St Patrick's Day

Oh what a let down, it was all going so well until yesterday when it rained, then there was sleet then snow and rain all day, all night :( St Patrick's Day is our traditional day for planting the spuds but no, when we arrived at the allotment (bright and early - go us!) the paths were enough of a giveaway - the ground was sodden. If you are into rotten potatoes, fine go ahead but I kind of like them to be edible.

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So I would like to share with you our back garden instead :)  There have been some improvements and the swelling of buds and bulbs has been bring joy and loads of birds. Oh yes! we are officially on the map as the place to get your seeds and fat balls.

The hard landscaping

I am so lucky in my 'catch'; my hubby can lift his hand to anything and does each and every thing he puts his mind to with perfection. It's actually a little bit annoying at times that he can be so awesome, ggrrrr BUT he does remind me of my Big Papa in this way and that causes me to love him even more!  Our main trees and bamboos are finally settled and starting to grow; I feel this summer will be luscious.

He made this >

A super fab screen to stop over-looking

And we have further plans to make this area fabulous. Number one is getting rid of that umbrella.

Plus look at how happy our Christmas boxes and beech hedge is looking; happy and healthy and if I could use my nostrils....supposedly the Christmas box smelt wondrous.

The Acer buds, beech hedge bud profusion and cherry blossoms

The pretties that bring joy

Look at the joy, the yellow shiny bright joy that is the glorious tete-a-tete, on mass it is a happy pill that works through you merely seeing them. Of course the tulips are coming too and I am really looking forward to that. In the photo below the black pot has some long forgotten tete-a-tetes that had sprouted in the shed :) And those terracotta pots are going to be full of tulips.

Then over in the tea garden haven the snow drops are slowly giving way to the colourful crocuses. 

Garden accessories (very necessary for maximum enjoyment!)

We finally bought ourselves a little bistro set for the tea garden, it's only taken what feels like forever! We got this little marvel for a steal in a huge Scandinavian shop whose colours are blue and yellow and they love their meatballs....I hope you get my drift.

I was also very fortunate to be sent these little beauties from the lovely people at Jo Alexander. And yes, they were a gift in turn for a wee name drop but oh I do so love them. This is my style - simple, elegant and timeless. I look forward to long lazy nights outside, with wine at our bistro set with candle light; I already have quite a number that hang down from the pergola but I am a fan of lights dotted in the foliage.

Hugs, more soon,

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