Spring Update

What a difference a week makes to a garden with some warm weather. On Sunday I saw a lone swallow dip and dive over the barn roof, a beautiful sight. There are many new born lambs in the fields. My Mum used to turn over a silver coin when she saw her first lamb of the season and we have about 30 years of 'lucky lamb silver.'

Swaledale sheep on the Pennine hills

There is still a band a snow around the summit of Cross Fell 893 metres, the highest point on the Pennine hills. According to local farmer lore the weather will not warm up until this snow melts on Cross Fell. I view the Pennine hills from my house, and on a clear day I can see Hartside cafe which is on the summit, other days when the cloud is low I only see river Eden or maybe the first row of hills. I am very fortunate to have such stunning and changeable view.  

The leaves on the hedgerows have opened into fresh green leaf. My mock red currant bush, has had the flowers swollen by some rain so it looks a picture. It has a distinctive smell when you rub the leaves and it is buzzing with bees.

Red Currant Bush

I found a lovely little violet that had self seeded in a crack by my back doorstep.

Wild Violets

Celandine's are in flower so I experimented with hanging them up to dry. Do this when the flower heads are open (they close up when it is not sunny) and you end up with a very delicate bunch of yellow buds.

Dried Celandine's in a coffee can (cup)

I have been sowing a lot of vegetable, flower and herb seeds in my greenhouse and it is now full. New this year for me is asparagus. I have planted out in the Artful Garden my broad beans, not all of them germinated.

All the artwork in the Artful Garden has been repaired, as over the winter the strong winds, snow and endless rain have tested their durability.
The Lotsa Bottle Babes have had a makeover and are sporting new lipstick eye shadow and have some very fetching unique designer head wear and some to dye for scarves.

Lotsa Bottle Babes

Babes Rave and Maeve

A display I have created using objects I have found around the farm. 

Spot the difference between real and artificial flowers

When digging both in my home garden and in the Artful Garden I find pieces of broken china, unusual stones and metal objects. The pottery spoons I made, they were inspired by my love of flowers. 

Found and created objects a joy to explore

Spring has Arrived

I have had a busy week, at last the sun has been shining after so many days of cold wind and dry weather. We have had our first rain so this has brought the garden into bloom, all the daffodils, cowslips and grape hyacinths are in flower and the tulips are now in bud.

Daffodils in the Artful garden

Cowslips, primula, grape hyacinths in my garden at home

I have been busy clearing the flower beds of the dead foliage from last year, hopefully we should not get many more frosts that can damage the new shoots. In the Eden Valley we can still get frosts until the end of May. I planted my spuds on Monday after having them chitting on the window ledge for about 4 weeks. I transported them on the car parcel shelf and when I lifted the boot up some of the potatoes rolled out of the egg boxes. So my potato identification will not be an exact science. There were lots of barrow loads of stones to remove from the 4 plot rotation I am using in the Artful Garden. Luckily I can dump the stones in the cow field next to the garden, it stops the cows slipping on the mud when they drink from the water trough.The varieties I have planted are First Earlies -' Epicure', 'Foremost' and 'Swift' and a Second Early 'Shetland Black.' I tried to get 'Lady Crystl' which gave an excellent yield last year, but non were available at the garden centre. This was due to poor weather last year and also the potato growers do not like to open their shed doors too frequently in cold weather. I have decided to plant the escapee potatoes in pots as an experiment.

I have Autumn raspberries so I have pruned these right down to the ground and applied a liberal amount of cow muck, of which there is a regular supply on the farm.

I have planted lots of seeds in my greenhouse both flowers and vegetables. Last year I grew a lot of everlasting flowers, Helicrysum 'Forever' and 'Double Mix' and  Statice 'Art Shades' and 'Forever.'
To dry the flowers you put them in bunches fastened tightly with string so that the bunches hold together when the stems dry. Hang on a curtain rail in a light airy room away from direct sunlight which will cause the flowers to fade. I also picked some buttercups and dried them by the same method. All the flowers should retain their strong colours if protected from direct sunlight.

Close up of the flower garland

I created the garland by tying florist wire across a beam fastened onto a cup hook at each end. I them made small bunches of mixed flowers which I tied together with natural raffia and then tied the bunches onto the wire overlapping them slightly so there were no gaps. It was amazing how many flowers I needed for a 3.5 metre garland the length of the beam in my kitchen.

The flower garland

Now the wild winds have returned and demolished most of my Easter display. I had moved Looby Loo before we had the strong wind that blew the chicken out of the basket and several Easter bonnets were scattered across the garden. Sitting on the garden roller in the orchard is one of her favourite places as she can see people walking past with their dogs or those whizzing by on their bikes on the C2C.

Looby Loo sitting on the garden roller in the orchard

Easter Eggstravaganza

To brighten up the dull days I have created an Easter Eggstravaganza in my Artful Garden.

The  Easter bird is my first attempt a paper mache and it brings a whole new meaning to chicken in a basket. The giant Easter eggs are also paper mache and decorated with tissue paper coloured with Brusho.

Chicken in a Basket

I have 4 scarecrows that I decorate according to the current theme. I made these last summer and they are managing to stand up to the wind, rain and snow but will need refurbishing soon.

Charlie Barley is the farmer who is modestly dressed for Easter with bunny ears and a chicken.

Charlie Barley

Crazy Maisie has a new Easter Bonnet and and is suffering from a surfeit of Hot Cross buns.

Crazy Maisie

Looby Loo is the scarecrow that moves around the farm garden She is wearing a new Easter bonnet and has a basket with a duck in. Looby Loo was made at the request of the young gamekeepers who wanted to spot the scarecrow as they passed the farm garden. She is sitting next to the Easter egg tree.

Looby Loo

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays fine as we have a local east wind called the Helm wind that is extremely wild. All the bonnets are tied onto the heads so lets hope there are no hats off.