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Showing posts from March, 2010

Free seeds .... competition ends this week

Come on all your bloggers the free seed competition ends this week. If you would like to receive something nice in the post next week send me your photo showing your effort to encourage wildlife into your garden. You can use last years photos! I hope to hear from you soon. Amanda x

Going Green

I bought some seeds this week from Jill at The Green Seed Company  and they arrived so quickly so I would recommend them rather than the big companies. They offer a good range and I liked them because you can order just  a small selection and the prices are good too! I bought mange tout Oregon Sugar Pod II, raddish and dwarf beans. Each pack of peas are 80p and the raddish 60p, great value and they arrive in lovely little black seed packs. They also have a blog organic-seed.blogspot My Meteor peas have germinated, so I've ordered another Rowplanter rootrainer to sow my mange tout!Enjoy your garden today. Amanda x

Tried and tested

My hands are always dry at this time of year - washing up and gardening puts a strain on them. Anyway I had to tell you about my latest find at good old  M&S  It's rosehip and Vitamin E hand cream and such good value.

Over at Ryan's garden..............

I found this web site today thanks to Jo  The Good Life . He has a fab competition to win tickets to Chelsea Flower Show, just visit  Ryan's Garden  for more information. My tickets arrived on Sat morning but they would make a lovely gift if I was lucky to get another pair or I could go again! Anyway check out his web site as it's really interesting.

Pretty Little Bags

I needed some inspiration this evening - I always go back to the knitting book that my friend Debbie at work gave me a few years ago. Here is my almost finished bag. I searched my button box and found a pretty mixture that look just perfect for one side only. Just need to finish the last few rows, sew it up and tie the ribbon through. It is just big enough for a small bag of chocs or sweets. They also make a nice Easter gift. Amanda x

Your chance to make a difference .... and free seed pack!

What do you know about biodiversity? Did you know that biodiversity is in decline? Well it is and the 22 May has been chosen to highlight this plight. I had the chance a few years ago to do a little research for Iwade's entry into the Village of the Year, I think we received highly commended! All you keen gardeners out there can help. All you need to do is make one change in your garden. Most gardeners and allotmenteers are great at recycling, take the compost bin for a brilliant example. Even if you have limited space one small change can make a difference. Some other ideas are : * build a bee hotel * plants that attract bees; I have allimums and the bees and moths love them. Here is a picture taken last year * make a log shelter (I have recycled drift wood from an old fish tank! Not only does it look good it helps the local bugs. * recycle something * catch the rain - introduce a water but. That reminds me I must do that this year! * plant a hedgerow or tree For furth
The sun was shining today and after a quick visit to my favourite garden centre, it was back to do some jobs. I found these handy plastic bottle watering tops, they look like little watering cans! So cute and so useful.  They are called Green Fingers bottle top waterers. I'll add one to my seed giveway this month. First to add some colour into my grey garden. My sister gave me this lovely blue pot for a birthday present a few years ago - looks so nice with the bright primulas. Just behind it to the left you can see my allium bulbs have emerged after the cold weather.  And then the most important job of the day - sowing some seeds. I managed to do sweet peas, peas and dwarf sun flowers (Irish Eyes)

* Happy Mothers Day *

Flowers and gifts from Jack and Ian x The sun is shining this morning, makes a welcome change. Enjoy your day whatever you are doing.

over at My Tiny Plot

Photo Mission: Let’s Get Sowing! has just been added to My Tiny Plot  today. So what are you waiting for, get sowing and send Gill your photos. The prize is ......... Our prize this time comes from the super-cool, urban gardeners over at Seed Pantry . It’s a mega-stylish Window Salads seed kit worth £14.99 each, with eight packs of seed including: Rocket, Radishes, Chillies, Lettuce (Lolla Rossa & Salad Bowl), Basil, Parsley and Spring Onions. I was sorting my seeds out tonight for my gardening club meeting on Thursday, we are seed swapping in the local pub of course! My chilli ssedlings are doing well and sweet basil only took 3 days to appear, it’s such an exiting time. I'll run out of space in the dining room soon!

Mini Propagators

I bought these Bell-Boy-Mini-Propagators  in the garden centre today, and they are ideal for growing on my chilli seedlings. We have a south facing garden and the kitchen windowsill gets the sun most of the day. It's an ideal spot for growing seedlings. I've asked for root-trainers  for mother's day, well they last longer than cut flowers! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Amanda x

Cardigan - second attempt

I made a mistake on the first cardigan and unfortunately couldn't sort it out so had to start again. Another parcel of wool arrived today from  Kemps  so I rushed home and started cardigan no 2! This time I am using Patons Reef (Tide) which is a blue and white tape yarn. I had my doubts about it but it's lovely to knit with and looks more intricate than it is. I changed the pattern slightly and instead of the lacy pattern it suggested to the edges I decided to use double moss stitch, which is my favourite and it's knitting up lovely. Let's hope I can get to grips with this one and finish it. Have a great weekend. Amanda x
I saw this picture on the Gardeners World  web site and just had to add it to my blog! And Sue at Green Lane Allotments  has just reminded me that Gardeners World starts again on Friday 5 March. Thanks Sue.

Knit one purl one

Well just as I was getting back into my veggie growing a work colleague gives me this article! Now this means that nothing else will get done around my house. Check out her web site Ysolda So now I am busy knitting a Spring cardi in Patons Flower Garden wool in a blue mix. I bought it ages ago and its been sitting in my wool stash. I'll post a picture when it's looking a bit more like a cardi. Ooh and thanks to The Sunroom for offering some seeds. Looks like a seed give-away will happen in March. Take care. Happy knitting or gardening. Amanda x