The birds that visit my organic garden know spring is in the air. The male blackbird and a pair of jays bathed in the water around the rim of my small pond, and then shook the water off their feathers.
While I get on in the garden I pause to admire butterflies and a narrow border filled with daffodils, white single and double tulips and narcissi, which have a wonderful fragrance.
The bluebells are almost in flower, but beautiful as they will be they grow like weeds and are overtaking the rose bed. I dug up loads last year but they are persistent so and sos.
Tomorrow I shall pot up runner beans and French beans, sow cucumbers, squash and pumpkins as well as moving plants from the greenhouse to the garden.
Showing posts with label Tulips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tulips. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 April 2015
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Spring Day
Son number 3 and his wife and family came to lunch today. I made a peas, potato, cauliflower and curd cheese curry, a lady's finger curry and urad (black beans the size of moong beans but oval in shape) cooked with yoghurt and spices served with jaggery ( palm tree sugar) chappatis, flat breads, brown rice, grated cucumber in spiced yoghurt and mango pulp,
After lunch we sat in the garden on the first real day of spring. Faint perfume came from a long narrow bed of daffodils, narcissi, yellow and white tulips. The first delicate blossoms on the bullace tree - wild plum tree - was silhouetted against a clear blue sky. Bliss!
After lunch we sat in the garden on the first real day of spring. Faint perfume came from a long narrow bed of daffodils, narcissi, yellow and white tulips. The first delicate blossoms on the bullace tree - wild plum tree - was silhouetted against a clear blue sky. Bliss!
Friday, 18 October 2013
Writing and Gardening
After I blogged and checked my e-mails yesterday, I completed my goal, which was to write 2,000 words of my new novel, Monday's Child. (The heroine is the younger sister of the main character in Sunday's Child published by MuseItUp Publishing.) I had finished Chapter Nine so I e-mailed it to a friend, another historical novelist, for her opinion.
I could sit happily at the laptop or computer writing all day, but that would result in all sorts of aches and pains. So, on most days I work for four hours in the morning and four hours in the late afternoon or early evening. The time is flexible, but I try to write and deal with writerly matters for two four hour sessions every day.
Yesterday was a mellow autumn day, so I worked in the garden. I tidied up the narrow flower bed on the right of the path leading to the front door and planted frilly rose-pink and peach coloured tulip bulbs in bare patches. I did some more weeding, replanted some broad bean seeds which recent rain had brought to the surface, and then planted out some purple sprouting broccoli. It's late in the year to plant it, but I bought a tray of plug plants in a sale at a garden centre for a pound. If they don't thrive I won't have lost much.
All in all an enjoyable morning.
I could sit happily at the laptop or computer writing all day, but that would result in all sorts of aches and pains. So, on most days I work for four hours in the morning and four hours in the late afternoon or early evening. The time is flexible, but I try to write and deal with writerly matters for two four hour sessions every day.
Yesterday was a mellow autumn day, so I worked in the garden. I tidied up the narrow flower bed on the right of the path leading to the front door and planted frilly rose-pink and peach coloured tulip bulbs in bare patches. I did some more weeding, replanted some broad bean seeds which recent rain had brought to the surface, and then planted out some purple sprouting broccoli. It's late in the year to plant it, but I bought a tray of plug plants in a sale at a garden centre for a pound. If they don't thrive I won't have lost much.
All in all an enjoyable morning.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Allotment Society and Gardening
Yesterday, I visited the shop at the local allotments. The allotment holders who run it know the local conditions and always give good advice. Although I have chitted my first early potatoes I was advised that it is still too cold to plant them out, something I had suspected. If the sprouts grow much more I shall plant them in pots and ease them into the ground later on.
In need of something cheerful, I bought a pot of Little Red Riding Hood tulips. I really like their dark green and white striped leaves and pillar box-red flowers. I've put the pot in a ceramic container on the front doorstep to welcome visitors when the tulips flower.
I also bought second early potatoes to chit, and a desert gooseberry bush which should produce large red and yellow striped berries. I dream of having home grown fruit, soft and stone all year round - in the winter I rely on bottled and frozen fruit. Last year it was so wet that my strawberries rotted, this year it's been so cold and wet with icywinds that farmers are badly affected. This means the prices of vegetables will go up. Deep sigh.
Today, unless it's really too cold I shall make a start on clearing out the greenhouse, and setting my second early potatoes to chit. While doing so I shall think of gardeners in the past, particularly in mediaeval times when the sequel to my novel set in Edward IInd's reign will be set.
In need of something cheerful, I bought a pot of Little Red Riding Hood tulips. I really like their dark green and white striped leaves and pillar box-red flowers. I've put the pot in a ceramic container on the front doorstep to welcome visitors when the tulips flower.
I also bought second early potatoes to chit, and a desert gooseberry bush which should produce large red and yellow striped berries. I dream of having home grown fruit, soft and stone all year round - in the winter I rely on bottled and frozen fruit. Last year it was so wet that my strawberries rotted, this year it's been so cold and wet with icywinds that farmers are badly affected. This means the prices of vegetables will go up. Deep sigh.
Today, unless it's really too cold I shall make a start on clearing out the greenhouse, and setting my second early potatoes to chit. While doing so I shall think of gardeners in the past, particularly in mediaeval times when the sequel to my novel set in Edward IInd's reign will be set.
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