Current
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The Garden is Calling!
I’m sure you all think I’ve deserted you over the last few months but I just haven’t had a minute to let you know what’s been going on in the garden. Truth is, the bare minimum but every now and again I feel the garden calling! The house renovations continue at a slow pace, sometimes two steps forwards and one step back! But it will come to an end – one day! And I will be able to devote much more time to doing what makes me truly happy and relaxed – gardening. In the meantime I’ve just about kept my head above water with the gardening jobs, although we…
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Where’s January going? It’s disappearing at an alarming rate!
Where’s January going, it’s disappearing at an alarming rate as this year has started off as madly as I left last year, the house alterations are still in full swing, with skilled people coming and going, meaning extra early mornings to be out of the shower before they start arriving! Also constant vigilance of the milk situation, as neither the garden apprentice or I use much milk (normally). The kettle has never been used so much since we bought it over 12 years ago – it’s age probably tells you everything you need to know. It’s a good job we only have heating in half of the house as the…
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The First Week of July
Well, to say that it’s been a busy week is the understatement of the century. Hasten to add that there hasn’t been much chance to write about the garden. The building work on the house is in full swing and as is so often the case it hasn’t all been going smoothly! So this week I’m just leaving you to your own devices to have a little look at what’s growing in the garden in this, the first week of July. Keeping the bees happy It’s getting fruity Eat up your greens The colours of summer A lesson in relaxing And of course whilst we’ve been running around like two…
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Tulip’s – Rain stopped play!
The Garden is Calling!
Time to bring the chillies in!
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A Red, White & Blue Theme to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles lll
To celebrate the coronation yesterday of our new monarch, King Charles lll, we are having a right, royal red, white and blue theme this Sunday. I do hope you’ve enjoyed watching all the pomp and ceremony, that we here in Britain pride ourselves on doing rather well! And didn’t we do well again! Watching our armed forces on parade always sends a shiver down my spine, but those three cheers were so emotional. I’ll bet the relations of those taking part were extremely proud of them! Todays the day for picnicking al fresco, so to get you in the mood, get out your union jack napkin; cut yourself a slice…
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Dancing Under Falling Tree Blossom
My love of blossom started when I was a little girl, way before I was conscious of noticing other flowers. There was an amazing old cherry tree at the bottom of our road and when the blossom started to fall, my friend and I would head off down there. As the wind blew, the blossom came down in clouds of paper thin, pink petals. We danced around pretending it was confetti and we were bride’s marrying our Prince Charming’s. The years past by and I married my Prince Charming, although I had to put up with paper confetti as I didn’t marry in the spring! I still love the blossom…
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Muscari
Springtime. The gardens bursting into colour!
The Garden Nurtures the sole
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The Garden Nurtures the sole
Well, it’s certainly been an strange week! Unfortunately I lost someone very dear to me. It’s a funny thing grief, one minute you feel huge, like a force of nature wanting to scream and rage at the world at the injustice of it, the next you feel so small like gravity has doubled and it’s crushing you into the ground. And so to the garden. I haven’t done any gardening, but I have trotted off down to the compost heap. Even the long walk to the end of the garden feels good for the sole. When I’m out there I can feel myself relaxing, just being outside surrounded by nature…
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2022 – A Bumper Apple Season
Who knows the saying ‘An apple a day, keeps the doctor away’? Probably just those of us of a certain age! I think it was all about getting enough fibre in your diet and an apple’s as good as anything. As Britain has always been in the wonderful position of being a great apple growing nation. We’ve always had plentiful apples, including varieties that store all through the winter. So, a great source of fibre and vitamins all year long. This year in particular has been great for apple growing, a proper bumper year, and we have been making the most of them! So, carrying on with the apple theme…
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Heatwave – Monsoon. How the Flowers coped
It’s been a strange year for flowers, some came and went so quickly as a result of the heatwaves and generally hot summer. Quite disappointing when you’re looking forward to seeing them. Others like Ligularia ‘Desdemonas’ huge leaves kept wilting, but then revived with a small amount of water and went on to flower. The Walnut’s drunk all the Water Lots of the mid-summer perennials just didn’t reach their usual size. The thalictrum being the most obvious down in the white garden. It only reached about half the normal height, with very few flowers. I suppose it’s not that surprising that quite a few plants in the white garden have…
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Food from Flowers – With help from our little friends
Have you ever stopped to notice the flowers that become our food? A lot are small, some are insignificant, but others are as beautiful and spectacular as any ornamental flowers we grow. Fortunately, however small and plain they are, the insects that pollinate them don’t miss them. They busily fly from one flower to another, getting their reward of nectar and pollen, unwittingly pollinating the plants. The big majority of our food is reliant on our busy, buzzy, little friends doing this service for us. As they pass pollen from one flower to another they fertilise the plant and so allowing it to produce seeds. As with everything in life…
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Am I turning into a Flower Arranger?
I suppose flower arranging has always gone hand in hand with gardening, but it’s just not something I’ve ever bothered with. I’ve never picked flowers from my own garden to bring into the house, preferring to see them growing naturally outside. Obviously I do my best when someone has bought me a bunch of flowers, I do like to see them arranged nicely. It’s possible that because my mum went to flower arranging classes years ago, and would come home with some spectacular but very formal displays, it put me off. My mum is exceptionally talented and can turn her hand to anything practical and artistic. She definitely brought me…
