Long Mizzle Garden

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' cherubs, The seed sowing season is upon us. Much like my coordinated washing, I like to sow in themes of colour. Please don't be fooled into thinking I do all the garden jobs by myself. It is important to delegate. I've actually been actively training up the littlest one. Hopefully I'll be able to get some extra feet up time, with an endless supply of hot tea. The biggest one is currently chief tea making apprentice.  That's all for today folks. The sofa, granny blanket and a good book are calling. Please send gossip via courier pigeon. Lulu x   More recent blog posts can be founds here -  https://longmizzle.blogspot.com/

 Hello m' stormy teacups, Seems like I've been working too hard lately. As my old kindly boss used to say each day at elevenses "Let's get our priorities right and put the kettle on" ...and get out into the garden! (I added that last bit) Long Mizzle is recovering from Storm Aurore. She whipped up the English Channel with a reported tornado and 60 mph winds. At one point, the Trachycarpus Palm was bent right over, the leaves almost touching the ground. A tree surgeon friend of ours tells us these were some of the only trees to survive the hurricane of 1987 (the one Michael Fish famously dismissed), on the estate he manages in Sussex. The lower leaves get incredibly scraggly looking, so I trimmed them off. Soon our ladder will be too short to manage this though.  Spot the new addition to the upper terrace? Give us the netball and move aside kids, watch and learn!   We were lucky -  the only damage really was some battered sunflowers and one toppled Aeonium pot. ...

 Hello m' berry pies, Sundays are for lie ins with tea and books, breakfast croissants, garden pottering, maybe a bit of painting. Here is the sound of a Sunday morning at Long Mizzle, courtesy of the local church bell ringers [video] - Picking flowers to dry - Helichrysum (above) and Statice (below).     From the greenhouse you can watch the lagging tomatoes slowly ripen.   This year's Braeburn apple harvest... thirty of 'em! Some destined for a pie.   If we are feeling adventurous... some blackberry picking, using an old wooden walking stick to hook and reach the high branches. The best ones are always out of reach! In old British folklore, we are told not to pick blackberries after Old Michaelmas Day (10th October), as the devil promptly pisses on them. I am pretty sure I have eaten pissed on berries in the past. It did not result in instant death, but it did simultaneously give me the squits AND make me a better guitarist. Saturday afternoons are for heavier...