El Mundo Bueno

Off to Salou in Spain for some summer, since I'm not getting it here.










This is the view of the sunset from the balcony where I'll be staying. I should be looking at this in person, this evening.






Hasta la vista!

Cat stuff

Oh. Mitzi just came in the kitchen.

I have very few pictures of her, although I see her regulary in the garden. Mostly on the left side, though she does wander over into the neighbours on the right, now that the dog is gone.

So I saw this little cat face, looking at me through the mesh (keeps out the bugs, best I can do without a screen) and then she came in. Didn't eat anything, thank goodness.

Just had a bit of a scratch. Cripes.

I may as well just tattoo it on my forehead, "cat lover".

Nemesia and Nasturtiums

Well this




isn't really a patch on this (Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton, Illinois, taken May 2010).

But then I don't have all day, every day to nurture my plants to perfect fruition. And perhaps, I put too many seeds in the pot - as in, the whole pack, in one go - well, I wanted some Nemesia Strumosa KLM beauty. And for good measure, a red and white version of the same. So that's two packs, in one go, some 300-400 seeds each.

Still, it looks pretty enough - oh darn, I'm really not good with seeds. But I can try again next year.

However, I am heartened by my Nasturtiums.

I took some expert advice from someone who grows them beautifully, and moved them to a sunnier spot. It was all a dud last year, but I have some fantastic buds, and even some flowers now. I'm hoping for a good crop for my salads - they make a bold statement with some lettuce and tomatoes, and taste rather peppery. I haven't looked lately but you used to be able to buy them in Sainsbury's.

Buy them? I'll grow my own, thanks!

Oh, umm ...

I've just made friends with Mitzi.

It's only because Big Bro hissed at her. She only came round to say hi, and see what the fuss was about, and he did that sssss thing at her. I didn't think that was fair. So I followed her back (there wasn't far to go) and gave her a scratch.

As only a cat lover knows how to do. Ears, cheek. Scoodge, scoodge.

I didn't mean to be a cat lover, it just comes natural ...

Vegetable Productivity

I had a very productive weekend, the one before last. But I didn't get to tell you about it. I get behind myself on here during the summer, because either I'm out there doing, or in here writing.


But let's start at the top. When I finally planted the tomatoes a few weekends ago, I just left them. Finally, I got them staked and tied.

Plus, I put some "companion" plants in, namely Marigolds (the tagetes variety). Apparently, they repel "eelworm" and other sorts of garden pests that would attack your tomatoes. Well, I don't really know about that. I've had tomatoes, some years with the Marigolds in between, some not. Not much difference, I still have had a good crop. But, it looks nice.

The tomatoes did so well in the week, with a lot of rain, I had to tie them in again this past weekend - growing very nicely, with lovely flowers, which means some lovely toms.

Next in was the cucumbers - I don't know if I'm late or not, but here's hoping! They actually all have little tiny cucumbers on them. Fingers crossed. If it all works out well, I could be giving them away.

They haven't done much in the week, but I shall nurture them. Sorry, that picture is a bit blurry, I'm still getting used to my new camera.

And then there is the courgette (zucchini). This time it's a yellow variety, and I'm very excited about it. It doesn't look very big now, but it does have tiny little courgettes ready to pop! Or so it seems ... it was an interesting experiment last year, especially when you don't see them until it's too late!

Must keep an eye on them, when it starts spreading like a mad thing ....

And finally, I put in those pretty plants I bought at Phoebe's, at the same time as the veg. Just to jazz up the left border a bit. I am told the one on the left is a Snapdragon. I didn't know that, I just thought it was a lovely colour. The one on the right is of course a Dianthus, or a "Pink" - still smells like cloves. Lovely.

But vegetable-wise, it's all very tame at the moment. I'm waiting for the burst! The rain is useful, of course, even if it means no sun for this little sun-worshiper.

Close Encounters

So, I stepped out the kitchen door into the garden late-ish Saturday night. Before I rounded the corner to the patio, I felt my foot brush against something. Something sort of brushy.

I took a few more steps then thought, "hang on."

Sure enough, very close to the kitchen door, a dark, prickly blob.

Now oddly, my lighter also appears to be a mini flashlight. I say odd because that seems rather advanced for a lighter that was 4 for £1 at Poundland. But handy, nonetheless, especially when hunting hedgehogs at night.

The light, as you see, is blue. So this is a pretty crap picture, to be honest, but at least you get the sense of the little guy.

I think he was a bit shocked having almost been stepped on by a Croc nearly the same size as him. I did get up surprisingly close, since he wasn't moving, and his little face was barely visible. I was a bit worried there, for a minute. Did I stun him?

I was glad to see also that the cats, who yes were wandering by, gave him a wide berth. Very sensible.

I couldn't resist peeking out and shining my little light on him from time to time, making sure he was okay. Finally, I left it for more than a minute(!) and thankfully he'd moved on his way.

But what was he doing so close to my kitchen door?

The New (Cat) Neighbour

When the new neighbours moved in, next door on the ground floor like us, with their kitchen door opening onto the garden, my husband rang me with some fear in his voice; "they have a cat". Well, Ginger is a smart boy. He wasn't going to mess around with a neighbour, was he? But little scrapper that he is, maybe we had a situation on our hands.

He hasn't scrapped. It's been a few weeks now, and Mitzi seems to have settled in.

That is one furry puss. Again my husband, worrying that we might alienate Ginger (and knowing my propensity for making friends with pretty much any and every cat) suggested that I don't get too close to her.

Close to her? With that hair? Remember, I am still technically allergic to cats. I know, hahahahaha, that isn't going on with Ginger, or Big Bro for that matter. Orange Tabbies seem to rule ok. But such a furry thing, hmmm. My eyes kinda tear up just looking at her.

Well, she hasn't let me get to close to her, but there don't seem to have been any fights.

Last weekend when Ginger made himself comfy in the shed

Mitzi seemed rather jealous. She was perched at the bottom of the path, and when Mr. G was sitting nearby, I heard that guttural cat noise. A kind of, cat "f*** you". Ginger wasn't bothered. I watched curiously, ready to intervene, but nothing transpired. She even had a nose around the shed herself, at one point.

It's all a bit of a damp squib, and cats will rub along together. As will neighbours. Besides, Ginger seems to have pushed out every other cat that ever came wandering by our garden, whether they ever made friends with me or not:

Whitey, Blackie, where are they now? Surely still around, just not in our garden.

Just as well. I didn't mean to become "Cat Woman of Hither Green". No, I still meet them on the street, on the way home from the train (other cats, not the ones who used to inhabit this wild space) and they still lie down in front of me and say "pet me". Sometimes I think, "umm...give me a break?" Is "I Love Cats" tattooed on my forehead, for every cat to read? I do love cats, but I love dogs, too.

Mind you, dogs look at me in the same way. Not in a "take me home, feed me" kind of way, but a kind of "hey, you're a dog lover, cool man" way.

Or am I just anthropomorphising too much?

Apparently Shakespeare said, "people impute great cleverness to cats".

Well, so do I.

I am now rethinking the cat-flap situation though. If we're going to stay here another year, I feel it's only fair on Ginger. I mean after all, we are his people.

And Mitzi has one, so he might feel a little jealous ...

Scents

Oh my. Sweet days of summer indeed.

It's taken a while for this gorgeous jasmine to come on stream, but oh my goodness, when you walk out the door the smell hits you in the face.

The rose, the most fragrant I've ever encountered, is coming into it's second flush.

Sitting in my garden, of an evening, as I did tonight, is really quite blissful.

After a hot day in the sun, the garden was stretching, sighing, singing. A time to breathe deeply.

Bliss.

Some things take precedence

Unfortunately, I have nothing to report this weekend. I had a rather scary and desperate text from a dear, dear friend and I have been concentrating all my efforts to send her comfort and help in this difficult time.

I hope to report back soon, with progress in the garden. I did go to Phoebe's Garden Centre early in the day and found some lovely new plants, along with some marigolds to add to the tomato patch. But more on that later.



I'm hoping, counting on good news, very soon.

Turn your back for a minute ...

And all hell breaks loose out there.

Three weekends I wasn't there. How could it become such a mess? But it did. Mother Nature was taking back her patch, in a big way. Yikes.

So, as we have had much rain to contend with, I was hopeful this weekend I could work out there. Perhaps, last Sunday I could have gone out there, after running 5.5 miles of a relay marathon on Saturday, nope. Rain. And yesterday, after my yoga class, I was hoping. Nope. Rain.

But today, I thought, would be the charm. Hmm. I was dodging raindrops after breakfast, big time.

The nice thing is, when the ground is so wet, weeding is quite easy. They come up in your hand with roots and all. So I made some progress, in between downpours.

I can't even begin to tell you how long it took to get to this point. But, the best thing of all, I had enough sunshine to cut the grass.

It's a psychological thing. When the grass is trimmed, nothing looks so bad. Do you know what I mean? When the lawn is nice and neat, somehow everything else seems okay.

Baby steps. To get to some sort of holistic gardening whole. Onwards.

Sweet Days of Summer

The jasmine's in bloom.

Which I am very happy about because even two months ago, I thought it was dead. Who knew? Once upon a time, this thing lived in a pot in my patio garden in New Cross.

But no, and once again it is pushing through the fence into the neighbour's garden, and growing almost out of control. I may have to beg their permission to go over there and trim it back.

So it's not July, dressed up and playing a tune, nor is it even summer, not quite yet.

But I have the memory of feeling hot, hot, hot in the sultry suburbs of Chicago to carry me through.

OMG

This so cool.

I have a hedgehog in my garden.

A few weeks ago, before the Chicago trip, I was out there in the dusky dark, having a cigarette if you must know. I saw a dark, round shape waddling up and away to the right, on the path. I thought, with trepidation, that is one fat, round rat.

I saw a rat in the garden, very early days. Do you know, apparently, in London you are never more than 8 feet from a rat?

I was concerned.

Well, just now, I was outside, as usual, crouched down petting one of the cats - up comes waddling Mr. Hedgehog. Close as anything. Then he waddled away. Dang for not having the camera but ...

I'm relieved. I'm happy! I love hedgehogs!!! How cute is that!

New Beginnings, Old Friends

I just had an amazing trip, visiting my parents in their new home, still in greater Chicago, but a different place nonetheless. No more English Garden. Who knows, the new owners of the old house might just raze the whole thing and deck it. When you leave a garden, that was planted and tended with love and care, you have to let it go.



Even though they have moved a bit further away from where we were, I still had the wonderful, wonderful opportunity to see dear, dear friends. What joy.


I guess I missed the good weather here, as it is pissing down rain today. But of course, it's good for the garden, and means I didn't have to water (I know it was done, once or twice at least, while I was away). The tomatoes have doubled in size already - well, they were only an inch high so that's two inches now. I would take some pictures, but for the endless rain ...


But who am to complain about the weather? It was amazing in Chicago - so much so that I went to the beach and got a tan! Chicago has brilliant beaches.





My main priority was unpacking for my parents, and helping set things up. It's a beautiful place, but all week, I kept looking out the window at this




I think the people who maintain the grounds leave a little space for you, in case you like gardening. Oh, I could have had fun with this. Just enough to put in some lovely flowers and shrubs - it only gets morning sun so it would need some research as to what to exactly plant. I even found a garden centre close by, but never managed to get there. Too much unpacking going on. Also, I would need to set up some sort of irrigation system - just a soaker hose, but I didn't even find out if there is an outside tap. Low maintenance is key.


But even the lovely patio is crying out for at least one pot of flowers.




Time ran away from me. It was time to come home.


It's a funny old life sometimes when your heart lives in two places.

Tomatoes or Bust

It had to be this last weekend. The next two weekends, I am not available for planting in my own garden. And that leads us to ... the 11th of June? Way too late.



As we in the Finance Department at work are also responsible for the plants out front of the office (figure that one out), I knew that my able assistant Stacey was off to Homebase for some more compost. Having visited there with her a few weeks ago, I also knew that there were some lovely tomatoes on offer, with Jamie Oliver's name attached.





Yes, I like Jamie Oliver, although I do find his recipes a bit too complicated and ingredient-heavy (I'm more of a fan of the cooking style of Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater). But I appreciate the fact that he wants to get the nation eating more healthily. And is a big proponent of "grow your own".


Never one to miss a trick, he's teamed up with Homebase and really, these tomatoes look very interesting. Heritage varieties, apparently.

The Heritage varieties are: Black Cherry, Tangella and Red Zebra. All very new to me. And then there are the "Novelty" varieties; Tomatoberry, Cintrina, and Green Zebra (I let Stacey pick them out, when I was on the other end of the phone. I blame her if I get some useless tomatoes, although I'm sure they will be wonderful).

Well, why not try something new? I was a bit bored with the variety at my local garden centre.

So in situ, you might notice I have forgone the track in between this year.

I'm trying to leave space at the end, for those new neighbours ... so far, so good, but update on that coming soon. You see there is still space in front for the lettuces and perhaps radishes. Not too closely planted, I hope, but not in a row anymore, more like my sister does in her tomato patch in France.

All I can hope is, that someone does some watering when I am away!

I am so excited for my trip, I can't even begin to tell you.

Goodbye

And thank you. With much love.

The Long Game

Seeds.

I've never been very good at them. I tried some germination of flowers, early on, on my windowsill. You may remember. The only thing I've been lucky with is Basil. Which to be honest, is pretty easy. Once you pot them up, and leave to germinate, after all thought of frost has gone, it's a doddle.

But last year, on a visit to my parents, I discovered this, at Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton, Illinois. With my friend Olivia. We went there for lunch with her mother, and had a wonderful afternoon.

It blew me away. I hunted it down, and finally found what it was, and finally found the seeds. It is Nemesia Strumosa KLM.

It's an annual, *sigh* hey ho. Have to plant it every year. But I was completely in love. I had to have it. I found it. Not in time for last year, but this.

So, armed with my seeds, and a big beautiful pot, I have planted it up with seeds.

But first, I will introduce you to the handy, easy to carry compost. 30 litres in an easy carry block. Weighs nothing. Without a car, this is a dream come true. I've used this several times.

So here we are




Put it in a barrow, and add water.




Hey presto, 30 minutes later, and some mixing, you have some good compost. Without having to carry a big bag of it back home.




Here is my big beautiful pot, full of lovely seeds. My fingers and toes are crossed.





And guess what?? They are coming up!!! I am so, so, so excited!! I planted this two weeks ago before my French trip - I looked outside yesterday, hmmmmm ... I looked outside today?? It's coming up!!!! A big beautiful bowl of Nemesia, I hope!!!!!!

Le Jardinage Francais

That's French gardening, to you and me.

Another 4-day weekend, this time I decided to visit my sister in the suburbs of Paris.

They have a lovely house, with a lovely garden, and since I seem to be the "expert" in the family, I expected to do some gardening. I could escape the wedding, but not the weekend gardening. Pas de probleme.

First stop, on Saturday, (after a lovely lunch on the barbeque, thanks to Pascal) a garden centre. I go to Paris, and get excited by a garden centre? Yes. I've never seen such a selection of geraniums.

A beautiful place, with a beautiful shop full of home-y things attached, "Le Fleuriage" in Croissy. Highly recommended. I'd like to drive there some time, and fill the boot of the car with flowering plants. This picture cannot convey the huge selection of geraniums on offer, colours I have never seen. Makes what I planted the weekend previous look pale in comparison.

So she purchased a selection of geraniums, but that wasn't the total gardening plan.

No, we needed to re-site the vegetable patch. Where it was, after the neighbour planted up a hedge and some plants on his side of the fence, was causing too much shade. Besides, they say you need to re-site your tomatoes every few years or so. This is four years since they planted up the tomato patch, and last year was a dull crop. I understand their concern, so needs must.

(All these brilliant action shots to follow are thanks to the lovely Laura!)

We moved across the road, as it were. Away from the fence, now next to the wall. Had to completely dig up a huge patch of Iris

And then chop up the soil. Not an easy task. When she texted me on Wednesday before I left and asked if I was "up for some gardening" I wasn't entirely prepared! But we got stuck in.

Haaaaaa, hahaha, like I did any of the hard work with the pick-axe. No, I'm afraid I left it to the boys.

At top is Pascal, at the bottom is the neighbour, Ivanov. Next to him is his wife, Marie, who is wondering what the heck he's doing working so hard in someone else's garden. Amazing, what he did. They are very neighbourly, in her neighbourhood. He did most of it, I just went back and picked out the rocks. Both sides.

Here is the final product:





On top, by the way, is ash. As in, ash from your fireplace or whatnot (that was a contribution from the neighbours as well. Lovely people.) Keeps away slugs/snails. I certainly learned something from that. A few bags of compost, and a bag of manure at my recommendation, and that patch is ready for some lovely tomato plants. Can't wait to see the results!

Ah. One final note. When I said, in my bad French, "I speak French very badly" (or rather, "je parle le francais tres mal"), I heard a chorus, from the French around me, "ah, non, non, tu parle tres bien"; I think they were being very nice. But it was quite gratifying.

I only go to France to speak bad French, and visit my sister. :-)

Bits n Bobs

At this time of year, before thinking about putting the vegetables in (next month), there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to do out there. I cut the grass, weekend before last.




First cut of the year, looking good.

Last weekend, I did some light weeding, left and right, and sprayed the rose which is budding nicely, but covered in aphids. Looking at it today, that seems to have done the trick, as they are gone! Perhaps it's not very eco-friendly, but I use a spray called "Rose Gun 3". Still, I now have no aphids on my rose, so who am I to complain?

I spent a very pleasant half hour sitting in the grass in the warm sunshine, weeding dandelions. Filled a trug full.





I'm something of a dab hand at this as we had a neighbour, when I was a child, who paid me 25 cents per dandelion. His lawn looked great, and I was all the richer for it.



I played around with my latest garden purchase, the bulb basket. An interesting concept, but not one I'm sure I'm completely a fan of it now (having ordered a pack of 6. Hmm). Methinks just to plant some bulbs you have to dig an awfully large hole to accommodate the whole basket. And I'm not one to take my bulbs up for winter, so it probably wasn't my best idea ...






But that said, it is now full of crocosmia. I went a bit overboard ordering bulbs as I think I was too late last year (it's a summer-flowering bulb). There are 20 in the basket (hopefully not too tightly planted) and 10 elsewhere, just on the other side of the Delphinium.



Then there is the perennial problem of the front.





It's clear for now, but I still don't know what to do with it.



Today I have occupied myself with the normal Saturday jobs - laundry, shopping, in order to have blissfully nothing to do but what I want to, over the next three days of this glorious, sunshiney, hot, four day weekend. So far, so good, in terms of the weather. I remember one particular 4-day Easter weekend being full of sleet and rain and grey. Not this year, thankfully!



The only thing that worries me about this fantastic April weather, is the possibility of a hosepipe ban. That means you can't use your hose to water your garden (and they are very strict about this). Yes, they impose these things from time to time. It's been a few years now, but there hasn't been a lot of rain lately ... okay it was a horrible winter (by London standards) so hopefully the reservoirs are topped up. But still, one cannot legislate the whys and wherefores of the ban.



Right, I'm off to water the garden with the sprinkler while I can, because it needs it!