glorious at last

Hope you are all enjoying the wonderful sunshine- just in time for the school holidays. We certainly are.

We're off to the beach on Friday, but I've got a horrible feeling the rain may be back by then. Fingers crossed I'm wrong!

dry spell

We haven't had a single drop of rain for a month now and despite daily watering, our allotment is looking rather sorry for itself. We have scorched strawberry plants, wilting rhubarb and flaccid purple sprouting broccoli.

The only things that seem to be thriving are the broad beans, sprouts and potatoes, which we earthed up again today.

There were also a few carrot and parsnip seedlings poking through the dusty soil.

Despite it's parched predicament, I'm delighted with how the plot is coming together- it will be so beautiful in a year or two when the fruit trees have filled out. I'm planning to move that enormous  concrete compost bin by the shed (behind the water butt) and weave a living willow playhouse for the girls in the winter.

This morning we made a scarecrow to guard our crops- the girls have named him Sidney. Let's hope the birds are fooled!



It also seems important to mention the government's plans to end the right to have an allotment, thus placing plots up and down the county under threat. For more information and what you can do to speak out against the plans visit here. All the more reason to vote wisely on thursday...

farewell purl cottage garden

Today Pearl and I made the most of the break in the storms and got stuck into a spot of gardening.

The first thing I did was pot up this beautiful Acer Atropurpureum that I sent off for on a free Gardener's World Magazine offer. I had been planning to buy one anyway for our new garden, as I just adore acers- they must be my very favourite plant. Something about the delicate structure bobbing about in the breeze and the way the leaves turn the most breathtaking crimson really gets me excited.

I do hope this one goes on to flourish into a superb potted tree that we can keep forever, wherever we're living...

I could tell you that the rest of the garden was looking stunning in all its Autumnal glory...

 but really, that would be a big fat lie.

It actually looks like this...

As you can see, the grim reality has kicked in. We are going to be leaving our beloved garden behind- the shed has been emptied, the strawberry plants lifted and, most painful of all, the faithful veg box has been cleared. 

I've had to harvest my Brussels sprouts rather prematurely- these emerald beauties were ear-marked for Christmas, but I don't really fancy frozen sprouts with my Christmas dinner, so I think they're now crying out to be pan-fried with pancetta... mmmmmm.

So, tonight I'm drowning my sorrows with some margaritas and a little extra help from some of my dad's finest...

Farewell Purl Cottage garden. 

You will be sorely missed.

good day sunshine

Nothing quite beats wrapping up warm to venture out into the chilly air to feel the leaves crunching under your wellies and the see the low Autumn sun casting its whimsical highlights and mysterious shadows everywhere.

Today we made the most of the sunshine and I took the girls out for some fun, leaving Steve at home to do some blokey jobs like cleaning out the shed ready for our move. I had planned to take them to Oxford University's Botanic Gardens, but after about an hour of getting thoroughly lost and stuck in Oxford's infamous one-way traffic, I gave up and took them to our trusty favourite thrifty destination Millet's Farm.

To Flora's delight, they had a spooky ghost-hunt set up in the maze

 as well as lots of other Halloween-themed fun.

In hindsight, it was probably a better place to take them anyway- I think I was setting myself up for a fall taking to the Botanic Gardens on my own. I'll save that trip for another day when I have another pair of adult hands about!

This weekend I also treated myself to a cheery charity shop find...

and brightened up the garden for the winter with some ornamental cabbages- I planted them up in pots so we can just bring them with us when we move. I'm no horticulture fashionista, although I suspect ornamental brassicas might be regarded as a bit 'naff' amongst those who care about these things, but I think they are just the thing to cheer up a tired autumnal garden and add a bit of unusual colour and texture.

I now have a few days off work, so we're going Christmas shopping in Bath tomorrow and I'm planning a few other ways to keep the girls entertained over the coming week.

Have a happy half term xx

the plot thickens..

Today Flora and I popped down to our tiny little square of borrowed allotment to collect some tools. I knew it would be scarily weedy as it must be a couple of months since we gave up on it, after all my brassicas were attacked by rabbits/deer and we got offered Pear Tree Cottage garden. However, we were stunned and delighted to see some cabbages and cauliflowers had survived after all- here they are poking through the forest of weeds...

 

Last time I saw them there was just a tiny little nibbled stalk left- I never expected them to bounce back, especially after totally neglecting them! So I grabbed a fork and lifted them up (note my trusty dm boots that I have had since I was 15!)...

and re-planted them at Pear Tree Cottage...

I do hope they like their new home- my mouth is already watering for cauliflower cheese!

I'm really pleased with the progress we have made at Pear Tree Cottage- after so much hard work clearing and digging, it finally feels like we've got somewhere! As well as the brassicas, I've also planted a rhubarb crown this week and my dad manged to rescue the apple tree that had fallen over and was growing along the ground! We're now going to put the finishing touches to the beds, divide them with some more recycled paving slabs and then cover them up for the winter.

It looks very different from when we took it on a few months back, this picture was taken at about the same place as the one above. I just cannot wait until the Spring when we can sow some seeds. I hope those pumpkin seeds I bought at the food festival grow as big as these beauties I spotted on a neighbouring allotment...

Today I also got started on Flora's Princess Leia costume- can you guess what I made the buns out of?

a pair of Totes slipper socks that I picked up in a charity shop for £1!

 

Happy weekend everyone- hope this heatwave we were promised appears tomorrow!

smittens

So how's everyone getting on with the Kids Clothes Week Challenge? 

I haven't produced anything nearly as wonderful as the creations on Elsie Marley's blog, but I have found a little bit of time to whip up these little fingerless mittens for Pearl.

They should come in really 'handy' (sorry) now that the weather is getting a bit chillier.

You would not believe how difficult it was to get a photo of these mittens- Pearl does not keep her hands still for a second! She loves the mitts though and proudly wore out for the first time this morning, whilst helping me water the garden.

 

The pattern was super-easy, using up even the smallest stash of leftover yarn (in this case about 15g of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino) and I would say each mitt took less than an hour to knit up. I've decided I'm also going to knit a length of i-cord with the last bit of the yarn to join the mitts together, else it won't be long before one of them's lost.

Now I'm all set up for the weekend to begin my next project of the challenge- the wrap dress. I've bought the fabric today- some beautiful cozy brown needle-cord and some cotton duck with a 1930s-style floral print.

I'm feeling a bit nervous- I'm still very much learning to use my sewing machine and I'm scared that this pattern might be a bit too ambitious.

Wish me luck!

meanwhile, back in blighty...

Oh the glamour. The highlight of my bank holiday weekend was the rain holding off long enough to catch up on the washing, mow the lawn and get on with a bit more clearing up at Pear Tree Cottage.

I'm afraid my poor hands have suffered a bit- remind me to wear gloves next time!


Today, my dad came round to help out with the gardening and brought with him a mixture of foraged bits and bobs and some potatoes from his friends' allotment. Just watch that greedy little hand creeping in to snatch an apple...


Needless to say she wasn't too impressed when she took a bite! (Don't ask what she's wearing- some sort of medley of dressing up costumes).


The cooking apples were put to good use though and went into a crumble with the blackberries- perfect for a post gardening feast for everyone. I'm afraid by the time I thought to take a picture it was all gone!


Another thrifty gift from my dad was this kitsch-tastic '70s WI preserving book that he had picked up in a charity shop. Whilst most of the recipes are very appetising, there are a few that sound decidedly dubious- mushroom ketchup or marrow and ginger jam, anyone??


It is also full of tips for entering your preserves into shows...

'Clean and polish the outside of the jars or bottles. A cloth moistened with a few drops of methylated spirit, is excellent for giving a sparkling finish to all glass containers. Handle the container carefully after polishing, to prevent finger marking.'

eep!

Whilst I hardly anticipate entering into a jam show any time soon, I used my last little bit of free bank holiday time to boil up some plum jam with the plums at Pear Tree Cottage, leaving a jar on the doorstep for the landlady. Unfortunately my little kitchen is far too poky for a store cupboard, but the shelves are rapidly filling up with our various jams and chutneys. I'm thinking my next preserving venture might be dried apple rings...

g'day gardeners

Fifteen months ago, my mum emigrated to Australia and unfortunately we haven't made it out to visit her yet. I was wondering what gardening was like on the other side of the world, so I asked her to take me on a 'virtual' guided tour and, as my own garden is looking decidely scruffy and autumnal at the moment, I thought it would make an interesting 'guest blog' ...

What does 'tropical garden' conjure- up for you? Gauguin? Palm trees? Multi-coloured birds?

Yes, we have all those, (well, maybe not our own personal Gauguin!) but add high humidity, fierce sun, 'the wet' season and bugs normally accompanied by a David Attenborough commentary and you're 'getting warm!'


So where are we? In far north tropical Queensland in our tropical paradise of Cairns… wedged between the Coral Sea and the tropical rainforest. Daily we are awoken by multi-coloured lorikeets squabbling and spooning in the frangipani trees, at dusk the sulphur-crested cockatoos gather to gossip and play trapeze artists in the eucalyptus and our daytime visitors include the local 'street-wise' gang of miner birds 'hanging' and 'breakdancing' by the pool. Add to this the blood-curdling screams of the curlews, the sarcasm-filled laugh of the kookaburra and the incessant rattle of the crickets, that's our garden.

I snapped these two kookaburras having a domestic tiff!

With only 2 seasons (wet and dry), to both words add 'very', the plants and trees tend to pick their own times to blossom or drop, with very short flowering times. I love approaching the house to be surprised by the vision of our 'bottle brush tree' having burst into flower whilst I have been at work, its profusion of large, red, furry pipe-cleaner-like flowers unashamedly sunbathing.


Growing almost wild are our numerous native hibiscus bushes offering their raunchy scarlet blossoms, interspersed with a variety of native palms and many species recognisable as common UK indoor pot plants .


Through the gate behind the pool is our fruit orchard, with paw-paw, mango, lemon and pink-grapefruit trees. Oh, the ultimate indulgence to pick a fresh lemon for the g&t! (How very '50s ex-pat!)

Where’s the lemon?

Following countless years of UK gardening, shunning gardening gloves for the enjoyment of soil under fingernails and the sensuous experience of splitting root balls by hand etc, common sense reigns here and I wear my protective suedes whenever I am 'at one' with nature. With the world's largest collection of deadly venomous snakes, 3-5 metre pythons and a whole host of very nasty spiders in the neighbourhood, I take care! We regularly see totally harmless, but fascinating fauna specimens .. giant stick-insects (30cms) on the patio and, last week, this spectacular Hercules moth on the garage door. (The world's largest species of moth). Our 'visitor' was 30cms wing-tip to wing-tip!


So, tell me, can you spot the interloper 'planted' in my tropical paradise? Yes, of course, there is a vase of daffodils lurking in the rock garden by the pool. Friday was Cancer Council Queensland 'Daffodil Day' and I succumbed to a bunch. (Well, it is the first day of Spring next Wednesday!). Needless to say they are now taking pride of place in the sitting room. I suspect they have travelled from Tasmania but a nice nostalgic trip for me, nonetheless.


Gardening the fringes of tropical rainforest brings some challenges, but I am captivated…..the sights, the sounds, the smells, the sheer 'untamedness' of it. Please bring the family to visit very soon… to Flora and Pearl I am 'Grannie in Australia' and I am in dire need of a cuddle from those little garden helpers and their beautiful Mummy !

Thank you for sharing a little of our paradise with me,