In and Out of the Garden

Plant of the week - Hamamelis

2012-02-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

This week it's the turn of the Witch hazel with it's fabulous unusual flowers with the most evocative scent.

Harold Hilliers Arboretum in Hampshire, has them in shades of yellow and russet and I loved getting up close and personal with them, it was worth getting cold toes for.

Plant of the week - Cornus (Dogwood)

2012-02-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

Luckily down here in Dorset we escaped the snow but it was still jolly cold. On Sunday we wrapped up warm and headed across the border to Hampshire, to the Harold Hillier Arboretum.

I have exhausted my garden of winter photo opportunities, so it was time to visit a garden, planted especially for winter colour and scent.

My plant this week is the Cornus. Harold Hillier have planted lots of varieties, with different coloured stems. This red variety is particularly vibrant and just lit up the garden like a beacon. It just makes you feel warm looking at it.

Cornus

Plant Of The Week - Hydrangea

2012-01-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

For my plant of the week, this week I am again turning towards a plant which I love just as much in flower as I do when it's skeletal winter leaves look bleached in the soft winter light.

Hydrangeas, which I used to think of as a bit twee, are now an absolute favourite of mine (maybe it's an age thing). I have two in my garden, a white one, which is tinged with pink as the season goes on, and a cerise one which I adore.

My hydrangeas are going to feature in my wedding table decorations and as a stalwart of the garden, I know they won't let me down.

A Skeletal Hydrangea Leaf

Plant of the week - Libertia peregrinans

2012-01-23T12:15:00.000-08:00

A bit of a mouthful I know & it has taken me about an hour to find out what this plant is called, as I had absolutely no idea and neither can I remember where or from whom it came originally but I absolutely love this plant.

Libertia peregrinans or Wandering Chilian Iris as it's also known, survives perfectly on my sandy soil and on reading its characteristics, is frost tender. I have grown this plant for the past 4 years and it has survived the past two winters, which were pretty cold even here in Dorset.

At the moment it has berries of orange and black but come the spring and summer it has the most delicate white flowers which resemble irises (hence its name).

Although not a big fan of the colour orange, I do love orange in the garden and the sword like leaves of this plant add a zing to the border. At only about a foot high it needs to be in the front and accessible, so you can get down and inspect this little gem at close quarters, to appreciate its beauty.

Libertia peregrinans in the winter

Libertia peregrinans in the spring

I have been very happy to learn today that the National Garden Scheme (NGS) are using one of my images in the 2013 edition of The Yellow Book. I am so proud to support this wonderful charity and I am looking forward to attending the press launch in London in March.

Plant of the week - Aster

2012-01-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

Now you might think it strange for my plant of the week to be an Aster, after all it's a long time since September when its pretty white daisy flowers were in full bloom but Aster is one of those plants, which for me, look just as gorgeous when just a bunch of twigs and tiny star like dried flowers in the Winter.

Last year my Aster was a little shorter than usual as after seeing Rachel De Thame on Gardeners' World perform the Chelsea chop on such perennials and I thought I would perform this operation on my Aster. I thought I had made a huge mistake as it just looked a straggly mess but the resulting shorter stems, meant that it didn't flop over (I am sometimes a little lax when staking, despite my good intentions at the beginning of the growing season) although the quantity of flowers remained the same.

I don't usually cut back my perennials in the Autumn but save that task 'till the Winter or even Spring, depending on when the urge to tidy up takes me. I had a sudden urge last week but before everything was chopped to the ground, I captured the delicate dried flowers of my Aster - just beautiful!

Aster

Plant of the week - Skimmia

2012-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

The strong winds have brought fences down all around the garden last week, thankfully none of them were mine, although now I am relying on my neighbours to replace them and to one of my neighbours, garden aesthetics are not paramount. Oh well watch this space and fingers crossed they'll turn over a new leaf and replace the fences, as it's so frustrating when you love your garden and it's an important part of our life but your neighbours don't feel the same way about theirs.

My plant of the week has to be the Skimmia. At this time of year, its berries are shining like little red jewels in the gloom of January.

Plant of the week - the Viburnum

2012-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

I could just start writing and ignore the fact that I haven't blogged since the summer. Well not on this blog anyway. I blame lack of time, blah blah blah, but in fact this is true. Since taking on an online blog for my local newspaper, all my blogging energy has been zapped by that. Although I enjoy writing it, my readers don't always enjoy reading it and a few of them love to criticise. I am not a professional writer, I am a professional photographer for heavens sake! and my motivation for writing is to create a window for my plant photography which every atom of my being LOVES doing.

I have spent the day tidying the garden, something which I should have done weeks ago but lucky for me the weather has been lovely today and so with secateurs in hand, the garden is looking a little neater.

I usually plant my garlic by midwinter but better late than never, the cloves have gone in today.

As a prompt to get me to visit my blog on a weekly basis, I am going to post a plant photograph of the week. Something I have taken in my garden, or a garden I visit or maybe a cut flower.

This week it is the turn of the Viburnum, which is for me, is one of the stars in the garden at this time of year. I love the way the delicate white flowers on the plum coloured stems, sits alongside tiny black berries, nature knows the best colour combinations - simply gorgeous!

Why I Love NGS Knitson Old Farmhouse

2011-07-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Nestled snuggly in the Purbecks, is Knitson Old Farmhouse, owned by Rachel Helfer.

Rachel, who has spent the last 50 years developing her garden, has filled it with the most wonderful collections of perennials and shrubs, all living cheek by jowl

The seating area at the top of the garden, where she serves the most delicious cream teas with homemade jam, is surrounded by a rockery filled with plants and affords some welcome shade from a large Tulip tree.

All the old Purbeck stone used in the rockeries and paths are reclaimed from building work done to the interior of the old farmhouse.

The garden is on a gentle slope leading down to her orchard where she keeps a couple of sheep, hens, ducks and guinea fowl, which she says helps keep down the slugs and woodlice population.

When you reach the orchard, tiptoeing through the plants which spill onto the paths, past an old bench covered in the most wonderfully textured lichen, you reach a moon gate, built by Rachel's daughter and son-in-law in 2003. I imagine, sitting in the garden at dusk when the moon rises, especially at the summer solstice, and seeing it through the moon gate, would be quite magical.

I love this bench. Not safe to sit on but a thing of beauty

Moongate

Perennials are my favourite plants and this garden didn't disappoint me, with poppies, irises, geums, kniphofia, aquilegia, every plant you would expect to see in a cottage garden and more. All planted in a cohesive jumble and not an inch of soil to be seen.

A path, which straddles the width of the garden, leads to the most beautifully arranged organic vegetable garden I have seen.

The raised beds are constructed out of railway sleepers, piled two high and are in triangles, just wide enough for you to reach into the middle of the bed, from either side. Willow has been woven in an artisan way, to create a hurdle to edge the beds.

The kitchen garden enables Rachel and her family to be self sufficient in vegetables and fruit which is no mean feat and who would have thought that the Purbecks had the perfect microclimate for growing kiwi fruit?

I have been very inspired by the triangular beds kitchen garden and come winter, my small plot is getting a makeover.

Wonderful raised beds

Whilst I was there, eating my jam and clotted cream scones, I could hear the whistle from the steam train, as it arrived at Herston Halt and it felt like you could be back in the 50's. It really is the most idilic garden and I can see myself visiting it many more times, not just to see the fabulous plants but to soak up the restful atmosphere of this garden.

Rachel opens her garden for the NGS and also to visitors by appointment, details on the NGS website or in Yellow Book.

National Garden Scheme Knitson Old Farmhouse

Wishing you love and light at the Summer Solstice.

2011-06-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Peony - A Photo Essay

2011-06-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

The flowers on my peony are so fleeting and so beautiful, that I anticipated their arrival like no other flower in my garden.

When they arrived I gazed upon their beauty, which made my heart sing but with todays rain, which is much needed in the garden, I fear that the few that are left, will be spoilt.

My camera captured their beauty, which I shall enjoy until these pretty blooms return next year.

RHS Chelsea Show 2011

2011-05-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Chelsea Flower Show, deserves the title 'The greatest flower show in the world' and completely blew me away, when I visited it on Tuesday.

We arrived not long after it had opened but we were by no means on our own. Hundreds of people had got up at the crack of dawn to see the most wonderful show gardens.

The first one you encounter is the M and G garden by Bunny Guinness. Being mainly vegetables, I absolutely loved it and was quite surprised to find it got a silver gilt not gold medal.

The curved raised woven willow beds were packed to the gunnels with the most perfectly poised vegetables. It was absolutely beautiful and proved that vegetables are a thing of beauty and deserve centre stage in any garden.

The two avenues on which the show gardens are located, were very busy and you had to be very patient and wait your turn to slip into the front for the perfect view but it was definitely worth the wait, they were so wonderful.

My two favourites were the Laurent-Perrier garden by Luciano Giubbilei which has the most delicious plants imaginable. There were a couple of Astrantia's I had not seen before. 'Buckland' with its soft pink flowers on whitish bracts with green tips and 'Roma' with it's beautiful sugar-pink flowers.

The plants chosen for this garden had a lovely soft hue and the garden was so relaxing, with its wide stretch of water running through the middle; lots of ideas and inspiration to take home.

My other favourite show garden was Cleve West's garden for The Daily Telegraph. This sunken garden, with it plants suitable for a dry garden, was loosely inspired by a visit he made to the Roman ruins at Ptolemais in Libya several years ago.

I loved the plants he chose like Dianthus cruentus, one which I heard lots of people ask about, with it ruby red flowers, interplanted amongst plants like, Calamintha sylvatica and Acanthus mollis and lots of plants which would self seed amongst the gravel.

Of the small gardens, A Post card from Wales, designed by Kati Crome and Maggie Hughes, was my favourite.

Designed around a small cottage in Wales, this garden has a mixture of cultivated cottage garden plants like Aquiligia, Campanulas, Veronicas and Thymes and then on the other side of the garden, along with a beached boat on silted mud were their wild cousins.

I loved these small Artisan gardens. As they were so small, your eyes could linger on every part of the garden and take everything in, which sadly you just can't in the large gardens.

When you enter the flower pavilion, your nostrils are awakened by the wonderful perfume pervading the air.

If you love flowers, it probably is the most exciting place to be in the world this week. I saw the most wonderful roses, & peonies and a gorgeous tulip called Angelique which is a must have for the garden next year.

The coverage of Chelsea by the BBC has been fantastic this week.

Instead of getting my weekly garden fix, courtesy of Gardeners' World on a Friday, I am getting it every day!

If you didn't get a ticket for Chelsea this year, how about going to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show from 5 - 10 July. The bonus of this show, is that you can buy the plants you see on the stands. Maybe it's best that you can't buy plants at Chelsea, well best for my bank balance anyway!

Childrens gardening tools - fun and functional for the mini gardener

2011-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Children love gardening. Getting their hands dirty, digging and especially watering, so with this in mind, I have been testing some gardening tools designed for mini gardeners and I have found two companies, who have approached these children’s gardening tools from two different angles, with fabulous results.

Firstly Craftplay.com has a young gardener range of tools, which are fun, brightly coloured and I for one got very excited when I had a little go at digging with the mini trowel and raking with the mini rake but as they are not designed for big kids like me, I found some willing volunteers to have a go. My first little helper was very taken with the mini broom and swept my patio beautifully. Then we planted carrots seeds and the mini fork, trowel and rake fitted perfectly in her little hands. Of course we had to finish the job by watering the seedlings in and the mini green watering can was a big hit.

My other gardening buddies, loved the mini buckets and pink apron and gardening gloves, now who can’t love a pink apron and they also loved the mini tools which come in a little pouch you can wear around your waist.

I can highly recommend this range of children’s gardening tools. They are well made and there are a good variety of tools and accessories to choose from, which are very reasonable priced. They are perfect to get the young gardeners started but if you have a child who is older and is already showing a keen interest in gardening then I can also highly recommend the children’s range of gardening tools by Burgon and Ball.

These children’s gardening tools have been expertly crafted with quality, high on the agenda. The hand trowel and fork have rubberwood handles, which have been ergonomically designed and the bodies are stainless steel, which makes them strong and durable.

My volunteers used the trowel, fork and the children’s digging fork, which is made from strong ash wood and polished stainless steel and is the most superb quality, quite beautiful to look at in fact.

It’s nice and light to use, so perfect for children or small adults. In fact, Burgon and Ball use the same high quality materials in their children’s range as they do for their adults.

If your children or grandchildren love gardening, then these tools will see them through for many years, in fact the Burgon and Ball children’s trowel is perfect for the potting shed and with a leather thong to hang it up by, I can see the grown ups coveting these for themselves!

Whether you want fun colourful gardening tools for little ones, or practical beautifully made tools for the budding junior gardener, when these two companies have it covered.

The Craftplay Young Gardener tools are available online and the Burgon and Ball tools are available from their online store or check out their website for your nearest stockist.

The Chalice Well & Gardens - a peaceful corner of Somerset

2011-04-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

Although I have been to Glastonbury many times over the years, I have never made it to the Chalice Well and Gardens but last Sunday I decided to remedy that.

Sitting at the foot of the Tor, the garden, although close to a busy road, is filled with a sense of peace and tranquility. When you step into the garden, you feel that this is a really special place.

At the top of the garden, nestled amongst the plants is the well head and sanctuary.

Well Head

The lid of the well has a symbol called Vesica Piscis which is an ancient sacred symbol of two interlocking circles. Its geometry symbolises a union, of heaven and earth or spirit and matter and it appears throughout the gardens. (information taken from the leaflet) This area is a place for quiet contemplation.

At the moment, the garden is filled with lovely spring flowers.

Forget Me Nots

Tulips

The spring waters which cascade out of the lions mouth can be drunk.

Lion's Head

This water then trickles down to the healing pool. You can see how the iron deposits have stained the rill red.

King Arthur's Court & Healing Pool

If you fancy just stepping away from the hustle and bustle of life for an hour, this is a wonderful place to visit. It is a garden which has lots of ideas for secret, restful, tranquil spaces for you to take home and replicate in your garden, minus the pure spring healing waters of course, unless you are very lucky.

A Wonderful Endorsement from Dobbies Garden Centre

2011-04-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

This is what Dobbies are saying about my blog:

Louise Jolley is a professional photographer with a passion for plants and gardening. In and out of the garden combines great gardening advice with exquisite photography. Yet behind this carefully crafted display, Louise is still a humble gardener who shares her triumphs and tears as she toils in the soil. Louise also writes the online gardening blog for her local Bournemouth Echo, and is proud to have her photos published by the National Gardens Scheme.

Read more: http://www.dobbies.co.uk/blog/#ixzz1JKVKHLIQ

What a wonderful endorsement, I am chuffed to bits!

My new favourite gardening tools

2011-04-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

The garden centres are full of tools and bits and bobs to tempt us into spending money but I wonder, do you buy additional spades and forks once you have your basics gardening tools?

After seeing Monty Dons immaculate potting shed with all his tools hanging up, I looked at my pile of gardening paraphernalia, heaped up in the corner of the garage and thought I needed to have a sort out.

I don't tend to have lots of tools, probably one of everything I need and I have collected some old second hand tools which I picked up at an NGS garden I visited but I have to admit I was tempted by Burgon and Balls stand at my local garden centre, Stewarts Garden Centre near Wimborne.

This seed and planting measuring tool and dibber is absolutely fantastic for a person like me who has no concept of space and especially as I vowed to space my plants correctly this year, it will be a god send.

Not only does it have inches and centimetres marked out but it gives the recommended planting distances for popular plants too.

Check out their website http://www.burgonandball.com for all their garden tools and your local stockist.
I especially love their Grow Your Own range, which is were this ingenious tool comes from.

Below is a sneak peak of their children's gardening tools, which I will be reviewing along with some other fantastic children's gardening tools from www.craftplay.com on the blog by The PR Mummy which I am writing a weekly guest post on, to give help and encouragement to parents who want to garden with their children and are completely new to gardening.

I think my most favourite gardening accompaniment, is a kneeler I received for my birthday, from Cath Kidston. (She didn't give me the kneeler my friend Linda did!)

Cath Kidston Kneeler

I am a big fan of Cath Kidston products, so I absolutely love this pretty kneeler.

Last weekend the weather was absolutely glorious. I had to take a trip to the DIY store and I saw lots of people buying bedding plants and the naughty store didn't have any signs up to warn the shoppers of frost, which could still rear its ugly head, even here in sunny Dorset.

There was a seed sowing frenzy going on in the greenhouse.
Courgettes, sweetcorn, cut and come again lettuce and squash were all sown and whilst I was at B & Q, I bought a length of drainpipe to sow some peas in. The idea is that you fill the drainpipe with compost and then sow your seeds. When they are ready to plant, you just make an indentation in the soil, with the drainpipe and then slide the seeds, compost and all into the bed. I have never done this before, so it's an experiment but if it's good enough for Sarah Raven, it's good enough for me.

The flower garden is growing at a rate of knots and my orange tulips look magnificent.

Orange Tulip

With major reconstruction work going on at the top of the garden, I will soon have a couple of new beds to plant up. I have a few ideas of the kinds of plants I am going for, Miscanthus and Verbena Bonariensis so I now need to decide, do I grow them from seed or buy big plants for instant impact. Decisions, decisions but how exciting, those are the kinds of decisions I enjoy.

Gardening for the first time

2011-04-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you have decided that this is the year you are going to plant up your garden and learn how it works then firstly congratulations, I hope you get the absolute joy of gardening and it becomes a life long passion but if you just want your world to look a bit nicer, then that's good too but where do you start?

Well you could just rush to the garden centre and buy everything which takes your fancy. Now I am not adverse to the odd impulse buy or two but firstly there are a few basic bits of info you need to know before you could potentially make some expensive mistakes.

What condition is your soil in?

Is your soil full of clay, sand or a mixture?
If it is clay, then the good thing is it does keep hold of nutrients but it does dry out in the summer and becomes rock hard and is sometimes waterlogged in the winter.
If it's sandy like mine, then the nutrients leach out of the soil, it's rather thin but it is free draining, so the plants don't tend to sit in water like they do with clay.

Then you need to know the pH balance. In other words, is it acid or alkaline.
This is easy to find out by buying a soil testing kit from the garden centre for a couple of pounds.
You add soil to a test tube some water and wait to see what colour the soil goes. A visual guide on the packet will tell you the pH of your soil.

So now you know what condition your soil is in and the pH balance, you can buy your plants to suit your soil. Whatever your soil, clay or sand, you will need to feed it with some compost. Garden compost, well rotted farmyard manure or green compost like Eco Compost are good ones to go for. Spent mushroom compost is cheap and cheerful but it does have lime in it, so don't use it if you are going to grow acid loving plants like Rhododendrons or Blueberries.

What aspect is your garden facing?

You need to observe the way the sun moves across your garden.
It's no good buying a plant which loves full sun, if the bed is in shade most of the day.

It's well worth finding this out first as it will save a lot of disappointment and money if you buy the wrong plants for your conditions.

So now you know your conditions, what plants do you buy?

Well it's purely down to what you like and how much time you want to spend in your garden.

My favourite style of planting is cottage garden. You can use shrubs as the backbone and perennials as the stars with roses and climbers for colour height and scent and not forgetting spring bulbs, to fill the spaces whilst the perennials are growing.

Perennials grow, flower and die back in one season, to return again the next year. You can either cut them down to the ground at the end of Autumn or if they have pretty seed heads, leave them through the winter and cut them down in spring.

It's good to spread the flowering times throughout the garden and throughout the year, so you have something of interest in flower every month.

Here are some of my favourites, which I wouldn't be without:

Dahlia

Peony

Iris

Poppy

Angelica for height and structure

but the list is endless.
Roses for scent and beauty. Grasses for grace and movement. Lavender and honeysuckle for scent.

Visiting gardens open to the public like NGS gardens, are a good way to get inspiration and RHS shows like Hampton Court or Gardener's World live at the NEC are both good as you can buy the plants you see, at the shows.

Your local library has a good source of gardening books and the Internet has endless inspiration and information. I always find Gardeners World or the BBC/gardening very good sources.

Whatever your style of gardening, I hope like me your get enjoyment and pleasure from your connection with the soil and with the warmer weather heading our way this week, there is no better time for getting out there and getting your hands dirty.

National Garden Scheme The Yellow Book 2011- Press Launch

2011-03-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today I felt very privileged to attend the NGS press launch for the 2011 edition of The Yellow Book.

I had been invited as a photographic contributor for their book and it was the first time I got to see which images they had used, in their first all-colour edition.

Last year the NGS raised 2.6 million pounds, going to beneficiaries as Macmillan Cancer Support, Help the Hospices and Marie Curie Cancer Care. For every pound that is raised 80p goes to these charities, which is pretty good going.

I am very proud to have the following images in the book.

Aviemore Hampshire

Fritham Lodge Hampshire

Dahlia New Baby from Hilltop in Dorset
(A whole page was given to this image)

On a large screen one of my favourites taken at Knowle Farm in Dorset, was shown, to illustrate that you can stay at some of the gardens. Knowle Farm is also a B & B. info@knowlefarmbandb.com

Knowle Farm Dorset

and if this wasn't exciting enough for me, a large banner showing one of my photographs from White Barn in Hampshire, was displayed for everyone to see.

White Barn Hampshire

NGS Banner with image of White Barn in Hampshire

After the presentations, it was wine and canapé time and a chance to catch up with some of the lovely people I met last year.

I am now making my list of gardens in Dorset and Hampshire to photograph this year. I met up with a lovely couple who have a garden in Hampshire and who are happy for me to photograph it, so there is one on the list.

It really is a privilege to be involved in this wonderful charity.
Visiting an NGS garden is such a wonderful afternoon out. The garden owners are always happy to give advice and visiting the gardens is such a good opportunity to get ideas for plant combinations for your own garden. Of course the tea and amazing cakes are literally 'the icing on the cake'.

The average entry price is £3 and under 16's go free into most gardens and The Yellow Book is available for £9.99.
If you only want the garden details for your county, most libraries and garden centres have these for free.

Crocus at the NGS is the perfect way to purchase plants, which you have seen whilst visiting the gardens, with 15% of the purchase going to the NGS and if you purchase plants now and spend £50 excluding bedding and seed orders, you get a free copy of The Yellow Book.

I hope I have inspired you to visit some gardens open for the NGS, it's an afternoon well spent!

The First Day of Spring

2011-03-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of spring and the weather did not disappoint.

This week I have potted on my seedlings and popped them into the greenhouse. I got quite a shock when I woke up on Saturday morning, to see quite a hard frost had visited us in the night. I feared the worst and imaged my little seedlings had perished in the night but I need not have worried because they were still hanging on in there. I think they had had a little shock but soon recovered when the sunshine warmed the greenhouse up.

Because this year I have a greenhouse, I have started my seed sowing earlier without realising it, hence I wasn't quite prepared for the frost. The seedlings had been kept in my utility room, which isn't heated but it is warmed up from the heat of the house, so I think going out into the greenhouse, was quite a change for them.

Since this fright, I have been tucking my seedlings up in fleece, just to give them an extra layer of warmth, at night.

It still is a bit early to be doing lots, so I have been nourishing my vegetable bed with a nice thick layer of well rotted manure.

I adhere to the no digging style, when it comes to the vegetable plot. I just fork over the soil lightly, before adding the manure and over these past three years, the soil has improved enormously. I know this because my once sandy poor soil, is now dark and delicious and full of worms. Oh I am so happy to see those little souls squirming about in the soil.

After adding the manure, I covered a small area of the plot with my two cloches, just to warm up the soil, ready for my first batch of seeds.

Rows of Garlic with cloches behind warming the soil ready for planting

I have been adding ericaceous compost to my two blueberries in pots and trimming them to a healthy bud, where necessary and they are looking lovely and healthy.

Blueberry plant surrounded by ericaceous compost

After first deciding not to grow potatoes this year (apart from my sweet potatoes) I have changed my mind but opted for potatoes which you can't buy in the shops.

The last couple of years has found me growing Charlotte which I love but those are now available in the supermarkets, so instead I have gone for a variety, which I grew a few years ago and that is Pink Fur Apple.

This knobbly pink beauty, is so tasty, so this year they are going into the potato sacks again but I intend to be more vigilant and water more frequently, in the hope that I get a better yield.

But for now they are chitting in the utility room, whilst I dream of simply boiling them and smothering them in butter........hmmm

March Is Upon Us

2011-03-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well they say time flies when you are having fun and I suppose I am.
My new portrait business is going well and that is definitely lots of fun and I have found out that the National Garden Scheme has used some of my photographs in the 2011 edition of the Yellow Book and that has made me very happy indeed. It means a trip up to London at the end of March for the press launch and that is exciting!

A little while ago, I was up in London, photographing one of my other favourite subjects cake. These images are going to be used on packaging and really tested my photography skills as I didn't take my lights with me and had to rely on window light and the camera, and talking of cake, I have just purchased a gleaming red Kitchenaid. Something I have wanted for a long time but sadly a Weight Watchers diet is preventing me from using it to it's full potential.

My new Kitchenaid

With March very much upon us, the garden is bursting into life. Today has been the big tidy up, using my new sharp secaturs. Perennials have been trimmed, to reveal new growth and dead leaves have been swept away.

Sedum

In the flower garden the miniature daffodils Tete a Tete have been nodding in the breeze -

Tete a Tete

A beautiful yellow trumpet

in the kitchen garden, the rhubarb is flourishing and this year we will be able to pick a few stalks for the first time. I have to admit that I have never tasted rhubarb but my boyfriend assures me it is tasty.

Rhubarb

Abstract Rhubarb

We have added some fruit to the garden this year. A red and blackcurrant and a family apple tree, which is a tree with three different varieties grafted onto it.

I have started my seed sowing in earnest. Chillies were the first to be sown and now with their true leaves emerging, will need to be potted on next weekend.

Tomato Ferline have been sown, and I will pot those on next weekend too and in a week or two, I will be sowing my other variety of tomato Legend. I grew both of those last year and I had such a success with them, that I have decided to grow them again.

Gardeners' World has returned to our screens with a new/old presenter Monty Don. I have always liked Monty and I thoroughly enjoyed this programme. The filming was very stylised and the music was very soothing. Watching it is going to be a wonderful start to the weekend but I can't help feeling though, that GW has returned to appealing to the middle-aged, middle class viewers. Toby Buckland and crew from the previous series, really lightened gardening and having Alys in the mix, whom I loved, would have appealed to those wanting to get into gardening, through vegetable growing.

I really think there is room for more gardening programmes than just Gardeners' World and would love to see Alys and Toby, return with a gardening programme designed to encourage new blood into the wonderful world of gardening.

Berginia

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

2010 was an absolutely awesome year for me - on the photography front.

During 2009, I completed a photography project, photographing National Garden Scheme owners, on their open days, together with views and plant portraits of their gardens. I donated the photographs to the NGS and was very surprised to receive an invitation to the launch of their 2010 book and even more surprised to find 4 of my photographs in the yellow book.

Wild Garlic

Aquilegia Nora Barlow

I photographed NGS gardens in 2010 and donated my photographs once again, to this very worthy cause.
I cannot tell you the absolute pleasure I get from photographing plants and gardens. I work in a studio 5 days a week, so getting out into the fresh air and capturing the beauty of plants fills me with such joy!

My love of gardening and garden photography bought another fabulous opportunity for me in 2010 and that was to write an online gardening blog for the local newspaper the Bournemouth Echo. Although I have been gardening for many years, vegetable growing is still quite new for me, so this blog is about my trials and tribulations in the garden and includes my garden photography.

After thinking about starting a portrait photography business for the last two years, it all came together at the end of 2010. My love of photography started with photographing portraits 15 years ago, so to re-kindle that love has been so much fun.

So what will 2011 bring?

Well, my good friend Darren Hackett and I have started Mirus Wedding Photography.

We have assisted each other when photographing weddings over the past couple of years, so we thought we would join forces under one banner.

We are the perfect team. I love photographing the brides preparations and finding the small details to photograph and Darren is brilliant at the big stuff. Getting people together, making people laugh, he is one of a kind!

Oooh I am so excited for 2011.
Albert Einstein said
'Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions'.
and I am imagining some super times ahead.

Bright Winter Blessings

2010-12-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the winter solstice. The sun is re-born and we can welcome it back to the northern hemisphere, where it has been greatly missed.

This time of year is not usually my favourite but for the first time in many years, I am welcoming the Yule tide festivities. It's all part of the cycle of the seasons and if you do not enjoy the commercialisation, then give that bit a miss. No more bah humbug from me!

The snow has bought chaos to the UK (although we do seem to thrive on something to moan about in this country) We simply cannot fight nature and the sooner we realise this and work with her instead of against, the easier life will become.

Our solstice celebrations had to be cancelled this year but no matter, we all did our own thing at home - gave thanks for the year that's been and wished for peace and harmony for the year to come.

I have been so busy out of the garden these past few weeks. My new blogsite for my children's photography has been launched www.louisejolleyphotography.com which is rather exciting. I absolutely love taking portraits, so it really is a joy to do.

In the garden, I have dug up the parsnips for Christmas dinner. They aren't very pretty but when removed from the frozen ground, they smelt so sweet, I cannot wait to eat them.

I leave you with a couple of photographs taken in the garden at the weekend and wish you happy gardening in 2011.

Viburnum tinged with ice

Hydrangea bract covered in ice

The beauty of Stourhead Gardens and capturing the little ones

2010-11-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Stourhead Gardens

I have been spending so much time at the computer, creating my new website, that I felt it was time to get some fresh air on my face and to enjoy the autumnal display, before it was over for another year.

Today we went to Stourhead Gardens in Wiltshire, like the rest of the southwest I think!
It was rather busy but that didn't effect our enjoyment. Everyone had their cameras at the ready to capture the amazing views. The above photograph is very rare for me. I don't usually do landscapes, preferring the closer detail but I just had to capture this one.

Whilst everyone was photographing the magnificent trees, I spotted the most amazing lichen on a branch.

Lichen on a branch

and whilst everyone was traipsing along the path, not really looking closely, I saw this heart shaped stump.

There is so much more to see when you look really closely.

Although I have photographed the humble hydrangea many times, I am always compelled to photograph their papery flowers.

Hydrangea

I have had an amazing time these past few weeks, photographing children for my new portrait business.

I have been thinking about doing this for the past 2 years and have finally found the courage to go ahead with my ideas.

I used to work with children many years ago and had an absolute ball, so tying that up with my photography is the perfect match.

My style of photography is contemporary. I have taken my lead from the American children's portrait scene which is much more relaxed and less posed than the British.

Whilst my website is under construction, I have a facebook page which I would love you to visit and 'Like' if you do, of course. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poole-United-Kingdom/Louise-Jolley-Photography/113059648757957
Just a small sample of my images. There will be lots more on my website plus lots of information about the products I will be offering, how you can display them plus the current trends in wall decoration.

A busy, busy time but there is method in my madness.

Photographing plants and children, just makes my heart sing. After practising my craft for the past 15 years, or so, I finally feel in control. Well as in control as you can be when photographing little ones. You just have to go with the flow.

My love of photography started with the portraits taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson. I photographed my children when they were little and then turned to objects which didn't move, loving their predictability. I have now turned full circle and just love the unpredictability of photographing children. Photographing that moment, whilst they keep still for just a second or two, if I'm lucky and capturing their personality, in an image, which will last a lifetime.

Louise Jolley Photography

Neglectful but not wasteful

2010-09-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

My blog postings have been a little thin on the ground this summer. There is an explanation for this and that is I have been writing a gardening blog for my local newspapers website The Daily Echo.
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/blogs/grow_your_own/

It is said that women are good at multi tasking but I think I was at the back of the queue when they were handing out that skill!

So although I have neglected this blog, I haven't been wasteful with my time.

I have been picking tomatoes, like they are going out of fashion. We have made oodles of tomato sauce for pasta, sun-dried (oven-dried really) tomatoes, to remind me of warm summer days in the winter and some scrumptious tomato soup, courtesy of a Sarah Ravens recipe.http://www.sarahraven.com/learn/this-month-in-kitchen/cleopatras-tomato-soup I have picked loads and given lots to my family and there are still plenty more for picking.

Tomatoes ripening on the greenhouse bench

The squashes are ripening and the raspberries are dripping from their stems; so its time for jam making.

My recipe of choice is Hugh's (Fearnley-Whittingstall) raspberry fridge jam, from Pam Corbin's river cottage book. It's so easy and what I love about it, is that it uses less sugar than regular jam so this means once opened you need to keep it in the fridge.

Today I have been cutting back the lavender, which is still smelling gorgeous. I felt all relaxed in the autumn sun, which still had warmth in it but not for long, with the passing of the autumnal equinox, darkness is on its way.

There are still plenty of flowers in the garden. The dahlias are still flowering their socks off and the sunflowers are hanging on in there. The bonus of planting them up late.

Sunflower

Knautia

macedonica

All my photography for the National Garden Scheme, is done and dusted and I am hoping they will want to use them again, to help promote a very worthy cause. They have used one of my images to promote a Mary Berry cake recipe on their website, which made me very proud.
http://www.ngs.org.uk/news-features/features/classic-cakes.aspx

My garden photography is still my biggest passion but this summer I have rekindled my love of portraiture.

Engagement Photography

Wedding Photography (obviously!)

Children's photography courtesy of my gorgeous nephew Tono

Lots more about my new venture over the coming months but until then I shall be enjoying my garden and taking in every minute I can before it starts to fade before my eyes and the winter chill sets in.

Three Men Went To Mow: The Gibberd Garden

2010-08-18T04:04:00.000-07:00

Mr Alexander-Sinclair and friends have been having fun and have filmed it for our enjoyment.

You can watch it here: Three Men Went To Mow Part 10: The Gibberd Garden

My garden is so damn tasty!

2010-08-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

On each trip to the bottom of my garden, I return laden with produce. The raspberry canes are starting to produce luscious red fruits, which I wash and then pop in the freezer until I have enough to make some jam.

My blueberries are an absolute success. They were only planted last year, so this is the first year I am picking them and they are so delicious, I am going to grow lots more next year.

The courgettes are still abundant and I am using them to make courgette fritters, which take minutes to make and are delicious with a chili dipping sauce.

I have just picked my first crop of green beans, some climbing up canes and others clambering up the sweetcorn. I think they are quite late this year, I'm sure I picked them earlier last year and the purple beans, which were planted the same time as the green variety are only just appearing out of the flowers.

Green Beans

As far as flavour is concerned, my greenhouse tomatoes are a triumph. I have never tasted tomatoes so sweet, and delicious from any supermarket.

Tomato Legend

My 3 sisters bed is coming along splendidly. Some of the leaves of the squashes have turned a little yellow. I think this is down to my sandy soil, which is just not holding onto nutrients. I think a little feed of Epsom salts should do the trick, to boost the magnesium levels. That said, I have some sweet squashes appearing, and as my family absolutely love butternut squash, I think they will be looking forward to eating them.

Young butternut squash
In the flower garden, the sunflowers are just starting to make an appearance. These were quite late going into the ground, so I am going to be enjoying them when most peoples have already gone over.

Sunflower bud
My recent birthday has been filled with the joys of gardening. We took a trip to RHS Wisley, which was absolutely gorgeous. I haven't been to Wisley for at least 10 years, so I really enjoyed revisiting the flagship garden of the RHS. The long borders with the Henry Moore sculpture at the top of the hill are amazing. The colours and textures of the plants are wonderful.

A piece of the long border at Wisley

Echinacea at Wisley
My other gardening birthday joys were three gardening books. The lovely Alys Fowlers' book from my sister in law and I went a bit mad for my favourite gardener Carol Klein with her book on propagation, from my sister and Carols book on growing fruit from me!

Is there anything more wonderful than gardening?
A feast for the eye and the tummy!

An afternoon of cricket: River Cottage v Gardeners' World

2010-07-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

I love the drive from my home in Poole, to Devon. Through the leafy countryside and chocolate box villages, like Winterbourne Abbas and Chidock and I still get excited when I see the sea sparkling all the way along the Jurassic coast around to Torquay, on a clear day, which thankfully Saturday was.

The trip was made all the more lovely, with the prospect of a cricket match to watch. Now, if I am honest, I don't really know much about the game or can say that I enjoy it. No, the reason I was looking forward to the match so much, was the prospect of seeing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Joe Swift, Toby Buckland and a cream tea.

I have met Hugh and Joe before and they are such lovely chaps, so I was hoping to meet Toby and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Joe Swift, Toby Buckland and me grinning like a crazy fool

The afternoons fun and games, was organised to raise money for Thrive http://www.thrive.org.uk/ A charity which helps people with disabilities, recovering from an illness or accident, to find practical ways to garden. Everyone who gardens knows how good it is for mind, body and soul.

We were treated to a glass of delicious elderflower sparkling wine and I'm glad it was so quaffable, as I won two bottles in the raffle.

Toby Buckland

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Joe Swift

The hospitality which River Cottage provides, is always lovely and this event was no exception, with high tea being served, finger sandwiches, delicious cake and scrumptious cream teas (you could help yourself to the most delicious jam I have ever tasted and clotted cream) it really was a spread fit for a king!

Joe Swift, Mark Diacono and Toby Buckland enjoying a spot of tea

River Cottage won the match but no one was disappointed. We all had fun watching the match in the sunshine and eating our picnics and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a return match next year. Maybe I should learn the rules in case this happens; on second thoughts I'll leave it to Andy to tell me what's going on, life's too short!

Rules are there to be broken but read the instructions

2010-07-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

The old adage 'Rules are there to be broken' is quite true. Not that I am a rule breaker by nature. I might go a bit crazy sometimes and not follow the arrows in the multistory car park, if there is no one around, but no more rebellious than that.
However, I don't think the same can be said for instructions. Rules quite often are petty and meaningless but instructions on the other hand are written by someone who has put the very thing into practise, we are seeking advice on. So why oh why do I find it so hard to follow instructions? Why do I read them and then do my own thing!

Every year when I am planting out my vegetable seedlings, or planting seeds, I read the instructions telling me how far apart I need to plant them and then totally disregard the information, thinking that is far too much room to give them, only to find a few months later that my vegetables are living cheek by jowl in a most uncomfortable fashion.

The area I had given over to my outdoor tomatoes, should have been enough room to plant 4 plants, (according to the instructions on the packet) but I insisted that that was far too much room to give them and planted another two plants in the space and now the bushes are maturing nicely but packed in like sardines.

My three sisters bed is coming along nicely. (Sweetcorn, climbing beans and squash, sitting harmoniously together). The squashes are a bit thuggish but I'm sure when the sweetcorn has got a bit taller and is towering over the squashes, they will be glad that their feet are nice and cool underneath all that foliage.

3 Sisters Planting

I am harvesting my courgettes and they are delicious. I learnt the lesson from my purple sprouting broccoli and I am only growing two plants, which will produce enough courgettes for us. I found a lovely recipe for them here. http://landcrofthouse.blogspot.com/2007/03/courgettes-roasted-with-bacon.html do try it, it's yummy!

Talking of purple sprouting broccoli, I am growing some more for harvest next spring. I intend to plant just three plants this time, so I can keep on top of the harvest and limit the amount of space they take up.

I have been very busy with photography for the NGS. I visited a most wonderful garden, which will be opening up for the first time, later on in the summer. Fritham Lodge, in the beautiful New Forest, is a little oasis of formal planting, in the middle of the wilderness.. There is a long border chocked full of herbaceous perennials, and borders, edged with box, housing the cottage garden favourites, roses and foxgloves. A productive potager, again edged with box which makes for a very attractive vegetable plot. (Just a small sample of photos, more to come)

Fritham Lodge

I also paid a return visit to White Barn in Ringwood. When I was there photographing in May, the spring bulbs were in full bloom and I got a wonderful surprise when I visited last week, as the garden looked completely different with all the summer herbaceous flowers,at their best. The roses and clematis looked gorgeous.

This really is my most favourite time of the year and with all this lovely sunshine we are having, it is making the summer even more wonderful. Just hope I get time for a swim in the sea this summer and I will pay attention to the flags, for those are instructions I will follow, for a change!

Summer Solstice Celebrations

2010-06-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today is always a bitter sweet day for me: the longest day.
I have celebrated the winter solstice for many years. It's a chance to give gratitude for the year that's been and to welcome the sun back to the northern hemisphere but this year my friend Lorraine, invited me to come and celebrate the summer solstice with her and some friends, in a tipi in the New Forest.

Tipi

The evening was clear and bright and it was so lovely driving through the New Forest, that I felt nice and relaxed by the time I arrived at the tipi.

I have never been in a tipi before and it's amazing how roomy it is on the inside.

Inside the tipi

My life is so incredibly busy, so it was wonderful just to step away from it for one evening and to focus and meditate on the things which really matter.

Where we built our Apacheta

After our meditation, we walked up to the hill to a beautiful beech tree, where we built an Apacheta, to connect with the standing stones, of which there are many around Dorset and Wiltshire. With each stone we placed, we offered our good intentions.

Apacheta

Maybe I shouldn't be sad at reaching the summer solstice because we start loosing the light but I should appreciate the light we have right now.

My garden is blooming at the moment and it's not the flowers which stay for months which I notice and appreciate but the ones that are fleeting like the peonies. They are over now but they'll be back next year and I have the dahlias to look forward to, although the cold winter has sadly halved my dahlia collection. I think replenish and dig up the tubers at the end of the season will be the way to go next time.

Peace and harmony.

Greenhouse happiness and a my new Toby Buckland Book

2010-06-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

The greenhouse is looking like a proper greenhouse, with tomatoes in the growbags, two types of peppers and lots of chillies, which need potting on and a fresh sowing of purple sprouting broccoli. It feels quite lovely, standing in there with the light streaming down from all sides. In fact it has got a bit too hot but I don't like greenhouse shading, so I think I will fashion some sort of blind out of fleece.

My outdoor tomatoes have been planted out and I need to sow some more peas (my first sowings now have flowers!) carrots and parsnips. I learnt a very interesting fact from my new book by Toby Buckland called Practical Gardening Handbook and that is to pinch ouf the first fruit of the courgette, pepper and aubergine as they tend of be quite tough and seedy and doing this encourages more tender fruits.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardeners-World-Practical-Gardening-Handbook/dp/1846078547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276029170&sr=8-1

I love Gardeners' World so much, it's my favourite programme and has been for many years but why oh why is it only 1/2 hour, I haven't even finished my glass of wine before it's over!

My gravel garden is looking quite pretty, with the Peony, my new Poppy and Iris in flower and my Crambe Cordifolia, smells like honey. Next year I am going to develop another part of the garden, to enable me to grow lots of lovely plants. I was eyeing it up last weekend. It's just a scruffy patch of grass at the moment, half in full sun and half shaded by the garage, so I will be able to grow a good range of plants. I think I'll start making a wish list now.

Crambe Cordifolia

Iris

Peony

Poppy

NGS Aviemore

2010-06-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

When I contacted Sandy and Alex Robinson about visiting their garden to photograph, they asked me to come in the morning before the garden opened. This was the first time they had opened their garden for the NGS, so they had no idea, how many people would come, plus they said the garden was small and thought I might find it difficult to photograph with lots of people milling about.

A chair covered in lichen

The front garden has lots of interest with shrubs which are in flower at the moment, and packed with perennials like irises and alliums. There is a lawn and a gravel garden with a natural looking pond. I would be very pleased if this was my back garden, it was so beautifully planted.

A welcome seating area under the tree

When I entered the back garden, I noticed that it was anything but small. The garden has been designed, so that you can't see it all from one glance. The lawn was immaculate, helping to set off the plants and the trellis running almost the width of the garden entices you to see what is beyond. On the other side of the trellis was a beautiful and productive vegetable garden.

Vegetable Garden

Cloche

The vegetable garden was laid out with raised beds, which are not only practical but also look attractive. I was very envious when I spotted the compost heap. The contents black and crumbly, something which still alludes me.
At either end of the vegetable garden are ornate bridges, made by Alex, which cross a little stream running through the garden and on the other side of the stream, is a little path meandering through plants, which leads to a little garden room, also made by Alex.

Stream

Stream with garden room

Garden room

Sandy has designed this garden to perfection. It's very inspirational and has given me some ideas for my garden.

Aviemore is open again this weekend 6 June from 2 till 5, so if you are near the New Forest, then I can recommend a visit.

The details for this garden are on the NGS website http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/gardenfinder/garden.aspx?id=22289

A gorgeous garden to visit with lovely owners and scrumptious cakes - a perfect combination!

A Shiny New Greenhouse

2010-05-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

The greenhouse is now complete! Andy is making some staging to run along the back of the greenhouse and then we are good to go.

I bought some handy plastic trays for the grow bags to sit in and some bottomless pots, so I can plant the tomatoes into those, onto the top of the grow bags, so the roots have a deeper longer run, resulting in healthier, stronger plants and of course I had to buy a book to advise me of the ins and outs of having a greenhouse. I turned to a series of books which used to be my bibles when first learning about gardening over 20 years ago. I call them the doctor books because they were written by Dr D G Hessayon. All the expert books follow the same layout and they are brilliant no nonsense books.

Shiny new greenhouse

I think in hindsight I have too many purple sprouting broccoli plants. We harvested a bundle, blanched and popped them in the freezer but no sooner as my back is turned, it's sprouting again. It's now flowering away looking so pretty but I need to get out there and cut some more for the freezer.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli In Bloom

I think I will have to dig up the plants before they have expired, which is a shame but I really don't have any room to spare.

My three sisters method is starting to take shape although not without hitches. Firstly the sweetcorn has been a disaster with only 3 seeds sprouting, so I had to buy some little plants from the garden centre. The garden centres are now selling plenty of vegetable seedlings, so if you don't have the room to sow or you are too late to start them from seed, the garden centre can come to the rescue. My second hitch, which was really a mistake on my part, is that instead of planting the climbing bean seed next to the sweetcorn, I started them in modules and they are now about 5 inches high and ready to start climbing and the sweetcorn is only tiny but on the bright side, my little squashes are looking lovely; every cloud.............

In the flower garden, I have spotted a dahlia poking through and my Allium Purple Sensation is looking, well sensational!

Allium Purple Sensation

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is on this week and I will be glued to my television watching and taking notes. (My favourite so far is Roger Platts M & G Garden) I haven't been for many years and although I love going to Chelsea where you can appreciate the scent of the flowers which you can't through the television set, you definitely see more on the box, unless of course your name is Alan Titchmarsh!

A Garden Fit To Burst

2010-05-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had anticipated that the greenhouse would be up by Sunday evening. The chaps who delivered it, assured us that it would only take a day to put up but things always take longer than you think and it didn't help that the instructions were just a collection of diagrams with numbers for the pieces. I was never any good at jigsaws, not that I did a lot, as I was busy planting out my peas and sweetpeas.

In my vegetable bed, I have allocated a slice to growing flowers. I have two small wigwams of sweetpeas, plus seedlings which have self seeded from last year. The purpose of growing the flowers amongst the veg are two fold. They will bring in beneficial insects plus they look pretty. I suppose if you were relying on your vegetables for sustenance, then growing flowers may seem a bit frivolous and maybe as I get more experienced at growing vegetables, then this practise may become a thing of the past but for now I just about have the space to indulge my passion for cut flowers.
My seedlings are doing well. My squashes and climbing beans are looking good but the sweetcorn, which has an important role to play in my three sisters planting scheme, aren't showing themselves yet. I have taken action today and popped them into my heated propagator, to chivvy them along a bit.

Much of the garden is ready to burst. I enjoy the anticipation, almost as much as the flowers themselves. My Allium Purple Sensation purchased on my visit to Sarah Ravens Perch Hill are ready to burst.

Allium Purple Sensation

And I have two enormous Angelica's with bulbous buds ready to explode.

Angelica

Once the greenhouse is finished, which really is only a matter of putting in a couple more pieces of glass, I can move my seedlings into their new home, and then I can tidy up the summer house and put up the bunting I bought to make it look pretty instead of practical.

So much to look forward to, it's not only the plants which are ready to burst!

NGS White Barn

2010-05-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

This week I paid a visit to a wonderful garden near Ringwood in Hampshire called White Barn. It's owned by a lovely couple Marilyn and Barrie Knight. They extend a welcome to their visitors every Wednesday from 19 May to 28 July. Last year they had over 2000 visitors, raising an enormous sum of £3500 for the NGS and this year should be no different, with 6 coaches booked to visit already!
This 3/4 of an acre garden is definitely one for the plant lover. They have over 250 clematis with all the cottage favourites, in abundance. Although still quite early in the season (plus it's unseasonably cold) the garden was filled with wonderful spring flowers, tulips, rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and fabulous tulips and a sweet scent filled the air as I walked around.

Many visitors to the garden come back for a second visit to catch different plants in flower. Every week there is something new in bloom, something us gardeners are always striving for. There are lots of paths to explore, with lovely vistas and sitting places and they haven't forgotten to include vegetables as well!

If you come to the South on holiday this summer, White Barn should be on your list of gardens to visit. I for one will be visiting it again, when the roses are in bloom and I can't wait.

A Staycation In The Garden

2010-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

A well needed break from work this week, has enabled me to spend lots of time outside in the garden. It's not been as sunny as of late and the temperature has dropped but that hasn't mattered a jot to me. The feeling of fresh air on my face, the sound of birdsong in my ears and the smell of lilac, wafting over the garden fence from next door, has certainly raised my spirits.

This week we have been preparing the space for the greenhouse. Well I say we but really it has been Andy doing all the hard graft, although I have helped move some slabs and plopped some cement down, sometimes more of a hindrance than a help really.
The slabs are down and tomorrow we had planned to assemble the greenhouse but a game of crazy golf at the weekend has changed things around. We need a retaining wall to go behind the greenhouse and as we couldn't decide what materials to use, we were going to build that after the greenhouse had gone up but whilst playing crazy golf with our besties, we admired on the 15th hole, a fabulous retaining wall made out of railway sleepers. After searching the Internet we found a local supplier of railway sleepers and after a swift phone call, money changed hands and the railway sleepers were delivered today.http://www.ridgefarm-sleepers.co.uk/

Andy doing his Tommy Walsh impersonation

So tomorrow Andy, with my interference, will be building the retaining wall and the greenhouse will just have to wait a little longer but it will definitely be worth the wait!

Everyday I visit my newly painted summer house, to check on the brown soil in pots and give them a water but today I was very pleasantly surprised to see little seedlings. The squash are finally making an appearance.

Squash Seedling

The chilies are doing well

Tomatoes aren't doing too badly either

But my most successful vegetable to date definitely has to be my purple sprouting broccoli. It's now growing in abundance and tastes absolutely lovely. Today I blanched some and popped it in the freezer and we added some to our stir fry - yum! My best friend Linda bought me a book by the RHS called Allotment Handbook and in there it states that the broccoli needs to be in the ground 42 weeks, also if you sow it in succession, you can be harvesting broccoli for 10 months of the year, although I think I might get a bit bored of it, if I ate it for that long.

This week I visited my first NGS garden to photograph. The garden was a little slice of heaven. Photographs in my next post. Last day of my stay cation tomorrow - lots to pack in, so fingers crossed for dry weather or it's cagoules at the ready.

Sowing For Success

2010-04-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

I have started to pick my purple sprouting broccoli and it's delicious. From the moment it's picked to the moment it's on my plate, is a matter of minutes and you can't get fresher than that!

I spent yesterday sowing seeds galore, with the sun shining down on my back, it felt wonderful. I sowed sweetcorn, butternut squash, climbing green beans and climbing purple beans, in modules. I am going to grow these vegetables using the Three Sisters Method. This method was used by Native Americans. The Iroquois women of the tribe were the gardeners. They planted these three crops together which grew in perfect harmony with each other. The corn was planted and the beans used the sweetcorn for support and also fixed nitrogen in the soil. The squash scrambled over the ground suppressing the weeds and retaining moisture. What a perfect relationship. (Source: taken from Carol Kleins Grow Your Own Veg). I haven't forgotten flowers, which are not only pretty to look at, in the garden and in the house but also they encourage beneficial insects into the garden to help with pollination and pests. I sowed five different varieties of sunflowers, calendula and mallope, again all in modules, which hopefully will give them a flying start. I did chance sowing some seeds straight into the ground. Some parsnips and a row of carrots which I will sow more of, over the next few months. As the parsnips take an age to show, I scattered some cornflower seeds in between the rows for a pretty summer display and some more cut flowers for the vase.

I am watching episodes of Carol Kleins Grow Your Own Veg, which has just been aired by the Good Food Channel. I have been gardening for over 20 years but I am still very new to vegetable growing and this series is so informative and enjoyable to watch. I have learnt so much plus the background music is supplied by two of my prog rock favourites, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Genesis (The Peter Gabriel years). If you missed her programme, then I can thoroughly recommend her book which accompanied the series and for authenticity, how about listening to some prog rock whilst reading it. I often listen to Plant Rock radio station, whilst gardening. The plants seem to enjoy it and if the neighbours children are out bouncing on their trampoline, it helps to drown out their squawking!

A weekend of two halves

2010-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

I have had a weekend of two halves. Well all work and no play, makes Louise a dull girl!
Saturday I spent painting the summer house a lovely shade of Wild Thyme and today has been spent eating yummy Purbeck ice-cream, drinking cider and getting sand between my toes, properly for the first time this year.

Sandbanks Dorset

The lovely sunny weather we have had this week, has really got the garden springing into action. The colours of the plants and flowers, this time of year seem to be very vibrant. It might simply be the fact that they are the first flora to visually stimulate the senses after the drab darkness of winter has departed.

Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)

Euphorbia

We have had two episodes of the Edible Garden with Alys Fowler and I am loving it! The way the programme has been filmed including little animations, really makes the programme a treat to watch, as well as being informative and inspiring to those who are new to vegetable gardening. And I definitely felt her pain, when she spoke about losing tomatoes to the dreaded blight. I am hoping that my little seedlings of blight resistant Legend will restore my faith in growing tomatoes again.
I feel we are on the verge of a growing revolution and I am very excited by it. It really gives you a sense of achievement, working with nature to produce some delicious vegetables and fruit for the kitchen table.

Yummy Broccoli on the way - at last!

2010-04-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how different a bit of sunshine makes you feel. I spent Friday morning on Bournemouth beach, taking photographs for an invitation, to entice people down to Bournemouth, as if you need any encouragement, it really is a lovely place to live, especially when the sun shines!

Bournemouth Rocks!

Busy, busy, busy in the garden. Potting on the tomatoes, sowing more tomatoes, this time Legend, which claims to be blight resistant. Sowing lettuces in a trough. All cut and come again and positioned quite close to the kitchen, which will make it much easier for harvesting, rather than being at the end of the garden, as in previous years.
Andy has been doing manly tasks in the garden; welding his axe and chopping down a hedge to make way for the new greenhouse. The bottom of the garden looks like a bit of a bomb site at the moment but I guess you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Luckily my gravel garden, at the beginning of the garden is starting to burst into life. My favourite Geranium, Anne Folkard, has the most vivid acid green leaves and once it bursts into bloom, it stays all summer long, spreading about the border.

Geranium Anne Folkard

The buds of my Peony look so beautiful and strange, emerging out of the stones.

Peony

Dobbies garden centre are following me on Twitter and I reciprocated which was very advantageous because they sent me a direct message to say if I have any garden questions to DM them. I have mentioned before that my purple sprouting broccoli has been puzzling me, as it hadn't flowered and I was starting to think that I had done something wrong and was just about to pull it up, when I thought I would ask Dobbies why it hadn't flowered yet. They messaged me back, assuring me to hold tight, as the broccoli takes a year to flower. Well I am so glad I took their advice, as lo and behold, my first flowers are beginning to appear.

Lots of yummy broccoli on the way. I love Dobbies, it's like having your own personal gardening guru at the end of your fingertips!

I received a lovely email this week from the NGS. I am very happy to say that I now officially represent the NGS as a garden photographer. The National Garden Scheme is such a wonderful organisation, with amazing amounts of money raised for charity that I feel so proud to be associated with them. http://www.ngs.org.uk/ Follow the link to find gardens near you which are open for the NGS, or pick up a free brochure from your local library or garden centre which has details of gardens open in your county. It's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so mixed this Easter break. Pouring rain on Friday and Saturday, so no gardening but thankfully sunshine on Sunday, so a whole day was spent outside. The main job of the day was clearing the fruit bed, in preparation of the greenhouse foundations. I have moved my strawberries and raspberries into another bed and as I have run out of room for my strawberries, I am going to buy another couple of bags designed for strawberries. Raspberries and strawberries are so prolific. I bought the plants a couple of years ago and they have multiplied beyond belief. I have raspberry suckers coming up all over the place!

Gardeners' World was an hour long this week. It was quite a treat having that extra half an hour. I enjoyed it with the obligatory glass of red. A nice full stop to the end of the week.
Lovely Alys Fowler, from GW, has her own program this week called The Edible Garden. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s1lc8 In this 6 part series, she will be growing fruit and veg in her back garden, to avoid buying from the shops. I am really looking forward to watching it. I like her style of gardening, her thriftiness (Geoff H would approve I'm sure) and as growing veg used to be the mans domain, it's nice to see a a strong (personality not brute force) and young, female, championing 'grow your own' - can't wait!

Here come the buds

2010-03-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Today the clocks have gone forward, which usually heralds the beginning of Spring but Winter still has its grip on us. Buds are beginning to break on the Hydrangea but a skeletal leaf still holds on for dear life; I will prune the old stems out in the next few weeks.

I tweeted in the week that I had ordered my new greenhouse http://www.greenhousesgalore.co.uk/cat.asp?ID=538 and we got the shock of our lives on Saturday morning, when it was delivered! The website indicated that delivery could take up to 6 weeks, so Andy knew he had a couple of weeks or so, to get the base ready; not so now. I originally saw a polycarbonate greenhouse I liked but when I looked into it, the thickness of the polycarbonate was extremely thin, so I opted for a glass one instead. Also, I have changed my mind many times as to it's site but now I think I am settled but have to move the fruit out of its bed and find a new home for it.

Before I can start to plant my seeds, I am making the soil cosy and warm by covering it over. My veg bed has a couple of cloches covering it and the wooden trough for my salad leaves is covered with fleece. I will leave it, maybe a week or two and then start to plant the seeds.

Although the weather is still chilly (I gardened with weekend wearing my woolly scarf!) my perennials are beginning to emerge out of the soil. It's very exciting to see this, especially as I can't remember half the plants I planted into my new gravel garden last year.

My Crambe Cordifolia with its aubergine stems, is emerging out of the soil. It grew too big for its space last year and I couldn't bear to throw it away, so I popped it into a very large pot.

I am waiting for the postman to deliver Dahlia Roxy, purchased from Sarah Ravens website. http://www.sarahraven.com/shop/ I am usually attracted to the large cactus type flowers, than this more delicate flower but whilst visiting Perch Hill last year, Roxy grabbed my attention and I knew I had to get one.

Dahlia Roxy nibbled by Earwigs

Lots still to do in the garden but with Easter next weekend, I will need to get working in the garden, to burn off all that chocolate!

Tete a Tete

2010-03-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

As the first day of spring is upon us, my Tete a Tete are just beginning to bloom.

But I don't think the weather was aware of this auspicious day though. The rain on Saturday was relentless in the South. It was that fine sort of rain, which you think doesn't get you wet, so you go out without an umbrella and then get soaked! I dashed to the local shops and then spent the rest of the day making comforting food; Lasagne and a scrumptious chocolate Victoria sponge, with a chocolate and fresh cream filling. And whilst that was in the oven, I watched a DVD of Geoff Hamilton's Cottage Garden series. Just listening to his voice and looking at those gorgeous cottage garden flowers, made me feel a little more cheery.

Talking of making comfort food. A new series comes to BBC2 this week called The Delicious Miss Dahl. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rs7c9. Gorgeous Sophie cooks up a storm and still looks delectable and slim. So I am going to watch and see how she does it. Everything in moderation I say and if you get out in the garden, you must surely burn up enough calories, to make way for that lovely pudding! And I have been busy in the garden today. I assembled my little plastic greenhouse, to accommodate my chilies, which I have potted on. Some sweetpeas and garden peas, to give them a head start. I have sowed two lots of tomatoes. The ones free in the Gardeners' World magazine and the other called Ferline from Thompson and Morgan, which supposed to be blight resistant. I am growing Rhubarb for the first time as well and that got planted out today. The sun felt so warm and I managed to stay out weeding until 5.30, which really is a treat. With the clocks going forward next weekend and Easter the weekend after, it really is a lovely time of year, with lots to look forward to.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-03-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

The florist in the village was packed out on Saturday morning, bustling with Dad's and their offspring, getting flowers for mums. It really was a cheery sight. My children bought me wine and Lindt chocolate (they know me so well!) and I bought myself these beautiful tulips.
There is nothing lovelier than a vase full of seasonal flowers and spring flowers seem so fresh and are definitely welcome after the long winter.

This weekend I managed to find a couple of hours spare, to spend in the garden, sucking up leaves and trimming back perennials. The buds are beginning to break; it's a very exciting time of the year. Like most gardeners, with all this activity in the garden, I wonder how I am going to keep up with all the jobs the garden throws at me. I call them jobs, but I don't see the planting, digging and cutting back etc as work - now dusting, that's what I call work!

Daffodils - The beginning of Spring

2010-03-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

A sunny Sunday is always welcome. Today was spent in the garden, cutting back perennials, making plans for the season ahead and soaking up the spring sunshine. Although the sun was out today, the wind was biting and my images of Daffodils are not from my garden but from Daffodils bought from the greengrocer. My Tete a Tete, which usually bloom in February, are only just appearing from the ground. The cold has held the plants back a good few weeks.

Gardeners' World made a welcome return to our screens on Friday. They have returned to shows lasting half and hour, which seemed to be over before it begun! I felt really nervous for Toby and the team, after the slating the programme had received and I wondered if they had made any changes to the format but apart from the time difference, everything seemed the same - I'm very glad to say.

With the vernal equinox on 20 March and the clocks going forward the following weekend, it will soon be light enough to get out in the garden after work, which fills my heart with glee; more time to spend in the place I love the most - my garden.

Gardeners' World is back and Carol has a new book on the way

2010-03-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

My valentines flowers have now bitten the dust and as I reached for the single red rose, my daughter received, to discard it, I noticed how beautiful it looked in a deceased state.

The colour had changed from crimson to burgundy and the petals were curled and wrinkled but still had shape and texture.
I have photographed this subject before; flowers just fascinate me, dead or alive!

Two pieces of gardening news

Gardeners' World starts Friday 5th March!
Carole Klein has a new book out 1st April!

Firstly Gardeners' World. Despite being unsure at the beginning of last season, I quickly adjusted to the new line up of GW. Yes I had wanted Carol to be the anchor but it wasn't to be. I have loved GW since Geoff Hamilton was at the helm and there was nothing or no one who was going to take away the enjoyment of my Friday night treat after all these years. I have read over the past months that people switched off GW saying it was being too trendy and jokey and that the 30 min makeover was likened to the Generation Game but come on gardening isn't a middle aged privilege, it's for all to enjoy young and old, so my plea is, please don't bring back Alan Titchmarsh, to pacify the oldies, we don't want twee, let Toby, Carol, Joe and lovely Alyce do their stuff. What's so wrong with using an ice-cream van to dish out free packets of seeds anyway!
I will await Friday to see if they have tinkered with the format. Ooh I can hear the theme tune in my head now - how exciting!!

Now this is really exciting. Last season on GW, Carol did a series on propagation, which I found fascinating, especially the different types of root cuttings. I thought then 'if only she had written a book about this subject' and lo and behold my wish was granted and she has a new book coming out on 1 April - how fab!

Carol Klein Grow Your Own Garden

Still no sign of my purple sprouting broccoli on the plants but the earth around has been dug over and I now need to add some lovely muck to the soil. I spotted some worms as I was digging, so they are coming at last.
The latest issue of GW mag comes with two free packets of seeds. Sweet peas and tomatoes, so I will get sowing next weekend, now that my chilies no longer need the heated propagator.
Today the air smelt new and fresh, so I think spring is defiantly around the corner, well in sunny Dorset anyway!

Chitting and sowing

2010-02-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

The mornings are getting lighter (more chance of putting my makeup on in the right place) and I'm driving home from work in the light which is such a relief as I hate tackling the country lanes in the pitch black.
I am eager to get out in the garden and keep wandering down to my veg patch and inspecting the purple sprouting broccoli. Still no sign of flowers but I didn't plant them out till later in the season, so I shouldn't expect yummy broccoli until the beginning of spring. Whilst on one of my inspections I noticed in one of the veg beds some shoots coming up out of the soil. It seems that some of the garlic which I planted out last spring and then disappeared, have decided to have another go and have started to grow again. I will leave them in the ground and see what becomes of them.
It is still a little bit chilly to brave the outside, so I have set to work inside by sowing some chillies and chitting my potatoes.

I have decided to buy a greenhouse and have seen one on the Internet http://www.simplygreenhouses.co.uk/Metal-Greenhouses/Palram-Silverline-Polycarbonate. It looks very good value for money and I am very excited about my prospective purchase but I need to clear a space for it first. I have the very spot at the top of the garden but there is an awful overgrown rockery (I use the term very loosely) which needs dismantling first. My plan is to have the space ready by Easter, my favourite bank holiday as for me it signifies the start of spring, I just need to break the news to Andy - wish me luck with that one!

With Love On Valentines Day

2010-02-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Today is St Valentines Day. You should let your loved ones know everyday that you love them but today it's time for extra special love!
There was an early knock at the door this morning, which usually means that someone has knocked their ball into our garden, so I told Andy to ignore it. After all today, being Sunday, is our day to have a delicious lie-in and Valentines day to boot, surely the kids can wait but no Andy sprung out of bed to answer the door and returned with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Oh my gosh they are gorgeous.

Rose

Lisianthus

Anthurium
He was also busy in the kitchen this week and has made me some white heart shaped chocolates with scrummy milk chocolate squidgy centres. I only have one left, they were so delicious.

I am not the only lucky lady to receive such wonderful gifts, as you will see if you click on the video below. Last week I blogged about meeting Joe Swift but he was not the only gardener I met. I had the pleasure in meeting James Alexander-Sinclair. He is an absolutely charming man and this week he sent me a link to a YouTube video he, Joe and Cleve West made in a series called Three Men Went to Mo; very apt for Valentines Day.
Hope your day is filled with love......................................

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NGS Yellow Book Launch

2010-02-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Not even the grey London skies could put a dampener on the joy I was feeling, as I travelled up by train, on Wednesday for the launch of the NGS yellow book.

It was very busy with, as one lovely person I met put it, 'the gardening mafia' but it felt good to connect with people who shared my interest in garden writing and imagery.
I met Joe Swift and no I didn't explode but gave him my card and had a nice conversation with him about the NGS. He has taken over the role of President this year and I couldn't think of a more perfect ambassador for the organisation. On television he is usually seen in his gardening gear but I can happily report that he scrubs up very well, in his suit and crisp white shirt.
He gave a speech and cheques were handed over to Marie Curie Cancer Care, Macmillan Cancer Support and Cross Roads Hospice. Amazing amounts of money is raised through people opening their gardens in aid of the National Garden Scheme, it really is a fantastic organisation.
During a talk about the different kinds of gardens open around the country, an image of one the gardens from my project appeared. This was from the garden of Mr and Mrs Cleall at 1162 Wimborne Road.

An absolutely lovely suburban garden and well worth a visit.

I am absolutely delighted to say that the following four images from my project, appear in this years book.

Wild Garlic from Wincombe Park

Nora Barlow from Herons Mead

Noel Road (this appears in black and white)

Betty's cake from Knowle Farm

I shall carry on supporting the NGS with my photography this year and if you can support them by visiting a garden, you won't be disappointed. Teas, cakes and gardens, what a perfect combination!

Dotty Designs

2010-01-31T12:09:00.000-08:00

I have licensed 4 of my images to a company called Dotty Designs http://www.dottydesigns.com/ for them to use on their storage cubes.
They produce a range of British designed products including the aforementioned storage cubes, aprons and shopping bags, plus many more, all with interesting photographic images on them. All their products are made from natural cotton fabrics, they use minimal packaging and are mindful of their carbon footprint.

This week I have been preparing for my trip up to London for the launch of this years NGS yellow book. My train ticket has been booked and collected from the station. My outfit chosen, a dress with my favourite shoes, red with a wedge (well being only 5ft 2in I don't want to be dwarfed by all those tall chaps) and a new batch of business cards to give out, should the opportunity arise.

After the reception, I intend to make my way along the South Bank to the Tate Modern where there is a Monet I want to see again.

I feel very thankful that I have been sent this invitation. Not only is it an honour and very exciting but it will give me the opportunity to step out of my weekly routine, which is something we all need to do every now and again!

Ranunculus to the rescue

2010-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

What a week I have had. I have a gut complaint, which flared up this week and completely knocked me for six. Thankfully, with the help of the meds, I am feeling tons better and ready for action!

Today we went on the hunt for a greenhouse. We have seen some on the Internet but thought we would see if we could source one locally and I am so glad we went out and about, because I visited a garden centre, which I hadn't been to before.
I have been visiting garden centres since I was a child and just love the thrill of seeing what plants they sell and Stewarts in Christchurch have a fantastic range of plants, I was not disappointed. They had a greenhouse very similar to the ones we were looking at on the net but also a polytunnel, which also looked very promising. Decisions, decisions.................

Inspite of having one of the largest gardens on the estate, it is so lumpy and bumpy and with three very tatty levels at the back, I have so much space but nowhere to grow anything, without lots of hard work first to make it possible. It's funny how we focus on what we don't have, instead of what we have. I am happy for the space but completely daunted at the same time.

At Stewarts I bought some Ranunculus corms but also saw some in flower, which I just couldn't resist. They have the most beautiful petal structure and the colour of these are a fuchsia pink - gorgeous.

In dark and dreary January only the hard hearted could not feel happiness from looking at these scrumptious flowers. They certainly soothed my soul.

A Wonderful Invitation

2010-01-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I was jumping for joy around my kitchen, after receiving an invitation to the launch of this years NGS Yellow Book. Last year I completed a self funded project, photographing NGS gardens and their owners, on their open days, giving the images to the National Garden Scheme for them to use if they wish. The pleasure I got from the project was reward enough, so this puts the icing on the cake. The president of the NGS is Joe Swift, so if I get to meet him, well I might explode with happiness. Hopefully not in front of him; don't want to make a mess!

I took a stroll up the garden path this morning, in the sunshine. It was markedly warmer than of late; almost spring like. Gosh the garden's a mess. Lots of work to do, digging over the raised beds and replacing fences.
I inspected my purple sprouting broccoli. Nothing to eat yet but they looked healthy enough. Boots helped me check them out.

I have been buying from the Marshalls kitchen garden catalogue http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/index.html my favourite seed catalogue. As potatoes take up so much room, I have bought some bags to grow them in, which come with tubers and free potato fertiliser. I have gone for the taster bags, as you get 3 varieties of tubers, Charlotte, Swift and Maris Peer. I have also bought some chili seeds and salad bowl, cut and come again lettuce.
This is our 3rd year of growing our own veg. I still have lots to learn but one of the most important lessons I have learnt so far, especially if space is at a premium, is to only grow vegetables which you know you will take pleasure in eating and also that the summers are too damp for outdoor tomatoes. Two years of the tastiest summer crop being decimated by blight, has put me off growing them again; outdoors that is.
You just watch, this year we will have perfect tomato growing weather!

New Polaroid Cameras unveiled

2010-01-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Polaroid is set to revive its instant business as it unveiled two new cameras at the Las Vegas CES show - one digital and one film-based to be released alongside new instant films produced by the Impossible Project

The new film camera is named PIC 1000 and is a modern version of the formerly-popular Polaroid OneStep camera. The camera will be available in two models - one in a light grey metallic plastic finish, while the retro model will sport a wooden finish. Both models feature a self-timer, flash and red-eye reduction option.

The PIC 1000 will work with Polaroid 600 Color films, which are set to be produced by a joint venture between Summit Group and the Impossible Project, the latter having worked for the past year in the redevelopment of instant films after Polaroid pulled the plug on the business in 2008.Polaroid is also planning to continue its foray in the instant digital market with the release of a 12 million pixel resolution digital camera that will instantly print 3x4-inch images using ZINK technology. Previously, Polaroid released a PoGo printer and camera which produced 2x3-inch prints
The new digital camera will be fitted with a LCD screen to allow users to check, crop and alter their images before printing them.A stand-alone 3x4-inch printer will also be released in the second half of 2010, along side the instant digital camera. The PIC 1000 will be available in the first half of the year to coincide with the release of new Impossible Project's instant films.

Source: Article taken from British Journal of Photography online http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=872445

Here is the news - It's Winter!

2010-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone and left us with icy conditions, which amusingly is dominating the news. It's winter for heavens sake! OK so maybe we aren't used to these Arctic like conditions but should we be so surprised?

Having said that though, in Poole, we have had the cold and ice but not a lot of snow, so here with the warmth of the sea and the shelter of the Purbecks, we have escaped the worst of the weather.

I have started a visual diary for 2010. My intention is to take a photograph every day; not so easy as it sounds, considering I usually use my camera everyday. I am going to print the photographs and put them in a book with notes and doodles. The first week has gone well, although I didn't get out to take a photograph on Monday, so I had to use a photograph I took in the studio, a pot of PVA glue!

Below is a roundup of images taken over the Christmas holiday. The decorations, my lovely daughter with the cat on Christmas day, and a chilly walk along the shoreline at Studland. Stay cosy!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T11:26:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year

Bright Winter Blessings

2009-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

Today is the Winter Solstice. The day in which we welcome the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere.

Last night I went to my Solstice celebration, which was a truly wonderful night. The room was lit with candles and foliage of pine, ivy, mistletoe, hips and holly adorned the room.

The theme was about being fearless. About putting our plans into practise instead of putting them off through fear. We live in a fearful society with the governments and media fueling our fear but we should be bold, 'what if the worse isn't to happen'!

After my meditations and celebrations, I am now ready to welcome Christmas and the New Year in with a renewed vigour and optimism for the coming year. Another year to make my mark on the visual world!

A journey with a view

2009-12-13T09:25:00.001-08:00

I work in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the Dorset/Hampshire border and I spend my working day in a room without any windows. Now before you get the violins out, let me tell you that the trade off for this, is my journey to work . It takes me through Wimborne which is a lovely market town and as I drive to work early, the Christmas lights are still on in the market square. Holt which is a picturesque village with thatched cottages around a large green and best of all I drive across Mannington Heath. Mannington Heath is quite high up and the views over the heathland in the winter, are spectacular. Last Friday morning the sight which greeted me as I reached the top of the hill, took my breath away. The sun was a ball of flame and the heathland was covered in frost and mist, with the trees in silhouette against the sun. I am no landscape photographer, so wouldn't even attempt to photograph such a scene. I was listening to Genesis (Peter Gabriel without a doubt the greatest asset they had) and this was a moment in which it felt great to be alive! No photograph could ever capture that!

The sun is so important this time of year and I am drawn towards it at every opportunity. My walk along the leafy lane which takes me to the local shops was bathed in beautiful light.

A few leaves are still bravely clinging the trees and the ruby red hips are like jewels shining in the shade of the trees.

I also love the shape and form of the Ivy with their alien shaped bracts and glossy leaves

Next Sunday I will celebrating the winter solstice with my wonderful friend Lorraine Exley http://www.lightawareness.com/therapists/lorraine_exley.htm. I always look forward to this evening of music and meditation. The room is decorated with candles and foliage. It's a wonderful feeling to welcome the sun back to the northern hemisphere and to look forward to the warmth and light it brings with it.

A sunny Sunday

2009-12-06T14:23:00.001-08:00

This morning when I opened the curtains, I couldn't believe my eyes; blue skies and sunshine and on a Sunday! I decided that today there wasn't going to be any decorating or baking, it was going to be a day spent outside.
I haven't ventured down the garden path for a couple of weeks. The last few weekends have just been so wet and not just light showers either, so today was a perfect day for an inspection, especially after the surprise frost of Thursday night/Friday morning.
The Dahlias had, as anticipated, turned to mush, so I chopped them to the ground and I moved a couple of plants into pots, as there really wasn't the room for them (I always plant too close together, not realising how large things grow - no spacial awareness).
I had a lovely surprise waiting for me in one of my veg plots, a lonely marigold, dancing away in the breeze.

Marigold

I trimmed a few plants but I like to leave a few twiggy stems over the winter. The Aster was looking particularly splendid in the sunshine.

Aster

The sun felt quite warm today, despite the wind, so we went to the beach this afternoon. The wind was far stronger than anticipated, whipping up the sand - bracing one would say!

sand dunes

It's good to get out and feel the wind on your face and breath in the air. I can't believe it's nearly Monday again - oh well, soon be Christmas!

A beautiful surprise

2009-11-22T13:41:00.001-08:00

I was very surprised when a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to me at work on Friday. I was convinced they had been delivered to the wrong person but no, my name was on the card.
My week had been horrible, full of stresses from work and sadness from attending a funeral, that by the time Friday had arrived, I had had enough. Even seeing Ricky Gervais, on Thursday night, who was very funny, failed to lift my spirits.

The flowers were of course from Andy xxx and not only do they smell gorgeous but were an absolute pleasure to photograph....

River Cottage - What a filthy night

2009-11-15T04:36:00.001-08:00

I am of course referring to the weather and not the event itself.
On Friday we headed off to west Dorset to a Chilli and Pumpkin party held at River Cottage. The weather couldn't have been worse, with lashing rain and gale force winds coming off the sea. Luckily we had a big bag of Minstrels to keep our spirits up, as we battled our way across the hills to Axminster.

When we arrived, we changed into our wellies and I donned my hat adorned with chillies. We made our way to the tractor and trailer, which carried us through the storm down to the farm and to the party which awaited us, where we were met by a couple of fire jugglers and a glass of lemon punch with a twist of chilli.

The courtyard was a lovely site with stalls lit with strings of lights but as the night wore on the weather took a turn for the worst (almost impossible I know) and those brave enough or daft enough joined Hugh outside with a TV crew, guessing the weight of an enormous pumpkin.

Pumpkin Hoopla

I think most people had gone into the barn for food and shelter

John Wright and Steve Lamb manning a stall with an extremely hot lamb chilli dish

Although outside was wet and windy, inside the barn was warm and cosy and the river cottage chefs served up absolutely delicious food. I had shin of beef served with soy, ginger and noodles. Topped off with roasted pumpkin, and chilli corn bread, served by Hugh. Andy had a pumpkin stew, which sounded equally lovely.

Hugh with a silly hat

Hugh serving roasted pumpkin to Andy

I have been to River Cottage quite a lot this year. It really is a lovely place to visit and the people that work there, put in a lot of effort into making sure that you enjoy your visit. I have met Hugh a couple of times, been interviewed on his television programme and had my photo taken with him and I can honestly say he really comes across as being a lovely caring person. Not only about the environment but also about the people who visit River Cottage.

If you get a chance, go to one of the open days next year. You can find the details on the river cottage website. I for one will be giving it a rest for a little while and give someone else a turn.

Dahlias, Hydrangea and Nigella - for Graham

2009-11-08T08:41:00.001-08:00

I picked a bunch of flowers from the garden even though it was starting to get dark, with a view to photograph them early the next morning before heading off for work. I got up extra early only to be disappointed by the natural light falling in my bedroom, where my vase sat and so was unable to photograph them. And worse than that by the time I get home from work it is dark, so I had to wait a week for the next weekend before I could photograph them! Of course they were rather wilted by then but luckily the garden is still producing blooms, even this late in the year.

The vase looks a bit sparse, and I could have probably picked some more but I went outside inappropriately dressed (shorts and t shirt - well the sun was shining) so I was beginning to shiver and needed to dive for cover back indoors.

Dahlias are so beautiful

There are still a few flowers to photograph in the garden but with the overnight temperature tonight dipping to three degrees, I don't think these will last much longer. The Nigella seed heads and Hydrangea flower heads will of course remain until next spring,

Hydrangea

Nigella

This post is dedicated to my friend Graham who passed away yesterday. A fantastic photographer with an amazing eye for colour, shape and texture. He was a man who lived life for the moment with a brilliant wit and a very dry sense of humour all of which will be sadly missed.

A Surprise in Tesco

2009-11-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I did some photography for a design company. They asked me to photograph 3 different flavours of chocolate for the House of Dorchester to appear on their packaging. I had to make the chocolate look scrummy which I did with the aid of my hairdryer. I had to heat the chocolate just enough for it to look glossy but not enough so that it melted. There is a fine line between the glossy look and a gloopy mess but I managed it fine and they were pleased with the results.

Whilst shopping in Tesco last week I saw a box of chocolate from the House of Dorchester in amongst the spices and I said to Andy is that my photography on the box? I had done it so long ago and was under the impression that the chocs were being sold in Waitrose. I went to the sweets isle and sure enough there were the three boxes of chocolates with my photography on the front.

I have to say my favourite flavour is fruit and nut. If you have never tasted chocolate by the House of Dorchester do try, it is rather delicious.

With the clocks going back last week, I come home from work in the dark, so only get to see the garden at the weekend. I still have some flowers in bloom but I think the weather is turning a little colder this week, so they will be coming to an end soon. The Cerinthe Major Purpurascens is looking pretty good at the moment; will it still be flowering next weekend, we are now in November after all!

Last Warm Rays of the Sun

2009-10-25T14:40:00.001-07:00

After a week of wet weather, it was really lovely to get out into the fresh air and enjoy last warm rays of sun today.

I trimmed back the flowers from the lavender but didn't go into the foliage; I thought I would save that job until the Spring.
I had planted some seeds early in the summer in a small patch of spare earth but the climbing beans took too much of the light and the plants didn't take off. After the beans had finished the seedlings soaked up the new light and are now flowering. It's a bit of a dogs dinner as I couldn't reach the seedlings to thin them out but now at the end of the summer, the flowers are looking quite fresh whilst everything else is fading.

Corncockle

Cosmos

Behind the Cosmos

Cosmos bud

With the light so much softer now, it's an ideal time to photograph outside and I couldn't resist tiptoeing through the purple sprouting broccoli to get to the back of the cosmos to capture it.

The raspberries have been absolutely fantastic this year. I have made two batches of jam plus I have some in the freezer to make another lot, when our new kitchen has been installed. They have been fruiting since July and if the frosts keep away I still have more to pick.

Honeysuckle

Dahlia loved by the earwigs

The dahlias and the honeysuckle are still flowering. Looking rather tatty but with all those months ahead of us with very little in the way of flowers to cheer us up, I am enjoying this moment for all its worth.

End of the season

2009-10-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

My project for the NGS is all done and dusted. All CD's have been posted off and I feel very happy with the results. I have had a summer jam packed with photography and although I haven't devoted enough time to growing, I look back on the summer as being very productive.

As the flower garden is enjoying its grand finale with the Dahlias taking centre stage, the Purple Sprouting Broccoli in the vegetable garden is just starting its second act. It survived the attach of the Cabbage White, albeit looking like a doily and is bulking up nicely.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Pennisetum

White Hydrangea

Anne Folkard Geranium

I need to cut back the lavender but the last remaining bees are still drinking the nectar, so I haven't the heart. I am worried that I might have left it too late before the frosts so I will do it this weekend and have the fleece at the ready, just in case of frost.
With one more episode of Gardeners' World before the end of the series, the gardening season is nearly over. The light has changed and is softly diffused, perfect for photography.
A couple of weeks ago we headed off down the coast to Portland in Dorset. The light was very bright but I wanted to see how the lighthouse photographed, with a view to going back in the Winter, when the light was subdued and desaturated.

Portland Bill

As the opportunities to photograph the garden diminish over the coming months, my blog will feature more of my photography out of the garden than in the garden but until then I will put my garden to bed for the Winter and capture the smokey hues of the autumnal garden.

Sarah Raven - Perch Hill Farm Open Day

2009-09-22T11:04:00.001-07:00

For quite a long time I have admired Sarah Raven and wanted to visit Perch Hill Farm in East Sussex where she has her garden and business. When I read on her website, that she was having an open day I decided, along with my parents, to make the long journey from Dorset to visit (my Dad very kindly volunteered to drive) Perch Hill.

This time of year is the best time for my favourite flower the Dahlia and I wasn't disappointed with the sight which met us when we arrived. Sarah's husband Adam Nicolson was on hand to take the entrance money and the first garden we entered was the Cutting Garden which was very inspirational.

A sea of dahlias

The Cutting Garden is made up of large beds full of a variety of flowers including lots of different types of Dahlias, Cosmos, Gladioli, and an interesting climbing courgette/squash which unfortunately I can't remember the name of.

The willow hurdles add an interesting touch to the beds

Hazel Wigwam

This zingy Gladioli really stands out against the pinks and purples

Between the beds the paths were laid with gravel which made them easy to walk on. It was a very practical area to grow your cut flowers but also a beautiful place to spend time in either working of just sitting and enjoying.

Seating area under a home made arch

Arch with climbing courgette

The day was very relaxed wandering amongst the flowers and vegetables and drinking tea and eating cakes served by her lovely daughters in the glasshouse adjoining the shop.

In the late afternoon, Sarah gave a talk about her work at Perch Hill and answered questions from the audience. An interesting discussion was autumn sowing as opposed to spring sowing and you can find details about this on here website http://www.sarahraven.com/.

The talk was held in a small room with the most gorgeous dappled light and a large open fireplace The room was full of bits and bobs which Sarah uses in her workshops.

Sarah Raven

Side view of the shop and greenhouse where refreshments were served

Inside the greenhouse

This south facing slope is where Sarah grows her veg and is in use 12 months of the year.

Some of my favourite Dahlias

Perch Hill, with its oasthouse, and lovely brick and personal touches, is a very homely and inviting place. Sarah used to live there before moving to nearby Sissinghurst Castle, her husbands family home, before it was given to the National Trust, and hopes to return to Perch Hill Farm sometime in the future. I hope she gets her wish as Perch Hill Farm and the surrounding countryside is a lovely place to visit and I suspect a really enjoyable place to live.

Visit Sarah's website at http://www.sarahraven.com/ where you can find lots of information about growing and cutting, recipes and purchase lovely items for the home.

NGS Annalal's Gallery

2009-08-30T05:24:00.001-07:00

This was my last garden in the project for the NGS, the smallest garden being only 32ft x 12.5ft but don't be fooled by it's size. Size isn't everything, as they say and that is definitely the case with this garden. I say garden but this garden came with a very interesting 100 year old cottage, tucked down a small lane in the heart of Christchurch in Dorset.

You need to enter the garden via the cottage and a knock on the door was answered by Lal, brimming with enthusiasm and ready to show you his work, which is truly amazing. Lal is an artist specialising in wood. As you enter the front room, you are met by a large rocking horse and every nook and cranny was filled with his creations. The pieces are carved, smoothed and waxed to perfection from the large pieces which included a wellington boot, to tiny pieces for which he has had to make tools to create.
Tucked away in an alcove was Anna, who is also a Royal Academy artist. Her paintings and drawings have an ethereal quality about them, calm and serene, which was a perfect compliment to Lal's work and personality.

After leaving the front room, you enter the walled garden, with its high walls clothed with plants. Around the garden are their works of art. Lal's in wood and Anna's paintings and sculptures.

Pencil Gate leading to 2nd patio

Pencil Gate

It Started With A Kiss

Bit of Rough

Kitty in the bushes

Wooden Knot beautifully painted with flowers

3rd patio at the top of the garden a cosy corner

Honeysuckle by the seating area

One of Anna's paintings

Clematis

Fish Sculpture

This is just a flavour of the paintings and sculptures hidden in the garden. When you visit the garden, Lal tells you the stories behind the pieces, which adds an interesting dimension to the garden.

A sculpture of Lal almost hidden from view

This home and garden are quite unique, together with Anna and Lal and their fantastic talents, a garden worth visiting next year.

Anna holds classes at her home and details of those, together with her work and Lals woodwork can be found here http://www.annasims.co.uk/ Take a look, because my descriptions do not do their work justice.

Finally the last portrait of the project. Anna has recently had an operation on her eye but still kindly allowed me to photograph her, with Lal. (The tie and waistcoat Lal is wearing are both made by him)

Anna and Lal Sims

I am so glad I finished this project with Annalal's Gallery. A very enjoyable experience to round off an enjoyable summer. I have met some lovely people and visited some beautiful gardens, not to mention sampled some yummy cake, all in the name of research you understand! My favourite for flavour was Betty's cake at Knowle Farm (the secret ingredient being Mascapone cheese as the filling) and the lovely ladies of the WI at Herons Mead, made cake that was so light it nearly flew off the plate.

I now need to edit all the photographs and then send them to the NGS to use as they wish.

I started off this project hoping it would raise my profile as a garden photographer and finish it thinking that it doesn't really matter if it doesn't. It's enabled me to regain my confidence as a portrait photographer, got me out of the studio, where I spend my days photographing products, very enjoyable but not a lot of opportunity for interaction and I am helping a charity, so win win I feel.

I have slightly neglected my garden, as the project has been quite time consuming but with the Dahlias at their best; there's always another year to get it right.

Yesterday I spend a wonderful day visiting Sarah Ravens garden in East Sussex but that's for next time.

NGS - Cottesmore Farm

2009-08-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

This was the first rainy NGS garden I have visited. It was only drizzle and that was intermittent, so it didn't spoil the enjoyment of this truly wonderful garden.

The owner Paul Guppy had once worked at Compton Acres in Poole and that definitely shows in the layout and the planting of the garden. He is a real plantsman with an extensive knowledge of all things horticultural.

One of the long borders full of perennials, bamboos and palms

When Mr and Mrs Guppy moved to Cottesmore Farm, ten years ago, the field in front of the house, which is now a garden with winding paths and full of wonderful plants, was just an empty blank canvas for them to transform to a luscious, tropical garden. They put in the trees first to act as a wind break and then planted the Trachycarpus, which you can see dotted about the garden. Mr Guppy grew these from seed and it's quite remarkable how mature these look together with the rest of the garden, in such a short space of time. His secret it seems is tonnes of fish blood and bone each spring and I think that's a tip I shall use, albeit on a smaller scale.

Crocosmia Lucifer a star of the garden border this time of year

Not only did I love the planting in this garden but it was also full of plants with amazing texture and form.

I have a passion for Gunneras, so when I spotted one at the end of a long border, I made a beeline for it.

Gunneras are so prehistoric looking, with their enormous leaves and thorny stems

I love the colour and texture of the bamboo

To the side of the tropical and perennial borders is a wild flower meadow, which on a sunny day is full of butterflies.

Wild Flower Meadow

Perennial Sweetpea

After leaving the wild flower meadow you cross a small tarmac path which runs to the side of their bungalow.

The garden which surrounds the bungalow, is full of the most lovely perennial plants and shrubs. The garden is bordered by a black metal estate fencing with a 5 bar gate which really sets off the planting beautifully.

Pink Phlox

This garden is full of wonderful and unusual plants. Mr Guppy is a very knowledgeable plantsman and was always happy to answer questions regarding his plants and his passion for gardening really shone through.

Paul and Valerie Guppy

Cottesmore Farm is definately one for the diary next year.

I have one more garden to photograph, which I am really looking forward to, as it's owned by a couple who are Royal Acadamy artists.

NGS Noel Road

2009-07-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

If you like a garden with quirky features, then this one is for you.

Inspired by his travels abroad and especially Rome, Ivor Pond has designed his garden around a theme, concentrating on artifacts collected from his travels and using plants as a foil to these rather then the plants being the stars.

The garden is 100ft x 30ft with narrow walkways either side of the garden and a water feature in the middle containing a stone crocodile and other kitch items.

At the top of the garden is a Roman Temple with a mural painted on the wall, inspired by the view from a resturant Ivor had visited on a trip to Naples.

Although one wouldn't normally see an English church window, on a Roman Temple, this window which was salvaged from a methodist church nearby, fits in very nicely and looks quite at home.

Taking pride of the place at the front of the garden are two large statues which Ivor collected on his travels. Firstly a terracota warrior from Xiam in China and a marble statue from Ankorwat in Cambodia called Soray.

There were a couple of images which were made magical by the dappled sunlight through the foilage, and that was a head of Buddah and a pink Hydranga.

I liked this garden, not for its artifacts, or its quirkiness but for its owner Ivor. I don't think I have ever seen anyone take so much pleasure in telling people about their garden. It's so personal to him, with the memories it evokes for him, that none of its visitors can ever see the beauty that he sees in his garden.

Ivor Pond

NGS Wimborne Road

2009-07-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

The latest garden in my project for the NGS, was at Wimborne Road in Bournemouth. Quite local to me and a house I had passed many times as I used to live over the road.

That's the amazing thing about these suburban gardens, you can pass them everyday, without knowing what gems lie behind the garden gate and this was an absolute gem.

What caught my eye firstly was that the woodwork on the house and in the garden, was the shade of green which I had wanted to paint my garage but had turned out to be a lot lighter than I had hoped. When I mentioned this to Mrs Cleall, the garden owner, she found out the colour she had used and wrote it down for me.

I had to attend this garden without my trusty assistant Andy, as he had to work but the sun was kind enough to pop behind the clouds for brief moments whilst I took the plant portraits and then would reappear, bleaching out the colours in the garden, just as I had composed my shot of the garden!

The garden is 120ft x 50ft with a lovely rustic pergola across the width of the garden, dividing the first 3rd of the garden. This is covered in sweet peas, roses and a gorgeous smelling Trachelospermum jasminoides.

Rustic Arch

Sweet Peas

Roses on the pergola

The garden has lots of lovely beds packed full of plants but more than that the garden has lots of interesting areas which draw your eye around it.

I love the colours of the plants in this border against the green of the shed

A pond nestling amongst the plants

Looking towards the bottom of the garden from the rustic pergola

A little bridge over the man-made stream

Geese on guard

This is the first time this garden has been open on a Saturday and Sue was concerned that turnout wouldn't be as good as a Sunday but she needn't have worried because plenty of people came to visit. It was a real family affair, with her son and his family taking the entrance fee at the gate. And of course you can't forget the friends who very kindly baked the delicious cakes and served the teas. Opening your garden for the NGS is a real team effort and probably not without its stress!

This cake was delicious as it looks

I absolutely loved this garden, not only for its loveliness but also the people who own and visited the garden. It had a lovely atmosphere to it and as I listened into peoples conversations, whilst I photographed the plants, everyone around me was enjoying and appreciating the garden also.

Lovely Lavander

Lychnis

Tanacetum Parthenium

Verbascum

Sue and Mike Cleall

Sue's garden has finished opening for this season, so she and her husband Mike can sit back and enjoy it all to themselves. Well perhaps not sit back, us gardeners are not very good at just sitting back, there are always plants to prune or tweak to perfection and always plans for next year to jot down. This is another garden to make a note about for next years openings.

I have a busy gardening weekend ahead of me. I am off to the RHS garden show at Hampton Court tomorrow. I have never been on a Saturday before and as previous visits have been during the week and the traffic was horrendous then, it's going to be an early start tomorrow. And then Sunday I am off to photograph another NGS garden at Noel Road in Bournemouth. This sounds very interesting with a Roman Temple at the end of the garden - most intriguing!

A disappointing Veg Patch

2009-06-22T14:37:00.001-07:00

No NGS garden this weekend, so I had chance to catchup with my garden and try to tame my vegetable plot.

I made the mistake of letting some potatoes grow, instead of oiking them out, when they first protruded from the soil. They were potatoes which had been left in the ground from last years crop. I felt bad digging them up but didn't estimate how much room they would take up. Consequently, they smothered my lettuces, french marigolds and tomatoes and when I had finally had enough of them and dug them up, the measly few potatoes they yielded, were green, as they were too close to the surface! Also I made the mistake of sowing too many tomatoes and I am finding it difficult to find a space for them. I absolutely hate throwing plants away, especially if I have grown them from seed, so I will have to shoehorn them in somewhere. And there is my next mistake. I put plant in too close together. Oh my goodness I don't think my veg plot is going very well this year!

Runner Bean 'Painted Lady'

I have had some success in the flower garden though but I won't take all the credit.
I had a patch of grass, on which I put plastic last year so that I had somewhere to grow butternut squash, in grow bags and this was going to be my veg patch, until my best friend Linda, suggested that I would be better growing flowers there and to save the veggies to the top of the garden, which I did.
We removed the turf, which was pretty much dead anyway and stored it in a space, to rot down to loam. (You will see from the photograph below, that there is horrible green plastic still covering the turfs)
I moved some plants which I had in the garden, to the new bed and with space it meant buying some more plants. Some women like shoes and handbags, but I cannot resist a gorgeous flower and I get great pleasure from buying plants - ooh it's such a lovely feeling!
We then purchased two tonnes of Scottish pebbles from StoneZone in Ferndown in Dorset, which cost an arm and a leg but well worth the effort and expense, although back breaking work, with Andy shovelling the stones into the wheelbarrow, pushing it up the drive and then depositing them for me to put around the plants.

Work in progress

Lavender Vera

I love visiting garden centres and from one of my local garden centres Stewarts in Ferndown, I bought this lovely willow heart wreath, to go on my studio door.

I love bits and bobs in the garden and I am excited as I have purchased a new book from Amazon called Shed Chic. I want to overhaul my summer house and this book looks very inspirational.

Is anyone every satisfied with their garden? At the beginning of the season I had high hopes for my veg garden. It might still come good. The peas, beans and runner beans are all looking good but I still have a lot to learn, still with my companion by my side, although he is not much help, gardening is always a pleasure and never a chore.

Boots my gardening companion