Peace...

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Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Getting back into the swing of things

Whilst I was pottering about yesterday, Adrian was in full-scale demolition mode 😄  You've seen photos of the arbour seat many times over the years being utilised as a temporary shelter for plants, most recently for the dahlias as I didn't get round to taking the tubers out of the pots ~ I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I still haven't done so but I promise it is on my list 😉  It's never been used properly as a seat, even when we still lived in Hitchin, as the bench is just a little too high to be comfortable ~ plus I wasn't keen on sharing the space with the spiders that like to make their homes there!  I can't remember now if I ever mentioned that rather than get rid of it, we decided we were going to try to convert the structure into proper, designated, place for plants, and that's what Adrian made a start on yesterday.

It took him a few hours to dismantle the storage bench section because all the screws were rusted to buggery, and as he didn't want to damage the "shelter" part of the structure, he took went at it very carefully and slowly.  We're undecided at the moment as to whether to add shelves and doors ourselves, or see if we can find a readymade growhouse that will fit within the shelter.  I suspect that as our carpentry skills are rather basic, it will be the latter!   

I forgot to mention yesterday that Adrian did another little job for me on Wednesday: namely, numbering the kitchen garden raised beds.  I bought the numbers, which are on little slate plaques, some time back but we just never got round to fixing them to the beds before the winter arrived.

It all looks very efficient out there now, almost as if I actually know what I'm doing.....which we all know of course, isn't true in the slightest 😏

I spent most of the day in the back garden tidying up the beds in the utility area, although I didn't actually get round to this bed which is between the shed and log store.  To be fair, it shouldn't take long to do as there are only a handful of weeds in it at the moment.  I'd forgotten how many daffodils I'd moved into the bed from the front garden!  They look lovely, as do the catkins on the willow, although it was hard to take a decent photo as it was pretty windy.

I decided to get the other beds weeded before I move back out to work in the kitchen garden.  Again, these two beds weren't too bad and it didn't take long to get them tidy again.

I needed to tidy the fruit tree bed so that I could move the remaining strawberries from the kitchen garden.

I also wanted to do something with these bulbs that have been languishing in pots all winter, having been dug up from various parts of the garden.  Some of them haven't come up at all, so I suspect that the bulbs have rotted away, and some have just sent up leaves.  I'll probably plop the latter in the border with the bay tree to see if they flower next year.

As you can see though, the tulips (Orange Beauty) and narcissus (Sempre Avanti) are flowering, despite the less-than-optimal growing conditions!  The latter has a rather lovely, delicate, scent although you do have to put your nose very close to the plant to appreciate it 😊  

I dug out all the strawberries and planted just over a dozen in the fruit tree bed, along with the tulips and narcissus.  I'm just using the strawberries as ground cover, really, so if I manage to harvest any berries before the birds get them it will be an added bonus 😄  I've still got a fair few London Pride plants in the front garden that will need to be moved so I'll put a few along the back of this bed, again as ground cover.

I was amazed at just how many strawberry plants I dug up, and even after I'd planted up this bed I was still left with more than I needed.  As it happens Thursday is the day we usually have a home delivery from Tesco, and fortuitously the driver this week was a chap that has a large fruit and veggie garden, so he happily took the spare plants off my hands!  

Next to be tackled was the bay tree bed, which as you can see was a tad more weedy than the previous one. I'm not too sure what's happened to the bay tree, but I suspect Adrian got a little snip-happy when he cut back next door's shrubs that were overhanging our garden 😉  

Nevertheless, it didn't take too long to tidy it up and I now have a clear run for plopping in those other bulbs, along with some more of the London Pride.  I tidied up the bay tree although it's still a bit of a weird shape!  It seems to like it in this spot, though, so hopefully it will soon grow out to be a tad more symmetrical. 

Our neighbours  have lots of flowering currant shrubs in this part of their garden which are all in bloom now and their lovely scent, along with the sunshine, made this part of the back garden a rather super place to be working in. 

Sorry for the "yellowness" of this photo but I had to close the curtains as the sun was shining through the windows so brightly!  Anyhoo, I thought I'd show you that Miss Schlumbergera is merrily in bloom again, after putting on a lovely display back in November 😍 

A breath of fresh air

image from Clipart Library

Of course what I really mean is we've had a couple of rather windy days, albeit with blue skies and plenty of sunshine 😉  Nevertheless, it's been lovely to get out in the garden again even if the thought of all the work to be done is a tad disheartening!

You may recall that last year I moved the strawberries into a new bed.  I'm happy to report that they've come through the winter unscathed and are all starting to put out lovely new green leaves 😊  We didn't get any further with the bed then, but Adrian got the frame for the netting built last week, using leftover poles from frames that had been dismantled.  On Tuesday we got the plastic mesh ~ also salvaged from old dismantled frames ~ attached to the frames.  Never let it be said that we don't try to re-use what we already have LOL  

To be fair we haven't noticed any of the local feline population trying to use this bed as a new loo, but we weren't going to take any risks as the buggers do poop in the garden borders from time-to-time 😒  I'll add a finer mesh cover later in the year, when the strawberries start to ripen up, to keep the birds at bay. 

Another job that Adrian got done was to alter how the frames are attached to the beds.  Originally he'd used plumbing pipe clips which were okay to start with, but gradually they got misshapen with use.  We had a good think about it and finally thought of attaching short lengths of plastic pipe to the sides of the beds for the poles of the frames to slide into.  It's worked out very well, and I think it looks much neater too.

I mentioned last week that the rhubarb was starting to come through.  Goliath is really getting into its stride, and I may have to start picking some of the stalks soon!  Fulton's Strawberry Surprise (which I moved from the back garden last year), in the middle of the bed, is also coming through more strongly now.

I was a little concerned about the non-appearance of Timperley Early but ~ ta daa! ~ it's finally put in an appearance 😄 

I've been a little disappointed with the seasonal bedding plants I put in last autumn as I lost a lot of plants over winter.  Still, this little pot of pansies (Matrix Mix Coastal Sunrise) has managed to cope with the weather and is starting to look very pretty.  As you can see, the compost seems to have dropped somewhat in this pot, so perhaps the fact that the little plants are lower in the pot has helped to protect them as there isn't much shelter from the wind in the kitchen garden!  I have some in the planter on the kitchen windowsill which have also come through the winter unscathed, although it's much more sheltered in the kitchen courtyard area which has probably helped.   

 As you can see, the bulbs I planted for cutting are coming through very nicely.  The only trouble is I keep forgetting to actually get out there and cut them for the house whilst they are still in bud!  Oh well, I know the idea works so I'll try again next year 😉

And finally, despite that chilly breeze yesterday afternoon, the temperature in the greenhouse got up to 30℃ ~  very cosy 😊

It's another lovely sunny day today, so I'm going to make the most of it and get back outside again ~ there's certainly no lack of stuff to get done! 

Little words of wisdom

 

Reading round-up: March 2025

image from Clipart Library

March proved to be a "slow" month for reading.  As I mentioned in my February round-up I struggled to finish Ted ~ A Pawtobiography, which ate into my reading time considerably.  I should have put it to one side to try another time way sooner than I actually did 😏  Anyhoo, here's what I read during March:

The Moving Finger (Miss Marple series): 

Agatha Christie

Crochet Makes From Scrap Cakes: Naomi Vincent

Hello Tiny World: Ben Newell

Fitwaffle's Easy Air Fryer: Eloise Head

Corner-to-Corner Blankets to Crochet: Leonie Morgan

Create Your Own Crochet Blankets: Jessica Leggett

Only one fiction book last month, but reading is reading whether that be fiction or non-fiction, so I've actually read more than I was giving myself credit for 😉   Let's see what April brings!