Gentle times

My pond section is becoming really colourful, with aquatic and rockery plants, I wanted this area to look lovely and be able to look after it's self. I think of it as Grace's pond, she loved to drink from here, always preferring rain water.

My hosta's is almost there, 2 huge flower heads coming, excuse the mess behind, everything gets moved to this working end of the garden.

I can't remember the name of this tiny flower, it does need dead heading, very pretty in the small pot, there are loads of buds forming, so plenty of flowers to come. 

So many blooms returning, I love this rose, the buds are very dark and they lighten as they open, this bloom has a yellow streak. My mum's peony, stunning colour. Lupins are throwing up flower stalks, I have no idea what colour these will be. 

Some of the best flowers are on fruit, herbs and veg, here, Strawberry, Rosemary and a cucumber plant.

The past few days have been about rest, calm and gentle times, the opposite to how the rest of year has been. The house is clean, I did top to bottom when hubby was in hospital, the garden jobs neglected, I've been exhausted too many times in the last few months. Meals are simple, using what we had at home, I think my mind has to heal as well as my body. We have a simple rewarding retirement together, which was shattered so quickly, frightening swift the changes. 

Hmm................

I enjoyed this book, she writes a good plot, again slightly different, I guessed who done it, with a twist in the middle, but not how, so a clever revel at the end, a really enjoyable book. Book 28 read this year. No crafting again I can't concentrate on anything for too long. 

This tiny bulb in my small apline dish is Weldenia Candida, I purchased it last year, whilst not expensive, it cost more than I would normally pay, I loved the blooms last spring. I hoped it would survive in my alpine dish as there is no drainage holes, just plenty of gravel, so I am overjoyed to see it again this year, it has one flower every day, which only last for just one day, last year we have 14 blooms, you can see the next bud below the flower. 

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers, so again this time of year is special, this plant came from my mum's garden, this is the 2nd garden we have planted it in, only 5 buds are going to open, I think I might need to dig around and remove some of the roots. I hope to find a yellow one this spring, I have just the perfect spot of it. 

This camellia was purchased last year, I had thought at one point the buds would fail, but it has been blooming for a couple of weeks. It's my first time of growing one, in a tub as our soil is not right conditions, whilst it's flowering it's near the front of the garden, later I will pop it to the back. 

I deleted my extra comments of the last post, as from Thursday hubby was unwell and got worse each day, Monday we called 111 and the doctor made an appointment at our local A&E, he was seen at the time given and taken straight to a cubical, he was suffering extreme diarrhoea, loads of test were done, his kidneys were playing up, so they kept him in. They have stabilized his kidneys, and on Wednesday we got the results, he had Campobylactor food poising, the infections doctor came to speak to him when I was visiting, hubby knew about the bug he had, as it was part of the H&S food handling courses he ran for years, the doctor was impressed, it was his first time of finding someone who under stood the bug. We think we know where it came from, we had lunch out last week on Tuesday, hubby had a cold chicken sandwich. 

I got an secondary infection, so I too have been unwell, we both have lost days, mine has started to clear up, and hubby is looking much better, he had been in isolation the whole time, his room does have a window, so it's not to bad. The hardest part was coming home to an empty house, something I have not done for 45 years, having said that I was still feeling unwell, so I went straight to bed. 

Yesterday was a long day, hubby was told they would allow him home, that was before lunch, his antibiotics arrived mid afternoon, so it was a case of waiting. I visited in hope I could drive him home, but just before 6pm there were no signs of any consent for him to leave, so I drove home. Luckily we live just 20mins drive from hospital, I sat at home waiting to hear from him, he came home later last evening.

The garden is not being touched, I did manage to water the veg and greenhouse once, and netted my pea shoots as the pigeons were eating them, I might have to sow some more. I'm having a social media break this weekend, we are doing nothing, loads of rest in the sunshine.

This year so far has not been nice to us, we are hoping things turn for the better very quickly. 

Veg post

 My broad beans pods are filling out, soon we will get our first harvest, much earlier as these were planted late last year. I have nipped the tops off, as I want all the energy going into turning the numerous flowers into pods. I have some blackfly, but I won't do much about it, I am organic so I don't spray, maybe Northsider , Dave can give me a few tips. 

My second raised bed is going well, the runner beans are now at the top of the willow fence, my broccoli is looking strong, and I have both beetroot and parsnip seedlings showing, I have some marigolds I want to pop in this bed, to attract the bugs away from my veg. There are a few potato plants which I did not plant, left over from my Christmas crop. 

The last minute peas are now doing well, they are all looking strong, as are my potatoes in their bags, I am really hopefully to have some small but tasty harvest from this new section. The potato bag in the front will need another earth up, and then it's a case of watch and hope. 

The last place outside is this raise bed, now my salad bed, lettuce are doing well along the middle, these were purchased as plug plants, there are a mixed salad leaf and a baby salad leaf in the front, both grown from seed. At the back radishes and spring onions are showing, we have had our first harvest of these lettuce, just cutting the leaves and allowing the plants to grow. 

My carrots in both buckets are doing well, these are still in my greenhouse, along with the horseradish root I planted, I've used an old chicken poo pellet container. I have also got tomato plants and cucumber plants, they are all doing well, as is the numerous herb seedlings. My greenhouse is in full production at this time of year.

Saturday more flowering plants found their way into the ground, mainly in the old herb bed, I now have pots for seedings, again flowers, should be full of colour this year.

This week

 It's been a week of getting by, we had George on Thursday, which was wonderful, except, he has Downs Syndrome and does not like change, therefore he searched the whole house looking for Grace, daughter was worried, but I found it helpful, in a strange way. He will do the same for the next few visits, Molly was at nursery.

I have spent loads of time on my computer, I have finished my 2022 book, it is ready for printing, I have started on 2023, it is time consuming but fun, a great way to look back on my simple life. If you want to know more, click on My books on my side bar. 

I have struggled with this book, I know it's me, I'm not in the mood to read, but I need to do anything rather than sit here and feel sorry for myself. It's a good plot, old friends on a wedding week break, what could go wrong. Well loads, it was a huge book, 564 pages, Book 27 read this year.

Today is special, 40 years ago hubby and I became a couple, he moved in with us, (me and two young daughters) and started our lovely journey together, our 40th wedding anniversary is in a couple of years, we had to save to afford to tie the knot. We are not doing much, it's a normal day, laundry is on the line, it's sunny and no rain due, I will be outside, I don't have much to do, but will spend all day outside. 

I am wearing sandals and long shorts, I am fed up of being wrapped up, I will need to change later as it cools down, but for today I can hope May is giving us some nice weather. I did not realise until last night it's a bank holiday here, which makes no difference to us, we never go anywhere at the weekends, preferring to go out in the week, when places are not so busy. 

Flowers

 I have planted loads in this bed, 2 lupins, a white aster, hollyhock, foxglove, delphinium, scabiosa and a penstemon, most purchased as nice sized plants, I moved my red rose from this bed, it was not thriving. This is a deep bed, so with all these new plants I am hoping for a busy tall back section, I have calendula for the middle section and bedding plants for the front. I planted a big daisy last year and I'm hoping it will grow again this year. I also got a saxifraga with tiny white flowers, but I cut the plant in half, they are in my greenhouse for now. 

I put the red rose in the middle of my new back flower bed, I can see already it is growing, I dug out a lavender and a hellebore which I have not planted, it's small, I don't need it so I will pass it to my sister along with a pieris, which I had in a pot. I have ordered 10 small plug plants, Erigeron karvinskianus Profusion, or Fleabane, which have tiny pale daisy like flowers, I want them along the front of this bed, should fill the space and look good, they also self-seed and return each year. 

I finally spent my gift card from my last birthday, so more plants for the garden, some seeds and lettuce plants, my lettuce seedlings are still a bit small. We went to 2 local garden centres, I had £40 for one and £10 at another.

I'm going to try and grow horseradish, I got a couple of roots, only hubby eats it, so I don't need much, but I do need a cheap bucket to grow it in, like mint if put in the ground it spreads. We also go a couple packs of half price gladiolas, hubby will plant in his front garden, he loves the tall blooms.

I am moving away from loads of bedding plants which need to be replace twice a year, summer and winter, perennials and shrubs are more widespread in my garden, I often get them early in the season and grow them on to a great size before planting out. Bedding plants will always fill gaps and add colour, but not so many, I'm looking for less work in my flower beds. 

Plants in the greenhouse are starting to move out, I still have seedlings and tender plants in there, I have planted most of the small plants I grew on, purchased from the village pet shop. I have one cucumber plant ready to go outside, I will wait a couple more weeks, the other plant is not dong well, I will sow a few more seeds. My 3rd tomato plant is growing, I thought I had lost it, but with a bit of care, it's surviving. 

Thank you for all your kind comments, I am keeping busy in the garden, finding things to do, hubby is so kind to me, understanding I need some time, Grace had a huge chuck of my life, she was my lap cat and it's hard to sit still, she won't be forgotten anytime soon. 

Loss

I have seen something similar made by an Instagram gardener who I follow, hubby chose the sempervivums, they will grow and fill this pot, as soon as the rain stops I will pop it on our green metal table, I am reusing this pot I've had for years. 

Monday and Tuesday were bright sunny warm days, I did not enjoy much, sadly Grace's health declined over the weekend, and we took her for her final visit to the vets on Monday morning, leaving without her was heart breaking, so the house and garden feels empty. On 5th May she would have been 20 years old, earlier this year I did this happy post, knowing her health was failing. 

I am missing my pretty warm lap cat, daytimes are not to bad, but evenings are sad, she always curled up on my lap for most of the evening.

We took Purdy to the vets in March, so now we have an empty home, I have decided not to look for another cat yet, we have a few trips planned and we should look at having our oak wooden floors re-varnished. 

Using John Greys words, both our girls heard my voice and my smell as they drifted off, I was cheered when I read his words after losing Purdy and they were again in my head with Grace.