Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' bees knees, If you garden it, they will come! Here's Bjork and Sia (otherwise known as 'Almond Blossom' and 'Narcissus') caught playing at the bottom of the garden. This is a very rare sighting indeed. These photos mysteriously appeared on my kids' iPad, but the fairies have not revealed themselves in person, and are not likely to. They are from the 1980s afterall, so very much like myself, need to rest themselves for large periods of the year.  The Hornby Flower fairies, inspired by Cisely Mary Barker's drawings,  were produced between 1983 - 1989. I had Apple Blossom (now aka Bjork) when I was little.  One day she just went missing, along with the giant orange space hopper,  and grandad-built non-health-and-safety-compliant scooter. It is so nice to have her back, albeit missing her flower hat and staff. Seems that she has found an acrobatic friend too ('Naricissus', aka Sia). Who knows when we will see them again? Elsewhere in the ga...

 Hello m' cocks, Well, there's been a proper gale blowing here today at Long Mizzle. Gusts from the sea have been chasing up the tidal river, howling round the creek and whipping my poor plants in the face. Last week we had three Tree Echium spikes (Echium Pininana), now we are down to just one. This is a shame as I have been waiting three years for it to flower! Amusingly I  have been left with the more unusually shaped spire ;) Poor stem! Will the remaining spire survive the weekend? In the safety of the greenhouse, our of-of-date seed experiments have surprising results. The parsnip seeds, known for only having a two year viability, were sown haphazardly by our littlest and amazingly have sprouted.   The Globe Artichoke seeds were seven years old. The little plants are bound for my brother's allotment, but need to get a bit bigger and tougher. The red carnations are for my flower cutting patch. Unlike the stale, imported tosh you can buy in the supermarket - these ones...

 Hello m' posh pies, Let's have a quick cuppa and peek at what's growing in the garden. Then I'll share some pictures from a visit to my brother's new allotment and the Homestead Woodland Garden. With the tulips and daffodils done and dusted, the forget-me-nots are hanging on in there and the pot Irises, Granny's Bonnets and Weigelia have moved to centre stage.   Iris hollandica 'Blue Magic'    Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow' (aka Granny's Bonnets)     Above: Weigela florida Some of you were getting a bit fancy in response to my pit enterprise, invented 'Bucks Piss' drink a couple of weeks ago (see Blossom and Brick post here ).  So here are some Elderflowers that can be thrown in with the grapefruit 'jus'.... is that posh enough for ya??? Before I could plant my dahlias out in the old veggie bed, I had to shoo along some red onions that I sowed from seed two years ago.  They're not much bigger than the ones you would buy as ...