It's that time of the year! And now that I have a conservatory, I can try to actually grow the veggies that I've failed to grow in the past. These are the main ones, though I have strawberry seeds too.

I also took the opportunity to grow Jinn more cat grass to chew on as her old one is out. The stuff grows really fast though and at any time of the year. I put it in my little shelf thingy along with the housewarming Monstera, and the flowers I got for my birthday.

Too soon for the cucumbers, but hopefully this time we'll have more success! Stay tuned for watering contraptions!

You often need supports for plants to grow along, which is sometimes a bamboo stick. Well, how about we grow our own?

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world I believe, so it will be interesting to document this. But don't be mistaken -- this is not bamboo! It's Rough Horsetail and I got it from a car boot sale, along with other neat things. However, it's quite similar and, like bamboo, it's an invasive species, can aggressively spread into neighbour gardens, and be quite difficult to permanently remove. So I'll be growing it in pots either way for my permanent supply of sticks!

Tree distraught.
Not feeling so hot.
Wind tipped it, not caught.
Tree needs a real plot.

A pot!
A pot I sought.
A pot I got.
Filled with soil I'd bought.

Lo! Size I forgot.
The space is a lot,
but stay small it will not.
"Tree will thrive", so I thought.

Every morning, I eat a green Granny Smith apple. This is not only my favourite apple, but probably the only apple I actually like. It would be amazing if I could do this self-sufficiently, 365 apples a year!

I'm delighted to announce that, as of a couple days ago, I'm the proud owner of a Granny Smith apple tree from an orchard in Norfolk.

My variety is a "mini" tree that grows to 180cm (so as tall as me) from the M27 stock, which is ideal for a small garden like mine and can be grown in a pot too. I also got a bunch of pots and soil for this and other exciting things I'll write about soon!

I dream of closed, self-sufficient systems. A few weeks ago, I visited the London Permaculture Festival as I'm very, very interested in permaculture. There, Hendon Soap had a stand. They were selling a DIY Lip Balm Kit.

I use lip balm regularly, so it occurred to me I ought to learn about how it's made, and maybe make my own in the long run! Today I tried my hand at making it. It's not as easy as it looks! In theory you toss everything into a sauce pan, put in 60g of oil (I used vegetable oil), and once everything is melted, you put it in the tins and put those in the freezer as fast as possible so they cool rapidly (this is to avoid a grainy texture). In theory you can also add some edible essential oils if you want a scent.

Long story short: I made a huge mess. And the stuff is quite difficult to clean. I managed to do one tin approximately right.

The rest I was mostly able to salvage and store in a little jar. When I finish that first tin, I'll re-melt that and maybe this time use a little pot with a pouring tip to avoid spilling, as well as some kind of tool for moving the very hot tins into the freezer properly! It was so hot it melted the ice in my freezer away entirely, creating a nice little indentation to hold it.

Please don't judge the ungodly amount of ice cream -- there's a heatwave coming!