Monday 17 January 2011

* The Magic Hen *

No longer can I gripe, oh no! First off those rice krispie buns were the best ever and looking at the photos again reminds me how much fun we had - more simple baking will follow from this :) But also, my original gripe was all about a lack of seeds in my life and that is the case no longer - yipppeeee!!

Look what I received with a thud on the floor - a glorious packet containing more packages within, which each contained pure joy......seeds have arrived in the Gault household! This is all thanks to the most lovely, the beautiful, the terribly talented and gripe-removing Celia of Purple Podded Peas. God I think I love her, hahaha. I know I have been a fan of her blog for a long time and her artwork - wow! She is the Magic Hen and has provided us with a golden egg. (Very tenuous and clumsy link there to her shop: - Magic Cochin Emporium).


So what do we have here? well let's go clockwise from the top..
  • Climbing Bean 'Lazy Housewife'
  • Runner Bean 'Salford Black'
  • Achocha
  • Broad Bean 'Crimson Flowered'
  • Coriander
  • (and in the middle) Purple Podded Peas
The beautiful card is one of Celia's own designs and within it is a list of what to do with these seeds and when and how big they get :) It's a fab collection as we adore our beans and peas in this house (even Maggie has a thing for them) and we didn't save a single seed from our Coriander plants last season - eejits that we are. Then we come to Achocha, which I really do think has got to go in the 'my favorite words pot'; I have never heard of this before in all my puff so it should be interesting - hope you come along for the ride.

These were my favourites - Salford Black, I let them run through my fingers over and over, they felt so lovely.

You will also be proud to know that we planted up some tulip bulbs we found from last summer - spurred on by our gift. These are one of my all time favourites 'Queen of the Night ', I know they should have been planted in November but at least we did something with them, fingers crossed, haha. They ought to look like this and have done so for us before on the lottie and in our last garden....
Plus I bought myself these beauties and they are given such joy, right opposite me on the bookcase. Nothing quite like a fresh bunch of flowers to cheer you up (eh VP??)

10 comments:

  1. Salford Black, what a great name. Assume they don't originate from the city of Salford?

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  2. Lovely to read your happy and excited words :-)

    Have fun growing these... gardening is all about hope and looking forward but not getting upset if things don't work out, you will have added to your knowledge.

    All my seeds are originally from either the Heritage Seed Library or swaps with other gardeners. Seeds are for saving and sharing - it keeps the genetic diversity of vegetables alive.

    Celia
    x

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  3. what a wonderful packet! and i wish i could have fresh flowers daily...

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  4. I love the way you've presented the seeds in that dish, they look great!

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  5. Both my sister and I have planted dark purple tulips this year - Her's were Queen on the Night but mine were just called Purple. I bought mine when they had all but sold out - last minute decision!

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  6. Wow, have just found your blog for the first time and really enjoyed reading about how amazing your experience with an allottment is/has been.
    I was reading an old post you had written about gardening and planning new growth helping to deal with the winter months. That rang a bell with me. I'm about to move to a house with a very tiny garden and I really hope that winter gardening will help me look forward to spring. Gardening and growing is clearly very powerful and something more of us should spend time doing.
    I'm looking forward to reading your blog regularly, and by the way I really enjoy the way you write! Keep it up!
    Emma

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  7. i love your comments so much thank you all xxxxx

    *tulips rock lettie and GLA (and sister)

    *Damo - I don't know - soory

    *Celica - yep i love you xxxx

    *Andrea - once a week - treat yourself, it makes you feel so much better xxxx

    *Mo and Steve - thank you *blush*

    *Emma - a hearty welcome - your blog is so interesting!

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  8. I grew runner beans from black seeds last year and saved some for this year.
    I'm growing tulips for the first time and really looking forward to seeing them flower. Flighty xx

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  9. Flighty darling - tulips are the most wonderous flowers I adore them - a true sign of spring and good times to come xxx

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