For a very long tome there had been a pile of large logs on our front drive which Mr O. was intending to deal with but never got round to it. I came up with a solution for the problem……
…….we now have a rockery! I added some rockery stones to the log pile without disturbing little families which will have made there home in the warm and damp. I now am gradually adding some plants, so now as I drive up to my house it puts a smile on my face! 🙂
I have just written a postcard to a lady who has sowed up to 150 varieties of tomatoes in one go. Her enthusiasm was contagious so straight away after writing the card I was out in the garden sowing mine. I definitely didn’t worry how many I sowed! 🙂
I sowed 12 different varieties, a couple saved on kitchen tissue so I won’t know the variety of those until they have fruited. Some of these are the ones I got free from a magazine.
I find, with me, extravagance pays. Last year I didn’t sow many and didn’t do very well. I hope this year is going to be different!
I sowed them in organic vegetable compost that I bought. When I pot them on I will use my own homemade compost. I don’t tend to sow into my own compost because of the weed seeds in it.
Walking round my garden recently I have been cheered by the promise of spring. (Not that I’m not cheerful anyway, but you know what I mean!) 🙂
Some bulbs I planted in the autumn,
and some surprises coming up in the lawn.
Lovely snow drops, there was only two flowers when we moved in, I know that was a long time ago but I enjoy seeing a few more each year 🙂
Salvia,
Antirrhinums extending there family by shedding their seed,
and beautiful hyacinths in my back porch!
I hope that has cheered you too! 🙂
I’ve been being a bit quiet on hear recently because I’ve been having a bit of a rest. Things have still been happening and growing and I’ve just been in my studio painting! Yesterday though I went on a bit of a slow adventure and felt I had to share.
I went on a dyeing and spinning workshop for the day 🙂
We first cooked all the things that had been collected on site on the fire.
Some created quite a good colour like this fresh Alder bark.
This is some of the fleece that we dyed hanging up to dry.
We were shown how to make our own spindle out of Hazel wood….
….and were given some washed fleece so that we could learn to spin.
This is what I came home with. Some swatches of fleece that we’d dyed, our handmade spindle and a small skein of our very own spun yarn!
It was a very good day, but I was really tired when I got home. I think all the fresh (smokey) air did me good 🙂
This is the second year this cactus has flowered, isn’t it beautiful? I don’t know what it is called, I think it’s too early to be a Christmas cactus.
It is obviously very happy there on the window sill and I thought I would share it so as you could feel the pleasure too! 🙂
Despite the major neglect of the garden it is still producing wonderful things for me!
I think it’s the best year for beetroot in a long time and my carrots haven’t had carrot fly this year 🙂
…and the first proper fruiting of a young apple tree. The apples are still quite sour so have to stay a bit longer, but I must keep an eye out for scavengers!
We’ll soon be building a new chicken house, so watch out for that 🙂 I’m very excited!
Here’s a long awaited update from the green house.
These are red sweet peppers from bought seed. I don’t want to speak too soon but I think they are doing alright.
These are chilli peppers I got free from a magazine. ‘Demon Red’ There were only five seeds and I have three healthy plants from them. By the sound of their name, they are gonna be hot!
These are ‘Scotch Bonnet’ chillies, from my own saved seed. They are looking good. If you look carefully you can see little buds forming on the top of the plants 🙂
These are common red chillies, medium heat, from my own saved seed. I dried some of these before and they keep well.
Can’t wait until they start turning red. I must look after them carefully now so as not to loose the fruit!:-)
I’m so excited with the prospect of spring, when the sun comes out I feel so energized! I have started tidying up in the garden and sowed my first few seeds. New life is starting to appear.
One single tomato seedling,
this is rocket on the left and to the right of that you can just see some radish coming through.
We are heading for a wonderful time of year! 🙂
We’ve been enjoying our fruit harvest over the last few weeks 
and yes, the wonderful thing about it is all these luxurious fruits are free!
The small initial cost of buying the plants is minimal compared to the amount of fruit you get each year. So if you have to, or are choosing to live a frugal life these lovely plants are a must for your garden 🙂
Having a big garden is lovely, but the downside is that you need big planter to make any impression at all. So anything I can up-cycle is great. Thanks to a friend of ours, we acquired these three old builders wheelbarrows. I bought some very good value plants to go in them. I always buy plants that will last me more that one year, to gets seeds or take cuttings. I don’t think, if you are on a budget, bedding plants are a sensible option. Look how beautiful they are, thanks Jeremy!
An Artist's House 