Summer 2013 in Our Garden

Last year we didn't spend a lot of time in our garden, almost none as a family. The weather wasn't great and it really wasn't easy with two six month olds. So Big Girl (aka Bambina) spent a of time out there with PJ alone while I stayed inside with the twins.

This year proved even more of a challenge as the Little Ones are now mobile and eat EVERYTHING and I mean everything! But I really wanted to spend time outdoors with them. Big Girl really loves it. So this is what we have done...

It cost us £35, although our neighbour did provide the four extra metal stakes that I didn't realise we would need. Each side of trellis netting is about 5m wide, too long for there not to be another support in the middle.

I was thrilled to buy about eight garden toys, some of which you can see here, on Ebay for £15 and to get a playhouse from the local paper for £30.

Add a sun canopy, purchased with Clubcard vouchers last year and a water table, Big Girl's birthday present from her grandparents and we are all set.

We have spent hours out there, with lots of playdates too! The fact that the Little Ones can't go digging in the flower beds, falling off the deck or tripping up on the patio means that I can manage on my own during the week. I even get to sit down sometimes!

My project for me was to plant out this wall. It's only occurred to me, after five years of living here to look under the stones. And I found, beneath a membrane, that there was pretty good soil. So once I removed the soil I just added a bit of compost to top it up. I bought heather and ivy plants and got two thyme plants delivered with our weekly groceries. I already had the lavender in a pot and I grew chives, aubretia and bellis perennis from seed. As well as colours that I like I am aiming to cover up the wall, which I hate, a bit! I am so pleased with the results. I am definitely going to do the other half next year.

Tin Can Lanterns

I am addicted to Pintrest. I spend a disproportionate amount of time pinning wonderful things that don't get made because I spend to much time pinning. To be fair at the end of a long day sometimes I feel a lot more like pinning than crafting. It requires a lot less effort.

Anyhow P.Js 40th was looming and I find presents for men so difficult so when I saw this pin I thought it was a fab idea cause he loves the garden and sitting out on Summer evenings.

Here are my efforts. I was quite pleased.

Ooo things are growing!

Long time no blog... again! But look, things are growing in the garden. How exciting! We even ate radishes from PJ's plot this weekend.

I've been making a couple of things, though craft time is seriously depleted by being at work three days a week! I can't reveal anything today as one is the tiaras I mentioned, for a friend's wedding, not til next weekend and the other is a present.

Be back soon!

High Hopes

For some reason this year I've got the gardening bug. This is after years of living with my mother, who is an amazing gardener, but not feeling tempted to have a go myself.

I'm starting small, with a teny flower bed. I've planted some small rose bushes (so small you can't see them in the pics), some cornflowers and poppies and I've put some daffodils and lilies that were in pots into the ground too. I'm also going to try to train a honeysuckle to climb a trellis and cover the wall I hate!

PJ is gallantly sharing the garden with me, carrying on planting his veggies and herbs and keeping the grass looking lovely. He had some real sucesses last year, especially his pet favourite, the chillies. This year I've asked him to grow more so I can make more of the jam that was so popular at Christmas! He's also nurturing some sunflower seedlings for me which will go in between the cornflowers and poppies.

Here's hoping we've got green fingers!

Signs of Spring

I am thrilled that it looks like Spring is finally on the way. Whilst I have never loved Winter this year does seem to have been particularly bad.

My daffodils are coming through which is good because last year they did not. That made me sad because I planted them just after we found out we were going to have a baby and I thought at the time that they would be here just before her. This year they've been in a more sheltered, sunnier spot and that seems to have done the trick.

Also saw some beautiful snowdrops when Bambino and I were have a stroll round the river park.

Delightful Decorations

OK, so Friday doesn't quite follow Monday. I apologise, I don't know where the week has gone!

Finding ideas for decorating a garden for a "Twinkle, twinkle little star" party is quite a challenge. Other people had had star themed parties but nearly everything I read involved fairy lights and the assumption that it could be dark when of course our party was taking part during broad daylight!

I decided we had to have bunting to cover our 22 metre of fence and was quite fixated for a while on finding parcel paper that was white as that was the kind of texture I wanted. In the end I came up with wallpaper lining which was nice and cheap. I was going to apply stars to it by cutting a star shape into a sponge but that wasn't very successful, just looked like a splodge instead of a star. So I experimented with potato printing and hey presto, we had bunting!

I wanted to make the gate to our garden a welcoming entrance. So one of the useful star ideas I did make was to make 3D stars here. The ones I made were only halves, so that I could stick them around the gate.

The other decorations didn't get photographed and I could kick myself about this because I spent a long time on them, the pinwheel windmills especially. I bought some hot pink and purple A4 card and cut each one into a square then glued it to foil and then cut the corners inwards to make pinwheels pinned onto bamboo canes. It was a very windy day and one or two did not survive! But they were very useful for providing directions, bringing people in from the front of the house and showing them where the drinks fridge was, just by masking labelled arrows to the bamboos.

We laid out all the food indoors in our dinning room which I was keen to have a little decoration. So I bought a piece of white organza with silver glittery stars on it for a table cloth (our house is now covered in glitter!)

I also collected about 20 glass jars and bottles in the weeks leading up to the party. I soaked them and applied white spirit to get the labels and glue off them. I tied different types of ribbon around some of them. Then on the damp afternoon before the party I pushed the pram along the river and collected different wild flowers and grasses. Together with lavender, roses and buddleia from our garden I arranged them in the jars and spread them across the window of the dining room. My mum said it looked like a fairy might pop out!

Why I love Sunflowers

By now I guess the fact that I love sunflowers is apparent. However I don't think even I realised it until I was planning our wedding. It then occurred to me that I have sunflower things all around me; mugs, a tray on my dressing table, artificial flowers in a large vase etc.

I think it started when I went to France at the age of 17 to stay with a fabulous french family (who I am still in touch with). They were feeding the fish belonging to some neighbours who were on holiday. These neighbours also had swimming pool and this pool looked out on to a stunning view of field beyond field, full of blooming sunflowers, as far as the mountains. We would swim in the pool and then go down to the bottom of the garden and pick fresh figs from tree. It was heaven, an experience which I am sure will stay with me forever.

So it seemed obvious that I would have sunflowers in my wedding bouquet, they're such a happy flower and I like colourful weddings, especially in summer. I think that's the reason I like sunflowers; their fantastic, vibrant, sunny colour and the fact that they make me feel cheerful. Above is sunflower from our garden a couple of days ago. This morning I've come downstairs and it's raining. It's little dark and gloomy. But this flower is now opened fully and it almost seems to be smiling, providing little splash of happy colour in our garden that makes me smile back.

Still Summer Lovin'!

Another great thing about Summer? Fresh herbs in the garden anytime I need them to cook with. PJ has really got into gardening this year. Earlier in the year before Bambino arrived he and my dad put up a new fence in our front garden. There was seat type thing in the front garden that we were going to throw out and then someone, I think it was my mum, suggested that maybe it could be a shelf for plants. PJ took it apart, sanded off the rust, sprayed it black and hey presto, a shelf for herbs which also looks really nice.

Last year he was really only growing chili plants but this year besides the herbs we have carrots, radishes, corn, courgettes, horseradish and lettuces. It's really nice to walk out into the garden after Bambino's bath and pick a lettuce for our dinner.


We haven't cooked in the house for weeks now, just too hot. Had another BBQ tonight!

A House Without Flowers...

I really love having flowers in the house but it's not really affordable to purchase some every week which is why it's lovely that when Summer comes along there's often flowers in our gardens which we can bring indoors.

Also, as a new Mummy it seems that everyone who comes to see me at the moment brings flowers which is just fabulous. Today my mantle piece has no less than 7 vases on it!

Most of them are quite small ones, I like to have have lots of little ones spread along the mantle piece ,(more on this another day) which at the moment are full of sweet peas and they smell divine. Now it's entirely down to my Mum that I am lucky enough to have all these because firstly she gave me this wonderful container, which you see on the right, and came round and planted it up for me a few weeks after Bambino was born. Secondly because while I've been watering her garden I have been bringing her sweet peas home!

I'm not particularly green fingered. I tend to leave that to PJ (hubby) but I think pretty much anyone could manage to plant one of these up and look after it, training the plant to climb the canes. And the good thing is that you have to cut the flowers to encourage more to grow!