Planting positivity

Taken by J

Taken by J.

I may be having a blip and not be able to get outside or indeed downstairs at the moment but that doesn't stop the garden and allotment being a real source of strength and positivity and I'm so very grateful for it. Today I've peeked out of the window and watched the blackbird eating the cotoneaster berries from the hedge, looked down on the beds that J managed to do a bit of work on yesterday and spotted the scabious still in bloom and the strawberry and flowering currant leaves taking on their Autumn tints of red and yellow. He's also been busy sowing broad beans and onions in modules in the hope that the mice and voles might leave them alone if they are rooted when we put them in ground. Tonight we ordered our seed potatoes for next year's harvest courtesy of the Transition Loughborough Potato Day online system and J has spent some time pricking out and potting on the cuttings and biennial sowings I made at the end of the summer so we can look forward to pansies, violas, sweet rocket, verbena and penstemons next year - mind you we're already running out of window ledges!

Next stop part 2 of the brilliant Northern Lights adaptation. Happy Sunday all.

Visiting with the houseplants

Had a wander around the house on Sunday realising that over the years, without really intending to, I've become a houseplant keeper. For years and years I said I didn't really do houseplants - I always said I couldn't keep them alive - but if that's the case then where have all these appeared from?

In the Living Room

This purple orchid is on it's fourth re-flowering in the year or so since I was given it by a friend, I'm holding out hope it's white-flowered neighbour might try again soon






The weeping fig came in the same pack as Bob about 25 years ago, and despite years of neglect now thrives on the windowsill.

This peace lily was part of another gift a couple of years ago and seems to just keep growing - mind you it has only flowered once.

In the kitchen

A bit of a mixture on the kitchen table at the moment - a baby Bob and a selection of succulents waiting for their forever homes, a scented geranium ready to be overwintered, our last Aloe Vera and a pot of sage cuttings waiting to be potted up. The dark red chrysanthemum was given to as a gift last Christmas and turned out to be four little plants in one pot - we split them and they've spent the summer outside. I brought this one in at the weekend to see what would happen and look how beautiful it is.

And then there's the white flowered orchid that was given to us a few years ago by J's cousins and the little seemingly ever-lasting cyclamen that was given to me the first Christmas I came to Stratford by a new colleague and has flowered every winter since, it's a gorgeous scarlet colour and brightens the darkest days beautifully. 

And then there's upstairs residents...

You've met Bob before and he certainly seems to have recovered from the pruning and propagating at the beginning of the year. All bar the last one of those babies has been re-homed.

And after a year in their new homes the succulents are looking great and it's their babies we'll be re-homing next. 

And dotted on windowsills all round the house....


there's the super-hot skinny chillis that have come in for the winter and the violas that are getting ready to move out and the lupin, sweet rocket, geraniums, verbena, penstemons and pinks that will all need to be potted on and over-wintered indoors until the Spring now.

And it seems that not only do we have a house full of plant-shaped memories and family and friends and kindnesses but lots of potential kindnesses to return.

Reading challenge

This month my local library service has launched a reading challenge for adults that has me intrigued. Now, I've always struggled with reading books because I have to - prize winners and the latest "best-thing-since-... " tend to pass me by until all the hype dies down and unlike many librarians I've never felt comfortable with joining a reading group for personal reading although I've helped launch and pick books for many in my time and know they bring a lot of joy and satisfaction to many people.

It's probably my own control freak tendencies kicking in but I also tend to think - so many books, so little time, why force yourself to finish something just because? Having said that, contrary creature that I am, I do like a recommendation, a "have you tried" or an "I like this and thought it might appeal". In fact some of my favourite reads of the year have come via your blogs, twitter recommendations and the like - so thank you to everyone who takes the time to list what they've read, review it or even just add a picture of their bookshelves to their posts.

So what's intriguing about this challenge? It doesn't give you a list of specific books but of themes or starting points - a book set somewhere you have never been, a book you've lied about reading, a book that starts with a crime and so on for 25 different possibilities including the super-odd, a book the cat would approve of!  As a down-side it looks like a lot of the chatty activity will be going on on Facebook and I don't play with Facebook but they have a blog and twitter too. So, as I seem to be reading a lot anyway at the moment I think I'm going to have a play. I'll keep track on here using the label "Library reading challenge 2019"and post links to anything shared on their site that I think others might like.

Watch this space....

Book Review - Diane Setterfield - Once upon a river

"A dark midwinter’s night. The Swan, an ancient inn on the banks of the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger.

 In his arms is the corpse of a drowned child.

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can it be explained by science?

And who exactly is the little girl? As news spreads of the child who drowned and lived again, three families come to claim her, and the stories of three lost girls (and a missing pig) come to light. In the background is the river itself: powerful, unknowable, lifegiving and lifetaking.

There is talk of a ferryman who appears to those who get into trouble on the river … But at the Swan Inn, is anything ever just a story?"

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Yet again I can't remember where I saw this mentioned but I am so glad I added it to the wish-list. Once upon a river is a beautifully-crafted tale that weaves in and out of the lives of people living along the river and the mysterious tale of the girl who died but didn't that emerges over the course of a year. At turns fabulous and ethereal yet it also feels firmly rooted in the everyday lives of farmers, villagers and innkeepers, villains and gentlefolk. Re-counting both the cruelty and kindnesses that ordinary people visit on each other, it has been a wonderful read. There is blackmail, murder and kidnap here but there is also love, redemption and hope. The river is at the heart of everything and the story twists and turns along it, pulling you very willingly with it. It is most definitely set in the past and has that rooted feel of a story that could have been told around all manner of Winter firesides for a very long time. As you may have guessed, Once upon a river has really resonated with me and will be something I'll want to savour for a while before moving on to another story.

Borrowed as an e-book from the library app so no pretty cover pictures to share I'm afraid but a link to the author's website is here and the ISBNs for those that prefer to hunt that way: Ebook: ISBN 9781473555815; Paperback ISBN 9780857525659.

This is the author's third novel and I will definitely be looking at the other two - The thirteenth tale and Bellman & Black - but maybe not straightaway.

Tired but happy...

Starting to flag a bit now but today we've had a lovely morning of plant and pot shuffling as whilst chilly, it has stayed dry and given us a chance to get some of the winter preparation jobs done. Mind you I'm saying we, as usual J has done most of the actual work whilst I've pointed to where I want things to live!

Normally I loathe and detest all photos of me but J took this today and I actually love it so I'm going to share it here. This is me surrounded by my favourite things and very happy to be doing something productive, yes the hair is nearly gone but the smile says it all.

wallflowers for us and a friend and a great view of the garden

Our wallflowers are now in the ground and their final pots and the spares will be being picked up by a friend later in the week, she gave us some lovely hardy geraniums earlier in the summer so it's great to be able to offer something back. Last year's bulb pots have been weeded, sorted and shuffled ready for swapping with the autumn flowering ones when they finally give up in a few weeks time, the parsley pots are indoors ready for cutting and the chillis have come in too for overwintering. Splitting and keeping the lovely little chrysanthemum that we were given as a present last winter has worked really well and, as they are now budding up beautifully, we have brought one of the plants back indoors to add to the kitchen table garden, the others can stay outside for now just to see how long they will flower outside.

As with every garden there is still plenty more to do but it feels like we've made a good start on the list which is always a great feeling. I hope you've had a great weekend too...

Bulb pots cleaned and shuffled

Who needs peat when a simple garden bin produces compost like this?

Wallflowers and bulbs into the path bed

Chrysanthemum budding up well

Roses, verbena and asters delighting

Six-on-Saturday 19th October 2019

Morning Blog-land today is my October link-up with The Propagator's Six on Saturday meme. Please check out The Propagator's post here for instructions on how to join in and take a look at his blog for links to lots of wonderful gardens from all around the world, they really bring a spark of joy to a weekend.  My previous posts can be found by clicking on the #SixOnSaturday label and if you are on Twitter, enter the #SixOnSaturday hashtag in the search bar and you'll see even more beautiful images from around the world.

All these photos were taken in our little back garden yesterday morning before it got too wet and I had to head off to chemo. It then hammered down with rain for most of the afternoon and evening so I'm very glad I got a head start on the pictures. No real rhyme nor reason to the photos this month - although "work to do"would probably sum up the collection!

1. Mint Corner - the recent rains have done wonders for all the potted mints lurking by the kitchen door. Nearly time to cut them again and freeze for using over the winter, well all except the apple mint as whilst, pretty, isn't a flavour I particularly like.

2. Achillea "Cerise Queen". These two were runts of the litter that I couldn't quite bear to compost and I'm so glad I didn't as they are now nice strong plants that will fit in the borders next year and fill the late summer garden (and vases) with their dark pink blooms.

3. Fabulous fuschia fairies - gifted to the hospice as tiny baby plants that a local nursery couldn't use, and offered to patients and volunteers for a donation earlier in the summer. I've no idea of the varieties but they have been flowering for weeks and show no sign of stopping yet.

4. Wallflowers and strawberry runners awaiting new homes on the outside shelves.
All ready for planting out when the rain eventually stops - new plants for free always raise a smile in this house!

5. Still a chance of a few more rose blooms - raised from cuttings from my late Gran's garden this beauty opens pink and fades to a beautiful peach and is proving to be very long flowering so well worth the effort.

6. And finally, weather permitting, the job for the weekend - start to sort out what needs bringing in, what needs re-potting and what needs cutting for use over the winter - herbs, welsh onions, chillis, strawberries and flowers all jostling for space on the mini patio.

Have a wonderful weekend all, and I'll "see" you next month. Tx

Wombling for a good cause

This week I'm channelling my inner womble and finally using up some of the stash of card, tissue paper, ribbons, cords and other bits and pieces from packaging and gifts that we've always known would come in useful one day. For the last few years the lovely folk at Transition Loughborough have taken part in the local church's Christmas Tree Festival to spread the message about low-impact living and offer practical hints and tips to folk who go along to enjoy the festivities. This year they are going for a giveaway of seeds as part of their display which means I can actually do something practical to help from here by making up some packages using our own saved seeds. So, dear reader I give you the cost-me-nothing and almost-completely-home-compostable seedy cracker!

1. Using quartered loo roll inners and tubes made from the card sheets that you get new clothes and similar stuff, I made little tubes.






2. A twist of newspaper is
filled with seed and short growing instructions written on a pretty label.

3. And then  popped inside the tube.

4. A wrap of paper soon becomes a cracker tied with cord, ribbon or oddments of embroidery thread.

4. A simple pretty little giveaway that, with the exception of some of the re-used ties and the little bit of sellotape is waste free but fun.



Obviously you can decorate them with all sorts and I did pop a button on one to make it pretty but then realised that the recipient would have to dispose of anything that couldn't be composted so went back to plain and simple.

Yesterday J went to the allotment and brought back a trolley full of joy!

It's a 3 mile walk to the allotment and a 3 mile walk back and when I can't drive that's what he does - sometimes a friend will give him a lift back and yesterday he managed to get a bus back part way. He mowed and tidied and harvested and then brought all these wonderful things back to me using an old shopping trolley pressed into service many moons ago. 

Rudbeckia, sedum, yarrow, penstemon and sunflowers for the living room

Close up in the living room

Rudbeckia, tagetes and yarrow for the kitchen

Sedum, rudbeckia and tagetes in the kitchen

Last few courgettes

Box of beans

Apples galore

The courgettes were popped onto last night's homemade pizza and today we'll pod the beans and set them to dry in the dehydrator. The apples are destined for cakes and fruit leathers. The flowers are just bringing a smile to my face whenever I look at them.

And then there's this little video of picking the apples with the picking pole which made me smile as I could see the orchard corner and feel like I was there!

I may not be able to get to the plot at the moment but he's making sure I know it's still there and that means more than I can ever say xx

Good day

For a chemo day it has been a good one. It all started with a lovely author on Twitter called Tom Cox pronouncing that I'd won a copy of his beautiful book  just because I'd retweeted his tweet - watch this space for photos and review!! It's been on my wish-list for a while and I nearly ordered it this week - I hardly ever enter these draws and have never ever won anything like that before - to say I am excited is an understatement.

Chemo went as well as these things can - the staff are wonderful and kind, J kept me company (after a very quick and soggy trip to the shops nearby to pick up weekend snacks), there was a rainbow to be seen in the sky and I now know all my appointments for the next month so we can make a plan - the treatment itself just happens whilst you sit there - I'll be really tired again for the next few days but that's ok.

The weather kindly decided to give us about half an hour of dry after dinner so J helped me have a potter around the back garden just to say hello to the plants and see all the jobs he did yesterday - shuffling tomato plants to try and encourage the last few beefy ones to ripen before blight hits, finally putting the sweet-pea plant out of its misery which meant a last few blooms to add to the living room vase and transplanting some old grape hyacinth bulbs out of a pot and into the pond bank so they will be little dots of amongst the ferns in the spring.

This week's rain has refreshed everything and the starry asters are now blooming too, the dahlias and roses are a bit bedraggled but nonetheless beautiful, the rudbeckia, monarda, verbena, fuschias and scabious continue to flourish and provide colour and all in all it's looking lovely out there out there at the moment. I could hear lots of buzzing and our wanders disturbed a few moths and other critters plus the odd cheeky slug and snail making the most of the damp and then time to wander back in and put our feet up.

Ivy round the back door flourishing

Verbena going strong and wafting beautifully

Gran's Rose still so very pretty and more blooms to follow

Go on you know you really want to ripen!

Starry asters blooming at last

Sneaky but rather pretty snail hiding in the bird feeder!

Little apples ripening

Bulbs added to the fern bank

Night all!