Christmas at the Cottage

Merry Christmas :)



The art of sowing seeds.

Think I might have been a little heavy handed

with the seeds :)



And to think I was worried that nothing would grow...

...what does one do with a gazillion and one cosmos and lettuce seedlings??

I will plant them out,

and I will never have to buy another lettuce from the supermarket,

and cosmos will flower in my garden for eternity  :)

I remember thinking

when I was scattering the seed,

how many should I scatter?

Apparently I may have scattered a few too many :)

And then there are the tomato plant seedlings...

... well - how was I to know that every seed would grow?

When deciding on how many to scatter

I reckoned that some wouldn't grow,

so scattered a few more!

Now, planting these babies out will be more difficult

as I do not have a glass house

that is 20 metres long!!

I can't bear the thought of not planting them, though,

so I will ponder this little glitch

 a little longer.

I think I have quite a bit to learn yet

about the art of sowing seeds :)

Garden's looking very pretty,

even though the wind did it's best this week

to batter and bend my flowers.

We even had a light dusting of snow one morning this week!

These gorgeous granny's bonnets self seed all over the place -

I love them.

So pretty :)

See you,

Jenny

Divine!

This is what I see as walk down the hall

to the front door

each morning...

And once I'm through the other side,

I turn round,

bury my face in the blooms,

and breathe in !

It's truly divine :)

Of course it's hanging way too low,

but who could possibly take the snippers to this beauty.

You've just gotta duck below it :)

 These are loving it under the magnolia,

what are they?

I'm sure I should know!

I tried a bit of an experiment this year,

and chose not to prune this rose bush,

'cos it just kept on flowering all year

and it seemed such a pity to cut it back.

So I wondered if it would be as good come spring,

and sure enough

it's amazing!

Absolutely covered in buds.

This garden is definitely one of my happy places :)

Around the back in the veggie patch,

I've been looking after the strawberries...

...and I've been sowing carrot, beetroot and bean seed,

put some potatoes in the ground,

been carefully tending my flower seeds that have all popped through the ground already,

and generally just trying to keep one step ahead of the weeds :)

Cut down an ugly old tree last week,

so once it's all been tidied up

I have plans :)

A little bit of woodland in the city :)

Here's the "before plans" pic...

It may take me a few months before I can show

the ''after plans'' picture,

but it will happen :)

In the meantime, looks like there is some wood to stack!

See you.

Coming up the path to the front door



is a pretty little trip

at this time of the year.

Everything is so green

and new

and lush.

And plants seem to sprout and grow taller

before your very eyes.

The perfume of the magnolia

and wisteria

is divine.

Here's Charlie,

our super energetic cat!

He has a spot picked out for each part of the day -

mornings are on the front chair ...

then he moves round to the north side of the house...

early afternoon is spent in the garden against the back fence...

late afternoon it's the top of the outdoor table...

and finally just before dinner time,

it's the back porch.

His exercise for the day comprises

the stroll

between sun traps!

Just as well he is cute!

How else could you get away with being soooo lazy!

Unlike Charlie,

I've been a little less lazy :)

This was the state of our glasshouse

after being abandoned over winter...

Not a pretty sight.

It's had a bit of a tidy up,

'cos I'm determined to make it work this year.

I am struggling to grow tomatoes here,

not through any lack of trying though.

The first year was a disaster,

the second year only marginally better.

Well,

this year,

I have read,

and googled,

and got all the information.

I have cleaned it from top to toe

and I've painted the fence behind it

('cos somewhere along the way I read it helps

if there is a dark wall behind,

it helps radiate the heat - makes' sense I thought).

I've planted my first four tomatoes,

and I also planted seeds for more.

Who knows what will happen,

but if determination counts for anything,

I'm winning :)

I've decided to have a go at growing quite a few things from seed,

some vegie seeds,

and flower seeds.

Hope they ''happen''

This is one of them that is happening:)

and I am quite excited really.

It's a sweet pea seedling,

liberally surrounded by a dozen or so snail pellets!!

I've not had much success with these either.

Mostly when I plant them,

not a single sprout appears,

so you can imagine my surprise

and delight,

when I spotted several of these coming through the ground

a couple of days ago.

The snails don't stand a chance!!!

I have also had stern words with Charlie

as these are planted in the back garden,

and I do not want to see him park his furry body on top of them

whilst sunning himself!!

I have dreamy notions

of vases of sweet pea

liberally dotted around the house

filling the rooms with their perfume:))

I'll let you know how that dreams pans out!

And what's so interesting about this picture...

... well, not so much really

except that the hedge that's growing behind the wooden fence

used to be another 15 - 20 foot higher

until yesterday.

I feels like someone has turned the light on

in the back garden.

I cannot get over how much light the hedge was blocking.

This is going to help my tomatoes

I'm sure.

I'm also thinking

we will have about another two or three hours

of sun in the afternoon

before it disappears.

Guess Charlie will be happy about that too.

I'm off to check my seeds:)

See you.

Spring at the Cottage

The prettiest time of the year is here,

spring flowers and lush green leaves.

It always seems to feel like

I've been given a zap of ''spring'',

straight to the veins,

and my favourite little gardening fork and I end up

spending quite a lot of quality time together :) 

These are what I found 
while I was having a wee wander round this morning...

... celebrated an anniversary this month -
it's been two years since we arrived at the cottage
though it seems like only yesterday
that we were lugging the furniture up the stairs!

When we first saw the cottage it was winter time,
so you can imagine my delight when, by the time we moved in,
it was spring time,
and the garden was just starting to bloom
like it is now.
Spring at the cottage -
definitely my favourite time of the year.
You just never, never know
what you will find
 when you have a little wander round the garden,
and 'aint that the beauty of it :)

Just like magic!

Spring is happening in the garden -

it's quite magical to watch,

when there's lots and lots of empty space and straw mulch,

and then it happens!

Starts with this...

...which becomes this, one week later...

...and then one more week later it becomes this!

And then there are lots of these...

...and a whole tree covered in this,

that's just outside the kitchen window...



...these are popping up all over the place...

...and even the little so called "weeds" are pretty...

... told you it was magic, and this is just the beginning:)

This little table and chairs sit under the front verandah,

nice place for a cuppa 

in the morning sun.

Enjoy the day:)

Jenny



Finished :)

I've finished the room :)

Well, almost -

still needs a little quilt for the end of the bed,

and another couple of pillows,

but apart from that,

it's done!

I love the change -

so fresh and airy and pretty much how I imagined it might look.

Loving it!!

Specially love the wardrobe..

...made a little key trinket,

with a button from Barb ...

Remember the green bathroom...

not green anymore!!

Let me loose with a paint brush, why don't 'cha!!

And while I was looking for stuff,

under the house,

(you would not believe the stuff that's under there!)

I found this really really icky old chair,

disgusting dark brown varnish,

and a little rickety,

but look at her now!

And out on the front verandah,

my gorgeous old family chair now sits,

where I will no doubt sit in the sun from time to time,

listening to the birds maybe,

enjoying a cuppa,

and thinking about the next thing:)

Getting ready, now,

for lots of visitors -

coming to see the rugby.

Go the All Blacks!!!

See you,

Jenny