The first Clematis flower of Summer

Summer must be on its way. The weather is cooler, we had to light the fire last night, it has been the sort of miserable drizzle that brings tomato blight and the first Clematis flower is out.

Ranunculus

I have some beautiful blooms appeared near the front door. I think they are bulbs that Katy game me and I put them in there for lack of space elsewhere.

They are Ranunculus and in lovely colours in shades of pink and yellow. I can't imagine that Katy would have parted with them apart from the fact that they are ugly bulbs with tentacles but they have turned out to be lovely flowers.

I decided to find out more about them by looking on Wikepedia. I didn't get any further than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) way of how to pronounce the word. I didn't have any trouble with Ranunculus but I certainly do with the IPA. ræˈnʌŋkjʊləs

Feast of fabric

You may remember that a few months ago I bought some Martha Negley fabric. I also recently treated myself to a new book - Kaffe Fassett's Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts.

I though I would start with the easiest so using the fabric and combining it with some others that I had stashed away, this is what I created. I have some duck egg blue fabric that I am going to use as a border and then a narrow strip of these fabrics and it should make a quilt to fit a king size bed. That is the theory anyway and I have a few months to work on it before Winter sets in.

Date for you diary

Starting tomorrow - be nice to nettles week.

http://www.nettles.org.uk/

I hope that they won't mind but I have quoted from their website.

.......Almost everyone is familiar with the nettle having experienced its formidable sting. To many it is a troublesome weed that should be eradicated wherever it is found. This point of view has only recently developed. Indeed the humble nettle has played, and continues to play, an important role in the natural world.....

The bit I am especially tempted with is nettles as clothing and I might get in tought with the Northumberland Cheese Company to try some of their nettle cheese.

Hour of fun

http://www.wordle.net/

This is what I got when I put my blog url in to create. You get something different everytime you create.

Cuckoo

At about 8pm today we heard a cuckoo. The first this year.

I have really missed hearing the cuckoo but the one we are used to was from Katy's cuckoo clock that got for her birthday. I had it hanging in the kitchen to check that it was working OK, and as it was her birthday on Thursday I had to give it to her.

It was a really old Herber Herr clock which we got from the auction and had repaired at Porters the clock shop in Hartley Wintney so hope it will keep going for many many more years.

I didn't think I would but I really quite miss it.

Fartichokes

My new TV obsession is Aly Fowler in The Edible Garden which is broadcast on Friday;s at 8pm on BBC1. This week was the Winter Larder in which Alys grows Jerusalem artichokes to harvest in the Winter.

Alys renamed them Fartichokes, and if you have eaten a platefull you will know why. I have found a lovely reference in Wikipedia 'Gerard's Herbal, printed in 1621, quotes the English planter John Goodyer on Jerusalem artichokes:

"which way soever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine than men."

I certainly agree with the first part of what he says but not the last but as they are really tasty and nutty partucularly if in a mixture of roast ground veg.

The other problem with Jerusalem Artichokes is any bits left in the ground will regrow and as we didn't get to the allotment much at the end of last year loads were left in the ground so here is the artichoke patch for this year. We might have to start a market stall.

They are actually a member of the sunflower family so these plants will grow to about 9 feet tall with lovely yellow flowers on the top which look nice in a vase.

Fruit update

The Kiwi fruit which were growing beautifully last time were were at the allotment were also hit by the frost but as you can see new shoots are appearing so I am hoping for a bit of warm weather to get them on their way again.










One fruit that is doing very well are the whitecurrants. Unlike blackcurrants (which are also covered in fruit) the whitecurrant grows in 'strings' so are much easier to pick as one string has about 20 berries. I love them and can't wait for a bowl of black, white and red currants with some home made ice cream. Roll on Summer.

Potatos hit by frost

We got to the allotment as the rain started so couldn't do any work except water (sound sill I know but it has been dry for a long time especially in the greenhouse). We did the usual full inspection and were shocked to find that it was a lot colder than we thought over the last few nights and the potato shoots had been blacked by frost. They will recover but will be a bit late this year.

I hear on the grapevine that Kent was hit as well and it must be unusual for The Garden of England to have frost in May.

Before you ask, yes the grapevines were cut back by frost as well.

I have just found out that aparently London was colder than Moscow, Prague, Copenhagen or Stockholm on Tuesday night!

Roof and paint

Nick worked hard yesterday to get the roof on the shed and just as well as we have had rain today.

The day started sunny and bright but soon dulled until we went to the allotment and the heavens opened on the way there.

Before we left I got the first coat of Cuprinol Garden Shades 'Wild Thyme' which is a heritage colour of wood stain. It will need two coats but will match the other shed in colour at least.

I still have the back to do but that will have to wait for a day when I am prepared to have green hair as it is a bit of a squeeze behind the shed and I am sure I will be using my head as a paint bruch.

Once we have had a tidy up I will show you the wider view.

Nearly a shed

As everything was prepared we decided to move the shed parts round and fix the sides together.

For anybody who has put a shed together it is not as easy as just putting the sides together. Nothing seemed to fit as well as expected and I seemed to be pushing from one side while Nick was screwing the panels together.

The roof should go on tomorrow ready for the roofing felt and for the shed to be painted to match the other one.

Next step is the patio outside the sheds and maybe a pergola to make it a lovely courtyard area.

Top hats

Now that we have long evenings, Nick made a start on the shed when he got home so I took the opportunity to get outside as well and plant some of the plants that I had been keeping in pots.

They are still too small to be left alone with the ducks so I made them all a lovely hat to wear. I need to find either some wire coat hangers or wait until I get to the allotment for the roll of wire, so that I can make some pegs to hold them down.

The theory is that the plants will grow through the wire and it will also help to keep them upright.

Shed base

The shed has a base.

Nick spent last weekend putting the base down unfortunately work stops play during the week but things will be moving again (weather permitting) and hopefully I will be able to move in before the weekend is over.

Another great find at the tip

Last weekend we had to go to the tip (again) as we had a trailer full of garden waste from clearing the space for the new shed.

I can never resist a look in their shed to see what they have salvaged for sale and it never fails to amaze me what people throw away.

We have a lovely new garden wheelbarrow for the sum of £3.

It is much lighter weight that the one at the allotment and is perfect for moving all sorts of lovely stuff from bags of sand, paving slabs, duck food and bedding, trays of plants so that ducks can't reach them (ha ha) etc.

Weapons of mass destruction

With all the trauma of yesterday I forgot that the Ducks had had unsupervised run of the garden.

Every book you read say Ducks can't climb - with this in mind I sowed salad seeds in the tin bath and kept it on the decking.

I now know ducks can climb and they can reach into a tub of young salad leaves.

A very traumatic day

Yesterday was a very traumatic day. Angel went missing.

We were worried the night before as you can usually set your clock by her. When I go up to bed so gets off her bed in the sewing room and heads down to the living room to get the best of the heat from the fire without the disturbance of humans.

The next morning no food had gone and she was not in her usual place keeping guard out of the patio doors.

We made up flyers and posted them through doors of all the houses within her range of travel, put laminated flyers on trees and posts and phoned the vet, pettag, cat rescue and the council.

By middey there was still no sign of her and Nick came home from work. We were standing in the drive talking to a neighbour who was very worried when we heard a very ladylike mieow from a garage nearby. This was about 3pm and they usually come home by about 4 but just our luck they were away for the night.

Thankfully a friend was calling to check on their cats so at about 9pm we let a very scared, frantic and hungry Angel out of their garage - about 26 hours after she decided to be nozy and look around.

She has eaten like a horse today but hasn't left the garden but she has found that she can keep a good lookout and attack me like a jaguar by sitting on top of the rose arch. At the moment she is sleeping on a lovely soft rug that I left on the deckchair outside - and she deserves it.

Silly girl!

Ground clearance crew

I dug up a plant this week as it was what could be deemed a weed - a plant growing in the wrong place. It is now sitting in a bucket of water waiting to be replanted under the tree where it will be much happier in the shade.

As soon as my back was turned the ground clearance crew moved in to make sure there were no bugs, grubs, slugs or worms left behind.

The reason why the plant needed moving is that I treated myself to a shed. Nick has his shed but he can't really appreciate it fully because it is full of stuff. The problem is it is full of my stuff, so he came up with the brilliant idea that I should have my own shed.

I thought that was an excellent idea so when we went to get duck food last weekend, it was by chance that they had a perfect shed with 25% off and only £10 delivery. It arrived during the week and so did the slabs and sand for the base. Nick laid the base today but as it was raining I left him too it and hope to get out with the camera in the morning to take work in progress shots.