And The Winner Is ...

Giveaway Prize
And A Little Of My Garden

Lovely Zara Home Cushion Cover

And The Winner Is ...  From number 1 - 41 ...  Number ... 15  !!!   Carefully chosen by Mr Whizz Kid - just like a rabbit out of a hat.  (Actually a torn up bit of paper out of a bowl!)

Mr Whizz Kid

 

.Nutbudquilter

.Nutbudquilter!

Dear Faith do please send me your address and the pretty cover, some embroidery threads and embroidery needles will be sent to you immediately. xx

Little starter kit

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Time To Get Out In The Garden

Delightfully dancing by the pond

This weekend was all about family and cooking and gardening. I took a few photos of my budding garden - we grow vegetables, salads, tomatoes, lots of herbs, a few flowers and lots of trees. For a London garden we have a fairly huge plot divided into a smart area and a very scruffy allotment area with raised beds, a shed and a greenhouse, which has an old vine that produces (inedible) grapes each year. Here is also the home of the trampoline to keep the children busy while we work or laze in the garden.

Early magnolia in the sun

We also have a very small pond with lots of  frogs and the occasional snake (I was actually bitten by one several years ago, was hospitalised for a week with cellulitis and septaeceamia and almost lost my leg!) . Other wildlife are daily foxes, squirrels, mice and lots of birds.

Tiny pond with frogspawn, bamboos and bergenias

The garden is south facing (ie very sunny) so we have a wonderful shaded pergola area that drips with wisteria and passion flowers later in the year and protects us from the worst of the sun. There are several sitting and eating areas.

Skimmias now in bloom

The front garden is also a decent size for London with lots of pots, bamboo (too much bamboo) and a little stone sitting nook on one side of the house and the pretty purple passion perch here too. Sadly lots of cars sit on the gravel drive and one blessed motorbike. The rest of the front garden is being taken over by an untamed bamboo which grows happily through the gravel drive.

Huge bamboo in the front garden
The bane of my life!
More about this later.

Ten foot tall by ten foot wide monster bamboo taking over the plot

Front garden bench with magnolia and potted crysanthamums and bottle brush

The camelias are flowering

We have managed to nurture two fairly decent sized olive trees, two apple trees, two pear trees and a cherry tree. Sadly the cherries are mostly eaten by the birds way before we  ever get to them. We also have about twenty tallish trees, mostly evergreen, which probably annoy our neighbours somewhat but give us an amazing amount of privacy right here in London.

Tiny flowers covering this bush under the pergola

The red robin is growing well by the pond

Purple sprouting broccoli in the vegetable plot almost ready to eat

Wonderful angelica herb in raised bed for crystalized stems

Herbs just coming back to life - sage and creeping thyme by the kitchen door

Fennel , mint and parsley just waking up from winter by the kitchen door

More herbs recovering from the cold in a raised bed including
chives, rosemary, lemon thyme, celery and angelica

And even more herbs in raised bed recovering from the cold including
garlic, rosemary, bay, parsley, thyme, curry plant, and lemon balm

These little plants will go into the vegetable garden 'when they grow up'

They are purple tree spinach and grow five feet tall
with just cut and come again spinach leaves

I shall really enjoy seeing these small plants springing into life and filling the beds - and of course, eating them too! Most of all I shall enjoy the herbs when they are grown as I use many of them daily in my cooking and I so miss them during the dormant period.

This last week lots of seeds were planted in trays in the greenhouse and even some tomato plants are now inching their way to our salad table.  I am really going to enjoy this season.

This year I feel a special bond with my garden because I honestly did not expect to survive until now and I completely lost the whole of last years growing season and part of the previous years too due to my illness. This year I aim to make up for it by being particularly attentive to every plant, vegetable, salad, flower and tree... So I may just bore you some more before the year is out  ...