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! 

Leggy isn't always good!

Ducks love sweet peas!!! Huh!!!

Was halfway through making a 'Free to Good Home' sign (humor) when I realised that this was not the ducks fault, the eternally hungry cretins that they are, but mine. The plants were obviously too young to survive an attack by the white feathered destroyers, and shouldn't have been out anyway. They should have been hardened off and toughed up properly. Hopefully a mistake that won't be made twice! 

When getting the rest of the sweet pea into the cold frame to harden off properly this time, I found some cells with poppies in. They were the remainder from the seed tray way back when i was twisting stems together to make bigger bunches (what a dumb dumb!) and guess what? They were still alive and growing! These poor little beggars were so weak and straggly that I shoved them into a permanently open cold frame rather than throw them in the bin probably out of laziness more than anything else!  But they looked great! Tight little bunches of leaves, not the biggest, but so strong. Comparing them to the big bunches of poppies I put out, there was no question that the house poppies were far to floppy and leggy to survive in the real world! Another lesson - leggy isn't always good!!! 

The ducks are all nesting now. Feel so sorry for the girlies stuck on their nests and trying desperately to scare away anything that comes near them to no avail. But it will be lovely to have some baby chicks around again. Such a cheery sight to see them waddling behind mum, all in a row. We always end up hand rearing the little runts that get left on their own. Sadly most don't make it (we have been through the whole Sex and the City cast in names now and it never gets any easier) but some do survive. We had to hand rear these 3 last year, as their mum was killed by a nasty dog who was allowed to run free by his stupid stupid owner. 

They are all grown up now and still making us giggle! Cheeky minx's!

This mum is nesting in the bastille next to the house, you can just see her little red beak to the left of the pic, trying to scowl through the wall at us. Bless her!

Happy Easter!!

Know Your Enemy......

Sounds pretty obvious, and I really thought I did. I had thought about what would be visiting the garden and put all and sundry into neat little boxes of what would be good and bad for my flowers and veg. 

Slugs bad. Snails bad. Rabbits bad. Dogs bad. Disney bad. Brother Louis bad. Moles bad. Mice bad. Linzi probably bad (no point kidding myself)

Bees good. Worms good. Louie poo good. Farmer John good. Ducks good - 17 of them should keep the slugs at bay.

This seems logical doesn't it? Well, actually, after this week, ducks are now firmly in the bad box. They have systematically savaged my lovely little poppies until there is nothing left of them. I can't even blame rapid disappearance of them on the rabbits because I saw John (the duck, but looks like one of the village locals) in action, ruthlessly pulling at the leaves until the whole plant popped out and then greedily eating what he could, while trampling the other plants he didn't want into the ground.  How rude!! 

He and his mates have also had a go at the sweet peas planted out only yesterday, but thankfully don't seem to to consider them so much of a delicacy!! Thought I would show you a pic of them just in case they decide they are quite nice after all!

You will be pleased to know that I accepted these setbacks gracefully!!! The beauty of nature, is that nothing is predictable, not what pretty flowers will grow or what the ducks and rabbits will eat, not the amount of rain we get, or when the frost stops or when the sun comes...... Its lovely, and what keeps all this fun!

Here is naughty John himself having a  bath in the little brook that babbles through the garden. 

So cute!! You just couldn't stay angry at him for long!!

Enjoy Every Moment.... Johnny Danger I love you!!!!

Today I got the phone call I always dreaded when Johnny was out on his motorbike. Thankfully he was well enough to make the call himself, and for that I shall be eternally grateful. 

Racing in the car to the scene of the accident, trying to be brave and as mature as I should be at my age, I clung to the fact that he said he was ok (even though he had said that when he cut his finger off with the chainsaw, when he had rolled the dumper, when he rolled the land rover....) 

When I saw the bike lying broken all over the busy road and the cars queued up with the sides taken out of them,  the feeling of grief was overwhelming. He couldn't be ok, judging by the state of the bike, he just couldn't. The ambulance door was closed, were they working on him? Had the shock hid his pain when he had rang me? What was that wet stuff on the road? Composure went out the window and I wailed like a baby. 

Luckily a policeman steered me away from the horrible sight and took me to the ambulance, and when the door swung open, there he was, sitting up fine! I had never been so pleased to see him in my life. 

He had flown and bounced about 50 feet up the road, and had he not had his leathers on, his strong, solid, familiar little body would have not been in one piece tonight. In fact he may not have been with us at all. 

Danger really is his middle name (he changed it by deed poll for a laugh, but don't tell his mum!) and honestly, the boy could break a crow-bar! He gets into so many scrapes and situations. He always tells me he is unbreakable, and I guess I have half believed him up until now. But he isn't. Life is fragile, and precious, precious, precious. Your own little world can shatter in seconds, with no warning. Make the most of it while you can.

Someone was watching over my action man today, there are no words to say how appreciative we are for more time together - we will be making the most of every minute.

Into the garden!!! (And nothing's died yet...!)

I hope you all have been having as beautiful weather as we have here! Disney has been making the most of the sun's warm rays. Look at him helping to warm up the flower beds! Bless him!!

Our snow drops are all out in full force now, with crocus' making an appearance, and the daffy buds are finally forming and bobbing in the breeze! I think the long awaited spring is finally here! 

For the first time ever I am noticing the buds appear and growing daily on the trees and shrubs, hosta's poking tentative rolls of leaves up, and all that looked barren and dead from winter slowly starting to rejuvenate. How have I not noticed this the past 26 years? The earth has never felt more magical to me, it feels really special to be aware of and play a part in it for the first time in my life!

The air is alive with bird song, and filled with the promise of what's to come when mother nature awakes fully. Hopefully she will not mind me bumbling along beside her trying to make things grow and be pretty!

But the arrival of warmer weather isn't good news for all of us! It means lots of burst pipes for the boys to fix! Here's a picture of Johnny and his apprentice in action fixing a leak sprung in spring! Liam crawls on his belly behind Johnny in the tight spaces ninja style to save the day!!

Johnny banged his head after that pic was taken. Haha!

With the sun on my back all week, the temptation grew ever stronger to get down and dirty with my plants in the soil! Like most beginners, my keenness will probably end up killing most of what I started off and nurtured all winter, but I accept this cheerfully! The lesson will have to be learnt the hard way to sink in! 

All winter I spent a good few hours (and many bottles of wine) a night, poring over what went best with what, what to plant with what for easiest rotation, what would shade what..... (You get the picture!) I made the coolest plans for my beds ever on my laptop, all neatly labelled and easy to follow.... And you know what? When it came to actually planting, it all went right out the window! 

It was very hard letting go of the little plants that I had nurtured and watched grow bigger and stronger almost daily since November, but after a 'test night' (where I put a few poppies out and they didn't die or get eaten) it was time to shove 'em all out into the big bad world!!! I was like a woman possessed when I got going, stabbing holes in the ground and frantically shoving plants in like there was no tomorrow. It felt good!!!

Have attached you a pic of 1 of the little plug's, isn't it cute? Was very proud of how they came out like proper garden centre plants! I've had nightmares about them crumbling in my hands when I tried to get them out of the pot! 

Got the majority of the poppies out in some of the stone raised flower beds (when I had actually planned to plant them as meadow flowers around our rough garden border - Oops!) and some potatoes planted in the big wooden half barrels. Haven't even remembered to label the potatoes! How rude!!! I only bought 2 types so it shouldn't be too hard to identify when its up and ready to eat!

Above is a pic of 1 of the beds. Not into formal, so rest of it will be filled with a mis-mash of everything I'm growing, hopefully it will look wild and natural! Well.... That's the plan at the minute anyway...... 

An the award goes too......

I have been really naughty for not passing on this blog sooner, and for that I sincerely apologise. Things have been a bit much here lately, but we are slowly getting back on top of things!

Ok, will get the bossy bit out of the way first! When you receive the award, say who it is from, and put a wee link to their blog. You then pass the award onto 5 other blogs, creating links so it is easy to view them. Hope that makes sense!

There are so many fantastic blogs out there, this was really really hard to whittle it down to just 5! So here goes! In no particular order.....

The first blog I would like to nominate is Where is Jacob Our Bracco?

I really hope you do not think I'm being frivolous in nominating you, but your search for your beautiful boy has really touched my heart, and I feel that as many people as possible should be aware of, and if they can, help in your efforts to get him back. Cannot imagine what you are going through, and sincerely hope that your pain will be over soon, with your boy home safe and sound.

One of my absolute favorite blogs is Adventures In A Field. Ferris is amazing!!! Have a peek at her in this very exciting time in her life. Not only is she really cool, she is realizing her dream to have a beautiful, energy efficient home (sorry Ferris, I'm sure that's the wrong term!) She has been fantastic to me, giving me so much sound advice, and not once making me feel like the simpleton that I am! (Although I'm sure it's very tempting!)

Live To Garden is also a fab well! I love this blog! Flowergirl is the same age as me, good fun, and a real proper gardener, something I very much hope to be someday myself!! 

Gardening Tips is another great blog! Everyone who reads this must follow it right now! Its so full of brilliant tips and ideas! 

 

And last, but definitely not least is Karen's creation, Vegetable Growing In Containers In My Small Garden and other less interesting stuff.... 

It's Karen's first season playing at growing things as well, and she gives me such a giggle at her descriptions and views on things! She also full of enthusiasm on everything green and brown (except for rats, which I is fair enough!) What a lovely, happy blog!

So that's it for now! 

Clydey is giving me the eagle eye, so I'd better finish up and get out on the poo run!! 

Sweet dreams!

Linzi x x 

Pearls of wisdom......

Had the funniest piece of gardening advice yet, just had to share it with you! 

Our TV Ariel man is another organic veggie grower (they are popping up everywhere, isn't it fab!!) so just had to drag him round my little baby plugs (is that the right word?) when he came to do a job this week. He's very matter of fact, and is a firm believer of growing for fun and not getting too tired down in the science and seriousness of it all. (Trying to adopt this attitude myself, I figure it will save me loads of disappointment when things don't work out how I imagined them to)

On asking the very Geordie Tony if he thought my poppies were sick or why they may be wilting, he scratched his head, poked 1, and offered the following pearls of wisdom..... "Never worry 'bout the poppies man, they could grow on a baldy heed!" Still laughing as I type!! 

Maybe you needed to be there, but hope that that little nugget at least makes you smile! Going to keep watering them and hope for the best!!!! 

Linzi x x

An award!! Me???

Wow! I've received an award!!! My blog is fabulous!!!! (Well..... Karie likes it...) Thank you very much Karie! Not going to inflict a Kate Winslet reaction on you all, but will say, I'm really touched! Check her blog out on this link. She has a fab life in the rural south of England, is an amazing artist, very witty, and devotes her life to the care and rescue of all kinds of animals! She really cool!!! It is now my duty to pass this on to 5 people who's blogs rock, so stand by, it could be you!!! haha

Was debating whether or not to tell you, but figured that if I did, I would be too ashamed to start again if temptation got really bad, so here goes...... On Monday I quit smoking!!!! Was kind of by accident (like most events in my life!), but going to try and stick it out this time! Please don't judge me badly, I'm trying so hard to be a better person, and my taste buds should be working again for the home grown veg in the summer!!! What an incentive!!!

On the plus side I smell lovely now, but I'm pretty much horrible to anyone who dares to catch my attention! Hopefully this will pass, for the sake of my relationship! Going on lots of walks and playing in lots of compost to try and be a nicer person! 

Managed to sow 7 lots of each Cosmea & Africian Daisy, Arctotis - New Hybrids. Quantities sound so small, but all my south facing windowsills are now full and with the temperatures so low and with the snow still falling, I'm too scared to put my bigger babies in the cold frame thingy! (Do you think it would kill the sweet peas or am I being a drama queen? Seriously need space!) 

You must be bored of looking at my offerings of scrawny little seedlings, so thought I would treat you to the catalogue pictures! I will be amazed if mine end up remotely like these, but here's hoping!! At least it will give you a giggle this summer comparing them!

Africian Daisy

 

Cosmea

That's pretty much it for tonight! Hopefully I will be in a better mood and will see the funny side to my life again soon!!! 

Goodbye for now,

From a nicer smelling, cleaner living, award winning (joking I'm not that conceited), dying for a dirty old fag, Linzi x x