In the Garden - March 2018

Hi there everyone

Yesterday I had a memory come up on Facebook of a post that I shared a year ago, all about our plans for the garden for last year. How spooky that I had this one ready for sharing today ... I guess it just goes to show how much a creature of habit I am 😀

So here we go with what we have on the cards for this year ...

Once the strawberry bed has been cleared one of the next early signs of spring over here is me starting to get that itchy feeling where I want to get outside and get cracking in the garden.Gardeners World is back on TV and March's magazine came with a full pull out plan of Longmeadow ...
Seeing what Monty’s plans are for his beloved garden made me start thinking about what we want to achieve in our own green space over the course of this year.

We had a lot of work done on the house and garden last year and lived with 'muck' for the best part of the Spring and Summer.

We had repairs done to the external render of the house, which was a dirty, filthy job, but long overdue ...
We also had a fair amount of hard landscaping work done and we are both really looking forward to being able to soften the edges and to just enjoy being out there this year, without the sound of the Stihl saw screaming and everything being covered in red brick dust.
It was pretty gruesome out back for a while. Looking at these pictures has brought it all back 😩

Eventually, I would like to get round to sharing a before, during and after post, so you can see all of the changes that we've made.

So what do we have planned for this year?
There will definitely be lots of painting ... raised beds, sheds, the new pergola and the wooden bench all took a battering whilst the landscapers were in and are looking a bit worse for wear. they are all in need of a Spring freshen up.

One thing that will definitely be on the cards is to replace the rest of the boundary fence on the right hand side of the garden. We did the top half of the garden the year before last and it’s still looking really good. You can just about see new panels on this picture, we have also had a new gate since this picture was taken 😏 ...
 Whilst the rest of it currently looks something like this ...
Then it will be onto the borders and planting ....

The back border is riddled with Spanish Bluebells, which look lovely in the Spring but spread like wildfire and once flowered look decidedly tatty. We want to try and take these out and level off the border, which has lots of peaks and troughs at the moment.

I think you can just about see some of this border on the left of this photo. I hasten to add that isn't how it looks at the moment. I found this photo digging back through the archives in April 2014.

I think we will end up pretty much having to remove everything, level it and then replant.

We also want to make the most of the new pergola area. The borders across the back and the side are no longer really visible from the rest of the garden and we only get to see them when we are actually in the pergola, which only happens on the nicest of days.

We have some lovely planting there which flowers in the Spring, which means it just no longer gets seen, so we need to do some shifting around. I want to plant these areas up with low maintenance stuff that looks reasonable all year round and isn’t wasted by being out of sight when at its best.

We also made a bit of a token effort with climbers at the end of last year, but I think we made bad decisions and really need to give it a bit more thought. Add to that perhaps some hanging baskets and pots of summer bedding and I hope we will have a lovely spot to catch the last rays of sunshine of the day.

Then there is the old square raised vegetable bed. At the moment it is full of random plants that were shifted during the works last year when they needed a safe haven.

After our initial delight at the success of growing our all kinds of vegetables and salads in this bed, the last three or four years have yielded pretty much nothing at all. We’ve tried planting green manure, we’ve added compost, we’ve left it fallow and still nothing. Seeds just seem to disappear and seedlings just don't grow.

The plants that have over wintered there seem to love it though, so I think we have decided that we will turn it into a more structured flower bed for now. I’m thinking of a white themed bed, with something to add some height and planted to give all year round colour. Big plans!!!

It’s also time for us to decide what we want to do fruit and veg wise. We have a Morello cherry tree and a quince in the garden which fruit well, along with a blueberry which was prolific last year, and a strawberry bed which gives mixed results from year to year.

The other veg bed seems to have become home to some delphiniums, which we got off the local market for a £1 a plant, and the three irises we bought from Osborne House on the Isle of Wight last year. The delphiniums flowered three times last year, which was a real surprise, hopefully they will do the same this year. It will be interesting to see how the irises cope this much further North.

This leaves us with no real space for much by way of salad or veg, though pots are always an option ... but then there’s all that watering.

We would be sad, I think, not to grow French beans or tomatoes at least.

finally I want to go big on summer bedding ... in-pots and baskets. Hopefully watering won’t be too onerous and I won’t plant everything out just before we go on holiday!!

I have had a sneaky look in the seed box ...
Whilst pickings were quite meagre there are a few salads and tomatoes and more flowers than I remembered .. and plenty of bean seeds that we collected from our crop the year before last, it would be a shame for them to go to waste.
Oh, I also found these too. I know it’s really naughty ... but we did a bit of hunter gathering whilst we were out and about last year, so have quite a few different bits to have a go at.
It’s definitely time to be buying some seed compost and seeing what comes up.

Once the weather warms up a bit I will take you on a wander round the garden so you can see how we are getting on.

*********************************************************************************

I forgot to include Martin's objective for the garden ... when asked ... his first response was “to sit in it”. Hopefully there will be time for that too, along with a good few BBQs.

*********************************************************************************

I must say that all those photos of mess and muck have left me feeling quite bleurgh, so I'm going to cheer myself up by just leaving this last picture here ...

*********************************************************************************

A Snow Day or A Sew Day

Hi there everyone

This weekend the weather forecast had predicted the return of a 'mini' Beast from the East.

We did have snow pretty much on and off all day on Saturday, but it didn't seem as though it would settle. I was keeping my fingers crossed that we wouldn't have a re-run of the weather we had a week or so ago as I'm off to London today to meet an old friend and I'm taking the train.

We have a big day out planned, exploring the Temple area of the city, which we've both really been looking forward to for ages. I'm really glad we haven't had to cancel. I'm sure I will be telling you all about it very soon.

As there was nothing planned for Saturday and Martin was having a lie in, having had to get up at 5.30am for work all last week, I decided I would have one final go at making some little birdie pincushions for my Summer craft stall.

I'd found this pattern on line and had already had a couple of attempts during the previous week, but neither had gone too successfully.

The first took me about two hours, lots of fiddling and unpicking and pulling my hair out ...
For two hours work it didn't seem worth it, he was sooooooo tiny (his eyes are the heads of pins, so you can see how small he is), his beak is upside down and I'm sure there was something not quite right in the pattern instructions.

Not to be deterred I had a second go. This time I scaled the pattern up by 40%, which was an event in itself as maths is most definitely not my strongest point.

I ended up with this guy, which is a far better size, though Martin said it looked more like a walrus than a bird. The same part of the pattern I didn't understand before still didn't make sense, but I'd gone my own way and it was kind of OK.

This time his beak is the right way up but, although they are as per the pattern instructions, I thought his wings would look better the other way up ... and his tail was far too short.

I had a play with the tail and he did instantly look better, though still quite 'fishy'.
So, with Martin in bed and the snow falling outside, I was ready for my last ditch attempt and cut out enough fabric to make five ... I was feeling optimistic.
Three hours later and I think I've cracked it ...
The beaks and the wings are all the right way up, the tails look in proportion, they do look quite like birds ...

... and I've even given them French knot eyes ...
I am considering attaching a fishing line loop to see what they will look like hanging up ... or flying, after all they are birds.

By the time I'd stopped for lunch and had a good tidy up it was gone 3.00pm, so not much of the day left. Just enough time to have a go at making this banana and sultana flapjack I've been meaning to have a go at.
So, a fairly productive day all in all 😊

*********************************************************************************

On Sunday we got up to a fair amount of snow, though it did seem to be thawing and no more was forecast.

I decided to have another crafty day and finish off the last of the crocheted sloths I seem to have been working on for ages.

I did manage to get him finished so all four are now ready to be shipped off to their new home ...

And that was pretty much my weekend really. No gardening, no housework, just lots of chilling out crafting ... perfect 😁

If you had snow wherever you are I hope it didn't spoil your plans. Surely that must be it now, we are definitely ready for Spring over here 🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼

*********************************************************************************

Beautiful Britain - Osborne House, Isle of Wight

Hi there everyone

I can't quite believe I still have posts to share with you from our holiday on the Isle of Wight back in the Autumn ... for a small island there is so much to do and we saw so many beautiful places.

Today, I finally get to share our visit to Osborne House with you. It's definitely worthy of a full day visit and we managed to fit it in when our friends were spending the week with us. We were quite lucky with the weather, though it was fairly dull for part of the day and rain was forecast for the afternoon.

It's quite a pricey place to visit and our friends had managed to take advantage of a discount available for buying tickets in advance when booking their ferry crossing. We got dead lucky too, as our Gardeners' World, two for one ticket was valid.

It must be one of the island's most popular places to visit and when we arrived the admissions area was packed. We were all quite excited and we picked up our tickets and a map and decided to head for the beach first, to try and avoid the rain that was due later.

There is a good path down to the beach and just as we set out we had our first full view of the house, which I can only describe as spectacular ... it was just beautiful and we knew we weren't going to be disappointed with our visit ...

It is a fair walk down to the beach, but there is a courtesy bus if you feel like taking the easier option. We decided to walk and then perhaps get the bus back. It was totally worth making the effort to walk, both for the views looking back at the house ...

... and for the first reveal of the beach ...
We got to see Queen Victoria's bathing hut ...
... ... and found the perfect spot to sit and chill for a few minutes, just enjoying the view. Never has a truer word been said ...

As the weather was still holding we decided we would take the path up (and it definitely was up) from the beach to the Swiss Cottage.

The Swiss Cottage was originally built by Prince Albert as a play house for the royal children. It is now a museum holding lots of different bits and pieces that they collected.
As well as the museum there is a trail around the gardens where the Prince and Princesses grew their own vegetables ...
Whilst our friends were very good and walked back to the main house we decided we would rest our legs for a bit and we waited for the courtesy bus.

As there was still no rain, the next stop was the walled garden ...
Being well into the Autumn we weren't expecting too much, but we were pleasantly surprised. There was still a fair amount of colour to be seen ...
... ... though it was easy to see how amazing it would look at the height of full Summer ...


It wasn't just the flowers providing the interest and colour. There was plenty of edible planting to catch the eye too ...
Talking of edible, we then decided it was time for a bit of a break for lunch. We headed for The Terrace restaurant, hoping to be able to sit outside and enjoy some of the delights promised on the web site ...

"Famous in the world of desserts - Osborne is associated with the Victoria Sponge, the Battenburg Cake, Beatrice Cakes and Osborne Pudding."

I was definitely looking forward to a piece of Queen Victoria's Battenburg Cake.

Sadly, we were told we couldn't eat in The Terrace restaurant unless we wanted to partake of their full lunch menu. We were all a bit disappointed but decided to head back to the Petty Officers' Quarters, where, we were informed, snacks were available.

This was really the only disappointing part of the day. Yes, snacks were available, but nothing particularly inspiring that you couldn't have bought from a motorway service station and definitely no Battenburg or Victoria Sponge. Queen Victoria would not have been amused 😒

Following our adequate, but lacklustre, lunch we were making our way back to the main house when the rain that had been threatening all day finally put in an appearance. We had timed it perfectly and made our way inside.

We were all excited about seeing the famous Durbar Room where we were also to be treated to a display of the costumes from the upcoming Victoria and Abdul movie.

This visit was the one time where Martin's dodgy knees gave us a real benefit. He had his walking stick with him and one of the guides let us take the lift rather than the stairs. Well, this gave us the chance to see some fabulous views across the terrace and down to the sea that we would have missed, had we taken the conventional route.

There is lots to see inside the house, but photography is a bit tricky. Flash isn't allowed and the lighting makes it difficult to see things at their best. I did manage to take a few pictures that captured the moment, including this one of the royal childrens' nursery ...
The central staircase was pretty spectacular too ...

As were the light fittings ...

Finally, we were in the corridor which could only lead us to one place ...

Yes, we ended up in the place that we'd all been so excited to see ... The Durbar Room ...

We weren't disappointed, it was stunning ...

It was incredibly busy, as you can imagine, with lots of people looking at the display of costumes from the upcoming film ...

Our patience paid off and I managed to capture a few shots, though again, the light was tricky, especially when some of the costumes were displayed in front of the windows ...

There was only one place left for us to explore. Thankfully the rain had passed so it was outside to wander across the terrace garden.

There were beautiful views in every direction ... down to the beach ...

... of the planting, which was mainly purple verbena, red geraniums and brightly coloured cannas, which all worked really well together ...

In my opinion the best views to be had though, were looking back at the house, which just looked beautiful from every angle ...

Apologies for the photo overload, but it really did just look lovely from every direction. Just one more I promise ...

So that was Osborne House. We were shattered, we'd walked plenty, seen lots and there was just time for a quick purchase from the plant centre as a memento of our visit, before heading for home.

We bought three purple irises, which have since been planted in the garden. No sign of them yet, but hopefully they will bring us a smile when we see them in the summer and remember our trip ...

*********************************************************************************