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/