Saturday's Rundown (or why I'm so tired)

I am officially exhausted. After quite a few weekends of snow and several months of freezing cold weather, the sun finally came out today from wherever it's been hiding (I'm sure you noticed too) and I must admit I got a bit giddy. After months of feeling sluggish I felt positively energised, so thank you Mr Sunshine. 

Anyway, here's a rundown of what I've been up to today....

I had a wee tidy up of the house and sorted out the kitchen sides. Just putting things on trays and in bowls has made it look a lot tidier me thinks.

I also cut down the indoor hyacinths that were in pots in a previous post as they were looked lopsided and past their best. I put them in vases to cheer them (and me) up. As you can see my amaryllis is also finally flowering so I am officially a very happy lady.

I tidied up the garden, cut back all the plants from last year and finally cleared the mass of leaves from my borders (I know, it's about time!) The borders still need quite a bit of work but they're vastly improved at least.

I planted the dogwood I recently found really cheaply with some ivy that had gone crazy in another pot and some snowdrops which were growing next to our drains, although I liked that the snowdrops were unexpected in their previous spot I felt they really did deserve a nicer home than next to a drain pipe!

I rearranged my pots (who needs a gym when you could just lift terracotta pots instead).

I re-painted the gate and painted the fence at the side of our front borders. The fence needs another coat but already it looks a lot better than it did previously.

I admired my garden, particularly these beauties.

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin'

Snowdrops growing in my lawn

Sarcococca Confusa

I explored the woods across from my house with my cat Bootsy.

 

 

And now, why I'm curled up on my sofa with a blanket and a cup of tea of course. 

Spring 2012 - Grange Farm Cottage

It's snowing yet again here at Grange Farm Cottage, disappointingly it's not pretty little snowflakes this time, it's this horrible slush so in the absence of staring wistfully out of the window I am thoroughly taking advantage of the dreary weather, using it as an excuse to snuggle up on my sofa with a blanket, my laptop and maybe a cup of tea or two. 

Whilst planning what changes I wanted to make to the garden and what I'd like it to look like this Spring I had a gander at last years photos of the garden in Springtime and thought you might enjoy a nosey.

I wish I'd taken some photos of the garden when we'd first moved in, it was a complete and utter mess as the previous tenants had just let the weeds take over. Below is what it looked like after a lot of hard graft and a hell of a lot of help from mine and my boyfriend's family. The garden looks bare but certainly a lot tidier than it did when we first moved in. 

We were very lucky that under all the mess there was some really nice plants left over from years before. Wilfred had apparently lived here for around 50 years and he really loved his garden. The photo below is off Google Maps, it's a glimpse at what the garden looked like in 2008. By this time unfortunately Wilfred had to have a gardener come to look after it but it does still look rather charming. I must get a rose or some sort of climber to ramble up the cottage, I do love that. I must admit I also prefer the green porch to our current brown varnished affair but as the house is rented that may have to stay as it is. 

Anyway, as I was saying we inherited many beautiful plants from Wilfred which have helped the garden to look slightly more established. Amongst them we have Roses, Aquilegias, Pulmonaria, Primroses, Asters, Phlox and a stunning Mock Orange Tree. 

Here's a couple of snaps of the garden April last year, this was when my obsession for gardening truly began... 

I never knew what an Aquilegia was before I moved here and now I love it (it's a good job though really as it's bleedin' everywhere!) Below is what the garden looked like come late Spring last year. I remember sitting out with my Geoff Hamilton, 'Cottage Gardens' book, officially hooked on gardening. 

And here are all those lovely Aquilegia...

Can't wait for Spring 2013!! 

Bedroom Inspiration

Although we moved into our cottage well over a year ago, it still looks like we've just moved in. We still have boxes full of things we want to sell or just simply don't have space for piled up in each room. On top of that all of the rooms look tired and tatty, it didn't help matters that when we got our cat Bootsy he was just a kitten and decided that it would be great fun to scratch and tear at our wallpaper. Basically the house looks nothing like how I want it to and although it's only rented we're lucky that our Landlord is very laid back so we're planning on doing up the house, together with the garden, throughout this year. 

The first room we'll be attempting to tackle is our bedroom. We intended to decorate it last year but as we started to remove the wallpaper we found that the walls were a real mess, so we knew it was going to be a bigger job than we originally imagined. It was close to Christmas so we thought it best to wait until this year so have been left with a bedroom with wallpaper half taken off and mould all up the walls, making it quite a depressing space and not at all relaxing. We'll be decorating soon but in the meantime I have been researching how I'd like the room to look. Whilst perusing the internet I found inspiration at Baixa House Apartments in Lisbon, I love the simplicity of each of the rooms, a complete opposite to my cluttered bedroom, here's a sample of them below.

Don't ask me why but these photos make me giddy with excitement, I especially love the mismatched furniture and lighting, something which we will have to do in our bedroom out of necessity, mainly due to lack of funds. I just hope our bedroom looks half as nice when finished.

The First Signs of Spring

There's signs all over the garden that Spring is on its way. I step outside into the garden now and I get a slight tinge with excitement with all the signs of life cropping up. Spring couldn't come soon enough for me. This is my first Winter as a gardener and I never minded the season before but now I cannot wait for it to end, I really have missed just pottering about, doing a bit of weeding, looking after seedlings and cutting flowers for the house, am sure most gardeners feel the same.

The newly unfurling Aquilegia leaves

Euphorbia polychroma 

New Rhubarb shoots

Narcissus shoots growing amongst the Wallflowers

New Narcissus shoots

A Primula beginning to flower, donated to me my by Mum last year 

New flowers forming on Euphorbia x martini

Luckily I took these photos a few days ago as it snowed again yesterday up here in Sheffield, perhaps Spring isn't as close as I'd hoped! These first signs of life have given me all I need to spur me on though, on the downside it's also made me realise that I still have lots of tidying up to do in the garden; there's plenty of dead foliage to cut back, hedges to trim and leaves to clear, all I need now is a nice clear day (and a day off from work but perhaps that's asking a tad too much).

The Beauty of Indoor Bulbs

The Living Room fireplace - my harbinger of Spring

I'm afraid I haven't been posting as regularly as I would have liked so far this year. January wasn't a good month; we were without heating for most it, there was a fire next door which spread to our roof, our drains overflowed and our house came close to flooding (my poor neighbour wasn't so lucky), last week our cat Bootsy was very ill and the weather's been terrible so I've not been able to do any real gardening. 

It's not all doom and gloom though, I planted some hyacinth bulbs a few weeks ago which are finally flowering and they are cheering me up no end, that and the daffodils I treated myself to, to remind myself that spring is only around the corner, oh and Monty Don's new series French Gardens of course. 

I bought the bulbs cheaply just after Christmas, here's what they looked like at the start of January...

And now they're out and they're filling my house with their amazing scent, I just love hyacinths...

Hyacinthus ' Anna Marie'

Hyacinthus 'Purple Sensation'

Hyacinthus 'Purple Sensation'

The very appropriately named Hyacinthus 'Blue Giant'

Hyacinthus 'Blue Giant'

I also planted an amaryllis bulb just before Christmas, it took ages to grow (maybe due to our lack our heating, our house was so cold you could see your breath each time you spoke) after a few weeks this is what it looked like...

Amaryllis (I can't remember the name of the bulb!)

And now it's huge! It's so close to flowering, I really am so excited! I bought my grandma a double amaryllis bulb for Christmas, and hers is just looking spectacular, I can't wait for mine to flower too, if only to remind me what bulb I actually bought.

My Amaryllis, looking splendid in a champagne bucket

I did have some hyacinths which I had flowering for Christmas, I grew Jan Bos and their scent was most definitely the best of all I've grown so far. They'd unfortunately sold out of them when I bought my current hyacinth bulbs but here they are in all their glory.

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Jan Bos' 

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Jan Bos'