Catching Up

We've been away for a few days into South Lincolnshire and also to Cambridge, I'll report on our visit in a later post; this morning it was time to catch up with gardening - even after only a day or two things have changed.

First I cut the grass which took a lot of effort as it hadn't been done for ages because of the rain.

A job well done, I think. After a coffee break I picked some of the gooseberries which seemed to have doubled in size overnight.


It wasn't until I'd finished picking that I noticed Max asleep under the gooseberry bushes - the cats love it there as it is so shady.


So later I'll be making a crumble or two. One of my friends has passed on some Lady and Saga magazines, hmm .... what is she trying to tell me!

Not only have the gooseberries doubled in size - the tomatoes have too.


So have the beans.


I'll be back later with tales of Cambridge, owls and a rabbit or two, or three or four or........

A Visit to the Garden Centre

Today, after a much needed trip to the supermarket - the cupboard, fridge and freezer were bare, and even worse we were down to our last four sachets of cat food - we drove out to Bridgemere Garden Centre to buy tomato seeds and compost. Even though it was sunny in Stoke as we drove out towards the Maer hills and through to Woore the mist was swirling across the road. Of course we hit the coffee shop first whilst it was still fairly quiet and then had a wander around the new spring time displays. We hadn't visited since just before Christmas and everything had changed. We also had a walk around the gardens there which, by then, were looking lovely in the bright sunshine.

We bought two types of tomato seeds, the popular Moneymaker and a plum tomato variety called Incas. These are now potted in plastic catering cups with holes drilled in the bottom so we will await the results. The best plants will be nurtured in the conservatory before planting in the green house later on.

We managed to do a little bit of work in the garden after sorting out the seeds and I discovered a daisy on the lawn and a dandelion in one of the beds - both in flower and Paul spotted a Peacock butterfly and noticed rose buds on our yellow rose. In February? I don't expect to see these things until much later. To quote one of my heroes Christopher Hill - 'The World Turned Upside Down' - well it has in our garden anyway.