Some heady Jasmine love...

July 9, 2015

Right now our garden smells heavenly. It's full of the heady scent of Jasmine, which always reminds me of our trip to Seville many years ago. There it was useful to smell the Jasmine, as otherwise the other smell of the streets were mostly from the horse drawn carriages if you get my drift. And Jasmine was a far better smell to have as a holiday memory!

I seem to be able to grow Jasmine, which is lucky really as there's plenty of it in the garden. There's at least eight parts of the garden that has some Jasmine - you'll remember that we recently put up some trellis to help the Jasmine and the rhubarb.

So as it's at its peak I thought it'd be nice to share some photos from around the garden with you.

The pictures above and below are just outside our conservatory and I've been growing it along the top of the fence to give some privacy from our neighbours. I thought I'd lost this one over winter, but it seems I was very wrong!

If you've got Jasmine, it's very easy to propagate. You simply place part of the stem under soil - in a pot is easiest - and wait for it to root. Once it's rooted, you can cut it from the main plant, in much the same way that you'd separate the strawberry runners from the parent plant. It is that simple and probably takes more patience than skill, but it's an easy way to multiply your Jasmine stock.

I did that for the one I have growing outside the conservatory, and twisted its length up a cane to get it six foot in the air.

You can see it's quite happy in the garden, and the Jasmine that was suffocating the rhubarb has really settled into its new home.

Even when the Jasmine flowers drop they're still pretty, these ones are attempting to prettify my box ball, which is need of a good trim - a job for later today I think!

I'm not sure if I'm more tuned into white flowers right now because of the Jasmine, but suddenly I was spotting more white flowers around the garden.

THE WINTER PANSIES WHICH ALTHOUGH ARE A BIT STRAGGLY NOW KEEP ON FLOWERING

WHITE ROSEBUDS CLIMBING THE TRELLIS ON THE PATIO

THE FROTH OF LOBELIA JUST STARTING IN THE PATIO POTS

IN THE VEG BEDS, SOME LATE FLOWERING BROAD BEANS

Even now, as I'm sitting here in the garden writing this post I can smell hints of Jasmine, it's gorgeous. But tell me, did you smell the Jasmine as you scrolled through the pictures?

The Salvage Sitting Room for #NationalUpcyclingDay

June 24, 2015

I saw earlier in the week that it was #NationalUpcyclingDay today, and while there seems to be a day for everything now - yesterday was National Pink Day (!) - the upcycling one reminded me of a display by Remade in Britain that we saw at Grand Designs Live back in May. So I thought I'd dig out those photos and share them with you today.

You've probably seen airline chairs as easy chairs before, we watched a programme recently on how various parts of a plane could be reused. And yes that magazine rack is made of the tables that flip down often when you don't want them to on a plane. In the right space both of these would be quirky additions and definitely a talking point. And for this one at least there won't be the person in front that insists on reclining their chair all the way back!

The upcycled Jerry Can looked more use to me - and I love that it's still carrying precious liquid...

You may be thinking these aren't very homely, but things are about to change. There was a rug made out of plastic bottles:

A revamped sideboard, looking way more stylish than its original 1970s brown colour

Some leaded window artwork and pictures glued onto scrap blocks of wood which made an effective paperweight and picture, and would be a good and relatively cheap way to introduce some pictures into a room.

My favourite was the demijohn lamp, with its funky cord and matching lampshade I think this would also be a cost effective way of having a unique lamp. The drunken Jaegermeister bottle made me smile too, now repurposed for oils and vinegars it'd look great for those al fresco meals when the weather warms up again.

This chair also caught my eye, it'd been decoupaged with vintage papers which gave it its unique look. With a coat or two of varnish this should be hardwearing enough for regular use, but wouldn't it just look great in a home office?

I like the idea of giving old things a new chance of life, but don't do it nearly as much as I'd like to. I'm repainting some old iron garden chairs and giving them a bit of a revamp and when they're finished I'm sure I'll share them on here, but in the meantime for more upcycyling inspiration I'm pinning things onto my Upcycling Pinterest Board

Happy National Upcycling Day!

Checking back in with the garden & the allotment

June 23, 2015

One of the first things I do when I get back from holiday, after I've wandered through every room of the house is to check to see what's been going on in the garden. I like to see what's flowering, what's finished and to check on my veg to see if they've survived.

This year was no different and before the kettle went on for that oh so important first cup of tea I was out in the garden armed with my iPhone to find out how the garden had coped without me.

It'd actually done quite well, but there were a few surprises for me too...

The sweet peas had doubled their height, which is what I expected them to do - and it was good to see the flowers are starting to form. Then I spotted something exciting - the agapanthus has a flower too, it's not out yet but it's the closest we've got to a flower from these year-old plants. So it's very exciting, in a plant kind of way.

The new clematis I bought earlier in the year has also started to flower, and it does have rather shy deep purple flowers.

The alliums that flowered the day I went to Bristol have now finished, but are still looking elegant and add some height to the small bed that runs alongside the patio.

The schizanthus from Annie's seed swap were flowering - aren't they pretty? And you can see why they're often known as angel's wings or butterfly plants - they're on the shadier side of the garden, but that makes them look even more dramatic.

And then even more excitement.

My long wait for a red hot poker could be almost over, and it's been a long time coming! This plant is a couple of years old now and last year it was disappointing, I think the snails and slugs got to the flowers before I even spotted them. But this one looks strong and it may just make it. I'm putting that down to the mulch I gave it earlier this year after I saw the series on South African plants on Gardeners World.

Further up the garden there was a blast of blue - and a rather unkempt one at that. I'd clearly not tied these Canterbury Bells tightly enough. They're back under control now though.

Another first. The peony was flowering - it was flopping too, not surprisingly as it is a bit of a whopper.

And the mock orange is out too, we'd seen - and smelt - some in Munich's green spaces and wondered if ours was out. It is and it definitely fills the end of the garden with scent.

The black elder is also flowering, the more usual one is as well but that's taller than the fence and rather unsportingly the flowers all face away from our garden!

In the greenhouse the relative of the ginormous Norfolk geranium was doing its best to rival its predecessor, but it was outdone by the amaryllis which shares the same pot. Why have all these plants decided to flower while I've been away?

My tomato farm - that's my pet name for my many tomato plants - had also done well. As they were still quite small I'd dug the pots into the raised beds under the cherry tree and hoped they'd be ok. They were looking a little thirsty, but nothing a good soaking wouldn't fix. It's really not on for the weather to be good when I'm away!

Although I guess if it hadn't been so nice then I wouldn't have had these strawberries...

As well as checking out the garden, this year I also wanted to pop over to the allotment to see how the plants there had coped. We'd spent a day there digging just before we went away and I'd planted tomatoes, dill, sweet peas, lavender cuttings, a pumpkin, some more schizanthus and sown some runner and broad beans.

So I wasn't quite expecting to discover an artichoke, but it seems I've inherited one amongst the grass.

As I was checking the plants, which were fine - MOH called over and asked where our hose was. And he was right it wasn't there, I'm hopeful it'll turn up but I expect it may not and I'll be sourcing another one before too long. That's increased my resolve to get some lockable storage on the plot sooner rather than later as it's not much fun carrying everything we need each time we visit.

So with everything in the garden and on the allotment watered and recovering and I like to think pleased we were back, it was time to get some more of the allotment cleared and ready for the brassicas I'd ordered. It's completely normal to order plants while you're away isn't it?

We cleared a section approximately 10ft x 5ft - measured by me laying down (seriously), forked in some compost and set about planting the five cabbages and five purple sprouting broccoli plants that arrived in the post the day we arrived home. That's planning hey!?

I already had a couple of lengths of white tubing and an old hula hoop was cut in half and put to good use alongside these to give my tunnel more support. Then with some new netting thrown over the top my brassicas were ready to do their thing... I was quite pleased with my engineering prowess, let's hope the foxes aren't too intrigued by it.

So everything in the garden - and the allotment - coped perfectly well without us which is great, but it did mean that the next job on my list was to tackle the holiday washing. And that's never so great, is it?