A Busy Few Days.....

I've been taking advantage of this lovely summery weather we have all been enjoying for the past few days....it certainly puts a spring in your step!

I've had a good sort out in my back garden...tidying up my pots and topping them up with fresh compost.  My little veg patch has been turned over and fresh compost added all ready for this season's veg.  I've planted potatoes in 3 large pots and have sown lettuce, beetroot, spring onion and radish seeds.

On Sunday we had a trip to the Garden Centre and I bought some pretty tulips and cheerful pansies to spruce up my flower pots....I could spend a fortune in there!

It has felt so good to be out in the fresh air and heaven being able to give the washing a blow on the line...so much nicer than drying it inside!

I've also found a little time to just sit with my knitting and a cup of coffee and enjoy the sun.

Spring Is Here....

I think Spring might be here...what a beautiful, warm, sunny day it has been.

I so love being able to potter about in my little garden doing a little tidying here and there.  My rhubarb is going great guns and there will soon be enough stalks to cut and make rhubarb crumble...mmmmm.....can't wait!

Sunshine After the Rain

After a dreadful few days of torrential rain we had some lovely sunshine today....so I thought I would pop out into the garden and take a few pics.

My pot of Fuschia's

Cherry Red Geraniums

Petunias

Courgette plant with four courgettes forming

Bell Pepper just starting to grow

Lavender & Mint

Lots of flowers on my Tom Thumb tomato plants

Homemade Strawberry Jam

My strawberry harvest has been fantastic this year, unfortunately I am the only one that likes them....so what to do with all the strawberries???  I decided to make strawberry jam

I looked around for a good recipe and came across this one on the Good Food Channel Site:
Strawberry Jam Recipe

I halved the amount of strawberries and added vanilla seeds but then followed the recipe as suggested.

Chopped and ready to simmer with the lemon juice

I scraped the seeds from the vanilla pod and put those into the pan too

Simmering away to soften the strawberries

Jars ready to go into the oven to sterilise

Time to add the sugar and to turn up the heat

Jam boiling away to reach 104 degrees

And the finished result.....six jars of delicious strawberry and vanilla jam

Courgettes and Crafts

I think these flowers are great, so bright and bold with the promise of all those lovely courgettes to follow. They are so prolific that I only ever grow a couple of plants and usually end up with a glut of fruit that I end up giving away.

I finally got around to taking pics of the baby dress I was making, I'm so pleased with how it turned out so delicate looking

I added some white appliqued flowers to the bodice and threaded white ribbon through each of the cuffs.

Beautiful Day

The weather has been glorious here today...so very warm and sunny.  I have been making the most of the weather and have been sat out in the garden catching up with my crochet.

This is a spot just outside my kitchen door which has the sun for most of the day...I love to sit here and crochet (weather permitting!)  I finished the little crochet baby dress I was making so once I have added buttons and ribbons I shall take pictures.  I'm pleased with how the design has turned out.

 It's amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do...the first of this years raspberries have started to ripen....I'm hoping I will have enough this year to make  raspberry jam.

Pottering About

I spent Friday pottering about the house and garden.  It was quite a bright day just perfect for getting little jobs done that have had to be put off all week because of the rain.

Here's my new mint plant which I managed to get potted up today....mint is such a vigorous grower and I love to use it chopped up over boiled new potatoes.

When I was a little girl I have fond memories of being at my Nan's house for Sunday lunch and being asked to go into the garden and gather mint leaves.....I would then bring them into the kitchen and chop them as finally as I could, put them into a small jug, add a teaspoon of sugar, a dash of boiling water and top up with vinegar and I would then have the most delicious jug of homemade mint sauce to go with the roast lamb.  I still use this method today to make yummy mint sauce.

Domesticity

Have spent much of the last two days catching up with housework and the 'dreaded' ironing.  I quite enjoy the routine of cleaning house but really don't like the ironing or the 'putting away'...but I can't bear to wear un-ironed clothes so I'll have to keep doing it.  I've started to put a few drops of lavender oil in the water and the gorgeous aroma as I iron makes it a much more pleasurable chore.

I even got around to doing a little baking this afternoon and made a homemade steak pie which was quite delicious and a trifle for afterwards.

I'm hoping the weather will be a little brighter tomorrow as I want to get out in the garden to do some potting up.

This is a mint cutting that I have been cultivating in a glass of water

It amazes me how quickly little roots form and once potted up you have a new plant which has cost nothing.

Wet n Wild!

It feels very wintery here today we have high winds, driving rain and it feels soooo chilly too.  I have some runner beans in my greenhouse desperate to be planted out but I'm afraid they will have to wait until the weather picks up a little.  The weather in this country of ours never ceases to amaze me, it is so changeable from day to day. 

I took these photos in the garden on Friday, it was such a bright, sunny day just perfect for pottering about outside.

My Californian Lilac is looking gorgeous this year, such pretty flowers

We are looking forward to another bumper crop of strawberries this year.  I hope the sun will soon be back to ripen all these yummy berries.

Tentatively Dipping My Toe!!

My first blog...yikes

Not able to do much crafting today due to a problem with my shoulder from tooooo much crocheting so I thought I would have a go at creating my own blog.  I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed with it all to be honest but I'm sure in time I will find my way around. 

It's a rather dull and overcast day here in the North West of England and quite chilly for the time of year.  I thought I would share with you  a few pictures from my garden which I took a couple of weeks back when the weather was much brighter.

These beautiful little rockery flowers are called Aubrieta and I love them, they are so bright and cheery

My rhubarb is growing great this year and soon I'm looking forward to making a rhubarb crumble with lashings of homemade custard!