rescued

I've been meaning to say that I did manage to rescue my pretty little bulbs after my accident the other day. The crocuses must like their new pot as they've really shot up in just a week and the flowers are almost open- hurrah!

Meanwhile, I've been up at the allotment tipping the floral karma back the other way by digging up the three rows of Sweet William plants that with we inherited with the plot. There must have been about sixty plants that I've uprooted and dumped in a heap.

It's really a terrible shame as I love Sweet Williams, but with only a half-size plot we really don't have the space for the luxury of cut flowers. I need the room for my newly purchased pear trees, gooseberry bushes and raspberry canes.

I may save a few and pop them into pots for the yard to stop myself feeling so guilty!

Back to work and school tomorrow- booooooo :-(

ps I am officially recording here that I dug over that patch single-handedly in the rain, before a certain husband of mine starts claiming that he's done all the hard work on the plot!

but don't worry, you can sun-tan

Considering this blog was originally intended as a tool to document my gardening year, I am long overdue a proper garden update, so have taken an 'aerial' picture to contrast with this picture that I took on the 1st May. It's quite amazing how much can change in just a few weeks.

We have a few strawberries ready to be picked...

some courgettes getting going...

sweet peas starting to blossom...

petits pois climbing like crazy...

and the veg box is crammed with rapidly growing carrots, lots of lovely spinach, little Brussels sprout plants and more lettuce than is humanly possible to eat...

even the sweet williams that I swore were duds have some tiny little flowers on them!

and, because I was feeling so 'home-sick' last week, we brought some shells and pebbles back from our trip to go in the little grass and gravel patch at the front of the garden, making it feel like our own little bit of beach...

all that's missing is the sea!

william, it was really nothing

This week we have been having a visitor from Australia to stay (my mum) and she has been rather shocked to return to England in May only to be met with February temperatures. Today was her birthday and her main gift from us were the Summer Berry socks I finished the other day. I'm not sure if she will have much use for real wool socks in the sub-tropical climate in Cairns where she lives, but they will get plenty of use while she's over here, as nice snuggly bed socks. They fitted really well, thanks to my size 5 Twitter friends who were frantically measuring their feet in inches for me, when I realised I had no idea how long to make them last week!

My next knitting project will be a jumper for Steve's birthday in August, but I thought I'd better start getting on with it. I'm going to use the v-neck version of this pattern and I was particularly pleased, as I managed to buy a copy of it on ebay for 99p. I saw some amazing pea green superwash merino in a beautiful shop in Bath a couple of weeks ago which would be perfect- I'm really cross that I didn't give in to temptation at the time and purchase a load. I am now on the look-out for a suitable alternative yarn.

My grandmother really enjoyed her birthday tea-party and so did her guests. Flora and Pearl were particularly impressed that there were scones and strawberries...

They were so well behaved at the party- never a day goes by when I don't swell with pride at how fantastic they are.































Back home, I had been wondering what had happened to the flowers on my Sweet Williams that I planted in a basket by the front door last Autumn. They are meant to flower in early Spring and I was blaming my late show on the cold weather, but my mother-in-law's plants flowered at least a month ago... mine just have sprouted some green spikes on the ends of the stems with no sign of a bud preparing to flower. A bit of googling has solved the mystery of the missing flowers - I feel very foolish and disappointed to discover that Sweet Williams are a biennial plant, so only flower in their second year. My plants were so young when I got them that they won't flower until next Spring. Sometimes I wonder if I have the patience for this gardening malarkey!

blue monday

After a lovely Spring day yesterday, today is back to chilly and overcast. The day is also tainted with that uncomfortable feeling you get in your tummy when you know you have to go back to work tomorrow, after a lovely few days' break.

There are a few reasons to be cheerful though- one being the milder weather we have had over the last few days has led to my Sweet Williams really shooting up and preparing to bloom. I planted them last Autumn, and having spent a few weeks covered in snow, I had thought they might not survive the winter (the Ornamental Brassica which I also planted in that basket was sadly not as fortunate). I'm really looking forward to them flowering as it seems so long ago since I planted them, I can't remember what colour blooms I chose. The Sweet Williams in the watering can in the background, don't look quite as happy, but you can't have everything.

I'm also experimenting with a tired old ivy plant I found in a really horrid planter behind the shed, left over from the previous occupants. Rather than fling it in the compost, I'm going to see if I can give it a new lease of life, by planting it into a little bucket that the girls got with some Easter chocs in and training it round a little heart I made out of a coat hanger. I'm not too hopeful that it is going to survive, as it was so root-bound in its previous pot, I had to really hack away at the root structure to get it out. I do quite like the idea though, so if it dies on me, I shall buy a fresh little small-leaf ivy to replace it.