garden update

With this glorious spring weather we've been experiencing, my little London garden is growing from strength to strength. Every day something else seems to have grown another inch so I thought I'd give you an update. 

Let's start with my two vegetable planters. Back in November I filled them with spring bulbs. I actually planted them the day after my wonderful university friend very suddenly died. For some reason, I decided that planting spring bulbs would prove soothing so on a very bleak and sad Saturday, I filled the two planted with crocuses, daffodils and tulips.Every time a new bulb has flowered I've been reminded of Joe and they have brought me so much joy. First came the crocuses in a peppery purple haze, then came elegant and tall daffs and now finally, my sunny yellow tulips are coming into full bloom. I love how they open up each day and show off their creamy stripe before closing up again as the temperature dips over night. Rather clever, I think. 

When the tulips have gone over I will allow the straggly green bits to die down into the soil and I'll give the beds a top up of compost and manure. With any luck, the bulbs will flourish again next year. Once the beds are ready I think I'll be able to transplant some of my seedlings into them. They have been dutifully growing on the sidelines in various pots.

I know what you're saying... why on earth have you planted carrots in such a shallow tray?! Well, dear reader, I think mostly because I wasn't concentrating and I was just so pleased to be reusing a Charlie Bingham container. But don't worry, I have plans to transplant them into a much deeper pot when they are bigger and stronger. I watched a similar situation on Gardener's World the other day so I hope I can transplant these guys without disturbing them too much. 

The courgettes were only planted the other day so hopefully we'll see some growth soon. I have stacks of tomato plants, of which I will only need two, so once this lockdown is lifted please let me know if you'd like a healthy little tom plant! 

This is my second attempt at lettuces as my first batch became very leggy so I have higher hopes for these. 

The spring onions were transplanted at the weekend too and seem to have adapted well. I'm hoping they'll now spend a happy summer getting bigger and sweeter. There's a mixture of purple and white ones in here so colourful salads are on the way!

The two cucumber plants have also been moved to bigger pots and this one seems to be the healthier of the two. I realise this looks like someone has been nibbling the right leaf but it's actually just fine, just curling over away from the camera. Realistically I'll only need one plant for the two of us so hopefully I'll have another spare plant needing a new home at the end of lockdown too! Get your orders in now!

 

The basil is homegrown but admittedly the parsley is not. This was a shop bought plant that I hope to keep alive for a while yet. Just like cut and come again leaves, this seems to have a good life-cycle. The two pots on either side have some sweet pea seeds in them. A few are just poking up their heads now - the sunny weather should encourage them to come out more over the next week. 

I fear all this beautiful weather in April will mean a wet May and whilst a decent rain shower or two would be helpful, I really hope it doesn't last too long. My birthday is in May and it seems to have rained on every birthday I've ever had but maybe this year will be the exception?! ( I say this every year and yet it continues to rain on the 12th). 

Hoping you are all keeping well, healthy and happy!

L. 

homemade cards & morning walks

Somewhat pleasingly, the weeks are galloping by as usual. I was so worried they'd drag but work has been steady and busy meaning my working week flashes by in a blur of emails and calls. I'm trying to bullet point the week with consistent events, or habits, in order to a) remind me what the day is and b) keep the week moving forward. So, on Wednesdays we have a regular coffee and cake break with our friends Tim and Jo via FaceTime, Fridays is Takeaway Friday (and also Champagne Fridays, because why not) and Saturdays are baking days. In between I am doing home workout videos with Ian which are both hilariously fun and horribly hard. Last week I ended up lying on the kitchen floor whimpering after the 45 minute session. Things can only improve.

We've also been experimenting with what time to go out for our lockdown walk. Our closest park gets very busy during the day and later in the evening so we've decided to go first thing in the morning instead. This morning we'd hit the road by 7am and it was so much better. The parakeets were out in force, dipping and diving amongst the trees and the only other people out were the very keen runners and those walking dogs. We were back in time for cups of tea and breakfast before starting the workday. 

^^ The horse chestnuts near us are just coming into leaf now. Give this another week and the roads should be shaded by a green canopy.

^^ I love this cherry blossom, the flowers look so juicy and delicious to me, especially against the very bright blue sky.

This week I've also been getting back into crafting. As a child I would spend hours painting, drawing and making things. But now, as an adult, I find I have very little creative inspiration in me and rarely find myself getting the paints out, despite having a plentiful supply of them at home. However, this week I did and I decided to paint little Easter cards to send to family and friends. I'm starting small but maybe in a few more weeks I'll have graduated to my school age industrial level of painting and making.

I wonder how long this lock-down will last? However long it may be, I have no doubt I have enough things to keep me occupied with for a while yet. So long as I can carry on walking outside each day. So please, don't flout the rules and ruin it for the rest of us.




L.