Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' chucky chives,     With allotment duties in full swing, you may be wondering if the garden is receiving the same wanton neglect as my eyebrows?... The answer, in short...is yes... but it doesn't seem to mind.   When we moved in over eleven years ago, the garden was wildly overgrown, 'lost' and magical. A lot had to be cleared for practicality - mainly the monstrous leylandi hedging, but also the wild brambles, nettles and creeping buttercup.  Self seeded Foxgloves and Sweet Williams Now the new hedging has grown up and matured, the once veggie beds and cut flower beds are again partially shaded. This had led to a garden re-think. For now, nature can do what it does best. Please ignore the non-colour coordinated towels, drying from this morning's sea swim with the kiddies. My new battery powered strimmer (intended for the grass paths at the allotment) saves the day in the garden, by clearing a safe path through the wilderness of ferns, thistles and...

 Hello m' trunky dunkies, Time for a quick bloggy? After an early morning sea swim (yes I am now one of those holier than thou 'wild swimming' converts!), I felt all energized, so decided to tackle the scraggly vege bed that has lay soggy and storm ravaged all winter.  My first bit of gardening this year... Before - After - Fruit & vege wise, I hope to be growing more perennials this year.  There are two main reasons for this: an increasing shortage of time and water.     The tulip bulbs were finally planted in the blue tubs. This is usually something I try to do in November. From the slim picking dregs in the garden centre: Parrot prince, Hugs & Kisses, Copper Image   Very colour coordinated darling. My laundry pile simply can't wait. The elephant is on the move, looking for its own special watering hole.  Time to stop for a cup of tea and to admire the camilias. My hard trim last spring seems to have encouraged proliferous proliferations. Sin...

 Eh up m' solar sparkles, Has thoust had a jolly good yule tide? I've had  a lovely time with the family and my bottle of buckspiss. The kids insisted we get a 'real' tree again from the garden centre - the one with the hotter than the sun toasted marshmallows, singing penguins and flurries of fake snow. Walking round Falmouth Pavillion's Christmas tree festival, I did rather like the street grittiness of the cigarette cupcake (bottom left) Above: Tree decorations made from collected litter Below: Let's get wooly Other cutie pie things- A couple of week ago I went to a cookin' * gig at the Pavillion. Tom Meighan, ex Kasabian , was playing. I totally had it out large to songs like Clubfoot . My old work friend does the sound for him when on tour. As they all rehearse in Cornwall, this was something of a warm up gig. A week later they were supporting the mono eyebrowed saviour from Manchester, Noel Gallagher, at Wembley arena. I wonder if they were blisteri...

Eh up ducks, A super quick bloggy post today. Gritty life and endless rain seem to have been getting in the way of gardening. Monsieur got me a new tent for my birthday. It's a great improvement on my old festival tent that only qualifies as 'three man capacity' if packed like sardines. The new one has a living room area with windows and a porch canopy at the front. We even put some bunting up. Posh tent heaven!  Moodiness over Long Mizzle Fed up with the constant foreboding weather forecast and restricted time off from work, I decided to brave it and take the kids on an outing on the Lizard, Cornwall's rugged southern peninsula. Little did we know Storm Betty was ominously approaching. On the advise of an old camping mad school friend,  I had pre-ordered some serious pegs and extra guy ropes (cross storm peg revelation - thanks Shauno!). Some old tights were joined together and and used to strap our tent either side to the base of nearby low growing trees.  Rainy day d...

 Hello m' hot scrumpies,   Apologies for my blogging absence. It feels work wise, mentally and physically I have been living in a pressure cooker for the past month This coincided with the hottest June globally on record. Hello El Niño - you arrived too soon. The garden sat thirsty for weeks on end. Some of the luckier beds received buckets of used bath water. A hose pipe ban has been in place in the South West since last summer. The reservoirs are critically low and the water company is scrambling to set up the desalination of seawater. Most plants seem shorter in height this year. The roses however seemed to love the dry heat.  Dog on quay dutifully watches over sea swimming owner Now there are reports of a potential maritime heatwave. Since taking up sea swimming, I can confirm the sea is still officially flippin' cold to my skin. My brother says 'knees, hips, nips and tips' is the way to enter the water without shocking the body. The nips seems to be the hardest s...