Say Cheese

I have a new camera, a Nikon D3200, my first SLR. It arrived by post yesterday via courier but I have been too busy to read the manual - honestly I'm not putting it off. Sounds pretty foolproof.....it's a big brute of a thing so here's hoping I don't drop it what with my reputation for being a clumsy lass.

Things are gonna change around here....anythings that moves will be shot (with the camera of course) and anything a la "still life" will be captured with all possible light combinations, angles, settings etc.

Watch this space.......

Deck The Halls

It's getting to that time of year and I'm really rather excited. The Victorian Street Fair was held for the fifth time in Whitehead yesterday. A tremendous turnout as always although I didn't have a chance to leave my stall to really take in the atmosphere, I was hiding behind my pussy willow.

Two Fairs down, three to go.........many wreaths to make, foliage to forage, bows to tie, paperwhites to plants, lots of workshops to hold......busy busy and loving it.

Looking Back

Have been trawling through photos of spring, I love looking back in mid winter, it never ceases to amaze me how the garden changes.

This muscari is latifolium, a strong tallish muscari which comes back every year. I have planted another 200 this autumn - that's the lovely thing about bulbs - they're a lovely surprise when they come up as you can never remember where you planted them!

 

May Your Days

Be merry and bright. Can it really be that time of year? Yikes! (As Shaggy would say).

So much to do, so much to do.........am too busy sitting in front of my lovely wood burning stove, drinking wine and watching Game of Thrones (only 2 episodes left til end of series 3 - boohoo).

I have harvested my pussy willow and seedheads. The berries are very early this year and so I'm worried that the birds will have eaten them all by Christmas.

This week I need to: pot up paperwhites, dry orange slices, make willow hearts and cone garlands, collect alder cones, gather moss and paint birch branches  - I love this time of year, just wish that I was better organised. A leopard never changes etc....

On the garden front, we moved daylilies from the cottage garden where they had outgrown their space and moved them up the field - to the prairie and laneside. We also planted lots of camassia bulbs in the orchard - they seem to thrive on our heavy, damp clay soil and bulk up well.


The willow arch got a hair cut this week.

The river lilies are flowering their little hearts out.

Nothing To Declare

Have so neglected the garden that the blog has followed suit. So last week I was glad to be back in swing of things. I'm working my way through the bulbs, have planted 300 crocus, 600 muscari, 300 narcissus and 200 tulips so far but still a lot to get through - hopefully tomorrow will complete the bulb planting.

I have also brought some bits and pieces into the tunnel hoping to force them for Mother's Day - hesperis, feverfew, applemint beside where I have already planted wallflowers,, sweet william and ranunculus. Difficult to time things for a certain date but here's hoping.

Thursday was such a lovely day and we had planned to make a new bed to mirror the autumn bed. With extra help, we managed to complete the bed (the lazy no dig way or course) in less than a day. With only recently acquired horse bedding (still steaming) on top, the bed will be left over winter to "mature" before planting starts in the spring (the fun bit).