I thought so

The mystery object turned out to be parsley after all. And very nice too in a little parsley & lemon butter I cobbled up at teatime tonight.

At least I hope it was parsley. Come back in a few hours and I'll let you know.

Today's mystery object is...

A real autumn mist pervaded our neighbourhood for most of yesterday morning, the first day on which the clocks had gone back. The days are cracking on now and even I am starting to think of Christmas, have previously slated the shops for starting the season too early. I've succumbed already to buying some bottles of Christmas ale, an offer at the Co-op being too good to refuse. They are sitting there on the shelf now. Will I resist temptation, I wonder?

Among the presents I got last year from my daughter was what I described at the time as a teabag full of herb seeds, bought at the Imperial War Museum North. You had to place it in a bowl of water for a day, then plant under a thin layer of soil.

The label said the bag was embedded with a mix of herbs including parsley, chives and basil. I don't know what has happened to the mixture, but I have succeeded in getting one herb only after about four months of growing very slowly in the pot. But what is it?

Susan suspects it's parsley. In truth, so do I. But I'm not totally sure. I am a dunce, aren't I?

Brave new world

Beetroot is a food I have never really rated, right from being a young lad. I think I was put off by the colouring of the pickled variety we used to have and the fact that it ran all over the plate. Recently, however, I have come to change my view and have quite liked it on the few occasions I have given it a try.

With that in mind, I have decided to try out the beetroot seeds supplied by the BBC Dig In programme. This morning I planted one line outside in the patch next to the lettuce and spinach and the remainder in two big pots in the conservatory. Borscht here I come.

While having a general tidy around, I ditched the mushroom growing kit that Dorothy gave me for Christmas. I followed the instructions to the letter, but the crop has been most disappointing. Only about five mushrooms in all, I think. Not sure at the moment if I will get another.

Talking of disappointments, I noticed this morning that one of my potato plants has snapped off overnight. The rest seem all right, however. The spare seed potatoes I gave to my friend Kate have begun flowering, she tells me, so mine must be imminent.

Kate has given us some parsley, half of which has gone in the ground outside and other half in pots inside. They look very nice.

Santa's been to town

As each year passes, it must be harder and harder to buy Christmas presents for me. This year has been slightly different with my newly acquired interest in the vegetable patch (scandalously neglected over the past few weeks with the coming of winter).

Dorothy had the brilliant idea of getting me a seed sprouter, complete with alfalfa, lentils and chick peas. She also presented me with the biggest size present of this Christmas - a mushroom growing kit. They're white cap mushrooms and I shall start them off them either today or tomorrow, together with the seed sprouter.

My friend Kate bought me a seed roll, which is just as it says - a roll with seeds, flowers in this case. Apparently, I just unroll it, put in the ground, cover it with a bit of soil and go away again. It'll be great to see it.

I walked in the woods with the dog on Christmas Day, stalking at a discrete distance another man with his dog. The bloke was on the mobile phone almost the whole time. What did he get out of the joys of nature?

Talking of Christmas Day gives me the opportunity to mention my beloved parsley. We had it in stuffing balls for our dinner. Made all the difference.

Parsley talk

We held a pre-Christmas dinner party the other night, managing to get 15 people around the table. It was no mean feat in our small house.

Susan and Dorothy put on a magnificent spread of curries and desserts, which everybody liked. As well as doing fetching, carrying and cleaning, my contribution was again the parsley I have been growing. I moaned last time it was supplied for a meal that nobody had mentioned it. That was so this time, with the addition that even I had forgotten about it by the time it came to eating.

Such is life, but where would we be without parsley?

The proof of the pudding...

A lot of activity in the house this morning as we had invited guests for Sunday lunch. All three of us were involved in busy preparations for Dick and Liz, who we hadn't seen for a couple of years, and friend Jan, who knew Dick way back.

Dorothy made the canapies for starters and Bakewell tart for dessert, while Susan did ham and a leek and potato au gratin. My contribution was some of the parsley I have been growing in the conservatory.

It was all very nice and plenty of compliments were made. Inexplicably, no-one mentioned my parsley. But I was able to sit back with a warm inner glow, knowing this was something I had grown myself.

The man is back (he never went away)

I'm back after too long away from the blog. I know the thing with blogging is to do it and do it regularly, no matter how small the entry. The truth is I've been a bit distracted by having to return to work and do other things in the evening when I get home.

Still, the vegetable patch is still there, although looking a little sorry for itself. I fear the seeds might not come up because it's just been pouring with rain almost the whole time since I planted them. Ah well, that's the nature of the game - I'm not despondent.

There's been a bit of conservatory action, though. I've planted some herbs in seed trays and I'm hoping they'll be successful. I've got (or should have) mint, cress, chervil and organic parsley.

Outside, I've covered the two lines of seed I planted with sticks to keep animals off and dug over the unused part again. Also, I've dug out a huge plant to increase the space available.

I'm happy. Patience is the name of the game.