Why Do You Build Me Up Buttercup?

Do you remember when you were a little girl or a little boy and the butter question came up? 

A simple yes I like it just didn't cut it. The only way to check if any of you really did like butter was to thrust a buttercup below the chin and if you lit up yellow you were telling the truth!

We spent endless hours in meadows searching for them, with no need to keep in touch with our parents by mobile phone, and the only worry in our little minds was whether or not we would go in deeper than our wellies crossing the little burns (or brooks or streams) that trickled across the fields. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could go back to those simple days? 

How things have changed in 20 years. Have we got meaner as a race or has the media got better at portraying the bad things that happen in the world?

On a lighter note, I dearly wish that buttercups were so hard to find in my garden! Maybe its just they do better in England than in Ireland, but I can't move for them here! No matter how often and how carefully I dig them out, they just keep coming back with a vengeance, bigger and stronger than ever! Tips on how to shift them organically would be fab if you have the time.....

Thought I would share this with you. It's called Lady's Mantle. 

This is one of the plants that got me excited about flowers for the first time ever in my adulthood (along with bluebells !) No matter how hard the rain came down, and how glum it made me that I couldn't get work done, this little beauty made it all happy again when I saw how it clung to the droplets of water with its beautiful leaves. It thrives on neglect and comes back year after year, regardless of how much of it Louie snatches on his way past, of how little I water it, and of how cold the winter gets. Doesn't it look all wonderfully leafy and magical? 

And here are my sweet boys having a peek over the wall at the rabbits running rampant in the field (literally!) Bless them (the dogs, not the rabbits)! They were dying to leap the wall and give chase, but thankfully didn't (they have pulled me over, and through worse in the past!)

Have a lovely weekend,

Linzi x x

5 Minute Gardening

Gardening is a very personal thing, its all things to all people. For me its not an all consuming passion (yet) and I don't feel horribly guilty when I don't get out for a day or two in the green playground. It's always a treat, never a chore, and without the luxury of an abundance of free time to give the hours and hours a beautiful garden needs, a spare 5 minutes here and there in the flower beds will suffice for now. The weeds will always grow quicker than the flowers, and the bees seem to like them so they can't be as bad as we make them out to be! 

Everything is all brand new again and even cutting the grass is a novelty right now. We are lucky enough to have a ride on mower for the lawn and a push mower for the driveway. Fun all round - we get to make really cool defined stripes on the driveway and zoom around making patterns in the front garden. (think the patterns on the lawn will be a one off - Johnny was not impressed with my crop circles, but hey, I had fun!!) 

Following a very sound peace of advice from Landlady Joan, who really knows her stuff, I took a spare 5 minutes to plant the Chives she gifted me in a place "where the dogs can't pee on them!" Obvious really, when you think about it, but then the best advice usually is! They seem quite happy in one of the old hay mangers below the kitchen window, and will be handy to get to when I forget the spring onions for the champ.

Must get trimming the outside of the manger, that grass is taking over the moss! Only noticed just now!

The seedlings are coming along slowly, so won't bore you with totally unidentifiable pic's of little green leaves, thought this pic would be a bit more fun for you.

It's Clydeybops with Johnny's skiing (a.k.a onion chopping) googles on! Bless him!