Sowing Time - well sort of..

Despite good intentions we just couldn't resist the call of the seed box on Monday. All gardeners must hear it surely, that little tiny voice that starts quietly and gets subtley more insistent as the days start to lengthen: "go on sow me, it'll be fine, there's plenty of room on the window sills, you know it makes sense, I don't even need to be indoors you know, you've already warmed the compost up shame to waste it...." 

So we succumbed and now have loo rolls sown with brussels sprouts, cauliflowers and parsnips - just a few, to get ahead, you know how it is...

Oh and a few of last autumn's late sown chard just cried out to be potted on - they may grow on, you never know...

Oh and there may be a few sweet peas, welsh onions, echiums, pansies and violas on the go in the back bedroom under propagator lids but there aren't any photos of those so no proof just yet...! Now what was that weather forecast?

Using stuff up cake

After dropping J off at the allotment with all the card and shredded paper my little Zoe could hold I came back to potter around. A quick look at the slightly overripe bananas in the kitchen meant it was time to make cake. I also had some walnuts left over from making carrot cake for J's birthday at the weekend so in they went too. A super quick chuck-it-all-in-the-food-processor cake that has left the house smelling really nice too!

Banana and walnut cake

300g Self-Raising Flour
200g Margarine
200g Sugar
3 ripe bananas roughly broken up
4 eggs
handful of walnuts roughly chopped!

Place everything except the walnuts in the food processor and whiz until thoroughly mixed. Then sprinkle in the walnuts and give it a quick mix.

Pour into a greased and lined tin and bake on Gas Mark 6 for approx. 45 minutes until the skewer comes out clean. I used a square 24cm tin for bar-type slices. A smaller deeper tin will also work of course, just adjust the cooking tie to compensate for deeper batter.
When baked transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool before cutting into slices. Alternatively serve warm with either raspberry sauce or custard for a lovely pud!

Banana and walnut cake straight from the oven

Let it cool for cake or eat warm for pud

Meet Bob Plant

Bob came into my life about twenty years ago - a mere 12 inches tall and one of three pals in a supermarket bargain set, he promised great things if I looked after him and kept him watered and fed... 3 houses, 2 towns and several different rooms later he'd ended up over 6 feet tall, 4 foot wide in places and so big he blocked the light from the small window in the spare bedroom. All this despite very intermittent watering, next to no feeding and maybe one re-potting in the last ten years, indeed some might say he's been thoroughly neglected and it's a miracle he's survived much less thrived. But thrive he has and if we didn't want to find him barring entry to the spare room drastic measures were inescapable so today we snipped and lopped and took several overgrown limbs away, leaving a shorter, slimmer model with soon to be shiny leaves and hopefully happier is his home. But all is not lost for the trimmings, thanks to a handy internet guide we have, we hope, created a few mini Bobs. They are now under cover and we'll watch them carefully over the next few weeks and then, if they are really lucky, friends and family can have a Bob of their very own...

Oh and don't tell Bob but we also identified a few more limbs for removal when he's recovered a bit.

Here in the undergrowth....

One of Bob's 5 new offspring

Heated airer or soil warmer?

A new slimline but could be trimmer Bob

Oh and while the compost was out we may have sown a few seeds too but that's for another day.

And didn't we have a loverly time...

Today is Js birthday and luckily it dawned cold and crisp with beautiful blue skies and hardly any wind so we bundled up in thick jumper (J) plus scarf, thick coat, woolly hat and gloves (me) and headed off to Warwick for the Snowdrop Day at Hill Close Gardens. 

A wonderfully resurrected piece of the town's Victorian past the gardens were once owned by individual families and are now beautifully maintained by a small staff and lots of volunteers. They are open to the public all year round and hold various special events too but despite working in Warwick for years, today was my first visit. It was wonderful and with the help of my trusty wheeled walker and a few carefully placed benches I managed to enjoy most of the gardens. Each one has it's own "personality" - for some it was carefully sculpted parterres and small hedges, others boasted mini ferneries and bosky glades, yet more had clipped lawns and sleeping beds or veggies, compost bins and fruit trees. several also have interesting little buildings well worth exploring and displays of art work, old tools or potting shed set-ups.

The snowdrops were planted daintily beneath hedges, in lawns, dedicated beds and even hanging from some venerable old apple trees. They were joined by emerging irises, hellebores, crocuses and aconites. Soon there will be daffodils and tulips too so if you are nearby I thoroughly recommend a visit.

Imbolc - light in the darkness

 

snowdrops

 According Glennie Kindred in my copy of her Sacred Celebrations the end of January/beginning of February marks the old festival of Imbolc- the re-awakening of the Earth. As she says "The days are beginning to lengthen....Sap is beginning to rise....Everywhere there are signs of the Earth stirring." 

So it's time to light a candle, admire the snowdrops and once again mark the turning of the wheel.

and the promise of more to come

Perversely the first few days of February usually bring snow here in the Midlands so I'm busy watching the skies and hoping it holds off for a few days more as Hill Close Gardens in Warwick is having a couple of snowdrop days this weekend and we've planned a visit on Sunday all being well. It's J's birthday and snowdrops have always been a favourite of mine - that dainty little nodding flower emerges at the darkest time of the year, stubbornly flowering before almost everything else despite hard frosts, harsh winds and whatever else the winter decides to throw at us.

 No wonder they have been used over centuries to symbolise Hope and Rebirth.

Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt #3

Today's post brings you three more offerings for the Bracelet of Days' Winter Scavenger Hunt as described in my post at the beginning of December.

12. Glitter. This one is problematic for me, glitter makes everything sparkly and pretty giving a real lift in the winter gloom but it is made from plastic and doesn't degrade. As it is so tiny it can easily enter the water courses and contaminate the food chain for wildlife all over the planet. It also means these cards have had to go to landfill as they are un-recyclable and I have more gift labels than I will ever use. Bah Humbug indeed!

6. A water dispenser. For bugs, bees, birds and whatever other critter is sneaking around the garden gathering droplets of rain to quench tiny thirsts.

11. Dressed for the season. Protected against the frost our outdoor tap all wrapped up for the winter.

So thanks again to Eileen at Bracelet of days.

I am not a number....

or the tale of the anarchist birds of Warwickshire!

This weekend was the annual RSPB Big Garden Bird Count (It's not too late as they've made the weekend last until today so click on the link and check out the website!)

Now since the 6th January we've had visits from Starlings, Dunnocks, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits and Magpies plus our (I thought) resident Robin, Black Cap and Wren. Now that should make a nice little return for the RSPB shouldn't it! So there I was on Saturday all set up with my cup of tea, camera and my counting sheet  and zilch, nothing, nada - at least not until the last ten minutes when a dunnock and a wood pigeon deigned to pop by. Nevermind, thought I, its a bit grotty weather-wise - windy, damp and grey, I'll hold off and try again on Monday.

So this morning dawns, crisp, calm and cold with the most beautiful blue sky imaginable so I settle down once again with my cup of tea, camera and counting sheet. And there they are coming down in their ones and twos - a male blackbird, a pair of blue tits checking out the new bird box, a great tit, a dunnock, a pair of wood pigeons and one flitty starling. Not a bad count, you'll say what's she complaining about. Now look at the pictures below:

Count? What count?

Nope not coming down...

I'm just going to perch here...

Nothing to see here..

Magpies croaking, pigeons cooing, blackbirds singing all three gardens away!

Oh and yes the Robin rocked up about 10 minutes after the count stopped!

Happy Monday all