miss marie's miscellany

December collage

A happy month with Christmas and the preparations beforehand, good times spent with family and friends, some crafty goings-on and lots of glitter and tinsel.........oh yes, and lots of snow!

 

Pink skies

A beautiful sunset last night

The colour of the sky must have influenced my choice of after-dinner goodies!

There's nothing like a glass of fizzy fruity rose to make one feel summery.....and turkish delight,an old favourite, just seemed the right accompaniment.  A pretty pink end to a warm spring day.

Weekend collection

A whole weekend off, that's a rare treat. On Thursday evening, I felt so tired I thought I'd spend it lying in a dark room, but by Friday morning I was up to speed again thankfully. Here are my highlights:

1) A couple of long lie-ins, much needed! So nice to be able to turn over and go back to sleep!

2) Curling up with a good book

3) A new houseplant

I think it is a Christmas cactus!

4) Feeding sister no.1's cats

Tullulah and Chloe!

5) A lovely meal with friends

They brought me a present to add to the collection of hearts!

6) Crochet

This is my latest project, more of which later in the week.

7) A trip to Edinburgh armed with Easter eggs and flowers to visit  sister no.2, brother-in-law and 2 little nephews.

8) Lots of gardening.

I spent 3 afternoons digging for victory, so I think I deserved the following!

9) 

Well, it's not Easter without a bit of chocolate!

Hope you all had fun too, dear readers!

Happy Easter

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Seedy

It's that time of year, when a gardener's fancy turns to thoughts of a bountiful harvest and beautiful blooms. Here in Scotland, it's been a bit too cold to start sowing seeds much earlier than the last 2-3 weeks, but finally spring is in the air, and it's definitely time I got my hands dirty. 

 I'm lucky to have enough room for 2 good sized vegetable patches. When I first started gardening 4 years ago,  my enthusiasm outweighed my inexperience and I tried to grow far too much......now I only grow what I know I'll eat.  I love being able to go out into the garden to pick something and be eating it only minutes later - the taste is so fresh and delicious. 

I already have these sprouting seedlings, broad beans and peas.

I start these off indoors, as bitter experience has taught me the seeds are deliciously appealing to mice, and if they don't get them, the snails and slugs will devour the young shoots before they can flourish. I'll give them another few days on the warm windowsill,  and then into the garden they will go.

 

Carrots - these haven't worked out well before now, as my soil is heavy with quite a bit of clay, so I decided to try this small round variety,  'Parmex',  designed for windowboxes and containers (which you can just see on the left in the first photo above).  I'm also growing parsnips, 2 different kinds of broccoli, beetroot and a different variety of broad beans for a later sowing. I may try and fit a few leeks in too!

chitting nicely!

 

Colourful !

Trying something new too.

There will be flowers too, lots of those, but I'll keep that for another post, to follow soon.

Now all I need is a few months of sunny days, with a little light rain at night ......perfect growing conditions, I can but dream.