Veggies, water and washing

Some piccies from my garden today...

Busy washing day! Boil washed my un-paper towels, then hot washed towels, hand washed 3 things and ordinary washed the rest - 3 linen lines worth. I love to see washing blowing in the wind. It connects me with all the women all over the world, all through the past, who have cared for their families by washing their clothes.

I have two water butts but they have yet to be connected to the drain pipes. Still, I leave the lids off to collect what they can and......

.... I leave all this out to collect more rain then pour them into the water butts. This has really transformed my attitude to rainy days from gloom to excitement. I love harvesting the rain God sends!

The St. John's Wort is living up to its name by blooming in time for St. John's day. (June 24th) Picture is slightly blurry, sorry.

Mint grows wherever the lawnmower can't reach.

The potatoes are flourishing - looking forward to the first dig!

By contrast the beans are really struggling. This is the second sowing, 24 bean seeds each time, and only 3 have made it. 

The strawberries are beginning to ripen, a few at a time; not enough for a bowlful yet.

Apples are swelling on my new Jonagold tree.

The onions are coming along nicely - apart from the one I accidentally chopped with the hoe. Oops!

The courgettes have survived the slug attack....

..... but this is the only one of 3 pumpkin plants to survive the chomping molluscs.

The gooseberries are almost ready to pick!




And finally, two nosey pets who just had to come and have a look....

Luna, our little girl cat....

...and Flopsy, peeking coyly over his shoulder.


Hope you've had a good day too!  x x

Veggies and other pics

Took the camera out to the back garden the other day.....

The carrots are coming along nicely.

The gooseberry leaves are under attack (presumably gooseberry sawfly) but the fruit's fine. This has happened before, but the bush recovers.

The potatoes have turned into triffids and are taking over the patio!!!!!!!

Hubby's pride and joy - his Japanese Acer, which we grow in a pot using ericaceous compost. The leaves turn the most beautiful scarlet colour in the Autumn.

Some pretty Bramble flowers. We have Bramble growing in the wild bit of land that backs onto our garden and it regularly attempts to invade our garden too! After it has finished flowering I will cut this back to the ground.

This Hypericum has self seeded into our garden. It's also called St John's Wort because it flowers in time for St John's Day, June 24th.

As the flowers fade they develop into these pretty fruits. You can also see White Bryony trailing over it all. Another self seeded plant, it always amazes me just how quickly Bryony grows. It has tightly twisted tendrils that cling on as it climbs and pretty greeny/white flowers. The berries turn from green to red to black and look like strings of beads festooned over the hedges.

Finally, couldn't conclude without more piccies of my gorgeous Bunny. The plants are mint, growing between the tiles of the patio.

Have a great day everyone!  God bless!  x x

Soggy Bunny

Here are some pictures of my daft bunny who refuses to come in out of the rain unless it absolutely hammers down! He looks like a little punk bunny!!!
The box in the foreground has been his favourite toy since we first got him.

Gardening day

Sunny and windy today so decided to do some gardening. Most years I attempt to grow some veggies in my little plot in the back garden, though I often seem to end up too busy or too tired to tend them properly so results are rather varied!

The other factor in all this is our Bunny and his insatiable appetite. During the day Flopsy has the freedom to roam anywhere in our back garden, since he is unable to escape (though he succeeded once not long after we got him - but that's another story) and also has open access to his hutch in the utility room . He sees the garden, and the room, as HIS kingdom and anything edible in it is his by Divine Right - even if it was actually intended for those funny flappy, beaked creatures that can reach places a bunny can't. This means that any attempt at food growing has to be bunny proofed - a challenge he loves to meet head on! You will see various methods in the piccies Daughter took below.....

Carrot seedlings planted about 2 weeks ago. These are in a bucket on a bench out of Bunny's reach. (hopefully)

Lettuce seedlings planted a week ago. These are at ground level so have high chicken wire around them.

Planted potatoes in these today. Got the colourful containers half price last winter. The idea is to keep covering them with more soil as they grow, the equivalent to 'earthing up'. Will bunny proof these when plants show.

Two new rhubarb plants and one older one. I looooooovvvve rhubarb!!!! These are planted on what used to be a kind of rockery round the concrete linen post. Rhubarb leaves may be poisonous to humans but obviously not to bunnies! The two new plants are replacements for ones Someone nibbled to the ground - note waist high fencing now erected.

These are onions planted last autumn in the 'bigger plot'. I intend to plant broad beans and peas in the spaces left. Again, waist high fencing.

My namesake! The glorious spring weather has brought the May blossom on early this year. This tree overhangs our fence from a piece of wasteland behind. It will be full of beautiful berries in the autumn.

And finally Lord Flopsy of Bunnington himself, surveying his realm. I know he's naughty, forever nibbling things he shouldn't, but how can I possibly tell off such a cutie???    ;-)