Buds and Spuds

Hello my lovelies, hope you are all well and have a nice weekend planned --- Hurrah for Fridays!

Today is actually a quite nice and bright day here, so I went outside with Toby and looked about the back garden. I LOVE it when the Beech buds open up, they are so beautiful, definitely one of my most favourite trees. Then I was surprised to find the Acer I had been worried about is looking heavenly = two sights that have put a smile on my face 😀

I checked in on the seedlings Andrew planted up a while back and the Sugar Snaps are now too far ahead, oh this weather is so changeable! It's sad to compost new life but we will simply have to plant more seeds direct when we get back from our walking holiday. The leeks and spring onions seem to be in a good position though which is nice. I think most things are simply going to be later this year.

But let me tell you about last weekend. We finally planted our beautiful Sharps' Express potatoes spuds); after my accident I guess I forgot all about it. This year we are yet again doing them in large tubs as it's just so darned easy to tend to and takes up much less space. Plus the harvesting has proven itself to be so simple and cleaner. Fingers crossed for a good batch again.

Lastly, after the silliest and most cliched of allotment related injures to myself last Saturday... I stood (twice, for good measure) on a rusty nail that was poking up from a rotten plank. *Blush*  I am glad to report I have healed up pretty well. The hiking holiday is still on 👍

Hugs and love
Carrie x

The back garden starts to explode :)

Sometimes it takes you to go away for a while to really appreciate how much your garden grows in a week, especially in Spring. If you were to watch it everyday, waiting impatiently, these changes wouldn't be so noticeable.

Behold the back garden, beginning to explode into life...

Highlighted plants are links to the RHS website page of the variety we have..

* Oh my, I think I have found 'my' tulip! This raspberry and cream one (ahh! can't think of the name), on mass just makes me smile very big indeed - next year I want another 5 pots ;)
* The stained glass window will be covered soon by the weedy looking Virginia Creeper - it only went in last year and already it's rampant :)
* The Acer didn't take well to the house move way back when but in the last year it has really come into it's own - never seen it look so happy.
* Christmas box has also responded well to the clippings it had last year and has filled out nicely = happy times
*The beech hedge, though all 5 plants are growing at very different rates, is happy and since yesterday (when I took this photos) it's even greener!!

* So many little box balls and a very happy Star Jasmine, with a Japanese Maple in the center
* Lots of seedlings in the cold frame
* The beautiful paper bark Birch and lovely bamboo, Wisteria growing around pergola
* Camellia - first flower of the year :) We got a new water butt just with this baby in mind as they can only take rain water.

* Just look how far we've come (and by that I mean Andrew, as he built the walls, the raised platform and pergola, the fountain, the cold frame and the chairs. Plus he planted everything whilst I supervised and photographed *blush*

Hugs and Love
Carrie

It's not January anymore

Yes!! Today saw the start of the year (January is a bad word in my mind - I try to ignore it with all my might) February is here my friends and I can barely stand the joy. It's only a wee month and then bam! it's March etc...

For this auspicious occasion I went out into the garden, simply desperate to find springy-ness and hope for the year to perk me up. Here is what I saw....

So happy the Beech hedge is filling out and the box hedge is smelling fabulous and looking so healthy :)

 Yes! Big, fat, juicy tulip bulbs are popping through all over the place :)

 AIliums and lots of tete-a-tete bulbs have poked through and are looking super :)

 See? more!!! ;) Plus the Jasmine is happy and grew so much last year - I have happy tingly feelings :)

 Still the snowdrops keep coming; so delicate and so very white they glow :)

And the winter flowering cherry has been in bud for ever, I love it but never more so with the blue sky behind it -  blue sky is the bestest thing ever :)

I am smiling a lot today as you may have noticed and the weather looks okay for tomorrow too = Allotment Time!! Happy Days :)

Love and hugs and Happy February to you :)

Wonderous news from the back garden

Andrew had a few days off and went mental in the back garden one of those days - he was so happy and now just look at it!! Joy, happy, happy joy, joy!!

So let's look over here first.

This is the very first bed that was made and now it has the beech hedglings in and a fabulous pleaching support erected around and above them. GROW you wee buggers!
In front of them we already had a Christmas Box planted and were all set up to get more gradually as they can be a wee bit expensive. But lo, Andrew walks into a large DIY shop and there these are all reduced and when Andrew took them to the till, hehehe, he got all 6 for £10. Good job.

Then over to the Cherry Blossom Tree and my isn't she adorable all in bloom :) Under planting this beauty is a load of Carex 'Comans Bronze' which all came from division of one plant in the allotment = free plants - yipppee. These are (hopefully) going to grow into little hillocks and have bulbs planted in between them. We already have some very healthy Tulips 'Queen of the Night' ready to be planted :)

You will also note that we have one of our bamboo's planted at the back of this bed. We've had this little fella for years and although he may look sorry for himself, having been in a pot and somewhat neglected throughout the whole moving house saga, I have a good feeling about him. With all the goodness in that soil (remember the worms and everything) I think, give him a little while to settle and he'll be super happy. This is a clump forming type called 'Fargesia' by the way.

Then tantalisingly over at the far corner is the new bed's foundations (eeeek!! so exciting, ) and just infront of Maggie, a strange big bucket full of cement (hummmmm?) but that's all I am going to say about that for now.

Arm art and cement

Interesting weekend here in the Gault household. First off I got my now quite well known Cherry Blossom Tattoo added to. It now has pretty vine like swirls, leaves and the powerful word 'namaste' written beside it. Here it is in all it's glory. This is my biggest exclamation of self expression...

Then as I can't get it dirty or even wear gloves at the moment I wasn't able to labour intensively in the garden or allotment, in the cold and drizzle - how sad!! hahaha But my darling hubby (tis Valentine's Day after all) did work and he worked hard. Both here in the back garden and at the allotment - I am so proud of him and you shall see why...

Here was the back garden last weekend. Remember? I think we were all mightily impressed.

Well here it is now. Yes, before your eyes lays a raised bed, a bed which is now full to the very brim with the topsoil from trench digging in the garden, loads of the least stinky and therefore well rotted manure and 2 big bags of multipurpose compost. (The photo is from before tne compost addition, now it really is up to the brim) The beech hedgelings are sitting there just aching to get in, spread there roots and grow, grow, grow!! But we are keeping the bed covered for a while as the rain is a pain and the soil is very damp. But it's so fabulous!!!!

Andrew also dug and cemented the foundations of another bed. This one is directly outside the kitchen window and will have the beautiful Winter Flowering Cherry in it. Oh lordy, those buds are a-swelling, big and juicy - I simply cannot wait for the first bloom. They are one of Andrew's and my favourite trees - those blossoms on the bare branches just make me tingle and I find it an extremely potent symbol of new life, new hope, new beginnings (hence the tattoo I have).

We also had a good dander around the local nursery and have further solidified in our minds which plants we love and what shall go where. Even down to the pots and a special secret product that Andrew is working on but which I can't talk about - intrigue, mystery....it's all here :) !!!

Okay, as I haven't really done anything, I'm going to leave the work what was done at the Allotment for another day so you will hopefully come back and share that with me too.

May your day be filled with much love!! Oh and don't forget Maggie and I love you too xx