Remember when I mentioned those seeds, and how shocked I was that they were actually coming up? Well, they have gone on to surprise me even more by growing, sprouting, and resembling more and more the plants they’ll become. I didn’t account for the fact that every single lettuce seed would sprout with gay abandon, nor that the pumpkins would grow so profusely (every pumpkin seed sown has sprouted). At one point the seedlings were doubling in size every day, thankfully that has slowed down now, otherwise I’d be blogging from a room that looked like the Amazon jungle.

[Lettuces hell-bent on taking over the world...]

The thing is, when it comes to HLPs (happy looking plants) I just can’t bear to waste a single one. Each one has sprouted so wonderfully, on cue, just when I asked them to… But that means that I’m rather over-pumpkined and over-lettuced. I guess this is a good thing, lots of summer salads and healthy eating, but it also means I’m struggling to find places to put them all… So, without wasting a single sproutling, I’m going to dig beds, hoe pastures, buy troughs, and sow each and every one to share amongst neighbours and anyone who wants them. See I’m a caring sharing person, me. Plus I just can’t bring myself to commit hari kari with my baby lettuces. But please call the men in white coats when I start naming each individual plant…

[Curcubita maxima 'Mars F1 Hybrid' - a pumpkin]

The ‘Meteor’ peas in the garden are all up, the ‘Sugar Lord’ peas I’m still waiting for. A few seedlings that are sort of Swiss chard-lookin’ are starting to come up where I um, planted the Swiss chard, and the indoor-sown sweetcorn are coming up in dribs and drabs (they are late-starters as they were left outside in the beginning and didn’t have the benefit of me singing lullabies to them until recently…).

[Pisum sativum 'Meteor' sproutlings, clockwise Alfred, Pea Jr., Sweetie Pea and Brian]

Around the first lot of potatoes that went in on 12th April, there are noticeable ‘humps’. This is a good thing, meaning that under the ground the potatoes are sprouting and growing, pushing the soil up on top of them to form small mounds. Although there are no potato plants to be seen as yet, by the middle to end of May we should start to see them leafing.

[Zea mays 'Honey Bantam' sproutlings]

Conversely the flower seeds that I planted indoors, Hollyhock ‘Double Mixed’ and Aubretia mixed haven’t done as well, I’m not sure why. But most of them have come up, although they’ve taken longer than the vegetables. I think I’m just suited to vegetable growing. We have three roses on order from David Austen roses, a small bush rose ‘The Fairy’, ‘William Morris’ a large bush/small climber in pinky apricot hues with large full-double blooms and a gorgeous smell, and one of my favourites ‘Alba semi-plena’ a really old rose, single flat blooms with one of the finest scents possible (it is distilled into rose attar). We’re not quite sure when these will be delivered - I think we’ve made it in time for the last posting - I hope so!

The flower seeds we planted in the flower beds in the back garden are all starting to come up too most of which are now past the two-leaf stage, are gaily growing all the leaves they can muster, and will need thinning (transplanting elsewhere, I just cannot commit herbicide!) to make space for their development.

[Species tulip 'Tulipa dasystemon' - I want to say crocus, but they're not - which is sharing a bed with the most gorgeous Tulipa bakeri 'Lilac Wonder']

So this is the view from my ’sill, the lawn green (patches in places, but who likes things perfect?), the birds singing, a squirrel collecting nuts and seedlings abounding everywhere. Ahhh, good times!

Ahhh, so this weekend the weather was gorgeous. In between making a gorgeous high tea I was in and out of the garden all weekend. The Fiancé was in the garden all of sunday, until he came inside hot, sweaty and very very tired, to enjoy said Sunday High-Tea. I was on strict orders to relax, which was not only heavenly, but much-needed because on friday I was a sickly bunny all evening.

I realised not too long ago, that if we were going to grow all of the vegetables that we want to (and have already germinated), then we’d better find some more veg-bed space, because that’s something that we’re very short of. This means only one thing; making the lawn smaller. We have an enormous lawn, really it is large, over 19 metres, and takes a lot of mowing. This means the lawn will be easier to take care of, and will give us the space we really want. So, having decided the size of the first lawn-bed, Fiancé set about doing the hard work excavating the area which now looks like this:

[new veg bed]

Yesterday I managed to plant it to half-capacity with some more potatoes and garlic, the back part of the bed, nearest to the path, will be housing some pumpkins and also some runner beans if I ever get down to the garden centre to get some!

Can you believe that whilst sitting outside I managed to get slightly pinkened? I didn’t believe this was possible in April, but apparently so. Like I said, we’ll be growing melons here before my days are numbered…

We also spent a gorgeous day in Hexham, a local town, with a gorgeous famers market, abbey and park. Although not a christian, I find the abbey a nice place to sit and think as it is a rare thing to find somewhere quiet enough to do so, and has been dated back to c. 674 AD. The first time we visited we were treated to an impromptu concert by the organist, who was obviously practising his repertoire.

Myself still feeling ropey from the previous evening’s sicky episode, we walked dreamily around the town, stopping little and often, finally ending up in the parkland arm in arm, drinking in the sun, the daffs and the sound of happily oblivious children playing.

[Flowers by Hexham Abbey, the heady smell of them in the air]

Today has been spent in glorious bliss watching the rain fall in small, neat droplets from a very stormy sky, which has now disappeared to leave nothing but blue sky in its wake. I made some beetroot and apple soup, a recipe I sort of just concocted, but which tastes very nice indeed, and is such a satisfying colour. I am in a vermillion mood obviously, which is just as well, because this soup is the most stunning colour. Or at least it was, before I engulfed the bowl, replete with locally produced organic spelt bread and butter. Yum.

[beetroot and apple soup, a homemade concoction]

Today Robyn and I had our long waited-for Trans-Atlantic Bloggers Breakfast High Tea. It was a real laugh. The two of us have been chatting for quite a while online, and at the suggestion of Robyn we both decided to share a meal together, albeit a few thousand miles apart! So our Trans-Atlantic Bloggers Breakfast/ High Tea was born. We both decided to share pictures on our respective blogs of what we’d done. This week’s ‘theme’ was a truly British High Tea. A simple idea, with simple wholesome recipes. Basically a mix of tea, cakes and sandwiches, it has been devoured lovingly in England for many many centuries, and is the complete and utter height of decadence!

The quintessential High Tea (sometimes called a Queen’s Tea) for me has to include a large cake, usually a buttery madeira or a light fruit cake, scones with clotted arteries cream and jam, a selection of simple sandwiches and something sweet-cakey. For ours we had a homemade slighly lemony madeira cake, freshly-made scones with clotted cream and jam, sandwiches (homemade fresh and wholesome), and a strawberry flan to finish (assembled by moi). The whole meal was accompanied by a good pot of strong tea (we didn’t get ’round to drinking the Schloer pictured…) and enjoyed ourselves so much! It proved to be the perfect way to perk up The Fiancé who had spent the whole day in the garden digging a new veg-bed out of the lawn. Alot of the attraction of the food is the pomp and ceremony. Out came plates and my favourite teapot, delicate cups, napkins, and lots of spoons, which is for me, what makes it heavenly; going the extra mile makes it really special. All of the food pictured is either local, organic or free-range and homemade and gorgeous to eat.

Thanks to Robyn for the idea, and for being a really great email-pal! I hope you had a great high tea too :-) I’m really looking forward to learning about what constitutes a southern-American breakfast/tea!

[A full table]

[another full table!]

[heaven on a plate]

[still-warm scone]

[scone]

It was one year ago yesterday since I decided to open this blog. Admittedly, I have been blogging since 2002, and do have another blog elsewhere, but this one is where I spend all of my blogging time. I love being able to give advice, share stories and to meet interesting people. We all have a bit of the voyeuristic in us, to want to share our lives, but in a good way. I don’t let this blog swallow all of my time, which keeps me sane, and I get to post about all things VP. This is a site that is more ‘me’, and is a place that I can vent, talk openly, and share pictures and snippets of life.

It’s been a really exciting year so far, I can’t wait to see in my second blogging birthday, and my third, my fourth and more! So Happy (belated) Birthday VP!

I dreaded planting seeds, don’t ask me why, but I did. Probably the thought of having to find a place for all of the numerous pots, labelling each one carefully, potting them on, planting them out. It all seemed too much hassle, but when you actually sit down (or in my case stand up) to do it, the whole thing seems much less like a chore and much more exciting. From setting the seed down into the soil, to a couple of days later the first signs of life popping up, one little leaf at a time, it is a fascinating time. I go into the back bedroom daily to see the progress, and am constantly amazed at the way some seeds, laying deathly flat on some soil, can quite literally overnight awaken themselves and put down roots, only a day later showing two healthy little leaves. It is utterly wonderful, and doesn’t fail to amaze me every time.

From now on, I’m going to be having a ‘wednesday’s garden’ post (or at least try to), just showing the new things that are happening in and around the garden and/or the local greenspots. Admittedly I’m a day late, but yesterday was busy, and didn’t get online at all! Today’s theme is life on the ’sill.

[Mixed lettuce seedlings doubling in size daily]

[Curcubita maxima 'Mars F1 Hybrid', a pumpkin, 2 days old]

[Stirrings in the pea-pot, Pisum sativum 'Sugar Lord' and 'Meteor' are the two that we'll be growing this year. Propagation indoors avoids the risk of being filched by pigeons and snails/slugs. It also helps 'bring them on' faster, allowing us to plant out larger plants and hopefully crop earlier.]

[Our own purple-sprouting broccoli, which has been in the ground for nealrly 11 months, and has just started to crop. It has a gorgeous taste, all the better for organic treatment, good soil, and lots of love and attention (from us and the pigeons!)]