Thursday, March 27, 2014

Pottering at the weekend

'Most operations may be performed with common gloves. 
Thus, no gardener need have hands like bear's paws.'

J.C.Loudon Encyclopaedia of Gardening 1871


Saturday. Spent a few hours digging over the vegetable garden, stopping just in time to prevent blisters swelling on my reddened palms. Time for something more sedate. 

The greenhouse became my solace, it was still warm, while outside the temperature began to fall. Sitting on an up-turned flower pot I pressed tiny seeds onto damp compost.

In March the list is endless... celery, peas, cucumber, leeks, lettuce, pak choy, sweet pea, rudbeckia, sunflower... but germination is satisfyingly quick.

Tomatoes and cabbage already need potting on. Minute verbena seedlings, no bigger than a pinhead, are just visible. Rooted perennial cuttings are waiting to be planted out, as are my seed potatoes which have all got strong little shoots. 

I’m immersed in a world of promise.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Second day of Spring

'These butterflies in twos and threes,
That flit about in wind and sun -
see how they add their flowers to flowers,
And blossom where a plant has none.'

W.H. Davies





Friday, March 14, 2014

Reasons to be cheerful!

What a difference a week of sunshine makes.


 An old barn wall takes on the intricate patina of an elephant's flank,


and knapped flints glint like rough hewn gemstones.

With my nose as close to the ground as that of the ginger 'stray' I've been spellbound
 by the dazzling pageant of spring flowers, in all their magnificent and miniature brilliance!

I can't find enough superlatives!



Wednesday, March 5, 2014

'M' is for Mezzetta

A few months ago I was commissioned to paint a "peck of pickled peppers"



Just recently, I savoured a sunny Saturday sowing some seeds, so….


…in time, here's hoping I'll be harvesting heaps of habaneros!