Gardening and Other Plans

Although it may not seem like it, I do have plans. Kind of. Oh, ok then, things I would quite like to do if I don't get sidetracked doing other things or if I can actually work out how to bring these things to fruition.

Many of my gardening plans involve spending money. Now there's a surprise! I'd rather they didn't, obviously, because that means they will all stay in my head instead of becoming a lovely reality.

However, the bones of our garden need shaking up a bit. Take the front garden. I dislike it intently. Every time I walk up the path I think "I hate this front garden" and, this may sound loopy, even if I don't articulate the thought it is still THERE. The feeling is as much part of me as....say, my eyelashes. I don't need to say to myself "I have eyelashes" to know that there they are.

So. It is becoming is quite stressful. I hate the wibbly hedge, the fact that we have no gate (it rotted and has never been replaced) and that it is a dumping ground for ladders and deliveries for Hubby's work.

I also intensly dislike the layout - path, grass and two boring borders under the windows. Yeah, I'm not proud of it.

Other gardening related ideas include deciding once and for all about moving this blog, posting more often and saving up for a macro lens, costing out the front garden's redesign and, gulp, save up for it.

Oh yes, and find a money tree to plant in the back garden.

Simple Weekends=Happinesss

WEEKENDS are supposed to leave you feeling refreshed and revitalised. Only mine don't. There is so much to do that by the time they roll round the dream of cooking lovely meals, country walks and reconnecting usually remains just that. A dream.

Now though, it is all about to change thanks to Elspeth Thompson's new book The Wonderful Weekend Book, Reclaim Life's Simple Pleasures. Although it is about the good, simple things in life it is not about do nothing, quiet, boring weekends.


It's not a gardening book either but it is interspersed with gardening ideas, some of which will not be new to gardeners. But it's not those that I loved in this book, it's the attitude.


Elspeth encourages us to think outside the box in order to get to grips with our gardens and allotments, to make them a pleasure and not a chore. I especially like the idea of building a shelter out of willow if you're not allowed sheds at your allotment. Now, why didn't I think of that?

Elspeth is a persuasive advocate of getting back to the simple pleasures and eschewing the supermarkets, DIY centres and fast food in order to reconnect with ourselves and each other.

"Recent research on the nature of happiness suggests that what most people need in order to feel content is not big cars nor fancy clothes but the straightforward stuff: a good walk, watching the sunset, time with family and friends and some wholesome, home-baked food." she writes.

A chapter is also given to reinstating Sundays as a tradional day of calm and relaxation with ideas for the perfect breakfast followed by various activities. It's not a book stuck in a time-warp though, there are plenty of suggested websites scattered throughout. I'm even thinking of copying the computer/mobile Sunday detox (I said thinking. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to).

Thanks to this book I am planning a whole host of creative, wonderful projects which will, I am sure, spill over from the weekend into the whole of my life. It will sit on my bookshelf and remind me, inspire me and refresh me, like an old friend whose outlook chimes with my own.

Now if only I could manage to persuade the children to do in one of the most enticing suggestions - spending the day in bed....

* Part of this book review is reproduced on my other blog *

One For My Christmas List

I have started to think about Christmas. I know, I'm sorry. But it is genetic and in previous years, while I have thought about it I haven't actually done anything and so November and December finds me scurrying round the shops, along with everyone else, like a headless chicken.

I have also started thinking about what I would like. This is good. It is not as self-centred as it would seem. Honestly. Because when I stand in the bookshop thumbing yet another gardening book, instead of reaching for my purse I am now reaching for the shelf AND PUTTING IT BACK while thinking "Hmmm, I'll ask for that for Christmas". Yay! See how good I'm being.

The above book is one that is top of my list. Alys Fowler is growing on me and I like what little I've seen of her book. When I first started watching Gardeners' World back in the spring she would, well, annoy me. Just a little.

"Is it because she's on telly and you're not?" teased Hubby. Well, doh! Of course, I'd retort, because being "on telly" has always been my ambition. ~ Sigh ~ (for those of you wondering, I'm being sarcastic).

But since GW gave us a peek at some of the presenters' gardens (did we see Joe Swift's? Did I miss that?) I have warmed to her. Her garden was lovely but normal. And small! But look what she's done with it!

So now her book, which I will have probably read while leaning up against the bookshelves at Waterstones by the time Santa visits, is on my list. Along with this one, which is not really about gardening but a bit.

Sunshine and Flowers

Well, the birthday didn't turn out too bad. I mean, I didn't get to sit on the swingseat with a Pimms but I did (briefly) sit on it because - ta! da! - IT DIDN'T RAIN!

No, Thursday August 14 was, for the most part, rain free. Which is, birthday or not, worth celebrating in its own right at the moment. I feel we haven't had a summer and now it feels like Autumn already. Just you wait and see, September will be glorious. Bound to be as the children will be back at school.

I got some wonderful presents, although no gardening stuff to show you, but a theme of flowers did seem to run through some of the goodies, so I thought I'd share those instead.

With some birthday money I did treat myself to a book (what else?) - Joy Larkcom's Creative Vegetable Gardening. So far I've only had chance to look at the wonderful pictures but hopefully it'll be one for the inevitable autumnal evenings that are heading our way. I'll post a review on it later.

Hand Holding With "The Playground Potting Shed"

I can't quite believe how many gardening books are out there. Or rather, how many veggie growing books are groaning on the shelves of my nearest chainstore bookshop.

I've also lost count how many allotment tomes there are, and I admit I own er....two of them. No, three. No, hold on..... Anyway, I don't know what the difference is between vegetable growing and growing on an allotment, I imagine the principles are the same but maybe it's a marketing ploy.

There is even a book, I'm delighted to say, about running your own school gardening club The Playground Potting Shed by Dominic Murphy which has been my bible in recent weeks, holding my hand through my Monday night I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO WITH THEM!!!!! jitters.

And it has been immensely helpful, if not quite as "foolproof" boasted of on the cover. The most important thing I've learnt, and which went some way to helping me relax, is that there will be mistakes and IT DOESN'T MATTER.

Obvious, I know, but something that I was blinkered about in the first few weeks in a I've Just Cost The School Fifty Quid In Plug Plants And I'm Worried It Will All Be For Nothing kind of way.

The book's arranged termly which is great and this week I plan to steal his idea of making bug hotels from bamboo canes which, knowing my lot, will take all of five minutes. Not all the weeks tally, with this half-term seemingly stretching on forrrrevvvvvverrrrrrrr and some ideas are just the wrong time but it does at least kick-start my brain. A bit. What I'd obviously love is for Dominic to pop over to the garden, have a quick look-see then pop back to tell me exactly what to do for the next five weeks (FIVE WEEKS? I'm ready to break up now, so to speak).

Still, you can't have everything so what I've got is the next best thing - hand-holding via idea generating all wrapped up in a hardcover, with a lovely picture and a cute title on the front.

Real Family Gardens

Apart from spending a lot of yesterday with my nose pressed up against the window I spent a lot of time with my nose pressed in books. Gardening books, naturally.

I'm looking for inspiration. I am sorely lacking it when it comes to ideas on creating our dream family garden, for some reason. Actually, I probably know the reason. Our garden, like the rest of our house, has to accommodate a lot of people with a lot of different needs in not a lot of space with not spending a lot of money.





I have been looking at some books to help me, some of which I have had for years although, to look at my garden, you'd never guess.

So piled up on the garden table is Bunny Guinness' Family Gardens, Sharon Lovejoy's Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, Great Gardens For Kids by Clare Matthews and my latest acquisition Small Family Gardens by Caroline Tilston, which I thought would be perfect.

Except, none of them are perfect. They are all wonderful, with lots of ideas and photos and yet they don't seem to feature real family gardens and by real I mean gardens with washing lines. Dogs who dig and poo. Chickens who decimate your lawn. Climbing frames made of metal and blue plastic. Unsightly compost bins. Of course their gardens may all have this, just tucked away in their second acre.


What I really, really want is a book about how to make your family garden suit everyone and look great without winning the lottery or relocating to something sporting an acre or two. And I want to see washing lines featured. Prominently. Is it too much to ask?