Garden In Bloom

Since my last post we have had some very Spring-like weather, and the daffodils, narcissi and hyacinths have burst into bloom.

The Tete a tete narcissi that I planted a few weeks ago are looking great!

There are more of them in the flower beds - and some primroses, too.

Daffodils and hyacinths side by side - the hyacinths smell divine.

White hyacinths and aubretia just coming into flower

I had a lovely day in London last week with Kino. We went to Somerset house and wandered round looking at some of the exhibitions, then had lunch at the cafe. For the price I might have expected a three course meal but in fact we had ciabatta with posh fillings and hand made lemonade, which was very nice indeed.

After a murky start, the sun came out and we sat outside in the huge courtyard of Somerset House.

I rather liked these strange creatures

I walked back to the station over Waterloo Bridge, from which there was a fabulous view.

And here is the blanket again. I am now on round 9, the last diamond round. I think it's looking great. I am loving the colours.

Early Spring

The spring garden is at the front of the house, and starts a display of bulbs in January, with snowdrops

 ahead of daffodils and narcissi, followed by a carpet of bluebells in April and May. At this time of year it is very exciting to see the daffodil buds coming through.

The roses are also getting started, and some brave hellebores are already in flower.

Indoors, I am working on a crochet blanket. This is a Tunisian crochet project, called Starburst Entrelac Afghan, and it is crocheted from the centre out in diamond shapes. I'm going for an autumn leaves palette which I'm rather pleased with.

At the weekend, following advice from Alan Titchmarsh on Classic FM, I bought some bargain pots of Narcissus Tete a Tete and planted them up on a pot on the patio. I already have quite a few pots of bulbs here and I think they will make a good show in a few weeks!

Recuperation

I'm at home at the moment, recovering from an operation on 10th January. I have been recovering well and my energy is starting to return now, but I still have a few more weeks off work to go.
While I have been resting I have managed to knit and crochet, and I have finished the crochet blanket I was working on last year.

And I've also finished a hoody, with a stripe pattern that I based on a number of other sweaters I have seen around this winter.

As part of my recuperation, I am aiming to go for a walk most days (weather permitting, which has not often been the case these last few weeks!). Yesterday Braveheart and I went out to walk along the Wey Navigation to see how water levels had been affected by the rainfall.
The footpath to the weir was quite wet, and the "lake" that you can see to the left is usually a field with horses in it.

The water on the path was not too deep, so with a bit of care we managed to get through it.

The weir race was higher and faster than I have ever seen it

The water level was high, but the towpath was not flooded and we managed to make our way along it to the road.

It was pretty muddy though!

Bright November Morning

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Woke up to a heavy frost, but the sun is burning it off, now. All the blinds are open to let in as much sun as possible and warm the house up!

I'm on square no 53 of my Crochet Sampler Blanket:

That's out of 64 squares required, so phase one is nearly complete! I am now starting to think about the logistics of blocking 64 squares...

The Vegetable Garden in June

First of all, as promised, here is my new gardening sun hat:

Despite the traditional British summer weather of sunshine and showers - or maybe because of it - the vegetable garden is doing well. Here's a quick tour:

 In the greenhouse the tomatoes are doing well on the left. At the back, peppers and in the containers, aubergines.

 The left hand raised bed, which I have posted about before, now has a good crop of Lady Christl first early potatoes which, on inspection today, are ready to start harvesting. Next to those are the shallots, which are looking very healthy, and then just in front of the shallots are some winter squashes called Autumn Crown. The frames along the edges of the beds are there for the squashes to climb on once they get going.





This keeps the fruit off the ground and clean, and takes up a lot less growing space. There are giant pumpkins growing on the other side with the same system.

At the back of the garden are sweetcorn on the left and garlic to the right. The garlic are nearly ready, I think, another couple of weeks and we will lift them. The corn are minipops, designed to be cut and eaten as baby corn.

Next to them are two rows of peas, one sown a month earlier than the other. The first row is flowering and already has some pea pods.

These plants are all netted to keep cats from digging up the bed and well, you know...they are a real nuisance with young plants and seedlings.

The right hand raised bed has main crop potatoes at one end. The first two rows were sown a month before the rest because we had cauliflowers growing where they were to go and had to wait till we had harvested and eaten those. At the other end there are beetroot and turnips in containers, they are due to be moved soon and that section will have kale on it for overwintering.

Spring Just Around the Corner

Since last posting, the seeds I sowed have started to come up and are doing well. The potatoes are still in the utility room as it has been so cold and wet! We are determined to plant them over the Easter weekend.

I have knitted some fingerless gloves using the Elisabeth Beverley merino I bought at Unravel, and I am making good progress with Driftwood.

Driftwood is easy to knit but rather dull, and it seems quite endless! So I have treated myself to this little beret knitted in Mochi Plus, by Annette Petavy - Grenobloise. I am using the colourway Brandied Apricots.

Unravel and Sowing Seeds

As I said in my last post, I went to Unravel in Farnham a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day, there was so much to see and I met up with some friends, too! I just had to take a photo of this sheep which was at the bottom of the stairs.

I had a shopping list and I pretty much stuck to it. I bought some Easyknits yarn to make the shawl  La Vie En Rayures, some Elisabeth Beverley plant dyed merino to make fingerless gloves and a cowl, and some balls of Ecological wool just because I liked it.

I've since designed a crochet blanket using the Eco wool, so I need to swatch a bit more to find out how many crochet squares I can get from one ball, so I know how much to buy. It's so soft!

Last weekend I washed all my seed trays and propagators in dilute Jeyes fluid, because it's time to sow seeds for summer vegetables and bedding plants. I sowed tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, marigolds and Russian Campion, and they are all in the lounge under propagators. The tomatoes, sweet peas, marigolds and campion have all germinated now - and it has been snowing today! It's hard to believe it is Spring. I love growing from seed, it's such a miracle watching the seedlings grow and I feel so proud when I am picking pounds of tomatoes that I grew them all from seed.

We also bought some First Early seed potatoes and they are chitting in trays in the utility room. The bed has to be dug over and they should go out in a couple of weeks. I've never done first earlies before, so we will have to watch out for frost and fleece them up if necessary.

A New Book

Today when I got home this lovely book had arrived. It has lots of beautiful, richly coloured and textured  crochet afghans in it, and also introduces some new crochet techniques to me - cables, entrelac and tunisian crochet. I am enjoying reading it for now, but I look forward to trying some of the projects in due course. More great winter things to do!

A Spring Walk

This weekend Braveheart's sister, brother in law and one of his nephews came for a visit. We were delighted to welcome them, as they had not seen our house and garden before. We went for a walk together along the Wey Navigation, where I saw these lovely, cheerful pots of flowers on one of the houseboats.

I loved this spring blossom

and these brightly coloured barges

 and this graceful swan by the weir

I also completed a new project this weekend, this crochet lace doily. I am quite addicted to doily making at the moment.