Sal's Snippets
Monday 18 March 2024
Spring really has sprung…
Monday 26 February 2024
Plans..etc!
Oh heck….I’ve been such a bad blogger, just lately. I’ve been trying to perfect my crocheting skills..which I think are improving…I attempted the ripple stitch, which is quite easy...until you get carried away and forget to count! But I think I’ve ’cracked it’ now!
And as well as this, I’ve been thinking about the garden and what to do with it this year.
All that we’ve had, here in South Devon, weather wise, is rain, rain and more rain; talk about enough to drive one bonkers. February is usually when I start to get outside and make a start on tidying, pruning, planting etc and I’ve not managed to get outside as much as I’d have liked.
Having said that, I have planted my Foxgloves, ( two dozen+) grown from seed last year; hopefully, they will provide a lovely display in June. I just have a handful of smaller ones remaining, to plant. In the greenhouse, I have Comfrey in flower. I grew those from cuttings and they will go into my newly enlarged raised bed, also soonish, I say ‘soonish’ as although the bed is constructed, I need to order topsoil. Plus…I have been looking after a few of my son’s precious plants, which he healed in, temporarily, when he moved house, just before Christmas.
So, with my raised bed in mind, I’ve been trying to plan what to plant and how to organise it.
Sweet Peas are a ‘MUST’ ! I’ve been collecting packets of seeds since last year….and introduced myself to them, earlier…
Varieties are: Early Mammoth, Prize Strain Mixed, Old Spice, Cupani, Floral Tribute, Top to Bottom, Spencer Mixed, Odorata ‘Sweet Dreams’ Mammoth Scarlet, Promise, Mammoth Rose pink, Winston Churchill.
I reckon that’s more than enough!
Dahlias are my next choice…I have a few tubers stored away but I’ve just ordered 7 new tubers…
I particularly like the look of ‘Caramel Antique’, a new variety. So watch this space.
So what else to grow in my raised bed? I think, bearing in mind that I won’t have much room remaining, probably some patches of wild flowers as I was really successful with these last year. I don’t have the room for much veg or salad bits but could probably squeeze in some lettuce along the edge.
It will certainly be good to get back to some gardening and let’s face it, getting outside does one the world of good! 😁
Thursday 1 February 2024
The Glory of the Garden…Rudyard Kipling.
The Glory of the Garden
The poem begins with the writer describing England as a garden in all its glory, with “stately views”. Although there are beautiful shrubs and peacocks, there are also tool sheds and other similar features. And he tells how the gardeners all have different jobs; some might look after growing the plants, others move soil and sand etc. They are hard working people, all doing their best to make this country good.
And then Kipling tells us that we need to make sure that we are doing all we can for our country…that it might be hard work but eventually our hands will grow strong and our backs will be painless. And then we will be brought into the glory of the garden…and he hopes that the glory of the garden will last forever!