Tulips

Posted on May 5, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Aqualegia, Bluebells, Exercise, Gardening, Layout app, Lesser celandine, Photo, Plants, Russian vine, Tulips, Wild garlicLeave a comment

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This image was something I did last year. We had some pure white tulips in the garden.

This year we have had less tulips. I think because our squirrel has taken to digging them up in the winter. We are going past the tulip season now. Instead we have Spanish and English bluebells, aqualegia starting to flower and wild garlic and lesser celandine adding splashes of colour to the garden.

Today we were pulling out hunks of ivy from the ground and from trees where its thick stems have scrambled up. We will fill our recycling bin completely over a couple of days. I was also pulling more pieces of Russian vine out of the trees at the front of the garden, it’s amazing how quickly it grows.

Tired and achy. But it’s good exercise.

The oak tree in the kitchen.

Posted on April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Fun, Gardening, Greens, Kitchen, Oak tree, Plane, Sketching, Stoke-on-Trent Urban sketchers2 Comments

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The oak tree in the kitchen… Hubby planted an acorn in with a Christmas cactus plant on the kitchen windowsill. The cat in the drawing is a big doorstop that we have put on the window sill.. Must find somewhere to plant the tree before it gets too big…. I have a friend who owns some land in the countryside. When this is all over I’m going to give her this little sapling together with some baby walnut trees.

This was for day 12 of the Stoke-on-Trent Urban sketchers new challenge. Lots more to go!

A task I love

Posted on April 26, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Drawing, Fun, Garden, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Love, Planting, Plants, Sketching, Staffordshire, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

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Urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent new challenge, a task you love.

I am trying to plant up hanging baskets, but I only have a few plug plants, and a bit of compost to put them in.

Luckily some of my plants overwintered and are regrowing, so I have a few fushia plants, a lobelia, and some trailing plants with pale purple flowers that is in this basket. I’ve put a few begonias in the pot hanging below it.

I put one basket under another to get a tiered effect. Usually these are full of plants, now I’ve done two with tumbler tomatoes which you put in baskets and as they grow they hang down for picking.

Yes these are tasks I love. X

I ache

Posted on April 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Garden, Gardening, Manicured, Physical exercise, Plants, Poem, Poetry, Potting up, Tired, Work2 Comments

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The world is growing fast

But I ache

More things to do,

I ache..

Plants to tend and pot up.

I hurt.

Too much tending,

Too much weeding,

Too much trimming and pruning.

Using sinews I forgot I had.

Back aches,

Shoulder aches.

Hands hurt.

Don’t overdo things?

After years of neglect

My garden is being manicured,

And I ache.

So much blossom

Posted on April 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blossom, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Life, Photo, Plants, Russian vine, TreesLeave a comment

As I sit quietly at home I’ve realised how good the weather has been, and how much blossom is on the cherry and pear trees. And then, my friends have all been posting photos of blossom near them. Clouds of pink and white.

I will try and get a photo against a blue sky, but I just wanted to share this. The bees have been buzzing so they are happy.

I was thinking how the blossom comes out before the leaves. Is that to make it easier for insects to pollinate the flowers?

Now we need rain, it’s been dry for most of the month. Without it the farmers, who are struggling with lack of workers, will struggle even more. Time will tell…. Cherry’s and pears will ripen, hopefully.

In the meantime the Russian vine we planted a few years ago has started taking over a couple of parts of the garden. It ‘rushes’ along, growing fast, and wrapping itself around everything. My arms hurt after spending a couple of hours trying to cut it back.

Someone asked about the garden…

Posted on April 12, 2020April 13, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #forestwood, Cherries, Garden, Gardening, Growth, Hard work, How to Ping back?, Land, Nettles, Pear, Plants, Trees, Walnut, Weeds7 Comments

A fellow blogger asked if I used permaculture in the garden, I actually don’t know what that is? We’ve been here about twenty five years and when we moved in the garden was a patch of land fenced off by the woman who used to own the house. It had three lilac bushes a patch of what turned out to be Japanese knotweed and lawn. We rented it off the old owner of our house for twenty years then bought it. I only used weedkiller at the start because of the knotweed. Since then we put in a pond, planted all sorts of trees. Some of its too shady. The walnut tree must be forty foot high. Just put a bit of fertiliser on occasionally. There is rubble and broken pottery under the soil. You get archaeology when you dig it.

I did not believe that we could get mature trees in a little over twenty five years. Some of them seem to grow like weeds. The back of the garden has had a shed and a summerhouse put on it. I’m hoping to do some art in there. We are trying to get perennial plants to grow. I have lots of geraniums but most of all we have a lot of ivy growing everywhere.

It is good to sit in the garden, but I feel sorry for people who don’t have anywhere green to sit.

Stay safe,

Keep well.

The garden

Posted on April 12, 2020April 12, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bees, Blossom, Cherry, Environment, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Hover flies, Life, Nature, Pear, Plants, Tomatoes, TreesLeave a comment

This is what I was trying to draw. As you can see it’s very complicated. Lots of trees and branches.

Behind me when I took this photo are two greenhouses with green plastic covers, ones got tomatoes in it, the other is waiting for tomato plants that my friend says she will drop off over our gate when they are ready to plant out.

The weather is set to turn, it has been warm and sunny, but the wind whipped up this evening and you could feel the temperature starting to fall.

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I took these photos of cherry and pear blossom. As you can see the sky was starting to darken. There have been reports on the weather forecast of thunderstorms nearby. It certainly was getting windy, I hope some of the blossom gets pollenated before it blows away. And then there was a warning of Frost!

Citrus plants

Posted on April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Citrus fruit, Eating, Food, Fun, Gardening, Kumquat, Photo, Plants2 Comments

My hubby has bought some citrus plants and has them in pots in the garden. They came with the fruit on them. He took them inside the summerhouse for a couple of nights but he’s trying to let them harden off. One was a kumquat, whatever that is. I sort of think they were ornamental, but they say they are edible…. He just eats them whole! Anyone know what these are?

Anyway I might chop one up and add it to a gin and tonic!

Garden pictures

Posted on April 7, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Cat, Daffodils, Fun, Garden, Gardening, Photos, Plants, Summerhouse, Sunny, woodyLeave a comment

Oh its coming on…. I’ve been cutting back a few bushes and tidying up. The summer house is full of junk so it needs clearing out. I’m keen to go out there and paint. The weather has been lovely, we’ve not really had any April showers yet. I guess they will be in the way.

Oh I ache from trying to cut back overgrown buddlias and ivy climbing up the cherry trees. When the cherry blossom is out I will try and share photos.

By the way the cat is Woody, he’s the outside cat we look after. He’s really enjoying lying in the sun now the weather has improved. But we have tomato plants, so I’m scared he will squash them!

Today’s drawings

Posted on March 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Brush pen, Challenge, Cyclamen, Drawing, Garden, Gardening, Life, Narcissi, Sketching, Social isolation, Stoke-on trent, Stray cat, Tete-a-tete, Usk Stoke-on-TrentLeave a comment

Those of you who follow my blog know I’ve been drawing my surroundings from the safety of my own home.

Today’s challenge was gardening. I chose to draw some pots and a flower bed in a sparkly amathyst colour brush pen. It includes cyclamen, tete-a-tete narcissi and foliage from geraniums and poppy plants. The sun was shining again today, but there was a bitterly cold wind, not helped by the neighbours behind us that had cut down two trees that had acted as a windbreak.

The second drawing is a quick sketch of the stray cat, Woody, who is doing fine sleeping in the shed and roaming the garden by day.

Thanks USK Stoke-on-Trent for the challenge x

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Gardening