Daffodils and Dried Flowers

There has been mixed weather this week, sunshine rain and strong winds but still opportunities to garden. I have now got my home garden ship shape and have started clearing the flowerbeds in the Artful Garden. I am waiting for the opportunity to transplant some forgetmenots and sweet williams which I hope to be able to do in the next few days.

New shoots begining to form

The red currant bush is now in full flower.

Bunches of grape like blossom

Crocuses look beautiful when they form a carpet a colour.

Classic blue and white

The daffodils are now in flower and there is a lovely range of colours and hues.

Daffodils against the barn wall

Daffodils in the Artful Garden

This beautiful Easter cross is in the graveyard of St Oswald's church in Kirkoswald.

Simplicity

I love primroses and they are just beginning to stretch their necks towards the sun.

Golden tips

Ballet skirt flowers

I am growing this cardoon as I love the silver pointed leaves.

Also I like the architectural qualities of this plant

I have made some dried flower posies from the flowers I grew in the Artful Garden last year.

Pinks and reds

Yellows and blues

Golden hues

Reds and purple

Pretty in pink

Autumnal shades

Golds

This pretty market cross was in Melbourne in Derbyshire.

A beautiful spire and pretty barge boards on the houses

Sun, Plum and Garden Fun

The 1 September is the first day of Autumn. This week we have had some gloriously hot days, misty in the morning, very hot after lunch time and cool at night with the nights drawing in and sunset about 8pm.

I have been busy weeding, tidying the lawns and harvesting.

I have been watching the Victoria plums all week and the warm sun was just what they needed. We are now starting to get a plentiful supply and I am running the gauntlet of the wasps who are gorging themselves.

How about this for a plum harvest?

So tasty

The apples tress are weighed down with fruit so they have needed a helping hand. You need to be careful when walking under the trees as you could have the Newton effect where an apple could land on your head.

Ripening crab apples

This tree needs all the support it can get

The runner beans are producing a steady supply and it is like climbing into a jungle as the two rows of beans are very close together.

Beananza

Why is it always no matter how hard you look you always miss a courgette until it grows into the size of a marrow? These little yellow courgettes are very tasty.

Tasty in yellow

My row of sunflowers along the Artful Garden wall are looking very bonny. One flower head is the size of a dinner plate.

Sunflowers always make me smile

The purple of the helitrope flower is intense.

Purple sensation

We cut our beech hedge once a year. We planted it over 30 years ago when we moved into our house.

An evergreen beech hedge

I have been picking quite a few twin raspberries.

Cheeky

Looking out of my kitchen window the sky was a milky orange as the sun was setting. This only lasted for a few minutes.

Golden wonder

When you look at the clouds you can see some amazing shapes that are always very transient.

A tree or not a tree that is the question

It is amazing what you find in the most unlikely places. One morning I found this on my doorstep.

A peacock butterfly wing

Cherie the Ooh La La Bird had got her feathers ruffled and is now back sitting amongst the onions.

Bird in a basket

My curtain rails are getting full of drying flowers.

Hot colours

Delicate shades of pink and red

This is a view of Rose Castle the palace of the Bishops of Carlisle, it is near Dalston in Cumbria. 

A castle with a chapel

This is the view from Hartside summit 1904 ft. The view is forever changing which makes it so special.

A view from the top of my world

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