A quiet February day in the Kitchen Garden gets supercharged with colour when I pick the ‘Red Ball’ Brussels Sprouts. Their vibrant, passionate shades from ‘Opera Rose’ to ‘Winsor Violet’ evoke warm Mediterranean days. Just soak up that life and intensity for a moment or two…..it feels so good.
Fabulous flowers, shortbread hearts with kisses and lots of love goes out to all my friends and followers on St Valentine’s Day x x x
Rooting around in a dark and dusty corner of the attic I re-discover my ever- happy, sweet faced Russian matryoshka doll; a memento from a pre-glasnost trip to Leningrad. One thing leads to another, a shot of iced vodka here, a few blini there and before you know it I am calling my friends ‘comrade’ … Continue reading
Pulling the leeks in today’s gale I am soaked in minutes as water streams down my face and soaks my trousers with winter-cold rain. At first it feels as if I am being assaulted, then I get used to it and give myself up to the power of the storm. Out here, high on the … Continue reading
Dark, wet, stormy days have cut my connection with outdoors. One dry day and a rummage through my seed box sees me overdosed on creativity and a renewed life force which I thought was dead and gone for good. Gardening can do that; it can put you back in touch with who you really are. … Continue reading
Strong winds and persistent rain blast across the kitchen garden. I have my head down against its force and all I can see is wet, heavy, sodden soil in every bed. It takes all my strength to open a little gate against this angry, howling south- westerly, but once through I look up and my … Continue reading
My best friend Janet and I walked together for miles as children; we walked to buy fireworks and sparklers in November and in the Summer we would make the long walk over the allotments to creep up and listen to the homing pigeons coo-cooing in their lofts. Janet’s Dad was the Winder at the Pit … Continue reading
It’s July 2013; a hot day. So hot that the tarmac is sticky on the road. And I am instantly transported back to childhood; to my walk to school, picking wild flowers and pushing my face into hedgerows to look for nests so that I might glimpse a bird’s egg. Back in the present, I … Continue reading
I checked out my brassica cage today and look what I found! The colours of the curds of these baby ‘Graffiti’, ‘Trevi’, and ‘Snowball’ Cauliflower are eye-popping and bright. Finding them made me so happy and I really hope that they make you smile too.
The satisfying sound of acorns crunching under foot jump-starts my senses as I pull on my sou’wester and head off down the garden path to pick carrots. Sensory deprivation is a big issue for me in the dormant months of the gardening year and what helps me through this is keeping my Winter root vegetable … Continue reading
Dartmoor Flower Shed 