Cherry Menlove &#187; Plants & Flowers

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Confessions of a Gardener

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:27:03 +0000

Hello! Good morning! How are you?

I thought I’d do a wee update from my garden today. An update and a confession but more on the confession later.

I’ve got so much going on outside in the garden right now that it can get a little tricky to keep up with it all. ALWAYS one to bite off more than I can chew I feel a little like I’m plate spinning from time to time as I see things wilting and looking very thirsty before my eyes. Moving house has that effect on one’s garden especially when done in the Spring. It’s the time of year when all of the plug plants are delivered and the seedlings are poking their heads through. The beds need to be prepped to welcome a batch of tender shooted vegetables in to their earthy clutches and things start to grow upwards very, very quickly!

Here are my potatoes. Aren’t they looking great! But they are not in my new garden, they are at Grandma’s. When I knew we were moving I knew that I would not have time to get the Potato bed dug over and these fellas needed to be in the ground. So my MIL, who is herself a keen gardener, offered to house my Potatoes and my Onions for me in one of her beds for the season. And mighty grateful I am too.

I’ve already earthed them up and now I’m keeping an eye on them. I earthed up too late in my opinion and next year I’ll most certainly do that earlier, but they are growing really well. In fact as I dug around them yesterday afternoon I accidentally pulled up two of the Charlotte’s and the smell of potato wafted up through the earth that was covering them both.

That sounds funny doesn’t it? The “smell” of potato. Did you know that potatoes have a very strong smell to them when they are picked, fresh, from the ground? Neither did I until I grew them. But they do. Homegrown potatoes also have the most potatoey taste in the world. Very different to potatoes that are shop bought.

Has anyone else ever noticed that?

I had some observers in the gallery as I picked and prodded my tatties. Now, if you look at this picture carefully you’ll see two very distinct personality traits in my children. While Ned is hamming it up for the camera, Anaïs is very carefully plotting the removal of his left sock in one deft swoop of her tiny, chubby hand. They are ever so good at sitting and watching while Robert and I potter in the garden. They have been outside with us since the start…….

Picking veg…..

Or just having a cuddle. If it can be done outside I say do it.

Have babies, will garden.

On my way home from Grandma’s yesterday I pulled over to the side of the road as I wanted to take a picture of my neighbor’s farm. Usually the cows are in the section of the field that is closest to me but yesterday they were far over the other side. Which is a shame as there are some beautiful calf’s that I’d have loved to have gotten some shots of. Yesterday was a ‘big sky’ day in West Sussex. The big sky is the reason I love it the most. When I was working in London, in an office, I would walk across London Bridge every day to work and ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ by Bing Crosby would be playing on my iPod.

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don’t fence me in.

I don’t know how I got here, to this magnificent part of the country, but I did and every single day I’m grateful. I never forget how it felt to feel fenced in, so perhaps that forced me to pursue a life I would be happy living. If I’d have known how hard that would be at times I would still have done it. Because I get to behold skies like this and I know that it’s all worth it.

I keep arriving home with plants and then getting stressed because they have to go in to the ground. But I’m creating with lavender at the moment.

Two different varieties no less, but I’ll tell you more about that anon.

Now to the confession………

And then the update here…????

Well these two are all I have left of all of the herbs I planted.

The day before we moved out of our old house Robert and I both agreed that we should keep Boo, our cat, inside. We didn’t want her running off just as the removal vans were ready to take off for the new place. Of course by the time the next day rolled around Boo was desperate to get outside. So I shut her in a room for the last half an hour. She had food and water and she also had my loved and cared for seed trays on the windowsill. She jumped up in to them, trampled all over my seedlings, brought four of them crashing to the floor and tried to use one as a litter tray.

I was really crushed actually. My herbs were doing well and so were my Himalayan Poppy seedlings.

But it wasn’t that I was crushed about, it was the fact that there were so many of us who were growing together. I hope your herbs are still going strong, I really do, im not jealous of you at all *hic*

Don’t forget to click here for my Behind The Scenes.

I love you, have a great day and thank you so much for reading.

Cherry x

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The Garden Gang

Cherry Menlove — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:21:25 +0000

Garden, garden, garden. From Friday afternoon until Sunday evening when I fell exhausted on to the sofa. The inside of the house is remaining woefully unpacked but the outside is taking shape. I said to Louise (my sort of sister – in – law) as I began to stack the dishwasher ” I don’t want to be in here, stacking dishes, I want to be outside getting my plants in the ground and enjoying a day in the English outdoors”. With that the dishes were abandoned and I made my way outside.

So, Friday started with the lawn. I love doing the lawn and always have. It’s thoroughly meditative and fun, going up and down up and down. It gives me great satisfaction at the end of it and it’s like a huge big tidy up but outside.

My kids were slightly more circumspect as I “whooped” and “yippeeed” my way around the garden on the mower. We’re going to have trouble with these two I can tell.

On Saturday afternoon, just before bath and bed time, Robert and I went out to do some final prep on the Pea bed. The Pea bed is the raised bed that will hold two wigwams full of Sweet Peas and my climbing garden Peas too. As we worked away, you can obviously see the grass in the bed that I’m dealing with, the kids played nearby. Ned has a fascination with wheels of any sort and so he’s happy to inspect the pushchair. Anaïs likes to get down and dirty.

She started by pulling herself up so she was level with the bed.

And then proceeded to try and empty it.

There goes another lump.

When it dawned on her that it may take a little longer than first anticipated to empty the entire area she just thought it best to jump right on in and see exactly what was going on.

I think Robert and I both feel that it’s quite nice for them to have an explore now and again even if means they get absolutely filthy.

And she did get absolutely filthy.

But as it was so close to bath time and I was putting on a load of baby washing anyhow we just kept an eye on the stuff that she was trying to put in to her mouth.

Who doesn’t like to roll around in the mud from time to time??

She had fun, which meant we had fun. But it also meant that we were back out there at the crack of the whip on Sunday morning finishing off the Pea bed.

This is how yesterday morning looked. Open, blue, promising and fresh. A day to give thanks for.

Loaded up with tea, very strong tea, drunk from flower pot mugs……..

We continued with the bed.

Building bamboo wigwams and planting out all of the plants. I’ll make a frame of bamboo canes that go across the bed width ways as the edible peas grow and will of course show you how I’ve done it. But if you’d like to build a sturdier frame here’s the one we built for our peas last year.

We watered them in well and stood back to look at what we’d manage to do in a short space of time.

Being short on time is the defining characteristic of my days currently. It can be overwhelming or calming. I can get stressed out or remember that I’m human. I can sweat the small stuff or give that up for the bigger stuff.

And as I truly believe that we are all meant to have lives that are big and huge and full of wonder then I think I’ll go for the latter. The peas are in, job done.

What’s next?

I love you and wish you a fantastic Monday. I’ve got some great posts coming up this week and I hope you’ll really enjoy them. One of my recipes is already making my mouth water and I hope you try it. See you all tomorrow.

Cherry x
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Dreaming of Wisteria Train

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:25:11 +0000

Last Thursday morning, as removal men packed up a great deal of our lives, Robert & I had to leave the busyness that was our soon to be old house and make our way over to the new house for the inventory to take place. The inventory is a very important part of renting a house and it is vital that attention is paid or things could get sticky later on down the line.

Robert is very serious about inventory’s and insisted I be there when I really wanted to be at the old house making sure the move was going smoothly. But as Robert insisted I left the men for a couple of hours in the capable hands of several family members.

We were greeted at the new house by a lovely lady who was there in a professional capacity to take us over every nook and cranny of the house. This task manifests itself as going over every square inch of the house and having an unbiased third party write it all down. In short it can take a very long time. And on that day I was excited and not in the mood for an inventory. Not. In. The. Mood.

My not being in the mood’ness frustrated Robert as he tried to explain how important it was that we BOTH pay attention to what was going to go in to the inventory as we really only get one chance to have it done.

I agreed, I focused……and then I saw that we have Wisteria, in flower, growing along the back of our new house.

It was at precisely this point that I lost the plot entirely raced out in to the garden towards my new unsuspecting landlord, who was merrily chatting to my Mother, and declared that there was Wisteria growing up and along the back of the house.

He smiled gently, not making me feel at all embarrassed, and agreed that there was indeed Wisteria growing up and along the back of the house.

I think I’ve waited all my life for this.

In fact I know I’ve waited all my life for this. There is a Wisteria bush at the old house, which is beautiful, but there is something about it growing up the walls of a house that taps in to the dreamer in me.

As a very keen gardener and a lover of romantic outdoor spaces I have been waiting for the opportunity to grow Wisteria myself in this way. And now I don’t have to as it is already there and thriving. What I have to do is look after it and I know I can do that very well indeed.

Instant happiness along a wall.

It’s grown since we arrived, I’m sure of it.

Along the house from the Wisteria and tangled up in another branch of the plant is a huge flash of ivy. I’ve spoken to the landlord and I may take this back a bit. It is very tall and is eclipsing part of the Wisteria plant which is a shame.

Wisteria should not have competition. It should have its own space. Space to spread, grow, flower and be generally magnificent.

I am ready for the job of training this plant to grow gently and romantically along the width of the back portion of the house. I’ve found some great info on looking after Wisteria right here and I look forward to taking you along with me as this beauty and I become firm friends.

Have you grown or tended to Wisteria before?
Have you any pearls of wisdom for me?
What if the house behind it needs painting or repair work? I’ve always wondered that.

If you have grown Wisteria and have some pictures I’d love to see them too. The best place to upload them is on to my Facebook fan page. The link for that is below this post.

Wow, I’m loving this new house and garden so far.

And I love you. Thank you so much for reading.

Cherry x

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Bunches of Blossom

Cherry Menlove — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:31:57 +0000

Good morning!

I am popping up here this morning to say that tomorrow I will be posting my how-to’s on how to plant Onions, Rhubarb and Horseradish. I was amazed at how easy and quick it was to plant all three of these vegetables and I’m looking forward to eating and cooking with them. Of course you certainly don’t have to plant all of them, you could just go for the Horseradish if you like the taste. I am growing mine in a pot as it has a tendency to take over the world when it gets going and this way of planting and gardening is perfect for smaller spaces.

So I’m leaving you today with a simple Spring arrangement that I put together yesterday. I like flowers in my house but I don’t have the budget for weekly visits to the florist which is why I find it more economical to grow my own. It’s also more satisfying and fun too and I’m looking forward to passing this knowledge on to my kids.

Actually, if I’m totally honest with you, passing all of this on to my kids is one of the things in my life that I most look forward to. I’ve got a feeling that when I’m helping little chubby hands to plant Spring bulbs and sprinkle seeds in to trays that I’ll be as happy as I’ve ever been and it is a heartwarming thing to have on the horizon of one’s life.

I think those activities will rank up there with the feelings I had when I did a positive pregnancy test, found out there were two babies in my tummy and not just one and receiving Series Four of Mad Men in the post from LoveFilm.

There are a great many daffodil bulbs planted in the garden which is so great at this time of year as there is a constant supply of bright, sunny, friendly flower faces to be cut and brought inside. I bought some pink daffodils a couple of years ago and you can just see two of them in this picture. I was disappointed as they are more peach in colour than pink but pretty just the same.

But daffodils weren’t enough for me yesterday. I needed more Springtime in this huge white jug.

So I went to town on the blossom. Mostly pink and a little bit of white but it did the trick and didn’t cost me a penny.

Sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

How are you feeling today? I’m slightly tired I must say. Whenever the clocks go back or forward an hour Robert’s iPhone goes in to meltdown and his alarm goes off an hour early or an hour late. Lately it’s been an hour early. On top of that my son, Nedlette, seems to be having some issues with his teeth and this is causing him upset in the night. I stumbled down the hall last night with my own well behaved iPhone acting as a guiding light and brought him in to bed with us.

He wriggled and sniffed and poked and prodded and I could feel his breath on my face.

He also giggled, snuggled, cuddled and laughed and I could feel his breath on my face.

And although I’m tired right now and he is sound asleep catching up on his rest (dude!!!!!!) I can still feel his breath on my face and I love him just that little bit more.

If that’s possible!

I think it is.

Robert and I are collecting memories right now. We were both told off by Anaïs on Saturday and stood admonished in the kitchen as she yelled at us in an undecipherable language before promptly falling about laughing.

Tell me about your kids, their little idiosyncrasies are the things I love the most you see.

I’m not alone in a house full of nine month old nutters am I????

I love you,
Cherry

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Story from a Spring Garden

Cherry Menlove — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:13:52 +0000

I watched Gardeners’ World yesterday evening on the BBC iplayer. I’d missed the return of Monty Don when it went out and was desperate to catch up. The first episode of this series did not disappoint. The part I loved the most was when it showed Monty in his own garden. He spoke about the the love that he and his wife had put in to it over the last twenty years and how it was simply a field when they first purchased the house. So much of it had been grown from cuttings and seeds and I can’t wait to see what he does with his space when Spring & Summer are really getting going.

This quote by Mirabel Osler is a gardening quote that really speaks to me – “There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.”

This is so true. You can tell that Monty, through the years, has found deep joy in his garden and I think it is where I too find deep joy. I find myself not only working through the soil but working through the things on my mind too. And when I’ve finished is when you see me smiling.

I smiled the other day as my daughter eagerly reached out for a daffodil. It is their first Spring and I believe that they know it is different outside. The fact that I wasn’t too worried about one lost sock may have something to do with their awareness. It was almost warm you see.

I didn’t have to look at a thermometer or realise that I was only in a t-shirt to know that it is getting warmer. My tea stays hot for longer on the potting bench. THAT is how I know.

It was Dahlia day.

I’ve chosen a different colour scheme to last year with vibrant lilac and pinks making an appearance.

Those colours will be peppered with cream…

…more reds and pinks…

….and flanked by this beauty.

They have been potted up and are now inside on a windowsill. A mere hint of frost will scupper them at the first hurdle and you can read all about how to grow BEAUTIFUL Dahlias by clicking right here. I had fantastic, beyond expected, luck with them last year and I urge you to plant even one of these tubers. You’ll get lots of flowers and you can pick them all summer long.

The potatoes are currently chitting on another windowsill.

And my herb trays are sitting in the laundry room.

I used a mixture of seed compost and vermiculite to sow them and I’m following the instructions given on each of the packets. They are labeled, looked after, warm and seemingly doing well. I hope. I will of course give you a full update as and when things start occurring. You must too! This is a grow along together after all.

Yes, Spring is here. In its pink blossomy way. Everything is new and everything has hope.

I’m going to ask you something tomorrow so do stop by in the morning. It is something I’ve never tried here before but I think it will be a good thing for us to do together.

See you then. I love you.

Cherry x
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Is It The End of Summer in the Garden?

Cherry Menlove — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:45:57 +0000

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On Sunday night, as the rain lashed against the windows, I asked myself if it really was the end of Summer. I’m not so sure it is. I often get caught out like this. I assume the long hot days are behind us so I dig out my jeans and sweaters and then September brings some deliciously warm days with it and I end up sweating out in the garden in dark clothing. So this year I’m not entering the chilly time too early.

One thing that will be coming to an end no matter how much I wail and scream is the garden. The Paddock, which we started to plant so many months ago, has been a real success, seeing as it was a bit of an experiment. All I knew was that I had a vision for a space. That was the easy bit. All I had to do was to plan how to bring it to life.

You’ll remember that this was the plan, drawn out roughly, and not quite knowing how it would all turn out.

Here we were in May. Lots of green and blue but not much colour.

That all changed.

I decided to plant all of my Cosmos in one bed. I did that a lot with flowers this year. Partly to see how they grew and partly to create a really easy to manage cutting garden.

Here they were a couple of months later. An explosion of colour, so bright and cheery. I will definitely grow these again but I’ll spread them out along the borders. They need deadheading regularly but they produce in abundance and I love their cheery faces.

I also put Salvia in the same bed. Salvia is of course a magnet for bees and is now one of my favourite things to grow. Beautiful shades of Silver and Purple make this a real show-stopper but once again I think it is lost, in this quantity, in a raised bed. I’ll certainly grow it again as a border as it’s too magnificent not to.

If I have one tip for you when growing Salvia of this variety its to grow it in large quantities. That’s when it starts to look majestic.

Stocks are another flower that we had great success with this Summer. I got it right with these and they were planted in the border along the entrance to the Paddock. The syrupy smell hits you as you wandered in and the colours were delicious. I’ll most certainly be growing them again next year and I would heartily suggest that you do the same. They are fantastic!

They also look lovely when they are cut and placed in jam jars. Any impromptu supper would welcome Stocks as a guest and I miss them already. See you next year, guys!

Aha! Sweet Peas. Now these DID do well in the raised bed. They tend to get so very tangled that giving them support is an imperative. Otherwise they’ll grow in to a tangled bush and I don’t think they flower as well.

In just a few short weeks we went from a brown bed to this mass of hysterical colour. Way to go Sweet Peas!

And here’s my corn. I grew some corn last Summer but it didn’t do so well. This year I bought more plants and planted them in rows. There were enough of them to pollinate each other and before long they were looking……..

…er, really quite tall.

And I can say with my hand on my heart that they were really quite tasty too. Robert the Husband bought me one for supper the other evening as I lay on my backside and surfed the Internet – there are some wonderful websites out there that I am only just discovering, I can’t wait to tell you all about them – and it was unlike any corn I have ever eaten. Apart from the fact that it was so fresh it almost made a pass at me it also tasted so much sweeter than shop bought corn. Definitely worth the space it takes up in your garden.

Just thought I’d throw this in the mix. Look at this baby……..and check out the Bumble Bee.

Here is the Dahlia bed. They have featured in my garden posts a lot throughout the Summer as I’m so proud of them. You can tell when I’m proud of something as I’ll feature it a lot but I really am chuffed with these flowers as I’d never grown them until this year.

Here they were just getting started……..

…And this is how they are right now.

We had a horrid touch of Black Fly at the start of the Summer which also got my Broad Beans and Sweat Peas but we dealt with that with an organic spray. We also deadheaded when we had to and they just kept coming! I’m going to miss these guys also. This colour explosion has been on my garden landscape for weeks and weeks and I really do not want them to go.

DON’T SEND ME IN TO AUTUMN YET, I’M NOT READY!!!!!!

*hic*

*breathe*

*compose*

The past weekend can be summed up in this one picture.

Food, shopping and wine.

Robert and I both ate food, you’ll be glad to know. In fact if you follow me on Twitter or are a member of my Facebook fan page (all the links are at the bottom of this post) you’ll know that we took the babies out to eat and had a lovely lunch on Saturday. “Have babies, will dine out” seems to be our current motto.
I shopped. Nuff said. I felt like a different person having raided Top Shop and even though I am older than most of the other shoppers I don’t care. I will regain some semblance of my youth and if that’s the only way to do it then so be it!!!!! *breathe….again*
And Robert drank wine.

There was some cooking done and by the end of Sunday evening the pans were worn out and slept haphazardly in the cupboard.

And there was also a whole pile of washing drying in front of the AGA…….

…and a whole pile more waiting to go in the machine. In fact this basket is still right there. Waiting to go in the machine. Oh, and there is another pile on the sofa in the kitchen waiting to go in. And another in my bathroom waiting to go in. And another on the floor on Robert’s side of the bed, waiting to go in. And I think there is some more on the floor in the dining room, you guessed it, waiting to go in. And let us not forget the HUGE pile waiting to be put away in the nursery.

Who would have thought that two babies this small could produce this much washing??? Perhaps one day they’ll stop puking and pooping on EV..ERRRRR…REEEE…THING

and we can go back to our neat and tidy one or two loads of washing a week.

But until that day arrives, on a Sunday evening in the month of August I shall be found flaked out, basking in the blue glow of the television with my favourite magazine by my side. I shall read it for about five and a half seconds and then I shall be asleep.

Gotta get some rest, I’ll be up to do another feed in a couple of hours!

I love you wherever you are and thank you so much for reading this.

Cherry xoxox

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Creating A Container Garden

Cherry Menlove — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:26:31 +0000

Robert the Husband says that I like to colonize areas. By this he means that if there is a space I will fill it. Whether that be with junk that actually needs to be sorted properly and put away or with an idea.

When creating a container garden in the space outside my back door I was definitely working on creating an idea.

I’m actually a fan of small outdoor spaces. I love the challenge of having an area that is totally contained and creating different corners within it. Essentially crowding it with items but making it seem larger by the time the project has been completed.

The first thing I did was to paint the side of this building white. Thus throwing light in to the space and making it seem larger when the the sun was shining on it and reflecting off of it.

From then on it was simply a case of working out what I wanted the space to be filled with……….

Colour was something that I wanted to feature a great deal in this space. Bright colour.

I filled the cartwheel flower bed with bee friendly Salvia and lined the edges with an ivy leafed pink geranium.

I opted for pink once again but this time a paler version when potting up this Fuchsia. It stretches up to the sky beautifully and is very easy to keep, flowering all Summer as long as it’s deadheaded regularly.

In the Summer months we love to eat as many meals as we can outside and having a table inches away from your back door is wonderful when it comes to al fresco dining.

This table was actually a makeover project, much like this area of the garden, and started off life as a horrid piece of pine. I’ll be sure to feature this project in the Before & After section of my site very soon.

Brightly coloured windmills sitting in butler sinks full of Strawberry plants. Lovely!

As this space is so close to the kitchen it seems totally obvious to have most of my herbs in pots within arms reach.

All the usual suspects are here.

Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, marjoram and two big pots of basil.

I’m also growing gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries, apples, plums, cherries and pears. All in containers and all in this space.

Told you I liked to colonize!

Putting various pots onto wooden fruit and veg crates is a great way of creating levels and lifting the pots off the ground and enabling drainage at the same time. It’s nice to work with levels. Levels create interest and go a long way to creating different corners in the same space without huge amounts of effort.

I also created a pathway of sorts at the entrance to the container garden by lining up terracotta pots of geraniums. Try it. It works by way of suggestion instead of something altogether more obvious.

Another way of creating levels is by making this super simple pot holder from wooden boards and upturned pots. I decided to have mine painted white as I knew that it would set the rusticity of the terracotta pots off brilliantly.

I opted to fill it with two pots of Salvia that I bought last year, some purple basil and more thyme. Flanked by Borage and one of the aforementioned Strawberry sinks.

Everywhere you look the spaces has bee filled, decorated or planted.

Alongside the table I have also installed the daybed for chilling on when the heat gets a wee bit too much…….

….and over the other side are wicker chairs that are perfect for enjoying a long cool drink on.

This wee space has, without doubt, been one of my most favourite projects to date. It is small enough to never feel overwhelmed by and is so cosy. It is also a sun trap and the pots that I have planted up are growing so well and producing brilliantly.

I’ve been out there with the babies and they certainly love it.

They sleep and I hang with them and smell their little heads.

Then Daddy gets home in the evening and while I’m holding Anaïs (and the camera) he takes Ned for a little catch up with his son.

It’s beautiful to watch.

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In the Night Garden, almost

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:46:39 +0000

Very new babies sleep an awful lot, don’t they? They sleep a lot more than I thought they would. When they are asleep there always seem to be things to do before they wake up for the next feed. Tidying up (not getting a whole lot of that done, I’ll be honest). Cooking and eating (anything that’s fast and easy). Laundry (Good Lord there’s a lot). You get the picture.

So last Saturday evening when the babies had fallen asleep after their 7 p.m. feed Robert and I were left with a choice; do something useful or do something that was good for the soul. We chose the latter and that was a simple walk around the Paddock in the sun before it went down for the night.

This is my favourite time of the day in the garden and has been since I was a child. I would stay out way past my bedtime and dance around with long lengths of fabric tied to a bamboo cane pretending I was Kate Bush in her Wuthering Heights video! My Mum would catch me sometimes and think I was an oddball. Great, but an oddball. She was right in the oddball department. I was. I had an overactive imagination which, as an adult, I believe has transformed itself into something that simply gives me the ability to know what I want from life and reach to get it. Nothing is impossible if it is right for you. The trick is knowing the difference.

Last Saturday I was in that sunlight with my husband safe in the knowledge that the babies were safely asleep, warm and fed. It was a lovely few minutes.

The Marguerite bushes are coming along so nicely. The secret is being very strict with the deadheading. They’ll be with us all Summer long.

Boo joined us on our walk. She is still there if a little more distant at the moment. We knew that she would take some time to get used to the new arrivals once she realised that they were staying forever and not just visiting. She hangs out with us a lot in the evenings and sits beside me where she used to sit when I was pregnant. We make a fuss of her and she brings us small furry animals from the garden in her mouth. We wish she wouldn’t do this as it can actually make me cry to see them but I have to remember that she is a cat and this is what she does. She is bringing us a gift, albeit one that I would gladly return if only she’d keep the receipts.

I got the chance to deadhead the Dahlias during our walk on Saturday night. They are doing so well and I’m so pleased that I can now safely say I know how to grow them from tubers. A real achievement for me as it was something I’d wanted to do for ages!

Our beautiful Courgettes. I can see deep fried Courgette flowers in my future.

Where there are flowers there are fruit….or in this case Broad Beans. I can see lots of tasty new recipes in my future also. It’s so good to grow your own food I would highly recommend it. Your patches of fruit and veg become like little children in themselves. You check on them, tend to them, feed and water them and feel so proud of them when they do well.

Our walk came to an end eventually. Robert and I had chatted (about the babies), we had had a giggle (about the babies) and we had discussed what we were going to be doing the next day (with the babies).

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve fallen in love in a way that I’m not even going to attempt to describe.

Even when the babies are not with us, they are with us.

Robert the Husband and I went back inside to make some supper and began to count down the minutes until they would wake up and we could hang with them again. Until then we had to be content to watch them while they slept.

Lots of love,

Cherry xoxox
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Garden Gallery, 4th June, 2010

Cherry Menlove — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:40:09 +0000

So much is happening in the garden at the moment, so much of it it finally coming to life. This was the rose on the front of the house about two weeks ago. It had about three roses blooming on it.

And now it’s full and basking in the early summer’s sun first thing in the morning. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Totally untouched.

Here they come….

The strawberry’s are poking their little green heads out.

The honeysuckle is fragrant .

The poppy’s are opening…

…up.

And finally a sneaky peek at our brand new container garden…….

I have to go now as Cherry has just nipped outside seemingly unseen and is trying to meddle and work in this area and she’s not actually allowed to. I’ll remind her of the ankle swelling that’s sure to follow, that should do the trick.

Have a great weekend folks and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are.

Jodie x

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You can read Part 1 of my ‘Growing Dahlias’ saga by clicking on this link.

Let’s Get Growing 2010 – Darling Dahlia Update

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:44:21 +0000

I’ve never grown Dahlias before now and when I pulled the tuber from the box upon delivery I wasn’t sure that any of them would ever amount to anything more than a few shoots. How wrong I was.

We’ve ‘lucked out’ so far on the Dahlias and are thoroughly enjoying seeing them grow and grow and grow and also begin to flower.

At the end of last week, as I felt that all chances of frost had finally passed, we took the potted Dahlias out of the greenhouse and placed them on the raised bed where they were to be planted. We left them there for a few days to do a bit of hardening off. I’m not sure if this was strictly necessary but I couldn’t risk losing any of them or I may have cried.

After a few days we planted them in to the bed and watered them well.

I had begun to notice that there was definitely some flowering afoot!

Some opening up and unfurling that progressed on different plants as the days went by.

I can’t wait to see this one.

Here is our first open Dahlia.

Cerise in colour and glorious sitting there in that bed. And you can tell by this picture that no less than three more flowers will soon be following its example and showing their faces too!

As I’m a huge fan of flowers in my home Dahlias are perfect as the more I cut them/deadhead them as they begin to fade the more flowers they will produce. In fact I have read that they will continue to flower until the appearance of the first frosts.

Ahhhh, my Darling Buds of Dahlias!

See you tomorrow for another installment of my pregnancy diary. It’s our final scan today, there can be no more, what will the next week bring????

Babies, I hope!

Lots of love & stuff,
Cherry xoxox

**UP-DATE** – This is how our Dahlias looked in August 2010

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The Stuff of Life # 3 – The Promise of a New Ranunculus

Cherry Menlove — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:43:06 +0000

The promise of a new ranunculus. Waiting to unfurl and show off. This is the first time I have grown these flowers and I will be growing them each and every year from now on, until the end of my time!
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How To Grow Dahlias

Cherry Menlove — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:02:54 +0000

When Robert the Husband and I visited the local flower show / fair on our local village green last August I was mightily impressed with the Dahlias on display.

So of course I couldn’t wait until March of this year rolled around so that I could get on with growing my own. It’s my first time growing this flower and I’m excited to see how they will turn out.

Last month I began the process of growing them by writing all of my pot labels out…

Then I took my tubers carefully out of their wrappings. A typical Dahlia tuber will look like this…..

I decided to give my Dahlia tubers a head start by starting them off in some compost before planting them out.

I placed them in some damp but NOT TOO WET OR THEY’LL ROT soil with a sprout or two visible on the top. They are literally placed on top of the soil and then lightly filled in not packed in tight.

I kept them indoors and after about three weeks they were shooting fantastically. About a week ago we moved the pots to the greenhouse and now they all look like this….

I took this picture this morning. I’m really pleased as they are coming on a treat.

You can tell that from a small shoot in the tuber all those weeks ago a big strong plant is now growing and will hopefully provide me with many, many flowers.

I will not be planting these out in the garden until all risk of frost has passed and will document it when I do so.

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Growing & Picking Hyacinths

Cherry Menlove — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:57:52 +0000

Last Autumn I planted this bed with all sorts of bulbs – Daffs, Narcissus, Ranunculus and Hyacinths. I had previously had lettuces in there as it’s right outside the back door and it made it easier to pop out and pick some as tea time approached.

About a month ago the bed was coming up a treat as you can see….

….and the signs of flowering were there.

Now it looks like this……

Whenever I step outside the back door the smell from the Hyacinths wafts towards me and it is utterly delicious. Yesterday I could resist no longer and cut all of the Hyacinths in order to bring them in to the house.

All of that scent captured in one vessel and going nowhere.

Needless to say the entrance hall is bathing in their syrupy smell at the moment and Robert noticed it as soon as he came in from work.

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Let’s Get Growing 2010 – Preparing for Flowers

Cherry Menlove — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:57:58 +0000

This was the view outside of my backdoor early this morning.

We have many trays like this, dotted about the place, holding precious plants that will give us a flower filled Summer.

Some flowers I am growing from seed and others I have purchased as tiny plug plants. This is a tray of plug plants. They are very small and there are a great many of them to a tray.

When they arrive they have to be taken out of their tiny casing and popped into individual pots or seed trays so that they can grow on a bit more before being planted in the ground.

I have ordered so many plants for this summer that it took us a whole afternoon (and then some) to transfer them all. And as I’m a fatty I get to sit down in the shade and do my work.

Jodie is not encumbered by a fifty pound weight stuck to the front of her body so she gets to sit on the grass out in the sun while assuring me that she knows what I’m going through.

I don’t believe her even though she’s had a set of twins herself. I am the only person who’s EVER had twins. In fact, I’m the only person who’s ever had a baby and therefore she couldn’t possibly know how grumpy and uncomfortable I am.

*blush*

It’s now 09.55 in the morning on Friday and I had about thirty minutes of sleep last night so I’m feeling a bit tender. Much like my little plug plants. They are very tender and are not allowed a hint of cold or lingering frost or we’ll lose them all.

This is the reason that some of them sleep in the greenhouse and the propagator overnight.

I’m on a constant weather and frost watch as I’m so keen to get these out and in the ground.

This is where all of the flowers will be going this year. The Paddock is really coming on now with the addition of a Gazebo in the centre, some pots and a swing seat.

When my brother was here last lending a hand he dug a channel on the inside of the fence so that the flowers can go straight into the ground, thus creating a frame of flowers around the whole of the area.

So far we plan on planting -

Gazania’s, Begonia’s, Stock’s, Echinacea, Lupin’s, Dahlia’s, Cosmos, Salvia and Verbena. Plus a few more but they are the only ones I can remember right now.

And speaking of flowers……

My first Allium of the year has shown its face. These were planted as bulbs last Autumn and are now saying hello all these months later. I love Allium’s and didn’t get to see them come out in my last garden as we’d moved before they appeared.

Have a great weekend one and all. Thank you for reading this week. We have a long weekend to celebrate here in the UK so I’ll see you back here on Tuesday, by which time it will be the fourth of May.

England in the warmer months = heaven (especially when the garden gets going)

Lots of love,
Cherry
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Shortly after that I planted some Tulip bulbs in this bed and you can read all about that right here!

A Sunny Garden Update

Cherry Menlove — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:44:34 +0000

This year has been so strange as everything in the garden is super late due to the prolonged cold spell. Well it feels like it is super late anyway. This is the circular bed in my front drive and last Summer, in the month of June, it looked like this…..

Then last September, after all of the annuals had died back I cleared and prepped it for some bulb planting…..

…it looked like this after I had finished it and you can read about the whole process here.

And right now, after a long cold, wet Winter it looks like this….

I have two varieties of Tulip in this bed and one blooms a little before the other and is taller. As you can see the tall yellow ones are out and proud. The shorter pink ones are on their way and I’ll take lots of pics as and when they show their faces.

I do love blossom. I think I love it because it’s so fleeting and so reminiscent of Spring. It stays there for a little while, allowing us to bask in it’s pinkness and then it gets blown away on to the ground to make way for leaves and perhaps fruit too.

Look at this little chap. That’s what I like to see, a nice plump Bumble Bee having fun.

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They’re All Growing Up So Fast!

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:44:09 +0000

Although it’s March the temperatures are still well below the average for this time of year. This means that the Spring garden is probably going to be a little late in arriving. Has anyone noticed how the Snowdrops have only just really exploded on to the scene when they should have made more of an appearance in January?

But this hasn’t stopped us here. We’ve been potting up and planting seeds like crazy fools and now have large numbers of seed trays covering every inside surface available.

I’ve already started on my Sunflowers as I’m creating a wall of them along one side on my paddock kitchen/flower garden. I’ve opted for different varieties and colours as well as different heights. Can’t wait to see them all standing there proud. Do you want to see my Sunflowers from last year? Here they are!

These gangly chaps are my Broad Beans – I planted them a few weeks ago right here. They have shot up so fast and we’re staking them today. They are going a little crazy as you can tell.

I can’t wait to try out new recipes and re-visit some old ones such as this one around May/June/July

If you want Dahlias to show at this years summer fair then plant your tubers in to pots now, before putting them in to the ground, for early Summer flowering. I’ve got several varieties on the go and am trying Pinwheel and Pompom amongst others.

These trays all contain herbs. I’m creating a container garden like no other I’ve tried before and these will all be a part of it. Right outside my back door and on a grander scale than last year. I want the smell from the herbs to waft into the kitchen and inspire me to cook a feast.

And see how well the Parsley is doing. I started it here a few weeks ago and I hope that yours is doing just as well if you’re following along.

And here are the Strawbs. I have decided not to plant my Strawberries in one of the raised beds but instead to start them inside in the warm and in this rather awesome Strawberry planter.

They are designed to grow like a waterfall and tip over the edges of the planter, showing off one of the best features of a Strawberry plant which is that it cascades if you let it. Remember when we went Strawberry picking last year?

All of this work in the cold and the wind has to be accompanied by a vision of the future at this time of year. Especially when all you can see are rows of pots and trays, soil in your fingertips and seeds that look like they haven’t even started germinating when they should have. But keep the faith. Keep watering. Keep your eye on them and, at this time of year, keep them warm. With Jack Frost still lurking around every bend no one is safe yet!

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for my weekly pregnancy update. These kids are moving more than a box of rabbits and make my tummy look like it’s bubbling from the outside!!

Attractive, I know!!!!!

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Let’s Get Growing 2010 – Growing Broad Beans & Verbena

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:29:28 +0000

If you’re thinking about growing some of your own fruit and vegetables this year then now is the time to get your Broad Beans in to some trays or pots.

Broad Beans look like this when they come out of the seed packet. Obviously you should follow their instructions but the easiest way of growing them is a simple act of popping them into pots (that can go straight in to the ground ) watering them and planting them out when last frosts have passed and they are of a good size.

I planted mine out last year when they had reached about 2 inches in height in double rows like this.

Last year we built a frame out of bamboo and string that worked well for us but we are building another type this year and as soon as we start to build it I’ll promptly upload pictures in time for you to build one too. I just wanted you to see how the Broad Beans will look when they are producing pods for you to pick.

Here they are.

They aren’t really as tough to pick as I’m making out here. But this type of bean is a real favourite of mine and a staple in my vegetable garden.

All you need to do right now however is to buy your seeds and get them germinating in some pots or a tray. I’ll not forget to pop back and take you along with me while they are growing.

This is a type of Verbena – Verbena Bonariensis – I had a very small amount growing in my old garden which is where this picture was taken. Now is the time to plant this type of Verbenea if you’d like something like this in your garden in the Summer….

I am planting several seed trays full of this variety and will then plant the Verbena out in the paddock area creating a small hedge of Verbena. You should know that planting out Verbena such as this can be laborious and time consuming in the first year but it is a perennial and should come back bigger and better year after year if you don’t live in too cold a climate. Once again I’ll keep you fully updated on how to continue growing Verbena if youd like to follow along but just get your seeds in to the seed trays for now and begin to grow according to your seed packet instructions.

This was the paddock a few weeks ago in the snow.

Well, I’ve already pushed the button on work in this area and the first thing to be done was to get the arches painted white.

You’ll have to bear with me as the paddock comes to life but I have a real vision for this space and am looking to create a space full of flowers, vegetables and places to sit to enjoy the big open sky that sits above us. We want to cook out here and enjoy long evenings on the grass in amongst the raised beds.

As I stare at these arches, outside in 2 degrees, it doesn’t take that much of a leap to see them covered in red and cream Lofos.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
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Flowers In The Home – Ranunculus & Tulips

Cherry Menlove — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:12:36 +0000

A week ago this corner looked like this! But it was time for a change and time to bring Spring into the house with some flowers.

With pink and green being one of my favourite colour combinations I found this corner easy to fix up. And with the Ranunculus and Tulips doing most of the work for me within a little while the alcove had been transformed and taken a leap in to Spring.

This is a good tip for mirrors. Blu-Tak a trim or some ribbon around the edges of a mirror and at the corners place a wee flower or something similar to hide the joins. You can change the colour depending on what you have going on around the mirror. I chose pale pink to go with the other colours chosen at this particular time.

No corner is complete without cakes. The recipe for these delicious buttons of sweetness is on its way and should land on my website in time for Bake Fest Friday – Something Sweet for the Weekend in about four days time.

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Just When You Think The Garden Has Forgotten Us!

Cherry Menlove — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:27:42 +0000

The temperature has once again plummeted and I’m thinking about another log delivery for the fire. There we were basking in the relative warmth of 7 degrees over the weekend and now the frost is back over our windscreens. I’m thirty four years of age and should have known that the weather would not just keep getting warmer and warmer until July, but us humans live in hope when we see a tiny bit of sunshine peeking through the trees.

The garden however is paying no heed whatsoever to the weather. The signs of Spring are there for all to see and it has no problem in sticking two fingers up at anybody who says everything should grind to a halt because of a cold snap.

Bless you garden. Keep on growing!

You rock!

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