the green gal

Five lovely things 6

How are you all, lovely blog readers? Hope you've all had a lovely week and are looking forward to an even lovelier weekend.

So to this week's five lovely things. No1 is that I'm so pleased the warm weather has provoked the rose bush in my garden into action, it's SO pretty when it blooms, just hope it lasts for a few more weeks…

Is there a way to find out what type of rose this is? Or is it just generic cream rose?

At No2 is spending time last weekend with three of my nieces and nephews, they're such gorgeous little people and always make me smile with their adorableness.

As promised, here is the lovely iPad case I ordered for my hand-me-down iPad, my lovely thing No3. Made by Tillymoss on etsy, it's perfectly made and I love how the retro prints contrast with the technology it's keeping cosy inside.

When the iPad is slid fully inside there is a loop that fastens over the button keeping the iPad snug and safe

I am thrilled to have gained three new stockists for the green gables products this week so that's at No4. More about them to come…

And lastly at No5 is that Mollie Makes magazine is finally out, yay! There's been a lot of buzz about it and it absolutely lives up to the hype. I stayed up last night to read it cover to cover, it's as if the editorial team held a focus group in my head, found out what would make an ideal creative living magazine for me, and then went back to their office and produced it! The opening page has four – I suppose you could call them mission statements – and they totally match up to my ethos. Love, love, love Mollie Makes, I urge you to find a copy or get the digital version here.

Five lovely things 4

Oops, I'm a bit late with this week's five lovely things post, I was distracted by a certain event which took place on my usual five lovely things posting day!

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And that event is at No1 – the gorgeously wonderful Royal Wedding. I don't think I need say much more, or show lots of photos, it exceeded everyone's expectations and I loved watching it with my friends at a Royal Wedding house party. The modern take on the traditional Royal Wedding with the vintage inspirations were just brilliant, sigh.

For No2 I want to say how touched I am that so many people entered my competition to win an extra-long length of paper bunting. I'm sorry I can't give you all a bit of free bunting love!

No3 is that my love of pinterest continues and inspired by the Royal Wedding I've been busy pinning pics of style icons from a bygone era. You can see the above board and more of my pins here.

At No4 is the fact I have a week off the day job so can spend days and days working on the green gables and hopefully soak up a little sunshine too. 

And at No5 is the joy of being in the garden planting veggies! As well as my first early potatoes I've also planted some mixed salad leaves, red onions, spring onions and leeks in our two veg beds. Our garden is v small so we don't have room for much more. On the shady side of the garden is our wildflower bed and that's sprung back into life in the last couple of weeks. We have lavender, forget-me-nots, marigolds, some other plants I've yet to identify, as well as some herbs – I've even got some chive flowers in bloom! And although it feels a bit weird I'm letting a small patch of nettles grow as I know they're really good for bees, butterflies and insects. I may even try making nettle tea…

In case you're interested, you can find out more about how to help butterflies and bring them into your garden here, and the same for bees here.

Palette pingpong no25

The sun is shining and a ping-ponging we shall go. 

The image Kirsty challenged me with this week is a very pretty one, and one that includes a pet love of mine – crochet. I shan't say any more than that, you'll just have to peek at her post to see what the pic looks like. 

As you might expect I took loads of shades out of the image but decided to pare them down to just six. By the way, if you want to see how Kirsty and I go about our palette picking, take a look at her post last week complete with explanatory video. My method is a smidgen different but the basic way of working is the same.

Anyway, back to this week. Here is my palette:

And because it really feels like Spring is finally springing I thought I'd find some pretty fleur images to match my palette:

1, 2, 3   1, 2, 3

There are only daffodils and crocuses waving in the breeze in my neighbourhood so I'm really looking forward to my garden coming back to life and the colours to change from brown, grey and dull green to pink, yellow, blue, purple, red and vibrant shades of green. 

Are there signs of Spring life where you are?

 

Potato-tastic

I'm so pleased with my crop of second early potatoes that I wanted to share them (or at least a pic of them) with you! It may not look much in the enormous bucket but I counted 38 usable potatoes, and a couple of teeny not so useful ones.

Last year's crop wasn't this good and as I didn't get to plant maincrop tubers due to the garden studio builders taking over the garden this is it for potato growing this year.

Rooting around in the soil-filled car tyres and finding the pale gems of potatoes waiting to be discovered is so rewarding! I can't tell you how much I love growing our own food and knowing exactly what went into the food on our plates. The money we save is a big help too.

And in case you fancied a giggle, without me knowing the hubbie took a picture of me picking a few red onions…

In case you're wondering why I'm in such an odd position, we had to put up a wire fence to keep the doggie out of the veg beds and so I have to straddle it, placing a foot in between rows every time I need to get in there! We'd just come back from walking said inquisitive dog in the fields, hence the heavy duty footwear.

In other areas, the strawberries are totally finished, tomatoes are growing but a few yellow and brown branches look ominous, a few of the red onions have lost their stalks, and we have more salad leaves and salad onions than can cope with!

How's your veg and fruit growing going?

A little garden party

At the weekend we had a few friends over for a little garden party. Our tiny garden scrubs up quite nicely with a few veggies and flowers growing, plus some bunting decoration, do you think?

I have a new nook

 

This weekend has been an exciting one for me as I moved into my new studio at the end of the garden! When we bought this house two years ago we knew we wanted to transform the brick built shed into a studio and my frustration at working on half a desk in the spare room was the motivation to get it done. The shed was solidly built but needed everything doing to it – new roof and ceiling, new window, brick up doors, replace other window with double doors, new electrics, plumbing to fit a toilet and washbasin, build a wall to make a cloakroom, insulate and plaster walls, insulate and lay new floor, and furniture! 

I love seeing and reading about other people's workspaces, nooks and studios so I thought I'd give you a tour of my new space. I only moved in last night so there's a lot more for me to do to make it feel like home.

 

The chair, table and bookshelves all came from Ikea. My faithful brother sewing machine was a birthday present from my husband a few years ago and serves me well. Leaning against the wall you can just see Gabs of the green gables created for me by Kirsty, as soon as I get her a frame she'll be in pride of place on the wall. Under the table is a picnic basket a friend found for me in a charity shop and of course there's a length of bunting hung up!

The suitcases were used by my aunty to tour Europe decades ago. I think my mum then went to college with them. The mannequin, wearing a mini pinny, was an eBay bargain bought from a school PTA. I think the kids may have named it as the underside of the stand reads Ben! The little bag in front is my sewing bag, yet another charity shop find, and the basket full of yarn and needles is a secondhand gem I found on eBay. You can see one of two ancient wood and wire birdcages here, they came from a charity shop too, not sure if birds were ever kept in them (I hope not). Are you getting the idea I like secondhand yet?

My fabric is a mix of charity shop shirts, remnant bin finds, vintage fabrics and new cotton fabrics bought locally. Scraps get chucked in the basket to be used at a late date. My storage is a strange mixture of baskets given by a friend, plastic Chinese takeaway boxes and crystal brandy glasses. If you can see my embroidery threads, they're in a Singapore Sling glass I bought from Raffles Hotel in Singapore! You can just see the gorgeous old Singer sewing machine peeking through the bunting, still haven't found the time to get it working…

The sofabed was given to us by a friend a few years ago, and with the studio having its own toilet (you can just see the cloakroom door on the right) and running water, the room can also be used as an occasional guest bedroom. The coffee table is actually an ingenious invention that can be raised to different heights, the top spun round and flipped open to make a dining table. My parents gave it to us as a wedding present when we lived in a little flat in London where furniture needed to multi-task. The cloth on the coffee table was beautifully embroidered by my aunty about 60 years ago. Oh and that's my dog, Georgie, on her blanket. She knows better than to come anywhere near my work or fabrics.

My Anne of Green Gables quote poster adds a much needed splash of turquoise and dose of inspiration.

The transformation of the little building at the end of our garden has been so successful and it makes me super happy. It's gone from being a place to dump stuff to a useful space that has added a whole extra room to our home. In case you're interested, those are my veg beds on the left hand side, the green stalks you can see are onions and you can just see some salad leaves in the corner. Several packets of wildflower seeds have been sown in the bed on the right so hopefully that won't stay a boring patch of dirt for long. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour around my new nook (and veg patch). What do you love about the space you create in?

I heart nature

Where I find gardening help

So, the sun is shining and the sound of garden centre tills is ringing in the air, it's time to get gardening! I've already made a start on some of my veggies – first and second early potatoes are in as well as red onions and a couple of rows of spring onions and leeks. This weekend I added the first row of salad leaves and also bought a couple of flowering plants to help attract bees and butterflies into the garden (and give them somewhere to feed). Following advice from the lovely chaps at Buckland Nurseries in Surrey, I went for Verbena and Veronica which will hopefully produce blue and pink flowers in a couple of months' time.

But enough about me, I want to take this opportunity to pass on some of the people, websites and books that I find hugely helpful in my growing attempts.

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Websites

growveg.com is a v clever website that lets you draw your plot, plan your crops (it automatically works out how much space you need for each), work out crop rotation and saves your plan so you can adjust and add to it over time. You can trial it for 30 days for free but then there is a fee of £15 for a year. Give it a go for the free period and see how useful you find it.

www.bbc.co.uk/gardening Whatever you need information on in life, the BBC can usually help and gardening is no exception. Whether it's veg growing or flowers or shrubs or anything soil related, this site is bound to provide you with some guidance.

Soil Association If you're interested in growing and eating organic food, then the Soil Association is the organisation for you. They are the sort of governing body of organic produce, not just food, and have a lot of info on eating healthily for yourself and the planet.

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People

The Alternative Kitchen Garden I found Emma as @akgpodcast on twitter and she's always been very patient giving me advice on my amateur gardening questions. Check out her podcasts on her site or look for a copy of her book.

Alys Flower is a newish presenter on Gardeners' World and, although she's not been a hit with some of the diehard fans, I think she's fab. She has a new show that started last week called The Edible Garden where she tries to grow as much of the food she eats as possible in her garden. Do take a look if you get a mo.

James Wong has also had a series on the BBC (I'm not on commission, honest, the Beeb just makes some really good programmes!), which I love, called Grow Your Own Drugs. It's not quite as debauched as it may sound, James tells viewers all about how to use plants to ease medical complaints. Even if you don't end up getting off the couch to make any of the potions, it's great telly and James' beaming enthusiasm is refreshingly cheering.

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People

Grow Organic is a Dorling Kindersley book, if you're familiar with this publishing house you'll know that every book they ever make is beautifully pictured and designed and has failsafe information. I find this book hugely useful as a relative novice and I'm sure the more experienced could make use of it too.

The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency is the bible of growing your own and going it alone. John Seymour was the founder of the self-sufficient lifestyle and from growing basic veg to having a smallholding, John is your man to help you.

Complete Guide to Gardening Season by Season This isn't a book for veg growers but for everything else growing in your outside space it's brilliant. By dividing up advice season by season it makes it easier to check what your garden needs to help bring out its beauty. 

So, those are just a few of the people and places that I find advice and inspiration in the gardening world. I hope they prove useful to you too. If you have any particular gardening gurus, I'd love to hear about them.

Nature at its best

What glorious weather we've been enjoying! I hope it's been sunny where you are too.

This weekend my hubbie, doggie and I went to visit my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Having spent a lovely afternoon at their allotment I was inspired to get cracking on my own veggies. So, I have now planted my second early potatoes in their stack of tyres, four rows of red onions, a row of spring onions and a row of leeks. I'll add more rows of spring onions and leeks in the next few weeks so we can enjoy our crops over a longer period of time, plus a few other veggies like beans, tomatoes and salad leaves, and hopefully some strawberries too.

Last year I had moderate success with my crops so this year I'm hoping to do better. I think I've learnt from the mistakes I made last year, we'll have to just wait and see how I get on! For those of you who are interested I use organic peat-free compost and don't use any chemicals to help things grow. If nature and I can't do it on our own, it isn't worth doing! If you're interested in finding out more about organic growing, take a look at the Soil Association's website.

If you've never tried growing your own food I urge you to have a go. There's something quite soothing about handling soil, planting seeds, watering and tending to them. And of course eating the products of your hard work is hugely rewarding. You don't need huge amounts of space (I don't), a windowbox is enough to grow salad leaves or herbs, most things can be grown in pots and, as I've demonstrated, potatoes can be grown in old car tyres! Growing your own food costs a lot less than buying it from the supermarket, plus you know exactly where your meal has come from.

The other great thing about gardening is that it gets you out in the fresh air and (hopefully) the sunshine. Studies have shown that being in nature lifts the spirits and makes people feel happier. So, now nature is well into its stride with flowers blooming, bees buzzing and butterflies swooping about all over the place, I thought I'd give your eyeballs a treat with some images of nature doing what it does best…

1. Parade Magazine, Nature Conservancy Contest Winner, 2. Fields near home, 3. Nature pearls, 4. Blossom close-up, 5. Conch (or Whelk) Shell- Nantucket, 6. Spring Lamb, Spring Flowers

Breathe in the spring air

It's a beautiful day here, I hope the sun is shining where you are too. And, as is only fitting on a sunny spring day, I have been behaving in a most typically Sunday way.

1. Took the dog for a long walk in a nearby wood. Saw lots of little tufts of green leaves so hoping they'll turn into bluebells soon.

2. Went to the garden centre and bought lots of organic peat-free soil for our raised veggie beds. Last year we totally underestimated how much soil compresses down over time and our vegs didn't have enough soil to grow in. I've learnt my lesson, have thrown on lots more soil and will wait for it to settle down before sowing.

3. Planted my chitted first early seed potatoes in a low stack of tyres. This worked really well last year as you just keep adding soil and another tyre as the plants grow. Plus, it frees up the beds for other crops. I got my tyres from our local garage. The owner told me that all of their old tyres are recycled but growing potatoes in them sounded much more interesting! You can read here how I got on with my veggie endeavours last year.

4. Hung a load of washing outside on the line to dry, wind blown dry clothes are somehow lovelier than those which have air dried in the spare room.

5. Completely unrelated but I just spent a v enjoyable half hour photographing the reels of thread I bagged at my favourite antique/secondhand store yesterday. I already have wool that matches perfectly (no prizes for guessing my favourite colours) so snapped them too. I may not have photographed them outside in the spring air but the warm sunshine was flooding into the room making the light the best it's been for photo taking all year.

6. Will soon be off for another dog walk, then a read of the papers with a drink or two in the local pub, followed by a bowlful of homemade leek and potato soup at home. Pretty much a perfect Sunday! Hope your weekends have been equally or even more lovely.