Ready to Start

 I am ready to start my three word gardening posts for the summer. I love growing flowers and vegetables and also observing the natural hedgerow growth throughout the season. It has been a slow start with the wet cold UK spring but things are starting to move along. Lets go for a little tour to start the season incase you have not been here before.

I have a table vase challenge I set myself last year which has now become a habit. I have a vase on the kitchen table and I try to have seasonal flowers in it everyday either that I have grown or found in the verges on dog walks. It usually starts around March when the daffs come out but this year I was able to roll it round from Christmas with the inclusion of some birthday and thank you flowers along with my now established hellebores. Early this month the orange broom was magnificent and then it was joined with my prolific geum called totally tangerine.

I started a gravel garden last year which looked a bit manufactured but as each plant sends out seeds I am hoping that the front garden bed will be surrounded by easy care drought resistant planting. My bloke was apprehensive, he is not sure about random things sprouting up in the gravel but I am determined to show him a naturalised walk way around the front box.

I didn't know that this shrub would turn into a tree when I bought it 4 years ago when the bed was new but I like it because it gives the border structure. I have taken out quite a bit from the bottom to raise the canopy and light in underneath.

We live on a smallholding so often you will see sheds and farm tat in the background of my photos but the crab apple tree really shone out this year and put on a fantastic display of blossom.

There are soft fruits surrounding my veg patch which are looking good at the moment. I am so glad that I have summer and autumn raspberries in different beds so that I can prune them properly. These are the summer ones and I have impressed myself that I remembered to tie in the new canes last year to bear this years fruit.

The strawberries have had a good weeding. Last year I fed them at the start of the season which was a mistake because they put on huge amounts of green leaves and no fruit. This year the plants seem strong and full of flowers so fingers crossed. Our rhubarb patch is throwing out some good stalks which we are cooking and eating with greek yoghurt.

We have had to be patient with the veg patch up until about four weeks ago it was like a chocolate mousse. We had been manically eating spinach before it runs to seed but we are out of time on that now. It means we can free up that space for this years veg.

I have started off lots of veg in the greenhouse this year because it was too wet for outside. I am trying really hard to get successional lettuce again with interval sowing.

I have sown 6 different types of tomatoes and I also grow a few for my mum too. They are much bigger now and I have planted these in their final pots. It is always a bit of an experiment with tomatoes but I will let you know how I get on. The greenhouse was an absolute car crash last week but now there is some order to the chaos of trying to keep everything in limbo. I have cucumbers, tomatoes and for the first time melons all in their final positions.

My friend uses some of my garden to grow wedding flowers for her floristry business which is an absolute bonus. I get to see wonderful flowers from my kitchen window but not lift a finger - win, win. The ranunculus were amazing and now the roses and foxgloves are pushing their way through. She grows farm style in long beds with netting to hold the stems upright.

The back garden, where we see the view, is very modest. The natural view dominates and the border curves around the edge so as not to interrupt it. It is solely purple, pink and blue and looks best in Early summer.

My work space has been softened with a climber which took a while to get going but it smells amazing when the little flowers come out - like vanilla.

I will leave you with the view from our patio to remind you that there are blue skies ahead.

That's it for today. I know I am very lucky to live here and we try our best to work alongside nature, not waste anything and grow as much as we can. Hopefully you can check in as the season progresses to see what we get to eat and preserve in 2024.

I'm off to forage for elderflowers...

April...ing

 April has brought with it a lot of sewing. As the saying goes 'Make hay while the sun shines' mine is more like 'Keep sewing while the rain pours'. I work freelance so I have been banking up work while it is too wet, windy or both to get out in the garden. Some projects are for work and I have also ticked a few home makes off my list too. 

Re covering - my footstool which was starting to look a bit grubby. Now it matches my armchair.

Delving - back into my fabric stash to use up some more of my Orla Kiely kitchen blind fabric. A rainy day yielded 8 napkins and a doorstop.

Chitting - my potatoes which would normally be in by now but my veg patch still feels like a chocolate mousse!

Mixing - some gifted flowers with some from the garden which had been battered by the winds.

Loving - that my girls still like walking. We enjoyed a Friday night walk up Brown Clee before it got dark. It was colder at the top and my ears were ringing so I fell back on a belly dance head wrap - the girls laughed at me so much but we didn't see another soul. The second picture is of Clee Hill on a dog walk later that week but the I had to get a lick on because there was another shower on the way.

Catching - up on some of my family tree scrapbooking at the weekends. The documents and artefacts are as much of interest to me as the photographs.

Baking - traybakes. Superb for lunchboxes and walks. Big Girl has perfected a recipe and is now trying one out every week with a different flavouring. This week we have cherry and almond traybake. All those years balancing a toddler on a chair while baking once took twice as long. It has definitely paid off now she is 16.

Solving - the welly problem - it was driving me crazy.  This now means we can mop the floor easily, open the door easily and get through the door and past the coats easily as well as not tripping over them when carrying stuff in and out.

Looking - out for little signs of a changing season. I absolutely love cowslips and have tried so many times to grow them for my garden but I haven't been successful so it is best to just get out for a walk.

Watching - the front garden take shape. It really comes into its own from April to September and this year the star of the show so far is the orange broom paired with yellow tulips.

Spending - a fabulous weekend visiting my aunt and uncle then heading off to a sewing retreat in Sheffield. This is my favourite thing I made on the weekend. A samford set shirt in viscose challis from Minerva.

Leaving - you today with a peek of sunshine from my kitchen table view.

Kindest. Jo xxxx

Fastest Sweater in the West

 I made such a wonderful sweater, I just had to share it with you. 

This is Robinia from Ravelry. I bought the wool first and sourced the pattern later. The yarn is a Debbie Bliss Odin and I bought 10 balls for £30 from the NEC craft show in March simply because I loved the colour. I didn't realise what a bargain it was until I got home and looked it up. It started me off on a trail of trying to find a pattern to match the bulky yarn weight. After a little swatching, and lets face it, guessing I made the chunky jumper of my dreams. The pattern is supposed to be all over the front and back but the wraps used up a lot of wool and I didn't want to run out so I made it a band feature instead. I forgot how quickly you can make a sweater on 9mm needles. Started on Sunday night when we got back from the show and had it on my back 7 days later by knitting for a couple of hours every evening. 

I thought I would be putting it away for Winter but I have been wearing it in the Studio to work in because it has been so cold and i have turned the heater off in there because it is expensive to run.

It's a quick one from me today because I am away on a sewing retreat this weekend and it will be nice to include some highlights in my April...ing post.

So for a little while bye bye! Jo xxxx

March...ing

Am I just in time for March...ing? Here in the UK it has been a wet start to spring so not so much to offer on the outdoor front but there has been lots of sewing and knitting until the nights draw out this weekend.

Continuing - with my table vase challenge. A vase of something from my garden or hedgerow for 12 months. I have one more month to do and then I have completed a whole year. My birthday in January did save me a little because people bought me lovely things as gifts so there was a little bit of cheating in the depths of winter.

Getting - Out and about last Sunday to Hawkstone Follies. It is a wonderful place for a long walk and an explore of caves, follies and vistas if you are ever in Shropshire. 

Eating - winter food still. I made a cheese and potato pie last week for Sunday dinner just to warm us all up!

Gardening - but indoors. I have potted on a lot of my house plants into bigger pots and given them a feed. Our house is hot in the summer and winter so I have to keep them watered and in good soil. I have lots of successful cuttings all potted up too for family and friends. My outdoor soil is nowhere near ready for potatoes (it is like chocolate mousse) so the seed potatoes are chitting inside. 

Watching - the front border wake up with daffs and a few early tulips. This 'hot' colour border fills out pretty quickly in May.

Crocheting - out of season with the addition of an angel for my nativity set. My next one will be a shepherd and a few sheep but no hurry obviously.

Tidying - my yarn basket. It is a nerdy thing I do every time I finish a project so that I can make way for the next without getting everything all tangled up. My next project is a summer throw over with some cotton yarn given to me by my neighbour. Guess what? I am winging it with coloured stripes as usual!

Taking - it easy this weekend with friends for dinner and some light crafting.

Having - the window open on my cabin today for the first time this year. I was sewing with my big girl and we both got really warm for a change.

Making - my first ever historical costume for a party. This is a regency coat and it is very much testing me!

Preparing - for some sunshine with a couple of new summer dresses. I am so over the floppy buffet style dresses now. I like this slightly fitted dress. I made the blue toile which turned out to be wearable and then I made another in my best Art Gallery poplin fabric. 

 

Leaving - you with a soft sunset as usual. Sending you love and best wishes for a restful weekend. Jo xxx