that stupid blonde woman that don't use her legs!

Strange title I know but that is how I was referred to by an ignorant woman at swimming tonight. When your in a changing room always remember the person you are bad mouthing or whatever may be in the very next cubicle! I wish I could swim with my legs but I can't and as a result of swimming I am now laying in bed with a burning throbbing leg and hip joint. Next time I might just shove my float into her big mouth and tell her to chew on it!

Rant over time to continue with the garden journal quest.

31) What vegetable would you suggest I should Grow?

32) Can you recommend any vegetable varieties that grow/do best

33) What advice would you give me about growing fruit?

34) "A garden without flowers is like a day without sunshine" What flowers do you like and have successfully grown?

35) If I wanted to have a perfect lawn like a bowling green what advice would you give me?

My turn...

31) Celeriac a versatile vegetable and makes lovely chips!

32) Dwarf French beans I have grown different varieties and all have grown very well.

33) The only success I have had so far with fruit is strawberries, and I don't know what I did to make them a success they just were

34) 3 years a go I sowed hundreds and hundreds of flower seeds, I was buying this gardening mag and you got free seeds every time so I sowed everything! The cosmos went like the clappers and still have 100's come up each year. But the double headed dahlia's are my favourite.

35) Don't get a dog! That would be my advice, we have no lawn the dogs ruined it so we have patio and hard landscaping

Thanks for joining me, until next time x

In need of a cup of tea!

Evening everyone, I hope you have all had a good day. 

I have just made myself a nice hot cuppa and eaten a granola bar that I found in the cupboard, not sure who's they are but it was very nice! 

I have been battling with technology the past few days and I am getting a right stressy bessy with it all! So I am going to post another set of questions from my new garden journal before turning everything off and try and switch off tonight and stare at the TV instead.

26) If you were to have a plant named after you or planted in your memory, what would it be and why?

27) What ideas do you have to encourage children to take an interest in gardening or growing plants?

28) What techniques would you recommend when it comes to planting seeds or cuttings

29) Weather has a big influence on our gardening success. What suggestions would you have on how to make the most of it?

30) There are many tales about techniques used to protect or remove pests and diseases from your plants. Which ones have you followed?

Think I need another cup of tea!

Here goes...
26) I would like to say something tall, willowy, and bright with a sweet scent but that is all the things I am not so it would be something short and stubby an ornamental cabbage perhaps 

27) There are so many, just the act of planting a seed and nurturing it and watching it grow teaches them about how caring for others, being responsible for something can be so rewarding. Gardening is all so wonderful and exciting.

28) Using toilet roll inners to sow peas and beans in so you don't disturb the roots you can plant the whole thing directly in the ground.

29) Plenty of water butts to collect all the rainwater, as even with all the rain we ave had there is always the possibility of a hosepipe ban!

30) I was told to steep rhubarb leaves in hot water and to leave it a couple of weeks and then bottle it up and use it to spray my brassiccas with to get rid of greenfly and caterpillars. 

Until next time x

Plodding on with the quest!

Evening all, it has been one of those days with so much to do and everything taking more time than I thought it would and then end up doing less than I wanted, yes I know going round in circles once again! 

Jay has managed to empty out the summerhouse and filled all my other spaces and places! The greenhouse, the garage at home and the garage at work...

The planning for the rejuvenating of the vegetable garden is still ongoing.

Right as I said next lot of questions for the gardening journal. If you have just joined us please read previous posts which will reveal all to you.

21) What is your favourite gardening tool?

22) What is your favourite meal with using fresh produce from the garden?

23) What is your most memorable rhyme or quote about gardening?

24) If you could invite anyone past or present into your garden who would it be and why?

25) Describe what would be your perfect day in the garden

Oh dear looks like another hour sitting here...

21) It has to be my sieve as it brings back memories of being in the garden as a child as I used to love shaking the sieve and seeing the really fine soil fall from it. (sad I know)

22) Pea and bean risotto with lots of cheese and mint mmmmm

23) I can't think of one at the moment but will reply to this at a latter date.

24) I would like to invite both my grandfathers in so they can show and tell me more as it is not until we have grown and they have gone that we realise there was so much we were never going to have the chance to share.

25) A perfect day would be just digging, wedding and preparing the vegetable beds on a cold crisp spring or autumn day as it is something I can no longer do or enjoy.

Well there you have it, we are nearly half way through. Looking forward to seeing some of your answers.
Until next time x

Quick update...

Apologies for the lack of post, I haven't forgotten about the quest but I just keep running out of hours! I will get on to it first thing tomorrow. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. 
In the mean time you can see why I have run out of hours if you visit my other blog  http://wigglywooscraftedd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/we-had-hearty-party.html

Catch up with you all tomorrow x

day 4 - On with the quest...

Well there was no chasing rainbows today, only dreams...

There has been some great replies from mum and Jo (awholeplotoflove) and I am really enjoying this little quest, I hope you are too.

We are now on day 4, if you have only just joined us then look through the previous posts and you will soon catch up.

16) Tell me about your most memorable day in the garden

17) Animals are often attracted to gardens, tell me about some of your encounters

18) What are the greatest changes you have noticed in gardening throughout your life?

19) What changes in the climate has affected you plants or gardening and how have you noticed this?

20) Villages often run gardening competitions. Tell me about any you have experienced.

I have a headache just thinking about this lot of questions!

16) When I saw my first cauliflower head appear

17) We have had a fox which came right up to the patio doors to look in at 3am one morning when I was up doing coursework for uni. Frogs and toads which I loathe and of course hedgehogs.

18) More container gardening as gardens are gradually getting smaller and smaller and the preference for hard landscaping rather than flower beds and vegetable beds.

19) can't say I have really noticed anything as it has only been a few years where I have really got into gardening. However it all seems a lot wetter than when my granddad had his rows and rows or carrots and onions

20) When I was at Primary school we had a flower competition, at the time we never had any in our garden. So I did not have any however my friends mum had a beautiful flower garden and ran round and quickly cut me some flowers and gave them to me so I could also enter the competition. We both put our flowers in the jam jars and put our names on them and my bunch was picked as a runner up.

So that is it from me for today. I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow so you will have to wait for the next instalment. I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you may be doing, I think we have some nice weather for tomorrow, until next time x

Day 3 - On with the quest!

Hello everyone, yes I know I missed a day, I do apologise I had such a hectic day at the shop that once I got home I was too tired to even get the laptop out!

There has been the most amazing rainbows the last couple of days but I am always driving on my way home from work so I am unable to catch them on camera. As I sit here typing there are massive black clouds looming  so I might get to catch one on my camera as yet. 

Well we are now on to day three of the gardening quest, mum and a wholeplotoflove have given their answers for day two and they can be found on the previous post. 

So on to the next lots of questions

11) who would be your favourite gardener?

12) What are some of the most unusual plants you have grown?

13) What books, programmes or websites on gardening would you recommend?

14) What traditions do you follow when gardening?

15) Which season do you prefer and why?

I have sat here for a good 15 minutes or so contemplating the questions whilst slurping away on a nice hot cup of tea and think I am now ready to proceed...

11) I don't really have a favourite but I can remember Percy Thrower from my childhood of sitting at my grandparents house at lunchtime and we would have to sit and be quiet whilst it was on. However I have just sort of remembered someone who I did enjoy watching via podcasts on a gardening website which has since gone but I can only remember his first name and that was Terry, he was Welsh and the website was called gardeningclick so if anyone remembers this let me know.

12) Oh dear I am really boring as I haven't really grown anything unusual. 

13) Well there isn't any good gardening programmes unless you include the GoodLife! The Vegetable expert by Dr.D.GHessayon is one of the only gardening books I own and it has been like my guiding light when it has come to growing vegetables. And I prefer gardening forums than websites and other useful blogs.

14)Traditions hmmm...Well I do tend to grow the same things each year especially as you begin to know what will grow well and what doesn't and also I use the traditional varieties. 

15) late summer/Autumn is my favourite, you have harvested the main crops and you are busy making chutneys and jams. And I love it when the air is crisp and dry and all the leaves change colour and your cheeks are rosy from being out in the garden getting it ready for winter.

Now over to you, I didn't get to see another rainbow today but there is always tomorrow. 

Until next time x

Day 2 of our little gardening quest

Well Jay was on the ball yesterday, he managed to sort out my water butt which had a certain lean to it and was running down the outside wall of the house and low and behold he also cleared out the summerhouse, however he did have an ulterior motive as he and the boys are having it as a gym.

So I am offering FREE membership for the gym in exchange for completing all the odd jobs about the house and garden as they will never get done once the gym is up and running!

I had two lovely ladies join in with the quest yesterday, Thank you to Joanne from  a wholeplotoflove and also mum from mums simply living blog to wonderful blogger's that I enjoy reading so if you have a few minutes to spare pop over and say hello.

Right on to today's questions, you can still join in at any point or start at the beginning which was yesterday.

6) Tell me about the most successful plants you have grown

7) Tell me one of your funniest gardening memories

8) What would be in your top 10 list of favourite plants and why? 

9) Tell me about your favourite garden that you have seen or visited

10) Who has most influenced you interest in gardens and gardening?

hmm some tricky long ones there! Right here goes my answers

6) It would have to be courgettes, I always seem to grow way to many and they are always successful even when I plant them in grow bags.

7) I would have to say when I first got the chickens and I looked out of the window and they had all escaped and not being used to handling or catching them must of seemed hilarious to any onlookers 

8) Oh this is a hard one, well my favourite flowers are lilies, roses and sweet peas. I love these flowers for their lovely scent so they will be up there.  The first new potatoes lot of freshly dug new potatoes of the year as they taste the best, and also carrots fresh from the ground for their fantastic aroma and flavour. 
(I know it's not 10 but these are my top ones)

9) This is something I have not really done as it is not Jays idea of having fun so I will have to leave this one to you

10) It would have to be my grand farther's and my dad, as I have always loved gardening and had a window box, grow bags or flower beds in our gardens.

So there you go that's my bit done now go get your cogs turning. 
Until next time x

Digging up memories - a little quest

Good morning all and what a week we have had with the weather! My fence is looking in a rather sorry state so that is another job on the todo list!

On Saturday we took time out and had a few hours in a local town called Bury St Edmunds, it's a lovely town to shop in as there are lots of little independent shops, which you can spend ages browsing in. 

On the way back, Jay gave me a little bag, he had bought me a present. I know he is lovely! In this little bag was a flower printed tape measure a matching torch and this book. 

Now the idea of this little book is really a neat idea and I love it!

Even though I love this idea and can't wait to get it filled I do however have a little problem. The only person that I could give this too is my dad and I know that he will not want to fill it all in but hopefully will do a little bit. 

So this brings me to my little quest and it involves all of you out there that find a few minutes of your time to read my ramblings to help me. 

What I plan to do over the next few weeks is post 5 questions from the book and I would be very grateful if you could post your answers to the questions in the comments box and then I can transfer them into the book adding the date and your name in the book with your answers. 

You don't have to answer every question but if you do just the one it would mean so much. You all have so much knowledge and different ideas on gardening that it would be nice to have a collection of them. 

Right lets start as we mean to go on, here is the first 5 questions, your answers can be as long or short as you so wish as every little bit helps.

1) What are your earliest memories of your time in the garden?

2) What plants evoke memories of your childhood?

3) Where does your interest in gardens and gardening stem from?

4) What were the first plants you remember growing?

5) How did you learn about gardening?

So that is the first set of questions, I do hope some of you will join in, and following is my answers to the questions above, I promise to keep it brief!

1) In my grandparents garden we were free to run around and play through the fruit trees and bushes and also with pip the dog and the chickens. And our own garden had a big hill in the middle which we learnt to ride our bikes down but ended up crashing into the shed as we forgot to pull the brakes.

2) Gooseberries in my grandparents garden and Hydrangeas as our neighbour had one in her front garden and I always wanted to go and pick the flowers

3) Both of my grandfathers grew vegetables. One was very relaxed about his garden and would let us help and join in and the other was very rigid and we could only look, but he would pull a fresh carrot from the ground or pluck a ripe tomato for me to eat which is a taste that can never be forgotten.

4) The first thing I grew were radishes, my father and rigid granddad had turned our garden in to one big vegetable garden and me and my brother were given a small area to grow things in. My brother decided to grow the budgie seed! 

5) I learnt about gardening through my other grandfather, in the summer we would be weeding, cutting hedges, hoeing and even cut the grass with a Ransomes push mower. He taught us how to use numerous garden tools and how to plant seeds, pruning the fruit trees and bushes whilst talking and explaining to us the whole time as we were full of questions. Any food we harvested would be taken into the kitchen and we would help grandma prepare them for Sunday lunch. 

I hope you enjoyed today's post and I will leave you with this quote

"No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden" 
Hugh Johnson

Until next time x

Getting on with it

As usual I have been busy since we last spoke and have even managed to go swimming twice! As some of you may remember I gave up smoking in September 2012 and have now been smoke free since but the pounds have crept on along with my limited mobility they are not shifting neither!

So one of the things the surgeon said was the more weight I carry the more pain I can expect, which is quite obvious however when you can't walk, run or do much of any exercise as all movements use the hip joint and everything tells you that the less you do the better it is is just sending me round in circles and quite frustrating to say the least even swimming causes great pain as I found to my expense on holiday last year.

Jay being the ever so thoughtful and helpful husband that he is went searching on the internet and came up with this little gem!

This is a flotation aid that you place between your legs and keeps them afloat and you use only your arms to swim. This is what swimmers use that want to perfect their strokes and also to build and strengthen their core.

I have had this for about a month but have kept finding excuses not to go swimming as I was dreading using it and the thought of people looking and staring. Well Friday was D day Jay was taking no excuses, we were going swimming come hell or high water!

We went to one of our local swimming baths and it was not as bad as I was dreading, I managed to do 15 lengths and boy did my arms ache but my hip was okay. We went again this morning and I done 20 lengths so I am hoping to go 3 times a week and with healthy eating I will see the pounds slowly disappearing and also getting some form of exercise.

So as I said on the previous post I am thinking about the things I can do rather than the I cant's. With the help of my dad, Jay and the boys  we are going to get the vegetable patch up and running again, I can do the sowing in the greenhouse and watering and they will have to do the direct ground sowing weeding and harvesting as it is the crouching down that is so painful. So between us all we should manage to grow something!

Well I have some pin cushions to make and a garden planner to sort. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Until next time x

Oh bother!

Evening all, just a quick update on my visit to the hospital today, well it all seems a bit doom and gloom for me at the moment, there is not going to be any change in the near future just keep taking the pain killers and get on with it. Well I wish I could just get on with it! No gardening, no walking dogs even a day in the town shopping (well half an hour is the most I can manage before it all gets too painful)

I have arthritis in my left hip joint after taking X-rays again they found I suffer from dysplasia which is why I have this at such a young age, it has taken over 9 years to find out the cause of my pain and now I have at least another 10 years ahead of me with the pain and it getting much worse before they will consider a hip replacement.

I am still sorting out my action plan for the garden, I might even have to rope in one of the boys of even Jay to give a hand but we will get there.

Until next time x

Happy (belated) New Year 2014!

I know I know it's a bit late to be wishing you all a Happy New Year when we already have our feet firmly plonked in to February! But as they say better late than never.

I do apologise for the very long absence but as many of you may remember I started up a new business venture which took me up a new path and unfortunately not the garden one.

The business is going well, as with all new ventures there are ups as well as downs and it has been somewhat a bumpy ride with a wide arc of a learning curve too! You soon learn who are the friends and you know the other part of that saying!

The business has evolved and grown so much this past almost a year. Not only is there refurbished furniture we have workshops, craft groups and a selection of wonderful local crafter's who have their gifts and wares on sale. I have met so many wonderful creative people as well as having made many new friends.

There has also been several other changes in my little world, I am going to see a specialist surgeon regarding the problems and pain in my leg/hip on Wednesday, I saw the consultant last October and after X-rays they seem to be erring on a hip replacement so I shall find out this week what is actually going to be done and to be honest I am petrified! I am unable to walk any distance and can no longer walk the dogs which I really miss doing.

So as you can imagine with the above condition there is currently no hope of any gardening in the near future as bending and crouching is the most painful of all. When I look out into the garden and see how it is all so over grown it is heart breaking but I do have an action plan that I am hoping to discuss with a certain someone but can't say too much as yet just in case they read this first! However I will reveal all in due course.

I am debating on whether to start up a separate blog for the business or to combine it with this one. I want to let people know what I am working on and give tips ect and also keep people updated with what workshops craft sessions are coming up. So if anyone out there is still reading this blog your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

I will leave you with a link to the website so you can have a look at what I have been up to the past year.
I promise not to leave it so long next time x

http://wigglywoocraftemporium.webs.com/