a colourful first harvest…

Radishes from the garden – destined for tabbouleh for tonight’s dinner – although I couldn’t resist scoffing a couple fresh from the ground with a light sprinkling of sea salt. Delicious!

How does your garden grow…

When we first moved here just over a year ago, the garden had recently been ‘landscaped’ to be one of those gravel-covered ‘low-maintenance’ ones. Not our scene at all! We set about gradually making it productive and last year managed to grow a handful of plants with varying levels of success. This year, we decided to get a bit more serious about our growing and so my husband built a number of raised beds out of old palettes scavenged from a nearby builders yard.

I think having all these wonderful beds went to my head and our growing plans became somewhat ambitious for novice gardeners such as ourselves! Many of the things we’re growing this year are firsts for us – we’ve got the usual runner beans, tomatoes, leeks and carrots – but we’re also attempting to grow cabbages, cauliflowers, courgettes, peas, broad beans, aubergines, radishes and squashes. 


Sadly there have already been some fatalities…..as we don’t have the room or money for a greenhouse, we bought a little plastic-covered growhouse. At the time I thought it was a great solution. However, when I returned home one day to find it had blown half-way across the garden, scattering seed trays and seedlings here and there, I was less enamoured… luckily we were able to salvage some of the plants and I also had some ‘reserves’ inside on the kitchen windowsill. My mum was also able to donate a few seedlings that she had spare so all was not lost. It has put paid to my hope of growing any cucumbers this year though…

As usual, we’re also having problems with the dreaded slugs. Last year we lost about 10 runner bean plants to them. We finally managed to halt the onslaught by using beer traps but this year we’ve opted for slug pellets. In the past I’ve steered clear of pellets but these ones claim to be safe for children, pets and wildlife and suitable for organic gardening. I guess only time will tell how effective they are…

By far the most successful things in the garden at the moment are the broad beans…. …which is good because I adore broad beans. Oh – if you’re wondering why everything has netting over it at the moment, it’s our desperate attempt to stop the neighbourhood’s cats using our raised beds as giant litter trays! So far it’s proved fairly successful but the runner and pea beds (which have no netting) seem to be getting more feline attention as a result…. our solution has been to put down lots of orange peel as I’ve heard this can deter them. It seems to work when it’s dry but when it rains I think it must dampen the citrus scent and the cats quickly revert to their usual antics… still, as a cat-owner and nature lover, I can’t really contemplate using any chemical repellents. I guess we’ll just have to eat plenty more oranges!

Something else that seems to be doing well are our potatoes. We don’t have much space so we’re growing them in big sacks. So far so good….

The strawberries I propagated from runners last year are about to flower…

The runner beans are shooting up….

and my herbs are flourishing…

So…hopefully, in a few months time I’ll have some pictures of lovely homegrown fruit and vegetables to show you! Fingers crossed….

Our Easter Weekend

What a perfect weekend! 

We baked…..

….and baked…..

….and baked some more!

We feasted with family…

and walked some of it off…

…and then some more…

and then some more (well, it was a big meal)!

We created….

…and displayed.

We marvelled at the sights of spring…

and the scents.

We drank in the views…

… and had a thoroughly fabulous time! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter too. 

xxx

and the winner is…

(drumroll please)

…Michelle! Well done Michelle! So, what does Michelle love about spring?

“Definitely the smells! I love when the lilac and honeysuckle start to bloom and the air smells so good. I could just stand outside and enjoy it forever!”

So true – the smells at this time of year are wonderful and uplifting. Congratulations Michelle – I’ll be in touch for your contact details and get the parcel sent out asap.

For those of you who weren’t lucky this time, I hope to hold giveaways to celebrate each new season, so there will be plenty of opportunities to get hold of some handmade goodies in the future….

xxx

Spring Shawl(ette)

Now, I’m not really a shawl sort of person but when I spotted this pattern, I knew I had to make it. I immediately pictured it in a lighter weight yarn – something delicate and floaty, perfect for all the weddings and garden parties I’m likely to be invited to this spring and summer – yeah right, I can dream though…. 

Anyhow, on with the nitty-gritty…

Pattern: Armorique by Eclat Du Soleil (available for purchase here) 

Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze (25g) x 2

Colourway: Meadow

Hook: 3mm

About the pattern

This is a lovely pattern – impressively well written, easy to follow and with photographs detailing each step. I wholeheartedly recommend it. My one bugbear is that there’s no gauge given so I was unable to crochet up a swatch beforehand to see how my yarn substitution would work up size-wise. As a result, I think my shawl is a bit on the small side – I could have done with going up a couple of hook sizes. I guess I could have solved this by adding in a couple of extra rows to the main body of the shawl but I was running out of yarn at the time and didn’t want to have to splash out on another ball…so I’ll content myself with a shawlette, rather than the originally intended shawl…

About the yarn

As mentioned above, I needed to find a substitute yarn as the specified yarns are not readily available in the UK. I settled on Rowan Kidsilk Haze as I wanted something soft and non-prickly that could be worn next to the skin and I also love the colours it comes in. I thought this green was just right for spring. However, if I make this again, I think I’ll go for a less ‘hairy’ yarn so that there’s greater stitch definition – it’s such a gorgeous stitch pattern that it deserves to be highlighted. Something silky would look spectacular and would, in my opinion, transform the shawl from “garden party’ to evening wear. Imagine it in red silk over a little black dress… it would certainly have va va voom!

Right, now I just need to find a garden party to wear this to….

any offers?

xxx

Recipe: Rhubarb Jam

I’ve really been enjoying reading your comments in response to my little giveaway. It seems there are so many reasons to love spring – the flowers, the little lambs in the fields, the smells, the freshness, the sunshine, the longer days, the feeling of newness, the colours…. it’s all so wonderful! I also have a culinary reason to add to the list too as, for me, spring marks the start of the jam-making season and that’s definitely a cause for celebration! 

I’d been keeping an eager eye out for the arrival of English rhubarb at my greengrocer’s for a while now – I’d hoped to get hold of some of the early forced stuff but my grocer told me that the supermarkets pretty much have a monopoly on it and it’s very hard for independent sellers to get hold of any… so I waited…. then imported rhubarb began to fill the shelves and, although tempted, I waited….. then, finally, this week, my patience paid off and I was able to bring home a rather large bag of the stuff – I would have bought more (crumbles were beckoning) but it would have pretty much blown my food budget out the window, so I contented myself with enough for a batch of jam. I will definitely be going back for more though….

Rhubarb makes a wonderful jam – light and fruity and incredibly moorish. Some people regard it as a tricky jam to make, probably due to the fact that rhubarb is very low in pectin. However, if you’re worried about achieving a good set, you can always use jam sugar (the stuff with added pectin) and you shouldn’t have any difficulties. 

Here’s my recipe – you need to start this the night before you intend to make the jam:

Rhubarb Jam

Makes 6 x 225g jars

• 1kg rhubarb (trimmed weight), cut into chunks.
• 1 kg sugar (granulated or jam sugar)
• Juice of 1 large juicy orange 

In a large non-metallic basin, layer up the sugar then rhubarb, ending with a layer of sugar. Pour over the orange juice and leave overnight. 

When you are ready to make the jam, transfer the ingredients to a preserving pan or large saucepan and bring gently to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly and test the set after about 5 minutes. When ready, leave to stand for a few minutes then pour into warm sterilized jars and seal.

Spring Greens Part 2: A giveaway!

Edit: The giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all your entries. The winner will be announced soon…

To celebrate both the arrival of Spring and reaching something of a milestone with my blog hits, I wanted to have a little giveaway – something to say thank you to all you lovely people who stop by from time to time and say hello! So, I’ve been busy crocheting, stamping and creating and, in keeping with my green theme, the items that are up for grabs are all, well, green! 

Let’s take a closer look! First off we have a filigree lace bookmark crocheted in a lovely vibrant green….

next there is a pair of handmade earrings, nothing fancy but they do look pretty……

then there is a card which I made by carving a piece of rubber with the daffodil design and stamping onto some handmade paper…..

and finally there is a little lacy coaster which is ‘green’ on two levels, having been crocheted from some organic and naturally dyed cotton….

So, for a chance to win this little bundle of greenness, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you love most about Spring. The giveaway is open until Wednesday morning (8th April) after which I’ll draw a name from the hat and try to get the parcel sent off to the winner before everything closes for Easter! Everyone is welcome to enter – it doesn’t matter if you haven’t commented before – and, if you’re a blogger, feel free to spread the word!

Good luck! 

xxx

P.S – If you haven’t already done so, please check out the post below and let me know what green means to you!

Spring Greens

I’ve mentioned before how I seem to subconsciously go through phases with colours and I’ve noticed that these phases seem to be very much influenced by the seasons and the weather. In summer I go for anything bright, in autumn I choose golds, reds and russets, in winter I love deep berry colours and in spring…. well, it just has to be green…..

At the moment, I’m spinning this…

finishing this…..

and starting this……

I love the colour green. It speaks to me of new growth, fertility and freshness. In fact, the word green is believed to derive from an Old English word meaning to grow. Of course there are plenty of negative associations too – if you’re jealous you might be “green with envy” or if you’re unwell you might be looking “green around the gills”. However, these associations are not the ones that spring immediately to mind for me. Instead, the colour green always conjures up images from nature, images such as these…..

So how about you… What things do you associate with green? Do you love it or loathe it? Whatever you think about it, I hope you’ve enjoyed this particular little burst of greenness!

xxx

A spring in our steps

This weekend we spotted sunny yellows…

and vibrant greens.

We watched the lambs in the fields….

and noticed smaller creatures too.

We delighted in the new….

and revisited old friends.

We hunted for treasures……

and made keepsakes of our finds.

A lovely weekend full of love, laughter and sunshine! I hope yours was bright and beautiful too.

x