Not Yet Autumn in Our Garden

After a couple of hot months, this cooler weather has fooled some of us into thinking that it's Autumn, but Summer is not quite over yet, not in our garden anyway. I love this rose:

And these two-tone gladioli are amazing:

The tomatoes in Mr A's greenhouse will be ripening for another month or so yet:

We're already getting a steady supply of them, plus a few raspberries which you can see tucked into the front of the bowl:

And there's enough root vegetables to keep us well fed:

You can't beat 'growing your own'. If I had to choose my favourite crop it would be peas. I love them so much that they rarely make the journey from the garden into the kitchen intact! What's your favourite crop?

A natural when it come to matching colours

It's not me who's a natural.  I'm hopeless! It's Mother Nature I'm talking about. You only have to look into my wardrobe to see that I haven't got a clue about colour schemes, and I can never remember what colour any of my clothes are when I'm shopping for new stuff. Even my black clothes don't match each other. Who'd have thought there were so many shades of black? But Mother Nature never has a problem matching her colours. She can even get orange and pink to go together.

She manages it delicately with this double begonia:

She adds a sprinkling of orange discreetly to this pink echinacea:

And she's bold and 'in yer face' with this dahlia:

The only way that I can be sure of wearing matching items is to have them all the same colour but again Mother Nature has out-styled me. How about this for a perfect blend of a single colour?

What colour schemes are hanging up in your wardrobe?

All the above photographs were taken this afternoon in our garden and yes it's still looking amazing thanks to Mr A's hard work!

The Freshest Pea and Mint Soup Ever

I'm struggling to keep up with our garden's production of vegetables this year. We did plan to sew seeds in succession but I suspect we forgot to tell the seeds. This morning we tried to ignore the rows of fattening French beans and the perfectly formed mange tout. Instead, Mr A harvested the last of the peas.

Next I searched the Internet and found a recipe for Pea and Mint Soup. You have to simmer spring onions (from the garden), cubed potatoes and garlic in vegetable stock for 15 minutes. You then add the peas and simmer for five minutes. Add chopped fresh mint (again from the garden), a squeeze or two of fresh lemon, a sprinkle of sugar and season to taste. 

At this point I have to admit, it didn't look too appetising but...

...a quick wizz it in the food processor and...

*roll of drums*

Two bowls of soup! Healthy, tasty and undeniably fresh. Most of it was still growing a few hours ago! 

Our conservatory table set for Mr A and his loving wife (that's me!) to enjoy the fruits of our labour

Dad's Garden

When I was 9 years old we moved from a small terraced house with a backyard to a semi-detached house with a real garden. That was when our Dad became a gardener. He had never owned a garden before and so he started with plants that he knew.

First of all Dad planted rose bushes.
I have some lovely rose bushes in my garden especially one that my sister bought for a rather large and special birthday.

Next he moved on to annuals; blue lobelia, white allysum and small marigolds that he planted in a neat row every spring.
I don't have marigolds. The slugs love them too much. But I do have lobelia and allysum each year and they always remind me of Dad.

Dad soon became more adventurous. I'll never forget the day he came home with a Broom. Its name gave me the giggles. How could a broom be a bush?
Now I too have a Broom. It's a smaller variety than the one Dad bought but it's beautiful. It smells headily sweet at this time of the year and it reminds me of Dad and his first ever garden.

Spontaneous Photography

It's that time of year again when I keep bursting into spontaneous attacks of photography.

I'm sure you recognise these flowers from last year but you do realise that...

...they're not the exact same flowers as last year, don't you?

I mean, these flowers have appeared from the bare earth in our garden 

and even though it happens every year...

...it makes me wonder why people don't believe in magic... 

...because it doesn't get more magical than this, now does it!

Is it Spring yet?

I've had a lovely holiday. Lots of family and friends came to visit. I've eaten more food than was sensibly necessary. I've done lots of chatting and hugging grandkids and now it's over. Yesterday  morning I took a New Year stroll down the garden. The sky was a solid grey. The ground was muddy to the point of being squelchy. There was nothing particularly inspiring...

...until I reached the very end of the garden and looked up at the Mahonia bush with its display of bright yellow flowers. They may look mediocre in this photograph but they put a smile on my face.

Spring isn't far away!

Are there any flowers appearing in your garden yet?

My Writing Den

It's been a long time in the making but it's finally finished. All it needs are a few extra cushions and  a bean bag for lounging. It's already inspired me to write a new picture book story. I'm feeling quite excited about this one. It's been a while since I completed anything brand new. [Do you ever get too hooked up on editing old stuff and forget to generate new?]

By way of a reminder, the space used to be a glory hole behind a partition in Daughter's bedroom, and this photograph shows Mr A practicing his amazing DIY skills,

And this...

          ~~~ roll of drums ~~~ 

                           ...is the finished writing den!

And there's more...

This is the view from the window. The garden is yet another example of Mr A's handy work and his favourite place to be. Clever, isn't he! J  

[If you look really carefully you can just see Mabel-the-cat half way down the lawn. It wasn't long before she pattered up the stairs to join me. Daughter's bed makes a perfect cat-day-bed. Must change the quilt cover before her next visit!]

So now you know where I'll be writing from now on. Where is your most inspiring place to work?

What fun - a break from writing!

Last month was an exceptionally heavy writing month. I'd reached the point where my brain had gone fuggy so today I took a well deserved break from the coal type-face and went with Mr A to the Malvern Flower Show.

We admired show gardens:

We browsed and bought plants:

We were quite excited to see Monty Don with BBC cameramen and big booms:

We were even more excited to bump into my friend/critique partner/blogger Alex Gutteridge from Alex Gutteridge Writes:

Bad weather is only bad if you're not dressed for it. We were all well wrapped up.
[I took my hat off for the photo or you wouldn't have recognised me!]

Without a doubt the highlight of my day was buying a heron. [Thanks, Alex for encouraging me to get him!] He is now standing proud in our garden.

And now it's now time to get on with some work. I'm revisiting a number of picture books that have been languishing in my pending file for far too long. My outing has given me a few story ideas, some writing inspiration. What's more, I've got a feeling that a heron might well appear in my next manuscript because...

Y I am now in love with herons!Y

Looking forward to a better harvest

The vegetables that Rod planted last year were ready for harvesting when he was in hospital. He was too ill to eat any of them.

This year he’s in the garden most days, gaining in strength and putting on weight as he digs the earth and plants his seedlings. His peas are coming along nicely. I have to admit they rarely reach the saucepan. We eat them as we pick them but last year, after Rod’s stem cell transplant, raw vegetables were a definite ‘no-no’.

His broad beans are already flowering and there’s nothing creamier than young home-grown beans, but last year he couldn’t face them.

And the potatoes have settled in now that we’ve had a bit of rain. Last year they tasted amazing but everything to do with potatoes made Rod sick.

I must admit my preferred form of gardening is to wander round smelling the flowers. I couldn’t resist sharing with you a red rose that I photographed a few minutes ago. When I was a kid I had my own patch of garden. Dad planted a red rose bush in it for me. Red roses always remind me of Dad.

Rod’s biggest harvesting regret last year were his strawberries. It was a bumper crop but soft fruit was definitely not allowed with his lowered resistance and I hate strawberries so they were left for the birds. This year I reckon he’ll have the bowl and cream all ready and waiting. Roll on harvest time.