Oh Hello Sun

The past few days the sun has been shining in the UK. It's so lovely to see!!! It's like we are all coming out of hibernation. Today I've been out planting some bulbs ready for next year and the crocuses I planted last year have started to come out :)

I'm hoping to be able to spend a bit more time on the garden this year. The 2 main things I want to get done is the big vegetable patch at the back and our patio/shingle/shed area, I want to make it more inviting and welcoming. Need to pressure washer the patio, re-paint he shed and get some nice pots and plants around. Oh and some nicer garden furniture. At the moment we have the horrid white plastic set. But it will do while funds are low. I always put a nice table cloth over it when we use it.

This afternoon I'm holiday a cupcake party and then I want to get back and do some business admin and menu planning for the next 2 weeks.

The 30 day photography challenge got forgotten a bit with everything I've had going on- very sorry.


Photo of me taken by Keely Jane who has gone to Vegas today! Have fun!!!

If anyone knows of any fab gardening blogs please post them in the comments :)

Jess

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Back from Holiday and lots to do!

Last week we had a family holiday in Tintagel Cornwall for my Dad's 50th. He booked out a B&B for all of us and it was fab. So great to spend time with all the family. It went by far too quickly though!! Tintagel is a wonderful place, beautiful scenery and great beaches.

I also love getting wrapped up in the romance of the King Arthur legend!

(Source)

While I was on holiday I read a book a friend lent me called Room. All I will say is you have to read it. I read the entire book in one sitting. I was gripped. I love it when I come across a book that you just cannot put down or forget and this is one of the few. Just read it...seriously.

Ok so this week a few things have progressed in the garden.Under the willow tree is now cleared and ready to plant some flowers once the time is right. I've planted some more veg including courgettes, chilli's and radish. Next to do is romaine lettuce and rhubarb! My sweet peas are also blooming! They are one of my favourite flowers and scent. They are also the flower of my birth month so I'm putting them all around the garden! While these little beauties are in flower there will be jam jars filled with sweet peas all around the house!

A few crafts I did over the weekend were to make some more fabric hanging hearts- I need to go steady on these as they could take over the whole house! A decorative patchwork cushion and a Pyjama bag. I'll be posting tutorials on these soon :-)

This week I need to get a hold on my to do list and seriously prioritise, there are things that have been nagging at me for ages but I've just left them. So it's my mission to get as many of these things out the way as possible!!!

I've had some bad news on the job front as my office is relocating so I'm back on the job search. I was hoping 2011 would be a year we could start fresh but it seems not just yet. However I believe everything happens for a reason so I'm remaining positive.

Jess
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First Strawberry of the year! And Welcome to Elliot.

Hi Guys,
It’s a lovely day here in Oxfordshire-I’m hoping it’s the start of the heat wave :-)

Yesterday I met a very special boy called Elliot. Catherine had this little bundle of cuteness on Sunday and he is gorgeous. I’m looking forward to babysitting!!!

We go on our holiday to Cornwall on Saturday so this week I’ve had so much to do and I still have so much to do. I need to get it all done tonight and tomorrow night. I’ve also got to do a giant cupcake this evening but they are fun to do so I don’t mind!

I ate my first strawberry that I’ve grown at the new house. Totally delish. I’m using strawberry planter bags. They are handy but the ones in the bottom don’t seem to grow as well so not sure if I will use them next year.
Potatoes are also coming along nicely. I cannot wait to eat one of those bad boys- I’m feeling the potato and mint pea salad vibe :-)

At the weekend I did one big job which I’ve been meaning to do for ages- the flower bed at the front of the house. I did one side a while ago and the other one which had basically become part of the grass took a while. Some person who lived there previously thought it was a good idea to bury rock, toy cars, bones and broken pots in there. So after much removing of said things I mixed in some manure and compost and finished it off with top soil. At the moment I just have a sunflower, viola and a very early stage dahlia planted. So lots more to go int.

Another massive job which I want to do over the summer is to make a vegetable patch out of an overgrown old blackberry patch. It looks messy and the blackberry plants are seriously passed it. Not looking forward to pulling those thorny so & so’s out!

Sorry about the lack of pics. I had trouble uploading them so I'll try and do it tomorrow :-)

Anyway I’ll be back with a recipe post soon!
Jess
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Gardening- Spring 1

Monday already! Weekends go by far too quickly.

As I've mentioned we moved into our new house in September 2010 and hadn't really done anything in the garden. Well we have started! Here is what we got up to.

The front flower bed was totally over grown with weeds and had a horrid thorn bush in it- sorry I don't have a before picture. I got everything out of the bed, forked over the soil and added a couple of fertiliser pellets. I then planted some violas and primroses to give some instant colour. I also planted some tulip and Iris bulbs and some sweet peas. I also added a few novelty gnomes and a hanging basket above the door!

Around the back I've got the following in containers: Jamie Oliver mixture of herbs, Jamie Oliver mixed salad and a climbing rose.

Phil also put the raised bed together. I've not put anything in it yet as I need to put another bag of compost in. But in this one I plan to have sweetcorn, carrots and radishes in. I will be getting another one as well so I can get some more in. The pic below show's Phil putting the weed blanket on the underneath. I will take another picture once I have put some veggies in there!

Lastly I put my potatoes into bags. Last year I used large containers but this year I'm trying the bags as they have a velcro opening which makes it easier to get them out. I did two varieties of Jamie Oliver- Smile and Pixie.

So we've started a few things, lots more to do! Daisy helped too!

We ended the day with a roast dinner at The Great Western Arms for Phil's Birthday. Happy Birthday babe.

Jess xx