..is the grey mould on my honeysuckle. Caterpillars on my strawberries. Greenfly on everything.
The plants started to grow and vine and climb and then.... mould and fur and grey. I have been unleashing a caterpillar carnage every morning on my strawberries and have abandoned organic gardening to attempt to control the sport cycle of the grey mould.
The greenfly however... they can't be treated until the chillies, peppers and strawbs have finished flowering. Flicking them off one by one while muttering 'littlegreenbastards' under my breath is proving both time consuming and detrimental to mental health.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Sunday, 5 June 2011
The force that through the green fuse...
And so, to the garden.
We inherited a square lawn, a border of decorative stones, a paved patio and a rubble strew site of a long deceased shed from the former tenants. The garden had not been touched since being laid by the developers ten years ago.
The challenge is to create a garden with height, colour and variety on a tiny, tiny budget and with absolutely no experience whatsoever. At this point I feel the need to genuflect before the great and glorious Monty Don and the newly formatted Gardener's World, which has been invaluable to a green fingered n00b such as myself. *moment of contemplation on the benevolent botanical bohemian and all who follow him*
It took us 3 months to clear one length of the garden of decorative stones. Ugly, ugly things and concealing a not insignificant amount of cat shit. Then we had to hydrate the parched, packed, clay like soil and hope to the Great Monty that whatever we plant in it will hold.
So far that border contains 4 lavender bushes, a voracious thyme, a cheeky mint, a valiant oregano, a lush Rosemary, wildflowers, anemones, begonias, sunflowers, fuschia, cornflowers, snapdragons, sweet pea, honeysuckle, clematis, phlox and 3 pumpkin plants. *wipes brow* A divan base was turned into a vegetable bed where carrots, beetroot, onions and rocket fight bravely against the onslaught of the Cat Bastards. Tomatoes and cucumber flourish in a cold farm, potatoes (two varieties) are going mental in their planters, the petit pois have the most amazingly delicate flowers and are snaking healthily up their supportive canes, radish are poking their heads above the soil and chillies reside indoors in a large trug with some very healthy sweet pepper. Tubs of geranium, anemone, lobelia, busy lizzie, cottage pinks, strawberry and creeping alpines complete the line up against the fence and under the windows. Small Roar has a tub of cornflowers and two tubs of sunflowers sending up their sweet shoots in his own garden trug.
Most of the veg has been grown from seed in a B&Q value propagator on a windowsill. Some of the plants in the border and tubs have been gifts from people who found my enthusiasm endearing. I've been given seeds, bulbs and seedlings by those who have too many of their own, creating a mental 'leftover' display in my garden.There is something incredibly liberating and nurturing about sowing, growing and propagating from scratch- too see a thriving plant bearing fruit, or a vegetable put down strong roots. When your body fails to produce a life it is also a healing process to plant, grow and sustain life in a garden. Incredibly cathartic really.
On that note, Dylan says it best.
We inherited a square lawn, a border of decorative stones, a paved patio and a rubble strew site of a long deceased shed from the former tenants. The garden had not been touched since being laid by the developers ten years ago.
The challenge is to create a garden with height, colour and variety on a tiny, tiny budget and with absolutely no experience whatsoever. At this point I feel the need to genuflect before the great and glorious Monty Don and the newly formatted Gardener's World, which has been invaluable to a green fingered n00b such as myself. *moment of contemplation on the benevolent botanical bohemian and all who follow him*
It took us 3 months to clear one length of the garden of decorative stones. Ugly, ugly things and concealing a not insignificant amount of cat shit. Then we had to hydrate the parched, packed, clay like soil and hope to the Great Monty that whatever we plant in it will hold.
So far that border contains 4 lavender bushes, a voracious thyme, a cheeky mint, a valiant oregano, a lush Rosemary, wildflowers, anemones, begonias, sunflowers, fuschia, cornflowers, snapdragons, sweet pea, honeysuckle, clematis, phlox and 3 pumpkin plants. *wipes brow* A divan base was turned into a vegetable bed where carrots, beetroot, onions and rocket fight bravely against the onslaught of the Cat Bastards. Tomatoes and cucumber flourish in a cold farm, potatoes (two varieties) are going mental in their planters, the petit pois have the most amazingly delicate flowers and are snaking healthily up their supportive canes, radish are poking their heads above the soil and chillies reside indoors in a large trug with some very healthy sweet pepper. Tubs of geranium, anemone, lobelia, busy lizzie, cottage pinks, strawberry and creeping alpines complete the line up against the fence and under the windows. Small Roar has a tub of cornflowers and two tubs of sunflowers sending up their sweet shoots in his own garden trug.
Most of the veg has been grown from seed in a B&Q value propagator on a windowsill. Some of the plants in the border and tubs have been gifts from people who found my enthusiasm endearing. I've been given seeds, bulbs and seedlings by those who have too many of their own, creating a mental 'leftover' display in my garden.There is something incredibly liberating and nurturing about sowing, growing and propagating from scratch- too see a thriving plant bearing fruit, or a vegetable put down strong roots. When your body fails to produce a life it is also a healing process to plant, grow and sustain life in a garden. Incredibly cathartic really.
On that note, Dylan says it best.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Oh, the weather outside is frightful....
Being snowed in with an ill toddler and several Christmas magazines left me desperate to put the tree up. I held out until 30th November and finally FINALLY gave in.
I made a compromise this year due to a tight budget- new christmas lights for the windows in exchange for reusing our old pre-lit fake tree. So, no real tree in a pot but I still managed to pull off a Scandi theme.
The nativity made an appearance too- I'm yet to find anything to top this set. £1.50 traidcraft by Oxfam about 5 years ago. Bargain!
Finally, the advent calendar. This year we are mostly using Eric Carle's 'Dream Snow'. Every day there is a new decoration under the number to hang on the pop-up tree.
It fits in perfectly!
I still have the stairs and windows to do, and tomorrow will be spent making doily angels while trying to sneak liquid antibiotics into Small Roar.
Now, to find out who has hidden my Elf DVD and why!
I made a compromise this year due to a tight budget- new christmas lights for the windows in exchange for reusing our old pre-lit fake tree. So, no real tree in a pot but I still managed to pull off a Scandi theme.
The nativity made an appearance too- I'm yet to find anything to top this set. £1.50 traidcraft by Oxfam about 5 years ago. Bargain!
Finally, the advent calendar. This year we are mostly using Eric Carle's 'Dream Snow'. Every day there is a new decoration under the number to hang on the pop-up tree.
It fits in perfectly!
I still have the stairs and windows to do, and tomorrow will be spent making doily angels while trying to sneak liquid antibiotics into Small Roar.
Now, to find out who has hidden my Elf DVD and why!
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Build me up, buttercup.
The house is getting there!
We have finally installed The Shelves. They are not quite the floor to ceiling we were after, but they are looking darn good. A sneak peek:
We have finally installed The Shelves. They are not quite the floor to ceiling we were after, but they are looking darn good. A sneak peek:
Yeah, I didn't tidy.
Ikea Billy in white. 2 large units, 5 small units, 2 CD units. Approx £200 for a full wall of shelving. We love it!
The stairs are also complete. They are painted white, and look glorious. However. They are not a friend to fluffy slippers and I fell from top to bottom this morning. A stair runner will be our next purchase.
There's a lot still to do, but this house truly feels like 'home'. Small Roar adjusted to the move with no problem at all (bar one small wobble where he thought Daddy Roar had stayed at the old house and we'd moved without him). I look around in the evening, with two puddles of cats draped over the chairs, and the higgeldy piggeldy collection of our education, interests, passions and every cementing feeling of 'family' togetherness filling that wall of shelves and feel a warm, purry contentment.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
That long and winding road, that leads me back...
We holidayed in Pembrokeshire this September. We always arrive back in Wales no matter how hard we may try to diversify. I finally decided this last visit that it is where my heart truly resides- I feel so refreshed and whole when I am there. Even in Swansea...
Some moments from our trip:
The pebbles at CymTydu, replete with toddler wellie.
Some of the carvings from the yurt. The yurt was handcarved in Mongolia and then shipped over here.
The view from the Yurt over the Preseli hills.
The yurt field at sunset
The farmhouse at dawn.
Yurtle.
Yurt interior- it could sleep 4 easily, and had a woodburner. Not so perfect when you have a 2 year old needing constant entertainment, but definitely recommended for grown ups!
The Yurt was on Tir Bach farm, run by a really friendly couple. The facilities are fantastic, both for Yurt-ers and campers (we camped there in 2007). If you want to see a part of the world that has standing stones, dolmans, wild rugged countryside, breathtaking bays and red kites swooping above you as you wind through country lanes and past revivalist chapels... then go to Pembs.
The cheese isn't bad either.
Which leads me swiftly on to the British Cheese Awards. We have long been fans of Caws Cenarth, to the point of deliberately holidaying near to Cenarth so we can buy direct from the dairy, and in one memorable case having a box of cheese couriered from Cenarth to Dudley as the cravings were just too strong. Golden Cenarth was one cheese we have been sampling throughout its evolution into the Great British Cheese Awards Best Welsh Cheese, Best semi-soft cheese and overall Supreme Winner 2010. It is an astonishingly smooth, tart, pongy, gooey, rich cheese that has to be tasted to be believed. It is now being served as part of the cheeseboard at The Ivy. Along with Perl Wen (their standard washed rind) it is worth a 200 mile round trip to buy (something we have also done). If you ever see it- buy it.
Some moments from our trip:
The pebbles at CymTydu, replete with toddler wellie.
Some of the carvings from the yurt. The yurt was handcarved in Mongolia and then shipped over here.
The view from the Yurt over the Preseli hills.
The yurt field at sunset
The farmhouse at dawn.
Yurtle.
Yurt interior- it could sleep 4 easily, and had a woodburner. Not so perfect when you have a 2 year old needing constant entertainment, but definitely recommended for grown ups!
The Yurt was on Tir Bach farm, run by a really friendly couple. The facilities are fantastic, both for Yurt-ers and campers (we camped there in 2007). If you want to see a part of the world that has standing stones, dolmans, wild rugged countryside, breathtaking bays and red kites swooping above you as you wind through country lanes and past revivalist chapels... then go to Pembs.
The cheese isn't bad either.
Which leads me swiftly on to the British Cheese Awards. We have long been fans of Caws Cenarth, to the point of deliberately holidaying near to Cenarth so we can buy direct from the dairy, and in one memorable case having a box of cheese couriered from Cenarth to Dudley as the cravings were just too strong. Golden Cenarth was one cheese we have been sampling throughout its evolution into the Great British Cheese Awards Best Welsh Cheese, Best semi-soft cheese and overall Supreme Winner 2010. It is an astonishingly smooth, tart, pongy, gooey, rich cheese that has to be tasted to be believed. It is now being served as part of the cheeseboard at The Ivy. Along with Perl Wen (their standard washed rind) it is worth a 200 mile round trip to buy (something we have also done). If you ever see it- buy it.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
A blank canvas.
We have a house. It belongs to my parents, who have rented it out for years, and plan to retire in it eventully (they live in a Vicarage at the moment). Their previous tenants have left and so we are taking it on until they retire.
This is what we are working with:
Our room, with en-suite
Staircase
Bathroom
Nye's room (which REFUSES to load the right way up!)
The garden
Phew!
My initial feelings are:
So, yes. Eeep!
This is what we are working with:
Our room, with en-suite
Staircase
Nye's room (which REFUSES to load the right way up!)
The craft/ guest room:
Living room (plus extra sleeping Small Roar)
The garden
The kitchen
My initial feelings are:
- Paint everything white/ off white/ tinted white. *twitch*
- Take up the carpet on the stairs and paint the floor boards.
- Take up the carpet in the bedrooms and paint the floor boards.
- Sand and repaint banisters/ stair rail.
- Put white wooden radiator covers over radiators.
So, yes. Eeep!
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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