December 2011

Well it’s so good to meet with you all again. Thank you for taking the time as I know you are all very busy preparing for Christmas.

Sit down, well just anywhere, oh that’s great yes just squeeze over a tad, wonderful.

The kettle is singing, and I have some lovely cake, well just a little slice, remember we must not over indulge, well not until Christmas anyway.

The garden is dressed for Christmas with the sparkling red berries of the holly, and the ivy trailing with glossy green leaves and deep black berries. The trees just look wonderful after the rain, shinning with all the rain drops, we could never decorate a tree so perfectly.

Here are some photos of the last roses to bloom, it has been very good year for them.

Most of the bedding plants have been removed from the pots, but some are still blooming and I do not have the heart to throw them on the compost heap, so am still enjoying them.

The empty pots are all planted with the spring bulbs, and wallflowers, don’t you just adore their scent, and tucked up warm under the fallen leaves just waiting for spring.

As this is after all a crafting magazine, and I am just an interloper I thought that maybe I should share with you some of my Christmas present ideas. Now do remember as I said I am a gardener not a crafter, bear with me please.

When I visit any garden centre I always make for the reduced plant section, almost all of these poor things need is a little TLC and mostly just some water, but be warned some really are dead so check them well.

As soon as you get the plant home stand it in a container of water, in the shade until the soil is moist.

Some, as the one on my photo are made up of a number of small individual plants which makes them easy to divide, if you try to divide one big root sometimes it works, but I prefer the easy way.

As you can see from the photos it is very easy, just pot up the small plants with some compost, top with a little gravel and stand in a container of water again until the compost is moist, remove and that’s it, but do not forget to keep an eye on them as with all plants keep them moist but not wet.

The Basil; I bought it from the supermarket, in a bag, to use for cooking; if you put it in a small pot as you would flowers, keep the water topped up in a cool place it will make roots in a couple of weeks, but keep an eye on it as some may rot.

When the roots are formed just pot up in compost, top with a little gravel, then it can be displayed in any container you wish.

I just used a coffee cup I had in the cupboard.

The other two ideas are even easier, the little teapot was picked up from a boot sale and the cup and saucer was left from a set, yes the other one had an accident. Any plant can be used for these provided of course they are in a very small pot.

Just put the small pot into the teapot or the cup, finish with a little gravel and your done. Also the plants can be changed so easily in just a minute.

The herbs in the mugs are easy too, just a little compost and top with gravel. These however are not so easy to change the plants and the watering also has to be watched more as there is no drainage in the mugs.

Well those are some of my present ideas, I have packaged them for Christmas, and yes I know my package ideas are rubbish so I will not dwell on those, but I can just imagine what some of you could come up with in the way of packaging.

I hope these ideas are of interest to you, I just hope that I get the photos in the right order, but then again my dear friend The Crystal Lady bless her will sort them out, what would I do without her.

Well the rain is still coming down gently outside , we have finished our tea and our slice of cake, yes just the one, so I will say goodbye to you all, have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to meeting with you all again in the New Year.

Your green fingered friend,

Tina

Published in Creative Crafting December 2010