to try to grow some winter vegs this year and have planted lettuce with violas in the pot above.

These are a type of sprouting broccoli which I hope to deter the pigeons from eating before I get the chance to enjoy them. The 'proper' gardeners among you will cringe at how close they are to each other, but I have no real space for vegs and just have to squeeze them in as best I can.

In this wooden half barrel I have black kale with more lettuce. I shall give both the cut-and-come-again treatment. This is an experiment really - I have no idea if these plants will put up with the conditions I have given them. I have strung old CDs from canes to deter the birds and just hope the bugs etc., keep away too. In this heat the lettuces will probably bolt!

It has been too hot to do any real gardening lately so I have been getting on with my course work with the french doors wide open. My poor tutor's computer completely died on her earlier this month and she has had to wait for it to be repaired and must now try to reload everything before being able to carry on with her work and sending out tutorials. I have two lots of work ready to post on my other blog but will wait until I hear from her again before I do that.

I am enjoying the course immensely though am not finding it easy. The course is so well written that even when I have produced a piece of work that I find disappointing, I feel I have still learned a lot from it. Just two of my problems lie in trying to remember to time myself on each activity and to breathe when I am painting!