April 2010

Well hello, I am so pleased that you have taken the time to visit with me again in The Garden.

So first things first, get comfy, put the kettle on, well yes maybe a biscuit or two, but remember we must not over indulge.

I am back now in merry old England, survived the plane flight, and am so happy to be back again in
The Garden.

Spring looks like being a little later this year, but even more beautiful after a hard winter. The birds are singing their little hearts out, and the flowers show the promise of the beauty to come. The bulbs, which I planted last November as you can see, are coming up well. The photo of the Camellia is beautiful but a lot of the flowers were damaged by the weather, but they are still a joy.



I had a wonderful surprise! My herbs have survived the winter. The Rosemary usually does but this year I have Thyme, Sage, Chives and both kinds of parsley, and they look so healthy, what a bonus.

The pruning of the buddleia and the fuchsia I left a little later this year, but it is now completed. I do this as I find if left, the bushes end up growing tall with the flowers all at the top. But if you want them as a tall hedge then you can leave them, they seem to be happy either way, and the more of these wonderful plants you have the more butterflies, bees, Hover-flies, and many other insects which do so much good in The Garden. The roses have also been pruned, not the ramblers though as I did those after they finished flowering.


Here is something I do, it is not in the gardening books, and I would not expect it on Gardeners World, but when I prune the shrubs and roses, I plant the prunings. I discovered this when using the prunings of buddleia and fuchsia to support spring bulbs, they rooted, so I tried it with rose prunings and it worked, not every time though, win some lose some. This is just something I do, I do not give gardening advice ever, leave that to the experts, and I just enjoy chatting with you about my passion, The Garden.


Now let me see, what else have I done? Well, pulled the odd weed, I am joking, these things
survive no matter what the weather. I do realise that a weed is just a flower in the wrong place
and they do get to do as they like in at least three quarters of The Garden, but they can be thugs and in a few areas they are discouraged.


Here is a photo of the stream. This flows through a very boggy area, and I mean boggy, which my better half is making his project. I will keep you informed as to his progress, as it will not be easy. I just hope that I do not have to haul him out of the mud too often.


Well, Easter is coming up, so maybe you can spend some time in your garden, or patio, or have a walk in the country and enjoy the joy of spring. The weather, well, who knows, but if it does rain try to think that the trees and plants need it. Well yes, I understand that will be hard.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to The Garden, and I do look forward to chatting with my old friends and the new readers again soon.

Your Green fingered Friend,

Tina

As you can see I have been able to photograph my mascot Charlie and friends. Well yes, I know it is a silly hat, but then Cacti do not have good dress sense, and don’t you think he looks happy.

January 2010

Well this is great, you have come to visit me again and I am really pleased.

Now did you have a good Christmas and New Year? I imagine you made all these resolutions which are so hard to keep. I just made one, to try to take a little time each day to be still and really look at the beautiful world of nature around us, but then that is easy for me as I have ‘The Garden’.

I see that all my old friends are already sitting comfortably, now come on new readers, take a little time to make that cup of tea, coffee or whatever you choose. Oh! You have those lovely chocolate biscuits, I love those, but remember we must not over indulge.

Since our last visit we have had some serious weather, first all the rain. Well yes, I know that it is a pain, when you have to do the shopping, get the kids to school and of course when Rover comes in from the garden with wet muddy footprints on your kitchen floor, particularly when you have just washed it. But to the garden it is life, well to us as well really, you can almost hear the plants and trees drinking and the soil absorbing the water ready for spring. The stream was singing along and the waterfall really beautiful.

As the garden is sleeping at the moment my better half and I have taken the opportunity to visit some good friends in Florida, and that is where I am now. Charlie my mascot was a little miffed to be left. I could tell by the drupe in his spines. Yes, I know it is all in my imagination, he is in the conservatory and being looked after, together with the garden by a good friend who loves the garden as much as we do. So I am afraid there is no picture of Charlie this time. If you wish to see him new readers just look at the last post.

So I would like to share with you some of
the things I have enjoyed on this trip.
When we first arrived we went on a cruise,
it was great. We went ashore on this
private island in the Bahamas, it was
wonderful all white sand and blue sea, the
plants were beautiful as you can see, the
bougainvillea and hibiscus which we all
know from the Mediterranean, so many
different colours. The other plant is the sea
grape which grows in the sand right on the
edge of the beach. It has white flowers
followed by the fruit, the leaves as they get
older turn a beautiful dark red. Boy!
Would Mr. Blackbird love these berries, but
they do have very large seeds, so perhaps
not.

Then we returned to Florida, and you
would not believe it, so cold, well for
Florida, but I will not complain hearing of
all the snow and ice which you have all
been enduring. It has been the coldest
weather known here for a long time.

The temperature of the sea dropped so much the turtles were suffering and many were rescued and kept warm until the water goes back to normal. Also there were reports on the TV ofiguanas falling from the trees as they went into hibernation, when it warms up again they said they should be OK, I hope so.

I have a picture for you from the newspaper
showing the oranges, they also had to spray
the strawberries with water at night to
cover them with ice to protect them from
the frost. The other picture is of a tree full
of berries, not just in England has nature
prepared for the birds this winter, but they
do need water so do keep the ice from the
birdbaths etc.


Well now that I have made you all feel cold,
but I hope not depressed, good news! it is
getting much warmer, the sun is shining
and the temperature is climbing fast.
From what I hear your weather is
changing for the better also.

It is beautiful here with the palm trees and
vegetation which is so different to in
England and the very different birds, the
pelicans for instance, the jumbo jets of the
bird world, they are my favourites and we
have had such a wonderful time visiting
our good friends.


I hope you enjoyed your trip with me to Florida, sorry that we did not visit the Theme Parks, but then you know me by now I just cannot stay away from plants, birds etc. Maybe we will see Mickey Mouse next time. In the next post I will of course be back in ‘The Garden’ and should have some pictures of Spring. The bulbs which are such a blessing after the winter, they always
amaze me with their beauty and strength to have survived the bitter weather. Also, I may have done the pruning required on some of the shrubs so that we get the best from them in the summer. o much in The Garden depends on the weather, but part of the excitement is every
year it is different, you can just never predict the exact time the buds will appear or the flowers open, but we know that it will happen, and I can hardly wait. My better half has lots of plans for
construction, which depends a great deal on the weather, so I will give you updates on these as they happen.

Well we will soon be going home, not looking forward to the plane but will not complain as long as it takes us back home safely as we are looking forward to seeing our family and of course ‘The Garden’.

Looking forward to visiting with you again.

Best Wishes,
Tina

Welcome to the Garden

Hi!

I’m Tina, I love my garden and would like to share with you some of the pleasure I get from it and the birds and creatures, which inhabit it. I don’t do computers, the Internet, anything like that. Technology I do not do. Therefore I will just write my accounts of the garden and send them to
my very dear friend the Crystal Lady, she is just great at all of this computer stuff. She’s a real wiz. I will take some pictures of the garden, it loves to be photographed. I can manage that, the camera is more or less idiot proof.
The only thing I have to write about is the garden, and that creates itself with a little help.
Well, I know that you all lead busy lives, so make yourself a cup of tea, coffee or whatever you feel like. Maybe a biscuit or two, no, put the packet back in the cupboard we must not over indulge, and spend a few quiet moments in the garden.

The garden is situated between the rolling countryside and the sea. It is really magical and I am so lucky to live here with my better half, who is both my husband and my best friend. He also does all the landscaping and construction work, without him it would have been impossible to make a garden from the weeds, brambles and nettles which covered the site when we purchased the house 15 years ago. He is also the commonsense part of our partnership as some of my ideas can be a bit off the wall.

The months of September and October have
been really wonderful, so warm, just perfect
for the garden. But! My plants are confused,
the passion flower is still flowering. Up until
last week there were roses and sweetpeas,
and the spring bulbs, they are already coming
up. ‘Don’t do this I tell them, it is much too
early’. So all I can do is cover them with a little
more soil and fallen leaves.

Already, I have raked the fallen leaves up from the paths and patio. Not for the bonfire, that is such a waste but onto the flowerbeds, it is just like a duvet for the plants and bulbs over the winter. By the summer each year I wonder ‘where did they go?’, as they have gone down into the soil to enrich it. But the strange thing is, I never notice this happening, and also it is much cheaper than commercial mulches.

The garden is all organic, not a slug pellet or weed killer to be seen. The birds do this job, they live in the copse and other bushes and hedges in the garden, and the frogs from the small stream. I do not feed the birds with nuts and seed, so they do not become reliant on me, they feed themselves from the berries on the shrubs and hedges, which are planted. Also an area is left wild and so produces seeds on the grasses and wild flowers. Water is essential, so I keep the
birdbaths filled, if the rain does not do it for me.

But, Mr. Blackbird likes a wider diet, he can be seen picking up snails in his beak and bashing them on the path or patio until the shell breaks, it is fascinating to watch. Also, together with his mate they have almost the whole crop from the mulberry tree. This year however for the first time I had some grapes on the vine which I planted last year, and I am sure you can imagine who had those as well.

As I mentioned before, I have the spring bulbs planted.
Today it is a bright sunny day if a little cold, so I will
be covering an orange and a lemon tree which I have
in pots with fleece, then placing them up to the fence
to help keep off the cold winds. There we are, tucked
up for the winter.



Maybe we will have a cold winter as there are so many berries on the ivy, hawthorn and lots of rose hips, and I have never seen the holly so full of flowers, promising the berries to come.

So the garden is going to sleep for the winter, my better half and I will make our numerous walks each day around the garden and the birds will come and greet us, and we will be grateful for such a wonderful gift.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the garden and that you were not too bored, maybe you could visit again. Well that is if I have not made too much of a hash of it this time.

Have a great Christmas and New Year.

Your green fingered friend,

Tina

(This was featured in the Creative Crafting Magazine Dec 2010 issue.)

This is my little mascot Charlie, he loves Christmas.