Rosa Violette - a rambler tolerant of poor soils . . . just as well, as that's what we have here alright! It was being over-shaded by the beech trees at the end of the pond, so Danny and I pulled down overhanging branches at the weekend and cut them back so it has a bit more light. I need to get a tree surgeon in over the winter to cut them back harder.
Today Tam has the dentist in Llandeilo again - just 1/4 hour appt this time thank heavens - and so I will have Rosie to entertain. I could have done without the hour's drive to Llandeilo though, as it's the worst thing for my sore foot. I shall have to trial various shoes to see which ones offer most protection when driving.
I have just been mending a hole on the heel of my favourite (Seasalt) socks, which have black and white cats on. I was minded of the only times I saw my mum sewing - threading a darning needle with whatever colour cotton that came to hand, to mend the shoulder strap on her vest. Sewing was NOT one of her skills, yet her mother made all the childrens' clothes and was a very good seamstress. I get a bit of that from her, though I prefer hand-stitching (embroidery and quilting) and obviously use the sewing machine for quilt-making. The only clothes I've ever made myself were maternity nighties when I was pregnant with Tam. I won't count the sleeveless, collarless, everythingless blouse I made in Needlework at school which, by the time I'd eventually finished it, didn't even fit! This is what you get when you dishearten your pupil by making her unpick even her TACKING STITCHES time after time because they weren't neat enough!
I made a lovely Oaty loaf at the weekend. Needless to say THAT didn't last long! Fresh home made bread never does . . .
In the greenhouse, my cucumbers have FINALLY - we are in JULY - decided they might grow beyond one inch high and I potted them on yesterday. When (IF?) they get a bit more vigorous I will put them in the top polytunnel. I don't know if it was the compost (think that didn't help - I have baby Hollyhocks with yellowing leaves) or the temperatures - cold at night and too hot some days or what. NOT a good year for growing anything. However, some things are growing happily. Here's a photo of the Cranesbills I planted along the top of the old mansion house wall last year:
I even got up onto the bank and cleared head-height nettles and Enchanters' Nightshade from around my DH rose Jude the Obscure, who loves it up there and has put out so many blooms this year. I let the Hedge Woundwort stay to keep it company though. See photo below.
D. Nurse not due until Thursday now (back to twice a week instead of daily) so that's a positive.
I need to cook tonight's meal after breakfast, as Tam & Rosie are staying the night and so I can't get to five minutes before I eat before deciding what it will be! and it would be nice if I could do a few more blocks of Gabby's quilt this morning. I need to retrace the quilting pattern on the border for the applique centre quilt too as it's come through too faint. It doesn't help that the fabric is almost the same colour as the marker pencil.
Right, time to take the recycling and rubbish up the lane and get my prescription and Keith's newspaper in town.
That is a cracker of a rose..I have Reine des Violettes..a far softer colour..and Comte du Chambourd...named after the grandson of the last French King who resigned from the job.
ReplyDeleteI think the cold and wet and lack of decent sunshine has a lot to do with how the garden is going.
Looked those up, and how pretty. Yes, I think this miserable summer hasn't helped anything - apart from a good crop of hay/silage.
DeleteI've been wondering if Rosie has settled to the point she can be happily set down in her cot/crib or in a bouncy chair without howling. It does eventually come to that! Poor Tam--sessions with the dentist are never pleasant.
ReplyDeleteYour roses are so lovely I'm thinking perhaps you don't have the scourge of Japanese beetles which eat up mine.
She is too bright and "all-about" to be put down where she can't see what's going on and protests mightily! I had her for a short while yesterday but she didn't like being pushed around in her pram and soon began to yell, so I had to sit on a bench with her sitting on my knee and then she shut up!
DeleteWe had Japanese beetles on a couple of roses last year, but they're not a regular pest.
You sound busy as always. Nurse coming only twice a week sounds hopeful.
ReplyDeleteBiL and I had a discussion about how poor things are doing this year in the gardens/greenhouses. I blamed the cheap compost from Aldi but he puts almost everything straight out into the soil and has broad beans and sweetcorn doing nothing much so it must be the weather too.
No peace for the wicked, they do say. Improvements on the nether regions. I do the dressings inbetween visits.
DeleteGardens definitely not happy with this summer we're having. Just imagine how it must have been in the Middle Ages (or any period in history really) when there were successions of bad summers and people starved to death. Indeed - we only have to look back to the Irish Famine to realize how dependent families were on what they could grow.
Gosh I wish I was talented with a needle. I can sew on a button but it’s knobbly and messy even if it does do the job! Hopefully wee babe will be calmer, does she like music? Sometimes that can help to distract and soothe them x Danette
ReplyDeleteIt's practice. Believe me, Miss Huggins would not believe what I can achieve these days!! Rosie does like music but better still, she wants to see what is going on. I have never seen such an alert baby. Literally from the moment she was born. She will be SO much happier when she can sit up without support and also goes out in a push chair. Lieing down in a pram is NOT for her!
DeletePs you should see my
ReplyDeleteVeg garden and tunnel-abandoned sigh. One can’t do it all xx Danette
I was always so envious of your home-grown produce too. I bet even your dad is struggling this year though.
DeleteI hope the drive wasn't too hard on your foot, and the overnight visit with Rosie and Tam goes well. Hope Rosie has slept through the night. You garden flowers are all lovely, the rose especially.
ReplyDeleteFoot ok yesterday - I wore the Sketcher trainers. T&R didn't stay overnight in the end as R had barely slept the night before.
DeleteGlad you like the garden. Visitors always say how beautiful it is so I've done something right.
Do you ever sit down?
ReplyDeleteOn occasion! I have the hand quilting to finish on the formerly abandoned quilt, so want to crack on with that.
DeleteIt has been really cool here and rainy so some things are not growing well at all. I wonder if I could convince Harvey that a polytunnel could help out the garden.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
A polytunnel does provide heat and cover from cool nights, and my greenhouse likewise. Keep working on him!
DeleteYou sure keep busy! Your roses and the cranesbill are glorious. I don t know what's up with the growing season this year---my zinnias usually bloom for 4th of July; this year are only 4" tall, no buds.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need your foot x-rayed? What if it is broken, it has been hurting for so long.
The school sewing description brought back un-fond memories! In design school we had to take tailoring [ridiculous, designers never sew], and the professor did NOT like my self taught but effective tailoring techniques. She made me rip out so many times, all I was left with was a rag of wrinkled once beautiful wool coating, yards and yards. I was a straight A+ student on a very limited budget so this was esp traumatic.
I did continue to sew my own clothes til I moved to NYC and my now ex husband informed cool girls in the city do not sew or knit, they work, work out, or party. I had to sneak my quilt sewing in at work, on a samplemaker's ancient Singer. No garments.
Hope your week goes well.
lizzy
I have never been a sit down and watch tv all day sort of person, but the balance of what I do these days revolves around Keith's care so I don't often get to do what I would like to do and often have to force myself to make bread or bake a cake - things I always LOVED to do in the past. I find it hard to get myself going enough to concoct an evening meal these days too.
DeleteI did try and get my foot x-rayed last week, in Llandod "care and repair" - minor injuries unit at the hospital, but I had apparently injured it too long ago -anything over 2 weeks and they won't x-ray it. I think it's mostly a strained ligament as different areas of my foot are playing up - toe, side, instep etc.
Sorry to hear you had to do tailoring. Sounds like we had similar teachers - ones who cared about the garment more than the student and teaching them to use effective methods - even if they were your own and not hers! I could have kicked your ex-husband up the B.T.M.- no wonder he's your ex.
I wonder how long before the paucity of food production catches up with pricing and availability? It's a rough road ahead I think. Some things already reflecting the poor growth and production.
ReplyDeleteGood news about the DN visits.
There will be absolute mayhem and riots when it does. I keep a good store cupboard, but only a month or so of food.
DeleteMy garden is full of weeds I can't do anything about so I'm describing it as a boho garden. Still worried about your foot, has a medical professional had a look and have you had an Xray?
ReplyDeleteWeeds are in Susan, so worry not!! Read reply above when I was refused an X-ray as injury too long ago . . .
DeleteIt’s taken me five goes to get my French beans to germinate this year. I have never known anything like it in 25 years of growing my own. But listen to the farmers (farming today on Radio 4 5.45 this morning was very interesting) and they are all saying the same. This may well be my last year of having a veg plot too and instead I am thinking about my kitchen garden either becoming a flower cutting garden or even a mini wildflower meadow. It’s a lot of work for a bit of veg and fruit that fortunately I am able to readily buy from farm shops. Yesterday I bought French beans and strawberries from Mereworth organic farm. Not cheap, but it’s only the two of us and neither of us eat as much as we used to and anyway why should good local organically grown food be cheap when we know how hard it is to grow. I am lucky that my fruit cage is home to gooseberries, blueberries, white currants - all of which are cropping well (2 kilos of red gooseberries). The autumn raspberries are looking good and the salads, spinach and chard haven’t minded the cool conditions but the garlic has suffered from water logging and the broad beans have been poor this year too. But the potatoes are fantastic and the sweetcorn are now about 50cm high and after last week’s warmth the courgettes and squashes are on the move and looking happy. We went to the garden centre on Monday to look at (non) kinky hoses but at £94.99 it stayed out and I will continue using my watering can. We had a sniff of the David Austin roses and Boscobel was my clear favourite for scent, colour and form. Will think hard about a bare-rooted version for my birthday. I had a look at the sad plants trolley and bought four little plants all costing 50p each. A cucumber, a chilli, a white penstemon and a Catanache which is similar to a cornflower. I also bought a box of blood, fish and bone (£5) to sprinkle around my asparagus, roses and fruit trees and bushes. This is the first time in my life I have used anything other than homemade compost, comfrey tea or free manure (buying four sacks of puckamuck was another first for me a few weeks ago) to feed my plants, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Hope you had a good day with Rosie and had some soothing quilting time. Your foot pain sounds like soft tissue damage which takes longer than bones to heal, especially as we age. Does Emma practise reflexology? Or you could soak your feet in warm water with Epsom salts and a few drops of an essential oil (rose geranium is my favourite) and afterwards give each foot a massage with any old cream. Try and avoid taking pain killers if you can and instead try CBD cream. Again not cheap at £25/50ml but I only use a tiny amount on my knee and am now pain-free and the pain had been awful and getting me down. Take care BB, Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI reckon the mark of good homemade bread is that it does not last long - nothing better with Jam or cheese... or both!
ReplyDelete