My Lockdown Second Home

Knowing I would be pretty high risk, health-wise, I started my C19 virus lockdown a week or so before everyone else.  It would have been longer, but the lead GP at the practice wanted me to come in for an asthma health check-up with the nurse while they were still doing face to face appointments.  More thorough than for a while, and given detailed instructions on when & how to increase inhaler use, but pleased to discover my "peak flow" put my lung capacity at 90% of what would be expected for my height & build - up from 73% the last time I was tested, so I'm clearly doing something right for a change.

I got a mini cab there & back, for speed & convenience, and to avoid get stuck in school run traffic.  The local bus route is unreliable at the best of times, but having in the past week read that one of the young nurses at the care home situated next to the nearest bus stop died of the virus recently, having been ill since mid March, it feels like a wise option.  Have previously wondered about whether other bugs that have laid me low have been picked up via contact with staff rushing to get on the same bus as me at the end of a shift.  I'd taken to wear gloves & wrapping one of my colourful Gudrun Sjoden scarves round me to cover my nose & mouth a few weeks previously.  But with the weather in February,  I didn't look too out of place among others just bundled up against the cold & wet.

Having been semi housebound due to my knee problem, I'm probably coping better than many. (The treatment of which is now on hold indefinitely. But at least the scan I'd been requesting for over a decade has shown a slight tear to the cartilage, causing the pain I experience on moving, if not the nerve damage which causes random pains, especially in the early hours of the morning.  Those problems won't be going away of their own volition, so I can start pushing for treatment as soon as the all clear sounds.)  Howard is still working, as his job has been deemed crucial to helping the vulnerable housebound - delivering prescription meds, helping the council set up & run the first few weeks of food packages for vulnerable households, plus helping with training volunteers to take over for the duration.  He's always been hyper aware of not further risking the health of those he delivers too, so upping the routine from hand gel every visit to gloves, mask, wiping down every surface, etc., has not been too much of a stretch.

He's also taken on getting ALL the shopping, as he can cycle round until he sees a shop with no queues.  And when there are queues, he can cope way better than I could.  I compile a running list for him, including magazines, as my beloved Newsstand website (that started keeping my sane when I was stuck at home with a broken ankle many years ago) seems to have been discovered by the rest of the populace, the speed many magazines are selling out.  The wonderful local bakers, Holtwhites, have really stepped up, and after getting stuck behind someone ranting about everything from David Icke, 5G, Bill Gates, vaccines etc., Howard is tempted to switch to getting our regular sourdough & pain au chocolat order delivered instead of collecting it.  But he has used those quiet Sunday morning cycle trips to forage Ramsons to augment our home grown crop from a spot nobody else frequented. With olive oil sometimes hard to come by, I've been preserving it by making a wild garlic "freezer pesto", blitzing shredded leaves in a blender with a small amount of oil & salt, then spreading the pulp in a thin layer to freeze. We've been breaking off small portions of the frozen sheets of the "pesto" to add to everything from pasta sauces & stews to being the main flavouring in a risotto.  Hopefully I can make a couple more batches before the season is over. 

The one thing I'd love him to be able to fetch me, but know is not feasible, is good seed compost.  I have enough for the moment, by mixing Dalefoot seed compost with reconstituted coir, but the order I placed for further Biochar seed compost before official lockdown was at first delayed, then when I chased it up with the Organic Gardening company, was simply cancelled.  Granted, I got a refund, but nothing in writing to tell me they had done so.  I know these are difficult times, but an email would have been nice - maybe before an entire month waiting?

So yes, part of my routine this past six weeks has been spending time in my "second home" - my little plastic greenhouse.  I've got plenty of crops underway, some of which Howard has already planted out at the allotment, and the Wall of Salad that screens our little deck seating area is back in action, the first leaves snipped last week.  I've been growing batches of mustard & cress in assorted plastic cartons. Have also had a go at doing pea shoots this way - gorgeous - I confess to having a nibble of them whilst in the greenhouse sowing other seeds.

So while I may not have ventured any further than the pavement to view the front garden (wondering how I can safely & securely incorporate edibles into it), I'm still working at getting food on the table.  My little collection of Dig For Victory books have come in useful, plus using the Moon Gardener's Almanac to plan my seed sowing routine. Whether you give the theory any credence, using the guide to provide a little order to my sowing & planting routine have been very helpful.

How long the lockdown & other restrictions will last remains to be seen, but I intend to come out the other end of it with my own cucumbers for garnishing gin & making tzatziki, salad leaves for every sandwich,  fresh, dried & pulped tomatoes, cauliflower to be wrapped in cheese sauce & fresh, frozen & mushy peas.  Plus of course enough chard to feed the street.