Tulp 'Ballerina' and purple Honesty

Biennials appear just at the right time to make perfect companions for spring bulbs. If they like you, they'll set seed and pop up every year.

Ladybird books for grown ups

I just love these new Ladybird books, and now can't look at the originals in the same way...

LADYBIRD BY DESIGN

There's an exhibition on at the De la Warr Pavillion in Bexhill all about Ladybird books, featuring original prints and background info.  I read them, and then read them to my children, especially the fairytales.  The titles about actual things are very dated, nostalgic and evocative of a simpler age when children were left to their own devices more and wore homemade clothes and tank tops.  The exhibition's on until May.

BOTTLE IT

The weather has been wet and flatteningly (?!) windy recently, but by some miracle it’s been beautiful and calm today for our Hedgerow Harvests workshop.  In the depths of winter when we crack open the sloe gin and spread our jam or chutney,  a little of today’s autumn sunshine might leap out and take us back to these last warm days.

PURPLE PODDED

I’ve grown quite a few purple podded legumes (peas and beans)
this year and they do look lovely, but despite the fact that the
pods turn back to a more appetising looking green colour once
they’re cooked, they’ve not been a big hit at the table - “too stringy!”
“Hard peas!” Pretty on the plant, not so decorative pushed to the
side of a plate.

HARVEST SKIES

Summer skies with tinges of harvested corn remind me that the year is rolling round again.  It is a holiday feeling for some, but for many of us it poignantly signals the end of the summer.  Make hay.

FLOWERS

I get a bit overwhelmed by gardening in early summer, but whenever I don’t know where to start, I just pick a big bunch of flowers and try to focus on the good aspects and the crops - not the weeds and the waywardness.  I also start thinking about next year and how it will all be much better then ...