Love this #74: Made in Uganda

You'll know that I'm a recent convert to Homesense following the gloriously fake bouquet of peonies I shared earlier in the year, well today I'm sharing something completely different from their sister store TK Maxx.  I've shopped there occasionally and have had great success with Christmas decorations and notebooks, but until now their homewares haven't tempted me into the store. 

But this "Made in Uganda" range could be doing just that, and I'll tell you why. When I read the press release my eye was taken by the vibrant and colourful designs, you'll know I'm a fan of colour, but it wasn't just that there seemed to be something more to these items - and I wasn't wrong.  

I discovered that TK Maxx has been working with the Rwenzori Trading Company since 2008 and since then have enabled more than 10,000 children to go to school, and every purchase made in the UK goes towards providing skills and employment so parents can support their families and send children to school. There's much more about the work they do, and the products on sale in the stores on the TK Maxx website - and there's plenty more gorgeous items there too.

Image credit: TK Maxx

So if you're looking for some colourful and relatively inexpensive homewares, then these are definitely worth a look. And what's more you'll be helping to make the world a better place too.

Image credit: TK Maxx

I've already spotted some large horn bowls in the press release, which sadly I haven't been able to find a picture of, nor have I been able to find them in my local store either. I've seen though that another store that's not *too* far away is a stockist for these items, so I've a feeling I may be heading their way to take a closer look.

And hopefully I'll leave with the bowls that caught my eye. Or maybe a basket or two, because I'm sure they're like notebooks in once you have them, their use becomes apparent.

What do you think of the range?

* This is a collaborative post, but all views are my own

A revision to our garden plan

It's been almost two years since we went along to Grand Designs clutching plans for our garden and seeking advice on how to deal with the "problem areas" in our garden. And it's been interesting to reread that post as I'm sharing yet another revision to our grand plan. 

Following that trip two years ago we were pretty much set on using upturned sleepers to form a small wall-like seat under the laurel tree at the rear of the garden. We had - and still have - some disagreements on how that might work and we were under no illusion about how much work, and digging, that would need.  But nothing happened, and that area of the garden still resembles a bit of a junk yard and is a handy store for all manner of things. That probably means that neither of us were truly committed to making that part of the plan happen.  

But we know something needs to happen, and I think we've finally cracked it.

Here's a clue to the change: 

Pretty isn't it? Although I'll have to confess it's only a very loose clue. 

Image source: Unsplash

While in Dorset without wifi, I found myself flicking through a magazine and I spotted an image of gabion baskets topped with paving slabs to form a seat and my mind began to wonder.  If we could shape the gabion baskets into a semi-circle, it might just work. So I did what I always do and did some research to combat all the questions that I knew MOH would have.

While I was doing that I found some great examples, including this one from Garden Drum on how to build a curved gabion wall.  I knew though after reading that, that I'd be unlikely to be able to convince MOH to go to all this effort. He's read it too, and says we can't do that as he doesn't have a spare wheel to use to shape the mesh, so as I thought, I've no chance of replicating that.

It's ok though because I never really thought I would. Had I wanted as many curves as they had then I'd have been making a stronger case, but as my motivation is to get something done relatively quickly, I'm settling for 0.5m square baskets shaped into a semi-circle. And like all good plans, I've even got a sketch, something I never quite managed for the upturned sleeper version of the plan.

When we looked at the space we realised that we'd need a partial second row of baskets so that there could be some planting at seat level to soften it a little. We can't raise the soil level by half a metre without them as the boundary wall is the exterior walls of two of our neighbours, but we think if we line them with membrane and fill them with earth, this will do the job. As the baskets are relatively cheap - and we have some soil, as we saved some from digging out the circles in the summer - this seems a good all round solution for us.

We'll fill the baskets at the front with what I'm calling builders rubble, but what I really mean is a combination of bricks, broken paving slabs, roofing tiles and some large pebbles which I saved when we had our patio done a few years ago. The pebbles were in the gully between the house and the patio and I knew at some point they'd come in handy!  Since then I've clearly done a good job of "hiding" them from MOH as he was surprised to learn we still had them.  

I suspect we'll need to buy some bricks, but I've already discovered you can buy them on eBay - how amazing is that? I've also discovered that there's lots of people having work done around us and whose front gardens have the sort of builder's rubble I'm after. If they still have it when we're filling our gabion baskets, I might find myself getting brave and asking if I can help them out with their junk (although I might phrase it slightly differently to that!)

So a new plan, and renewed energy and enthusiasm for making it happen.  And there's a good chance it could happen this year - watch this space!

Forsythia inspiration

It'll come as no surprise that I'm a fan of the humble yellow forsythia. In fact I think I've had it in almost every garden I've ever had. 

Surprisingly though I've only ever planted one of those bushes, and that's in our current garden. And that was to replace a forsythia bush that had mysteriously given up the ghost one winter.  Ever the optimist I refused to believe that it wasn't going to spring back into life, so left it there hoping for the best. But nothing and by the summer, with its branches still lifeless I had to admit defeat, but not before making a plan to buy a replacement.

It's forsythia time right now. The hedge on my walk to work (below) is just stunning right now, and it never fails to make me smile.

While in Dorset last week, along with the yellow flowering gorse which lined the sides of the roads, we saw plenty of forsythia. That was in the gardens we visited, and in front gardens. We had a great visit to Compton Acres in Poole on the sunniest day of the week, more on that another day, and it was great to see so much colour on display.

FORSYTHIA AT COMPTON ACRES, POOLE

But it was at Max Gate in Dorchester that my Forsythia Inspiration struck. 

MY FORSYTHIA INSPIRATION

I know the picture above doesn't look much, but seeing the forsythia cuttings neatly in a row I knew it'd be something I'd be trying for myself. I mean, I know how easily forsythia roots - and make a point of clearing it all out of the flower beds following a trimming - and with the vibrant hedge just around the corner from home, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about trying this before.

You see over the winter I've been ogling bare rooted hedging in the plant catalogues to use as a low hedge on the allotment - I know, I really should get out more! I'd been deliberating about how many plants I'd need and the ideal mix of flowering and fruiting shrubbery. Not too much obviously, as I'm nowhere near knowing what I'd need, but I do know a lot of the theory of planting a hedge now!

Seeing those cuttings above, I realised I could make my own hedge (in time) and I've already a couple of cuttings shoved into soil in the greenhouse. MOH, as usual, thinks I'm mad, but I'll be adding to my cutting collection as the flowers start to fade because I can't bear to cut them beforehand.  I know this could be a lengthy business, but won't it be worth it?