Goodbye Anna Maria. We’re travelling back to the UK today after a wonderful family holiday. It’s been one of the most amazing holidays I’ve been on. Idyllic location, fun times with family and totally relaxing. This is our pet Heron. He comes every day to fish off the deck here. This morning he was up super early to say goodbye to us. We’ll miss you buddy! See you next year :)
I’m sure the weather will be very different at home but I’m excited to get going with the new growing season. After seeing all the beautiful gardens here I’m raring to get back and start some sowing! And I’m eager to see how my coldframe seedlings are doing and whether my Peach frame is still standing :) I guess I’ll find out soon!
So I’m in Miami right now. And I’m having a nice time walking to the beach and back, playing in the pool and eating waaay too much French toast with eggs and maple syrup and butter!
Infact we were walking back from the breakfast diner today and then we saw it… the place where we will live in my dreams forever more.
A 1937 art deco home, currently derelict and in need of some serious lovin’. Five bedrooms, no kitchen (hey who needs a kitchen anyway), double garage, gorgeous wrap-around garden and … as if this was the least of it… within a short stroll of the beach. I mean… what’s not to like?
Okay, so it might need a bit of work. Okay so it might need a lot of work but I’m game! If only for the chance to grow Tomatoes for eight months of the year. What I can’t understand is why this house has been on the market for almost a year. Can’t they see how beautiful it is?
So, anyway back to earth. It won’t be mine. Even though Under Gardener did say that he would buy it for me if he had the money. And even though I did have to break it to him that no matter which city we travel to in the whole world, I ‘will’ find a house to buy, no matter where it is.
But I hope someone buys it and makes it into the beautiful family home that I have already imagined in my dreams.
Quite a few people have been asking me about my reference to Percy Thrower, and that fact that I use his book ‘In Your Garden’ as my sowing and planting bible. So I though I would make a post dedicated to Percy. The book is old! It was first printed in 1959 but I think the impression I have was printed in 1960. Nothing like some up-to-date, cutting edge gardening data eh?
The reason I like it so much is that it breaks up the year into months and then into weeks. Most books will tell you what to sow in what month according to where you live. But this one tells you what to plant this week. It’s brilliant! Of course, he is a little part of childhood too, being the Blue Peter gardener on TV in the 80s.
So for example, here’s an extract from January (fourth week).
“As soon as the Brussels Sprouts have been gathered, the stalks should be cleared from the ground unless there is a shortage of Purple Sprouting Broccoli or Kale in which case a few Brussels Sprouts may be left to produce young shoots for gathering later on.
Herbs such as Sage and Thyme can be replanted and large clumps can be pulled apart into small pieces with roots attached. The bushes can be cut down to within 9 inches of the ground and plenty of young shoots will grow up from the base…”
But, being a gardener in the 60s he also recommends spraying your crops with all kinds of nasties, poisoning the mice that eat your Pea seeds and dusting Turnips with DDT to kill flea beetle! Ho-hum you can’t have everything can you?
What I especially like are the black and white photos that have been hand finished in pencil. Why, I’m not quite sure but someone has taken a lot of time making these photos into a kind of eerie half reality that I just love.
The sad thing is I think it’s out of print. The only books I can find on Amazon are second hand or from collectors. I’m not sure you can buy it new anymore.
So that’s my gardening bible. I read other books, of course, but I always go back to see what Percy’s up to this week. It’s like an addiction I have.
What’s your gardening bible?
My Dad is always nagging me to feed the birds. I’ve always resisted because, well, enticing the poor little mites into the garden with the promise of food only for them to be then hunted down and eaten by my evil house pets is not my idea of benevolence. But… it is snowing and they do look terribly hungry and a little bit bored too. So I thought, let’s help the little chaps out.
So I decided to look online for an easy-to-make-at-home bird feeder. I found a recipe, and it erm… required the following: Lard, Suet and bird seed. Well I have the bird seed but since I don’t live in the 1940s I’m all out of LARD! Who the heck has lard in their cupboard anymore - people who are on a ‘die quickly’ regime? Anyway, let’s not get this out of perspective.
Another one required a pine cone that you smear with peanut butter and then stick seed to. A-ha! now we’re talking. I didn’t haven’t a pine cone (don’t get me started on that one too) but I did have, wait for it… an Apple!
So I made some holes in the Apple, put a string through it. Smeared it with peanut butter and…
rolled it in bird seed. Well it looked good. Whether the birds will appreciate it remains to be seen.
At the risk of sounding repetitive mtp has been deluged with more snow! And for the benefit of our friends outside the UK I know it’s just snow and yes I’m getting a bit too excited about it. But honestly, it’s not normal. Not round these parts anyway. I took some photos of the Winter wonderland. The birds have given up the ghost and gone back to bed. Quite right, good idea!
I’m not one to shout from the hills about my birthday (she says, creating a whole post dedicated to that very subject!) but today was nice. Nothing special, just nice. I got lots of cards from family and friends which always makes you feel special.
My amazing husband brought me a piece of original art from San Francisco ‘and’ a T-shirt that says “Reality is for People Who Can’t Handle Science Fiction” - what’s not to like?
I got these beautiful flowers (including the essential ornamental cabbages) from my bestest friend. Plus a spa voucher from the guys at the office!
And…this beautifully handmade garden centre voucher. This one intrigues me. I love the fact that I have developed ginger hair and I’m carrying a pitchfork for some reason. Lovely!
I’ve been reading The Wonderful Weekend Book, by Elspeth Thompson. It’s full of great ideas on simple, feel-good type things that you might want to do at the weekend, like writing letters, having a real fire and baking bread. I think you’d go a bit mad if you did all of the things that Elspeth suggests - after all Homebase do do quite a nice line in chocolate croissants. But one thing she suggested did catch my eye - ‘create a nature table’.
Why not? So when the rain cleared we donned our wellies and off we went. Where I live is quite rural so, we didn’t have to go far before we started to find lots of natury type stuff. We found leaves of every Autumn colour, spiky horsechestnuts, acorns, feathers and even mushrooms. We had great fun.
What I realised is that all this stuff had been on the floor every time we’d been on a walk recently, I just hadn’t bothered to pick it up or even notice it really. And when you bring it indoors it takes on a whole different look.
We took it all back home and ‘played’ with it for a while. I even tried to identify some of the leaves but soon realised that I couldn’t and turned to Google to help me out - very smart that Google.
We arranged our stuff on a tray and put it on the window-ledge. The next day however, our nature table didn’t look so great. The leaves had shrivelled up and some little grub-like things had come out of the mushroom. Hmmm… Oh well, still a wholesome activity.
Here’s the view from my potting shed where I’ll be cowering from the weather for the next few months. I just cleaned the glass on the window which makes it look super-tidy but normally there are spider webs and stuff all over it.
My Onions are hanging up on either side of the window. My tools leaning on the wall and a box full of Pea sticks is underneath.
You can see in the garden that my Tomatoes are hanging on - leafless as they are. There are still a few ripe ones but I’ll probably have at least enough green ones to stock up on some Green Tomato Chutney. Just a little window (excuse the pun) into my world.
What does the view look like from your potting shed (or just shed).
On Sunday we went the Malvern Autumn Show. We had a great day out and saw lots of interesting things, so I thought I’d share some with you.
There were lots of gardening exhibits, show gardens and seed stalls. Chris Beardshaw did a talk and there was even a jazz band and stunt show! There was also lots of animals there, rare breed pigs, cows, horses and dogs. Including miniature donkeys! When I saw this though I had to take a photo of it; The Webb Miniature, a lawnmower for children. Ahhh… The Victorians - they didn’t have EU safety laws did they?
Above is the winning show garden in the ‘Good Life’ pavillion (ie the ‘grow your own’ bit). I thought it was very neat. Although, aren’t those ornamental Cabbages?
Above is the show vegetables stand from seed merchants, Thompson & Morgan. I’m always amazed at how decorative show growers can make their veg look. And how do you prepare Onions like that?
There were tons of colourful vintage tractors which kept the little (and not so little one) happy.
And the new thing on my ‘must have’ list - a vintage caravan. Some of them were just perfect, inside and out.
And the people who owned them looked like they were having such fun.
And of course, not forgetting this year’s ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ - who felt it was his job to inspect the harvest.
Particularly, since there was a rather smart looking tractor in the middle of the display!
I get quite a lot of questions about my photography so I thought I would answer some of them here so that those who are interested can benefit too.
It’s quite an odd pass-time; taking photos of vegetables, but I love it. I just love the shapes and the colours and the light at different times of year.
One of my favourite things to do is to look at all my photos as thumbnails and you can almost see the changing seasons, as you can see from the photo above.
Here are some answers:
What type is my camera?
Canon 350D - it’s getting quite old now. Time for an upgrade?
What lenses and equipment do I use?
I’ve got a Sigma macro lens which I use for the extreme close-ups
What’s my computer and which photo editing software do I use?
I’m a Mac (not a PC) and I use iPhoto. I have a MacBook Air - very light and nice to look at.
Can I suggest any books to read on photography?
Yes! Please read 35mm by Michael Langford. It was written pre-digital cameras but is still as relevant today as it was back then.
Do I edit my photos?
Sometimes I crop them and ramp up the contrast if they’re a bit dull. But other than that not much. I have no idea how to use Photoshop.
Which are my favourite photos?
My favourite shot is the last one I took. I’m that fickle!
Can I teach you how to take photos?
Hmmm…it’s really difficult to teach someone how to ‘have an eye’ for a good photo. I’m not saying that I get it right all of the time but it’s one of those things that comes easier to some people than others. I would say learn how to use your camera first, then look at some great photography and copy some of the compositions. I do that all the time!
Interesting angles are best, don’t always go for the obvious shot. Light is very important. Sunny days are seldom ideal as the shadows cast can be very harsh. A bright overcast day is much better for photography. Also early morning and sundown are interesting times to take shots. You can get some great shots when the sunlight is coming in horizontally.
