Waiting for Spring.

Posted on October 19, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Autumn, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Life, Spring, Sun, WarmthLeave a comment

IMG_20191016_182752_optimized

It’s Autumn and I’m already waiting for Spring! I need to work on the garden, cut shrubs back, plant tulip bulbs, plant snowdrops, then… Wait, wait, wait… Through the cold and rain, through the shirt dates and long nights.

I want to see the baby birds, the squirrel and its kits, the tadpoles in the pond (if we have frogs we must have tadpoles). I look forward to warmer, not too hot, days. Life returns.

In the winter here it usually does not get too cold. But it can be grey, wet and windy.

The clocks go back at the end of October, then the sun will go down an hour earlier, I hate sitting in the dark in the winter, trying to keep warm. Looking forward to the winter solstice when the sun starts coming back a little more every day.

☓

Sitting listening…

Posted on October 10, 2019October 10, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1"challenge, Art, Blogging, Books, Gardening, Grey, Hat, Hedge cutting, Life, Shears, Urban sketch, WeatherLeave a comment

_20191010_171054

It’s quite cool today, so after going out for lunch, then coming back and doing a bit of gardening I’ve come into the relative warm (about 18.5°C) and I’m sitting listening to the Radio.

I’ve decided to try and keep the heating off as much as I can. It’s getting expensive and it’s not that cold yet.

It’s grey and showery outside. We had to cut the hedge back because our neighbours need access on the path round to their back yard and it runs past our garden. The trouble is one set of shears handle is coming loose and is held on with gaffer tape! When you cut branches with them they bend inwards so you can’t always get a good purchase on the twigs.

So anyway, the hat in the drawing was given to me by a friend when it was raining last week. I meant to take it back but forgot. Just dumped it on the pile of books by the front door.

Drawing challenge

Posted on October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Begonia, Blue, Drawing, Flowers, Fushias, Garden, Gardening, Green, Hanging baskets, Life, Lobelia, Plants, Red, YellowLeave a comment

Today is day 8 of the October 1″ drawing challenge. This is just a quick sketch of our hanging baskets outside the window. Because they are in the back yard they are a bit walmer than in the main garden so although it’s got chilly there has not been a frost to kill them off. If I remember I will take a few photos tomorrow. I also coloured the picture in with a sketching app.

The flowers are Begonias, Fushias, Lobelia and others I don’t remember.

Pear tree collapse

Posted on September 29, 2019September 29, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Crop, Environment, Fallen tree, Food, Fruit, Garden, Gardening, Life, Pear, Pear tree, Pears, Plants3 Comments

A shout from outside. My hubby had gone outside to feed the stray cat….

There’s a problem, a catastrophe.. The pear tree had blown over in the heavy rain and wind we have been having…

The tree has been gradually leaning more over the last couple of years, and each crop of pears has grown. Till this year we counted over fifty pears. But that of course pulls on the top of the tree.

We had propped it up with some wood, but that had snapped in half. What to do? We tried using an old exercise bike near the roots…

We also tried to pull as many pears off the tree as possible as they were now in reach. My hubby normally shakes the pears down which may be why it’s leaning!

IMG_20190929_194540_158

Finally we used the step ladder to prop it up a bit more. I don’t know if it’s salvageable, the trunk is split. It’s a shame if it has to go as the pears are very tasty. They were just starting to ripen, but the weather has been mad. We weighed the good pears (disposed of the split one’s). 11.7 kilos. Not sure what that is in pounds but I think it’s around 24 pounds.

I’m going to share some of the crop with friends….

Random poem

Posted on September 15, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Fresh, Gardening, Gold, Life, Papaver, Plant, Poem, Poetry, Poppy, Sunny, Welsh poppy, YellowLeave a comment

DSC_2001_optimized (2)

About a random photo…

Yellow gold,

Spun sunshine

Fresh greens

Like limes

Flowers like crumpled paper.

Lemon yellow

Papaver Hibernica?

Welsh poppy

Red drained to orange and yellow.

High in windblown meadows,

Summer in your petals

Giving your celtic roots

Room to roam.

Variegated

Posted on September 11, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beautiful, Colours, Gardening, Mottled, Pigments, Poem, Poetry, VariegatedLeave a comment

IMG_20190910_002021_optimized

Variegated leaves

Your identity mottled,

Yellow and Pink,

Magenta and green.

Veined and speckled,

Xanthaphyl and

Chlorophyll,

Anthocyanine.

These are pigments,

Changing light to food.

Shade loving or sunlit,

Deciduous wonders,

Delightful colours.

Wisps of fantasy,

Patterned delights,

A figment of imagination

Made reality.

Pears

Posted on September 10, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blossom, Flowers, Food, Garden, Gardening, Growing, Pear tree, Pears, Plant, PollenationLeave a comment

_20190910_130802

Never seen so many pears on our pear tree! This year there are over fifty. Sometimes the flowers don’t get pollinated, get caught by a late frost. Or it’s to hot and dry in the summer for them to grow. Sometimes we get too much rain and they swell up too quickly and split. Last year a lot got blown off in June. The tree leans over so we propped it up this year to stop it getting twisted by the wind. Perhaps that’s why we have a bigger crop. Anyway fingers crossed for a bumper harvest. X

Nasturtium

Posted on August 28, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Colour, Decoration, Edible, Flowers, Food, Gardening, Grows in poor soil, Nasturtiums, PlantsLeave a comment

One of the most interesting flowers, simple to grow from seed in poor soil. The leaves are flat and round with veins spreading in rays from the centre. The flowers have petals spreading out from a centre that has holes in it and a sort of pointed spike on the back, (hard to describe). The flowers come in a variety of colours, from cream, yellow, orange and deep red, usually with stripes on them. The plant trails and sprawls and climbs.

The flowers are actually edible! They taste like a sort of peppery orange. You can use them to brighten up a salad. A taste of summer. I’m not sure about the leaves and the seed pods, always make sure a plant is safe to eat before you try them.

Flowers

Posted on August 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Flowers, Fun, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Life, Pattern, Photos, PlantsLeave a comment

The hanging baskets were fine last week but when we came home two of them were upside down on the ground. The screw they had been hung on had given way under their weight and with heavy rain they had collapsed down onto the ground. Now they are hanging forlornly lower down the fence. They might grow and recover. I’m feeding them and watering them. Anyway the photos are of the growth of the other ones. Some are doing better than others. I really need to dead head them (take off dead flowers). It will have to wait till I feel better.

Here’s some patterns I did from them…

One tiny, curly, cucumber

Posted on August 6, 2019August 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A small offering, Cucumber, Cucumber plant, Food, Gardening, Life, Plant, Taste4 Comments

We planted lots of cucumber and squash plants this year. But this was all I managed to grow.

It’s about 7 or 8 centimetres long and curled round with a thin stalk end and a bulbous end where the initial flower grew.

What to do? It’s come loose from the stem so it’s now in the fridge. I’m going to peel off the rough bits and chop it up finely. I might add it to some spicy tomato chutney I’ve got in. Then I will add that as an accompaniment to some cheese sandwiches on fresh brown bread. I hope that is a suitable use of my little friend.

PS… It was very tasty!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Gardening