Tuesday Tallies

I thought this week I would take the photos in the afternoon when the sun is actually out. So, my tallies are now going to be what I have completed up to Monday evening. This does show the colours a bit better. I realised my dark taupey brown was not all that great in quantity so have rummaged in the stash and added another caramelly brown into the mix. Quite pleased with them so far.  So my current tally of complete hexagons is.......ta da da daaaa!
                                                      42
Plus 10 more middles. I like to do five a night if I can so got loads of middles done at the weekend.

So yesterday, I decided that it was high time the grass was cut. I havent done it for weeks. Its not my favourite gardening task so I put it off.  In the front garden, I managed to convince myself to trim back the manic bushes, grasses and have a general tidy up. I ended up with 4 more bin bags full of garden waste to take to the tip. This I can add to the four and a tv I hauled up there at the weekend following another impetuous tidying session behind the oil tank. I have been meaning to do that in so long it got to the point it looked like it couldn't be done. However with the wind in my sails on Sunday I have it licked in about an hour. Whilst I was manically clearing yesterday, I discovered a hypericum which is actually my neighbours, but such as the borders are on our properties, its more on mine. Cue, more flower arranging. A few stems of the delectable hypericum 'berries', three strong stems of sedum and the last remaining flowers of lady's mantle, made a delightful autmnal display.

Here are links to more Tuesday Tallies
Deb at 'A World Of Imagination'

Shelley at All4meggymoo

KnitKnatKnotUK

Wannabe Scrapbook Addict

Tangled SweetPea

A tale From Toadstool House

mareelovescolour

Ruffs Adventures

Big thanks to Carole at Gingerbread Girl who inspired me in the first place.

Yippee, The Summer Has Arrived

Its the 23rd of July and the great British summer was delayed until 2 days ago!  I frankly had lost hope.
There has been optimistic planting.

I have planted quick stuff. Cauliflowers, spring onions, radishes and beetroot and I have another of those planters to do some more in in a few weeks time. The egg shells work to some extent but I find searching the slugs out after dark the best defence. I need therapy I gotten rid of so many!  I hate doing it but they were rapidly destroying everything I put out. I wish I had room for hens.

There has been more flower arranging

Today, on my first official holiday, having waded through lots of laundry and some accounts (yuck to both), there has been some sitting outside with the little miss

I have lots of things to get on with in the craft department and it is Christmas in July tomorrow you know!

So, I am going to show off my little plot as its looking kinda ok right now. Yes I could tidy a bit more but life is too short I think. Its really not very big but it is my little slice of paradise. This record is very much for me too so I can look back in the winter and remember what was there when its all dormant, cold and grey. I often go putting things in an apparently empty spot and then find sleepy roots of something else. Hopefully this and the little plan I shall sketch will stop that from happening. So please allow me to indulge myself a bit here. xx

It has really evolved from when we first moved here and set it out. If you want to compare, I did a photo journey about it on my flickr page when I started. Much has been lost and/or changed with rubbish winters and other gardening pitfalls, but it feels really mature now. My OH would rather there were less plants out there I think, but I cant help it, I love plants!

Flowers

Short and sweet post today. I week or 2 ago I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I actually forgot to take a photo of them believe it or not. On their demise, I realised i really liked having fresh flowers in the house so went on  a hunt in the garden to come up with a replacement. This is what I came up with. I think I shall add some cutting type flowers to the garden this year as I am loving the whole floristry thing at the mo, even if I am not up to professional standards.  I do have one tip. Apologies if you know this. Years ago a friend did floristry and passed onto me that to replace that little sachet of feed when you either change the water or pick your own. Add a tiniest drop of bleach to the water to guard against smelly water and a bit (about half a teaspoon or so depending on your vase) of sugar to feed the flowers. It does seem to work.

Normal Service Resumed

Hi Folks! 
Just a quick update to say I am exhausted and rested all at the same time.  Have just returned from a week in the beautiful island of Madeira.  This is somewhere I have always wanted to go and was definitely not dissapointed at all.  When I have sorted the pics I will do a more in depth (bore you to distraction) post about my week.  I am really feeling the effects of the many uphill walks I can tell you. Lots of fantastic plants, many lizards and quite a lot of wild but very cute cats.
Some incidentals on the way which I must mention are spotting the Iron Maiden plane pulling out of Gatwick at the same time as us, that was kinda cool for an slightly ageing rocker such as myself.  During the week we realised that the team of strapping men walking into the dining room at our hotel was infact Birmingham City football team, there for a  match on the island. The Mr. was fairly happy to exchange hellos with Steven Carr as he is a former Spurs player (Mr Carr, not my Mr). Was quite surprised at the amount of fans that flew out just for the match. Not so surprised that a lot of them seemed to spend the whole time not at the match sat in the same bar! So much for absorbing some culture when travelling.  All very well behaved though, it had to said.
So, the shop is back open and the needles etc will be operational very soon when I have waded through the laundry.

Look What Grows in My Garden

I have been clearing up the garden a bit this week as well as getting those horses ready for Cutey Critters and you would think now I am going to show you marvelous plants, beautiful lawns and freshly swept paths topped off with a table set for afternoon tea. The fact of the matter is, I am still not done and have to return to work tomorrow. All I have to show for my work is 3 bin bags in the boot to go to recycling centre.

I could not resist though, a shot of this unusual pot plant. Hope you like :D

My Garden

I have been crafting (a bit) but nothing is finished as we speak. One rabbit to be sewn up (not sew keen on the finishing I am afraid), another started- because I did not want to sew it up. A bag for a custom order nearly done but awaiting magnetic snap as I have run out of the colour I think would look best. No point spoiling the ship for a hapeth of tar as my Mum would say.

So, as the summer hols are nearly done, I thought that after showing you the gardens that inspire me, I would show a few shots of my little patch of earth. It does not in any way match up to those that I aspire to emulate but I am getting there. If you are interested I have charted its journey on my flickr page - click on the title.

Garden Hopping

I may have mentioned in the past my other passion is tropical gardening. Dont get me wrong, roses are absolutely gorgeous but have no place in my garden. Its big leaves and prickly stuff for me.
It all started when I saw a guy called Will Giles on gardeners world and I could not believe that he lived in my home town of all places. I did not at that time but that did not stop me and I was well on my way long before the visit. Some 10 years later and back in Norfolk, I visited for the second time a couple of week ago. My camera was too low on battery for live shots so I took some point and hope shots. They are not too bad. The last one is one of Will`s cats that decided to use me as a seat whilst I enjoyed a cup of tea in the sun.













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Then last weekend, I visited the garden of Jon Kelf also in Norwich. Jons` garden is equally inspirational as it is on such a small scale. Not much larger than my own little patch. He has so much packed into such a small space and has done all the backbreaking work himself. Jon has just won the Daily Mails` best garden competition. So well done Jon, you thoroughly deserve it. Nice to see you again.