That was eight years ago in the long hot Summer of 2003. London was my playground and at that time it gave me everything I needed. Now I get a lot of my strength and my fun from other sources but yesterday as I walked through well known streets I remembered those times fondly and was so grateful to have had them, both good times and bad.

But then I hurried home to the scrunched up faces of my children, which is where I get my kicks from nowadays. Although we still had Chinese food last night. Old habits die hard.

My trip up to town yesterday got me thinking about my changing tastes and how if I don’t like something I REALLY don’t like it but if I fall in love with something I fall hard and will try to convert everyone around me to my way of thinking. This happened with hydrangeas. There was a time when I really could not stand the buggers. They reminded me of campsites that I didn’t want to camp at. Big, blue, over-sized, cheap looking bushes, employed by the owners of caravan parks to fill borders. Bleugh!

And then I changed my mind.

And since changing my mind I’ve played about with them. I started work on a Hydrangea hedge but it was in the wrong location, so I potted them all up and they are now with me awaiting further instruction.

I fell in love with the Autumn hue the flower-heads adopt and I now bring them in for the Winter to add colour throughout the long grey days.

And in the heat of last Summer, when I baked Peaches and Apricots I had them drying inside and I loved every second that they were there. I didn’t once think of a campsite in the 1980′s (camping is clearly much better now or I wouldn’t love it so much, but way back when…BLEUGH!)

As Hydrangea’s do very well in pots I decided that for this Summer only a Hydrangea that I picked up from the garden centre would be going in to this plant stand. I say for this Summer only because I want it to thrive and my belief is that it will soon be too big for this sized basket. I spoke to our landlord when he was with us recently and asked if I could re-plant the basket up, to which he told me to go for it. He’s clearly a very cool guy and when the Summer is over I’ll pop something else in.

I lined the basket using old liners that I had in the shed and added some extra compost.

It’s actually terrifically lopsided but I care as much about that as I do about that latest footballer scandal, not a lot.

I’ll keep you posted on where I put the potted Hydrangea’s. And as soon as the Autumn months arrive you’ll see me cutting them and bringing them inside.

Something I do care about, a great deal to be honest, is noticing where the days are going.

My twins turn one a week tomorrow.

Er, yes, so where did that year go?

Almost exactly a year ago they were inside. We didn’t know them, hadn’t seen them, wasn’t even certain of what they would be called. We’d never been parents before only an aunt and an uncle. Who were these people, theses actual human beings, that would arrive and immediately look to us for everything?

We needn’t have worried.

And by that I mean that we managed to keep them alive. Because believe me, we didn’t really have a clue.

Just our instincts I suppose. Which we’re learning to trust more and more now that we’ve managed to keep them here for a year!

But with time passing by so quickly and my head screaming at me that if they are almost one year old in no time at all they’ll be two and then three and then before long we’re staring down the barrel of an empty nest and NOBODY wants to bring that on before its time. So I’m making it my mission in life to ensure that nobody who comes in to my orbit misses a thing.

Take this bench for instance. It sits underneath a Damson tree in the corner of the garden and is quite possibly the calming center of the entire house and garden.

It doesn’t care what it looks like, it doesn’t care that it’s old and a little tired, it just is.

And that is what I want to give my children on their first birthday, a deep sense of just being.

Because, you know what?

It is always OK in the end.

I love you and I thank you very much for reading.

Don’t forget to check out today’s BEHIND THE SCENES!

Cherry x

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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………

Do you remember this post…….???

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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Cherry

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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Good morning!

I’m a big believer in reusing whatever I can whenever I can. My raised beds are a case in point. Here they are in place at my old house last Summer and here they are stacked up their in the corner of my new garden, can you see them? I didn’t want to waste any materials and the wood was still good on them, fantastic in fact. We didn’t need to take the beds apart when we moved we just took them out of the ground and our lovely removal men loaded them onto the removal truck in one piece. This made yesterday’s efforts a whole lot easier, not to mention quicker.

I commandeered my brother-in-law into helping me put them into the ground as I needed some extra muscle power. I have also had all my plants delivered and they are sitting in plug form in my garden and if they are not planted in the ground soon then I’ll lose the lot. So this was Operation Raised Bed and we worked at the speed of light.

We started by laying the raised bed frames out on to the ground in the position I want them to be in once in the ground.

As the frames were looking a little tired and weather-beaten from the last twelve months in the ground I decided to spruce them up with lick of white paint. This was not a carefully applied lick of white paint. This was a “load up your brush and slap it on” job. Each bed took about seven minutes to re-paint and they are looking like four huge shiny white teeth. Lovely!

While I painted Garry started digging the holes for where the legs on the raised beds would be lowered into the ground, four in total for each bed.

Once the holes were dug we lowered the beds in to place.

When the first bed was straight and in place we used some string to double as a sort of tape measure/spirit level, this way we could be sure that the raised beds were straight and in line with each other, (well kinda, the ground is very bumpy in this part of the garden. But I don’t mind, it adds to the charm.)

When all four beds were in the ground Garry and I got digging and started turning the soil over.

It is at this point that I have to state that this is not, I repeat NOT the best way to build and fill a garden using raised beds. You see, by turning over the grass that is within the confines of the bed I am laying open the flood gated for weeds and grass to fill my beds, giving myself potentially hours of weeding to do. But you have to understand that time is of the utmost importance here and I have plants that have to go in to the ground. I could have laid a membrane over the grass and cut holes in to it for my plants roots to grow through, but I need to be able to use some of this soil in order to keep the cost down. I’m being resourceful and using the materials I have even if it means that I have to forgo doing it absolutely perfectly.

I just wanted you to know that I know I’ve set myself up for a wee bit of weeding. It’s a good job I like being out in the garden.

Sustained by toast, a big West Sussex open sky and the radio, Garry and I almost finished all four beds before a storm passed overhead and stayed with us for a while. This weekend  I shall be topping the beds up with a mixture of top soil and compost and getting my plants in. Oh and if you read this website over the next few months and find me cursing about the amount of weeds and grass in my raised beds you’re more than welcome to tell me that you told me so. I shall take it on the chin.

So, now it’s your turn.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND?

I love you. HAPPY FRIDAY.

Cherry x
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I wanted to say thank you at the start of today’s post for the notes that were left on Facebook and on twitter with regards to my old school friend, Julie, passing away in a road traffic accident. I searched on the Internet for more information about it and it appears that the person driving the other car was not insured and had a driving ban, though I am not certain about this as the Internet can be tricky occasionally when it comes to the facts. If however, this is the case then it is beyond tragic and very, very unfair.

My heart is going out to Julie’s husband and her two children, who were all in the car at the time of the accident, and my prayers are all for them at this time.

Over the last few days I’ve been focusing on getting my little family settled both inside and outside of our new home. Keeping busy and counting every single blessing. The picture above shows my new outdoor cooking area. Right now it has a great many pots littering it up but they are gradually being shifted to new homes and the space will be clear by the end of the week. I say that with a great deal of determination as I’m desperate to create a beautiful setting so that I can cook out under the setting sun.

When you move to a new place it’s always lovely when there are surprises waiting for you. This Clematis, growing up the potting shed, was one such surprise. Huge giant plate-like flowers in a fantastic soft lilac colour. I don’t think it’ll be long before the entire shed is covered with it.

The Cherries on my potted Cherry tree are starting to show. I’ll be guarding this tree and other soft fruits with my life and netting over the coming months. I’m not having my first crop disappear in to the mouths of all the birds. As much as I love birds I love homemade Cherry Clafoutis more.

Ah, now this is a Stock plug plant and this is how I’ve had them delivered this year.

I had them delivered as smaller plug plants last year and as you can see (this is my crop from last June) they are rather fabulous. Their scent is syrupy and never has a flower been better suited to a humble jam jar.

Except perhaps Sweet Peas, this was from Fence Day two summers ago. They make a jar look great!

It would seem that the twins are settling in to the new house and garden too. I’m not sure who Nye was telling off at this point, a bird perhaps, but as they are now eleven months old their personalities are well and truly coming to the surface.

Nye is a communicator.

She likes to tell you all about it. Whatever ‘it’ is.

She jumps from subject to subject, event to event, thought to thought.

And her feelings are there for all to see.

Perturbed, happy, tired, sociable, no matter what it is you know what Nye is feeling and you know where you stand. She also has a wicked glint in her eye and she makes her brother laugh while she herself stays straight faced.

She is tougher to manage on occasion as she can be described as “forceful” yes, I think that’s a good word, especially when there is something she doesn’t want to do. Such as have her nappy changed or wear a hat in the sun.

But at these times I have to be Mummy. And even though the tears fall very, very readily for someone with no formal acting training, Anaïs gets over her upset in a heartbeat and all is forgotten.

Ned just likes to eat corks.

Men are from Mars, etc, etc!

I love you. I want to thank you for reading and from the bottom of my heart I want to wish you joy in the small things and peace in the every day. As life goes on I’m convinced that the ordinary is where the extraordinary resides.

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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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If you are thinking about growing anything then you couldn’t start with an easier vegetable than Rhubarb. It actually needs very little attention  but of course, as with most things, if you go the extra mile with it you’ll get much better results. It’s fantastic for cooking and baking with and rewards you year after year.

This is a Rhubarb crown. I bought it from Dobies and I can recommend them if you live in the UK and would like to grow fruit, vegetables plants or flowers.

You can see the small shoots emerging from the crown and already they resemble rhubarb don’t you think?

I have dedicated half a raised bed to three crowns of rhubarb. Placing the crowns ten to twelve inches apart. You may want to plant one or thirty crowns depending on your love of the pink stuff.

I dug it over, removing every weed I could see and filled it with well rotted compost. I also sieved it to remove a lot of the stones that were in the bed. I didn’t manage to get all of them but will pick them off as and when.

I placed the rhubarb crown just below the surface leaving the shoots poking out.

And I firmed down the soil around it. You need to firm it down around the crown not on the crown.

You also need to have a son wearing red polka dotted tights as it brings good luck to the person planting the rhubarb.  This is an ancient Chinese saying which in fact is the area that rhubarb originated from over 2000 years ago.

When you have finished planting your rhubarb water them in well. Also, keep the space clear of weeds as I read that they can damage the rhubarb.

Then stand, hand on hip, holding your garden implement of choice and stare off in to the middle distance.

Channel the farmer in you, it’ll give you the warm fuzzies.

I will update this post as my rhubarb grows and then this post will be your guide to growing this beautiful pink and green vegetable. You can wait for me to have completed my rhubarb journey or you can jump in now and we’ll all do it together!!!

What say you???

I love you and will see you back here tomorrow.

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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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To be honest we didn’t have super high hopes for the weather this weekend. For a start we had heard that it was going to drizzle on Saturday, it didn’t, the sun shone all day. We had also heard that it was going to be about eleven degrees. It wasn’t, in fact it was perfect.

Saturday morning began with some sorting and some baby food making.

A knock at the door heralded the start of a day in the garden as Sam from the stables next door came by to remove huge amounts of garden waste. We were moving it from this spot to another as I want to neaten this corner of the garden up and we needed some help.

As Sam began to wade his way through the pile, Robert the Husband and I began to prep for some planting. Starting with Onions. Now is the time to plant your Onions. I will be uploading full instructions this week if you would like to join me. If you are feeling a little apathetic about planting right now remember how satisfying it will be when the Autumn arrives once again and the hearty stews you’ll be cooking on a Sunday afternoon will be laced with the Onions that YOU GREW….RIGHT NOW!!!!

As Sam continued to clear the garden waste he came across some fantastically rotten compost. Some parts of it were still a bit leafy but there was other stuff that was pure gold.

He packed it up and I shovelled some of it in to one half of a raised bed that I was preparing in the paddock. It was a busy day round my way on Saturday. The stables were busy, the horses were busy, we were busy, the birds were busy……

…the cat was busy being a nutter on the bed next door and Ned was busy talking to a bear that talks back if you squeeze his tummy.

I was planting Rhubarb in this bed and I will upload full instructions this week if you’d like to join in. If you are feeling a little apathetic about planting right now remember how satisfying it will be when the Autumn arrives once again and the fruity crumbles you’ll be cooking on a Saturday afternoon will be filled with the Rhubarb that YOU GREW….RIGHT NOW!!!!

After the Rhubarb I went on to Horseradish. Again I shall upload the planting instructions this week. If you are feeling a little apathetic about planting right now remember how satisfying it will be when the Autumn arrives once again and the Rib of Beef that you’ll have in the oven on a Sunday morning  will be served with the Horseradish sauce that YOU GREW….RIGHT NOW!!!!

You get my point. I’ll stop enthusing now and leave you in peace.

When Anaïs finally awoke from her afternoon nap Robert and I sat out on the grass with them. The stage they are at right now means that it feels like we are looking after a bag full of bunny rabbits and they have a penchant for eating everything but it’s also fascinating to watch. We explored some more texture in the form of fallen Beech leaves. I love their openness at this time and we try not to instill any fear of anything in to them while at the same time encouraging them not to eat the bird poo. A balancing act I would say!!!

I worked on my Clematis wall. More on this anon but I started it last year and I’m really excited about it….if it works that is!

The Verbena Bonariensis that began with one single plant last Autumn has now seeded itself down in to the pot over the Winter and given me SIX PLANTS to put in to the garden. I plan a hedge of the stuff and adore it. It is the ultimate in cottage garden planting if you ask me.

I wandered around the garden in the early evening light on both Saturday and Sunday. With Boo and my camera for company. I love this tree in both its Spring and Summer guises.

The Spring for its milky blossom.

Which of course lasts about five minutes to make way for leaves in the Summer but then it turns in to a fantastic tree to lay under. And as it is right by the pond it is entirely relaxing. Do you remember that scene in the film version of Atonement?

The languid nature of a hot summers day in England. That is what I see when I picture laying out on the grass by the pond. I won’t be in a white swimsuit and I’ll have my children crawling, perhaps even walking beside me, but I see it as hot, still, quiet and English.

Beauty bursting forth in shades of green….

…and of course pink.

I took this picture during the day…….

…and went back to almost the same spot when it had gotten dark. Robert and I were seeing Robert’s mum off as she had dropped off a shoulder of Lamb on the Friday and had come round to eat it with us on the Saturday. As she pulled off to drive home, Robert and I both remarked on how beautiful the blossom and the daffodils looked at night.

It occurred to me that we never get to see Springtime in the dark. It’s not like Summer as the nights draw in far too early but as we wandered around with fairy lights and our phones for light we saw all sorts of corners that we hadn’t seen at nighttime before.

It’s absolutely lovely. And a real joy to see in this rare light.

It looks just as lovely from inside the house too.

If you have a tree that produces blossom think about lighting it. It becomes and instant feature in a Spring garden almost by accident.

As you can see the seeds I’ve planted are starting to poke their heads up through the soil. Very exciting.

And the Potatoes are coming along nicely.

But the Garlic. Look at THESE! I’m happy with this progress especially as I’ve been watering entirely the wrong the bed.

I thought I’d planted them in one a bit further down until I saw them standing bolt upright like obedient soldiers. Then I cursed myself and had another glass of Prosecco.

Not for once thinking that it may have been the Prosecco that caused my watering error.

Oh no, couldn’t possibly be!

OK, your turn. What did you do this weekend? It certainly doesn’t have to be garden related, that was just my story and I’m sure there are more glamorous tales to be told.

I love you and wish you a fantastic start to the week.

Cherry
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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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Last year we grew three varieties of potatoes in bags, they are the ones you see above. If you have a limited amount of space then you may like to do this. Click here for a how – to.

But this year we’re going a bit larger and growing five varieties of potatoes in the raised beds in the paddock.

The five varieties of potatoes we are planting are Lady Christl, Kestrel, Desiree, Maris Piper and Charlotte.

• Lady Christl is a First Early (new potato) and is a waxy type. Great for Spring & early Summer salads.

• Kestral is a Second Early variety which will be ready to dig up around the month of July or we can lift them a tiny bit earlier if the Lady Christl have all been used.

• Desiree is what is known as a Maincrop potato. It is red skinned and is very good for using in cooking, with chips and potato wedges being a very popular way to use this potato. Great for bbq’s and cook out’s in the Summer.

• Maris Piper is another Maincrop potato and is the variety that I buy the most. I think it’s because I once heard Heston Blumenthal say that it was the best for all sorts of dishes. It is a floury potato and large. Great for baking and roasting.

• Charlotte is another salad potato and if you’re thinking of growing in bags then this is a great one to grow.

It is always a good idea to buy your seed potatoes from a reputable supplier or garden centre as they will usually be grown in conditions necessary to ensure that the seed is healthy and free from pests and diseases. Giving you the best possible results, which should be lots and lots of wonderful & tasty potatoes.

OK, first things first. When you have your seed potatoes in front of you it is best to ‘Chit’ them before they go in to the bag or the ground. To chit basically means that you are allowing the sprouts to grow a bit more before plunging them in the darkness of the soil. You’re giving them a head start and although it’s not essential to do this it does help a great deal.

Can you tell the sun was out yesterday when I took this picture?
Sorry, I’m getting distracted.

When you first purchase the potatoes it is likely you will see that the potatoes have very tiny little eyes / buds on them, the potatoes should be placed into a seed tray (or egg shells) with the buds facing upwards for them to chit. An example of a good chit is firm and green and one that will not knock off the potato easily.

Chitting conditions should be in a cool place but frost free with maximum available exposure to sunlight.

And as soon as they are ready to move on to the next stage I’ll write a further post explaining it all. I wanted to give you this head start for the weekend.

I can only urge you to grow your own potatoes. My dad grew them for us when we were younger and my one abiding memory of them is that they tasted so potatoey. I know that sounds a bit ridiculous but it’s true. They were so full of flavour that I think I was spoiled for anything else. They will also keep me in a great base for all the dishes I am currently making for the twins.

I was really pleased, REALLY pleased to see so many of you wanting to join me in growing herbs yesterday. I’d like to do it with you and we can chat about it in the comments section. So please feel free to join me in my potato journey also. I think that we’ll come up against some issues when growing them in the raised beds that we didn’t have when growing them in the bags. But we’ll see. It’s exciting all the same.

As the pictures of the potatoes were really kinda boring and dull I thought I’d leave you for the weekend with some scenes from my garden that I took this morning. I don’t meditate formally but when I was out this morning snapping away in the early morning with the grass making my feet wet I felt more alive than I had in ages. The air cleaned out my lungs and the quiet was good for my soul. Even if it was only for five minutes.

Do consider joining me and the others in growing herbs and potatoes this year.

It would be nice to do a post full of pictures of your successes. I’ll post them here on my website.

And perhaps we can share what we’ve cooked and eaten from what we’ve grown?

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

But that would be nice I think. It’ll all feel less like me writing out in to a vacuum then.

Yes?

Whaddaya say?

Shall we plant, grow, cook and eat together? Then I’ll feel like I’m one step closer to having you all round for a garden party.

I love you, have a fantastic weekend and I’ll see you Monday.

Cherry x
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I am currently eyeing up a patch in my garden that will become my herb bed. It is close to the house so the herbs will be easily available to pick and use in the kitchen when I need them and it also means that I am progressing on from growing my herbs in pots and getting them in to the ground.

I’ll be cooking a great deal in the coming months and I have decided only to grow herbs that I use in abundance. The stalwarts of the herb world are the ones I am focusing on for my new patch and I’d love you to join me. That way, when the herbs are good and big, we can make various dishes together and discuss them here in the comments section. I’d love to do that and it means that I’m getting closer to having a real open house here on the Internet.

I am using Duchy herbs for my garden. The reason for this is because I believe they are fantastic quality. I grew Pinokkio Lettuce last year using the Duchy seeds and look at this lot…….

Beautiful. I was mightily impressed.

OK, lets get growing… (HA!)

I’m growing Oregano.
I cook lots of roasted and b-b-q Chicken thighs in the summer and Oregano is always pulled from the stem and thrown on to the meat before cooking. I also tie bunches above the AGA and drop them in when I need them.

I’m growing Rosemary.

Pork, Beef, Lamb, Oils and Christmas Wreaths all contain Rosemary from my garden. I have a huge pot of it but because I use SO MUCH of the stuff I’m resigning and putting it in the ground.

I am growing Sage.

Stuffing’s, Apple Sauce, Pork and even Gravy. I use sage in all of these. But I love the way Sage looks in the garden. Its soft leaves are lovely to pick and belies the superior robust and meaty nature of this herb.

I am growing Thyme.

Of course I’m growing Thyme for cooking but also for the bees. They love the flowers on the Thyme plant. I have my eye on growing a Thyme lawn in my garden but I don’t think that will be happening this year. Perhaps when the twins can use a wheelbarrow but not just yet.

And I’m growing Lemon Balm.

Why?

Because, quite frankly, anything Lemony makes me feel better when I smell it. I’ll be able to use it in my Old Fashioned Lemondade recipe…

Ahhhhh, Summer.

But Lemon Balm can also be used in Summer baking and Punches for the myriad b-b-q’s that we’ll all be having soon and telling each other about.

Keep the faith, guys. We’ll be out of Winter soon and planning the garden is a great way of bringing it all one step closer. I love that about the nature of the garden. Its timing is wonderful. Just when we can’t take any more drizzle or grey it’s time to get out there and plan for days spent on the grass with the sun in our faces.

I’m also planting some Poppies this year. We have some rather fantastic Pink ones in the garden already….

But they are being joined by Red ones that will appear this year.

And blues ones that will appear in 2012.

But more of that anon.

I realise that this post is rather brief and lacking actual detail but I wanted to let you know what I’ll be growing in case you wanted to join me. And then I’ll post about the planting and growing in a few days. We’re also chitting the potatoes today. We grew three varieties in bags last year and this year we’re doing five varieties in the raised beds.

OK, I’m off as I’m still in my cosy clothes. But before I go I’d love a few of you to say you’ll join me in growing some herbs this year. Even if you only have a balcony or terrace, I’ll take you through growing them in pots also.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Oh no, don’t send me the Tumbleweed………..

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One thing that I am sad about is the fact that I didn’t get a chance to do any real prep in the garden last Autumn. The babies were very young, we were still coming to terms with an entirely new schedule and way of life and I didn’t have the wherewithal to be out in the garden planting hundreds of tulip bulbs the way I did the year before. It doesn’t matter too much, I had other things to think about, but I do find myself wrinkling my nose and wincing slightly as I see the beautiful Spring flowers appearing in the shops. I like to plant in the Autumn because my garden rewards me, for a much cheaper price, in the Spring with fabulous bunches of flowers that I bring indoors. But this Spring I’ll be relying on bulbs that have been in the ground for some time. I can already see the hyacinths poking through so all is not lost.

Flowers were not the only thing that I didn’t plant last Autumn. Garlic was also forgotten. But although it is best if garlic is planted in the Autumn (it gets longer to grow and produces bigger heads and more cloves per head) it is not a disaster if you want to get it in the ground now. You just have to be quick about it to give it a really good chance.

Your garlic will arrive or be purchased looking like the type of garlic heads that you’d buy at the Supermarket. But don’t be tempted to get your garlic from there. You need garlic that has been grown virus free and I got mine from Dobies of Devon.

Tear the heads of garlic apart…

…and separate the cloves.

Choose the biggest cloves and discard the smaller ones.

Garlic is best grown in well prepared, free draining soil. A raised bed is perfect for this as there is no chance of it becoming waterlogged. I prepared a small area, in fact I only used a quarter of the entire bed. The beds were almost weed free and the soil is in great condition if a little stony.

I planted each clove a few centimeters beneath the surface of the soil.

Pushing down gently.

And then I carefully covered it over again.

Each clove was approximately six to eight inches apart in each direction. I have two rows of Garlic in total.

As you can see I had help with the second half of planting which meant the whole thing only took about ten minutes. Robert had Friday off work and he came out to help.

You can’t see this too well but I really did only use about a quarter of the entire bed to plant my garlic. We eat a lot of garlic but I believe that this will be more than enough to see us through the Summer. That tells me that garlic is great to grow in smaller spaces and if you like it then I would highly recommend dedicating a small area of the garden to it.

Garlic is also rather perfect for growing in pots if you don’t have a garden. Use one clove per six-eight inch pot, planting about an inch below the surface of the soil, use a seed/potting compost, water well but don’t allow it to become waterlogged.

Officially my garlic will be ready to harvest in late July or early August as I’ve planted it rather late. I’ll wait until the leaves have turned from green to brown and then pull the heads from the ground. Of course if it looks like some decent sized heads have formed before then then I’ll pull a little earlier but when the garlic is harvested early it is harder to store for any length of time so it will have to be used straight away.

Another garden project that we started this weekend was the planting out of four fruit trees. I bought these trees on a ‘heavily pregnant with twins’ whim last Spring. They have been in large pots for a year now and are doing really well for potted trees but I want them in the ground and we have to act fast on this as we need to get them settled before they really do spring in to action for the year. I have pear, apple, plum and cherry trees to be planted and Robert and I began preparing the ground in the back garden yesterday. We didn’t get it all done so we’ll have another go next weekend and I’ll take lots of pictures to show you.

The babies liked being outside with us although they kept kicking off their blankets. It’s exciting to think that they will be running around soon. Hopefully they’ll have four fruit trees to hide behind but I’ll let you know about that one depending on how well they do. Fingers crossed.

If you have grown garlic or planted out potted fruit trees I’d love to know how you got on. Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section.

I love you and thank you for reading.

Are you ready for the week?

I am….I think! *yawn*

Cherry x

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

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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We’ve been out in the paddock for most of this week. I say “we” Jodie and Cathy have been out there for the duration, I have popped out occasionally to make it seem like I still have something to offer in my ‘beached’ state but mostly I’ve been on the sofa, writing posts for the girls when they have completed them.

Which is how I came to be able to draw this diagram of all the plants, veggies and flowers that we are currently planting out. It’s simple but it’ll give you some idea of how this space is coming along. There is also a lot more that is going to be done out there but I’m keeping that under my hat for a bit until I know how it’ll all work out.

See how busy it all looks.

We’ve been blessed with some great weather lately which makes my stay on the sofa with the occasional waddle outside even more galling. If you know me you’ll know I like the sun and don’t like any other types of weather, I’m nothing if not definite. This is great for my new plants as Spring was super late this year.

Ahhh, all the Sunflowers, grown from seed, lined up and ready to go in the ground. I’m having a ‘wall’ of Sunflowers of all varieties along the back of the Paddock. It will act as a nice frame.

Down the sides we are adding colour galore with some classic bedding plants.

And hopefully they will be pretty enough to cover up a little of the rabbit proofing that we have installed on the white wooden fence. Did I tell you that a rabbit tried its very best to break in underneath the other week? We spotted the tunnel it had burrowed. Alas, it wasn’t to be for poor rabbit……..

….which means the salad,  grown from seed,  get to live another day.

My mantra at the moment, apart from “you won’t be pregnant forever, you won’t be pregnant forever, you won’t be pregnant forever,” is “it’s only a plant, it’s only a plant, it’s only a plant, it’s only a plant,”

If you’re putting hours in to your garden at the moment I think it’s important to deal with the fact that you’ll lose the odd flower or veggie to insects or the elements. Nothing this rewarding can be gained without a wee price to pay in the form of the odd sacrificial lettuce or flower.

But we’ll soon be enjoying the fruits of our labour, pun intended, as I can feel a quickening in the garden and it all just may begin to go slightly mad!

I’m back tomorrow with another pregnancy diary entry……hopefully!

Cherry xoxox

P.S.
We will be updating my homepage with a ‘Baby Watch’ update as and when things occur so you can keep up with events. I expect things to happen fairly quickly when they do decide to kick off.

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In March I had three varieties of seed potatoes delivered – Charlotte, Vivaldi and Swift. You can see the little shoots growing out of them. I placed them all in individual trays, shoots facing upwards as best I could, and kept them in a moderate temperature with some light.

Now they look like this…

The shoots have turned in to sprouts, they are larger and they are also now green in colour. They are officially ‘well chitted’. How nice!

I have one bag for each of my potato varieties and yesterday Jodie filled each of them with 10 cm of all purpose compost and placed the seed potatoes on top of it.

As you can see the sprouts are all facing upwards.

All you have to do then is cover with another 10 cm of compost and water with three litres of water being careful not to disturb the potatoes when you do so.

And then…………

Well, I’ll be back with a potato update very soon but as far as I can tell I’m going to really enjoy working with these bags. I bought the whole lot as a kit and I would highly recommend them if you’d like to have a go at growing your own but have limited space.

Cx

LATEST UPDATE!!!!!

These were our potatoes on 6 May 2010

And these were them on 24 June  2010…

We finally harvested our potatoes on 6th July 2010 – around 13 weeks after planting. To harvest we pulled all of the leaves from the soil and then emptied the soil out onto a large sheet of plastic and just picked out our crop of potatoes.

A good way to know if the potatoes are ready to be harvested is to look at the leaves, if they are starting to droop and turning slightly yellow in colour, they are more than likely ready. Depending on the variety of the potatoes, the plants may also start to flower and this is also a good sign to show that they are ready to be picked.

We were left with some very healthy looking potatoes at the end of our harvest and they tasted pretty darn good too.

You can see how we cooked our potatoes here.

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On the 16th of March the first covers came off the raised beds as we prepared them for planting. I decided to sow climbing garden peas in this bed.

The bed was given a good rake over as this allowed air back in to the soil after a Winter of being under plastic. You can read here about how I put the beds to sleep for the Winter and the use of weed barrier and then plastic on top of each bed kept the bed beautifully rich and weed free.

Our lovely Cathy then gave the soil a good sifting. She now realises that I like the soil to be sifted before planting as it makes it so much easier to work with and it’s actually one of MY most favourite garden jobs. I find it strangely relaxing to sift soil. But I couldn’t really bend down for that long because of my bump and at that time one of the twins was still trapping a nerve. So Cathy got the job. I was a bit jealous really.

These are the peas before being planted.

And this is the drill/channel we made to place the peas in. It was about 6 inches wide and flat bottomed. You can flatten the bottom with your hand, patting the soil down.

The drill was then given a good watering…..

….and the peas were sown in a zig-zag pattern along the length of the bed. You need to allow about 24 inches between drills so we only sowed one more row in this particular bed….

The drills were then filled in carefully and now we are waiting for some shoots to come up.

As this took place about three weeks ago we are now seeing some small signs of life and this Sunday Robert and I are erecting the nets to go over the top of this bed so that the birds don’t get to feast on my tender bean shoots. I’ll take lots of pics of this process too so that you can all follow along. You still have plenty of time to plant your peas outside so if you’re stuck for something to do this weekend you can join me in the garden!!

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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.

To see part 2 of Growing Dahlias – Click here!

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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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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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Cherry Menlove