Yes, still wet and foggy

Today is grey and miserable - again. I was planning on getting outside to do some BIG gardening today. You know, heavy stuff. Making a start on digging out what is to be a brand new bed. It is a big and long job because of the amount of stones I have to remove and I know that it will make the garden look much worse before it looks any better because I am cutting it out of the existing lawn. Can I be bothered? I'll let you know.

This is the (sort of) plan. Obviously, this is an appalling picture done with my not so steady hand, so wobbly lines, hopefully won't actually be wobbly. The strange red shape is going to be a beautifull curved flower bed leaving a pathway on the right of it (above in the picture) with stepping stones embedded into the grass. At the right end of the flower bed is going to be a rose arch which you can step through when stepping off the deck. I am in two minds about publishing the picture, because it looks dreadful, but in reality I think that it will work beautifully, especially when it is filled with plants. I don't like gardens to be squares with flower beds around grass, I much prefer a more natural look, organsied chaos let's say. I like to have little paths so that the garden looks different from all angles and some parts are hidden around corners.

The stepping stones will actually lead somewhere by the way, looks mighty odd in the picture I know, but there are more plans afoot. I am looking at the bigger picture of what I want the final look to be, probably take me another few years, but that's half the fun.

First garden update of 2013

That is: first garden update with photos!

If I wait for the weather to become nice then I will probably be waiting for months, so this weekend I got out there and did some work.
As I mentioned, in the sales I bought a miniature rhododendron and an azalea. Now my soil is fairly acidic, which these plants love, but no harm in helping them along, so I dug a whole and filled it with some ericaceous compost before putting in the rhododendron. I decided to keep the azalea in a pot for now, because I can't quite decide where it will go. It will be happy enough in a pot for a while.

Rhododendron

I'm afraid the photos have come out a little blurry, well, I never claimed to be a good photographer!

Azalea

I transplanted (yet again) the laurel I bought a year ago. I hope he survives this second move. It is a lesson in not buying things when you have made no gardening decisions. I first placed him where the deck now stands and then I put him out of the way at the bottom. I have now decided that when I get a greenhouse at some point it will go slap bang in the middle of where this poor laurel has been positioned. So now he is proudly at the back and I have promised not to move him again if he promises to survive.

I forgot to mention the new winter flowering jasmine that is on the right of the laurel there.

So here is the upper garden how it stands in the foggy wintery weather. It is still attractive, but very very dormant. I find this time of year to be full of possibilities in the garden and in that way it is exciting.

The Lord of the Hobbits.

As I wake up to another grey and foggy day, I realise just how much I am craving the sun. With our very poor British summer this year it seems an absolute age since I basked in a bit of warm sunlight and just a few days would lift the spirits in this dark month.

I was taken to the cinema last night to see The Hobbit. I have to admit that sometimes I find the cinema a weird experience, especially if it is very busy, people whispering and chatting in the dark (I am a sit in total silence sort of watcher) and others laughing at what seems to me to be totally inappropriate moments. Yesterday was mercifully quiet though, I suppose most people went to see films over Christmas instead. I must admit that I was a little bewildered as to why the director, Peter Jackson, felt the need to add a new sub-plot to an already action packed and interesting book and what was with the new, made up characters? The cynical side of me thought that maybe it was, indeed, to make the films longer so that he could get 2 films out of it and so increase the profit, but maybe I do him a huge injustice. But after 30 minutes of the film, when they had not yet left The Hobbit's house, there was a slight sense of drawing it out to epic proportions. Don't let it put you off, it is a jolly good watch, but with a sense of trying to make a more bucolic book into a drama the size of The Lord of the Rings.

Remember me?

Happy New Year everyone, I bet you've almost forgotten who I am. Sorry to be so remiss in my blogging, but I took a well earned computer break for a couple of weeks, have barely even checked my emails, was quite liberating really.

Anyway, a New Year and new challenges!

I am not really one for making resolutions: they are rarely kept and if I want to change something in my life I tend to just do it straight off, don't need a date change for it. That said, there is a certain feeling that comes with new year for setting new challenges, things you hope to achieve during this particular year.

I have once again turned my attention to the garden. New plans, which, happily, mostly involve planting and not so much of the big expensive work! Almost entirely stuff that I can do myself.

I did receive £20 gift from my god-parents, so I have used it to buy lots of seeds and a cheap miniature rhododendron and a cheap Azalea - my favourite plants and both being sold off in garden centre January sales. I have bought the following seeds:

Naturtium (Chinese Emperor)
Aquilegia
Sweet peas
Forget me nots
Brazillian verbena
Night scented stock
Sweet William
Pinks
Lobelia (Crystal palace)
Delphinium (Pacific Giants)

I also picked up a cheap packet of runner beans.

I think that I am going to have all my windowsills covered in seedlings for a very long time thanks to this little lot. I am hoping this year that I may 'aquire' a greenhouse, but we will see.

I would love to get in an archway (rose arch) or two in the garden this year too for my climbers but I may have to look into making one myself when the weather imporves (if indeed it does)

There are certain plants that I am a bit fed up with that I inherited. When you get someone elses garden it is good to leave all the plants for a year so that you can see what you like and what you don't. I have tons of  mombretia and although the flowers were arguably pretty, it is very invasive and I am not particularly fond of the grassy leaves it has for the other 10 months of the year when not in flower. I think I may remove this next time I am out there and replace it with something that I like better.

I will photograph my efforts as and when I make them, for now, I am going to watch the rain fall instead.

Ho ho ho.

I have been a bit busy lately, cooking dinners for guests, going to visit family and drop off my home made gifts The weather has been unbelievably awful, pouring down most of the time. Every time I go and visit someone it seems to take twice as long! Not a lot of blogging as a result.
Just wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely time and enjoy yourselves. Best wishes of the season to one and all.
Normal service will resume in a couple of days. Ho ho ho.

Finishing the Christmas Cake.

Way way way back at the end of September I made my Christmas cake. I thought I was well ahead of the game getting started so early, but discovered that compared with some of you I was positively tardy! There were readers who had made their cake back last January!
So every week since September it has been fed with a tablespoon of rum and it has been developing a gorgeous heady aroma.

Now as Christmas approaches it was time to finish it off.
Last week I gave it the required layer of marzipan. I brushed it all over with some gently heated marmalade, rolled out the marzipan and laid it over the top. Here is where I discovered my mistake, for a lovely flat finish I should have turned the cake upside down! Never mind, too late now, so my marzipan looks lumpy bumpy.

I left the marzipan to dry out a bit for a week, apparently this is the way to avoid it seeping into the icing and thus discolouring it.

Now I am afraid I did use ready made icing, why? I have no idea. I bought it ages ago and then regretted it when I realised how simple it is to make your own royal icing. Never mind, it is done now. Next year I will definitely make my own.

So I rolled out the icing to the thickness of a pound coin and laid it over the marzipan and smoothed it down. It is not perfect, but it is smoothish and clean looking. Very shiny and appetising.

I wrapped a ribbon around it. I won't properly decorate it until it is ready to serve (because it doesn't fit in the tin with the decorations on), but I have just rested some decorations on for now just for the purposes of a photograph, give you an idea.

I have loved making this cake, I hope it tastes as good as the effort involved warrants. It is certainly boozy!

I will definitely be doing this again each year, it was good fun and didn't cost much at all! I will, of course, let you know how it tastes.

Have any of you iced yours now?

Santa's grotto

My friend arrived for Christmas from America, via Germany, yesterday, but very quickly has gone off on her travels to visit another friend in the Cotsworlds. She will return to me on Thursday night for a week.
As such, my last bits of Christmas organising has finally taken place. I will get the perishable food items on Friday and then that will be it with food shopping for quite a while. I marzipanned my Christmas cake last week and have finished icing that tonight. The grand unveiling will be in tomorrow's post (don't hold your breath, no really, don't.)
So finally I got my Christmas decs up. Now, don't be snooty about a fake tree, I would love a real one, but at £35 for a decent sized one (and size is everything) I will just as happily have my old fake (which is quite realistic really, if a little too perfect looking)

So, Santa's grotto is here in Lancashire, I've wrapped all my presents and put them under the tree, they will be delivered on Saturday.

 My dried orange slices came out nicely and catch the light like lovely miniature stained glass.

There is something so relaxing about lighting some candles, pouring a nice glass of something home made and sitting with the lights winking around me.