Everything in the Garden is Blooming

Everything is blooming nicely in the garden it must be down to all the rain we have had lately, can't be down to my green fingers!

My first tomato's, think I have about 4 so far. We may get one salad out of them if they ripen.

Carrie's Nasturtiums are coming on, no flowers as yet but they are climbing upwards.

Can't wait for the Night Scented Stocks to flower the smell is lovely.

This basket has gone mad and branched out all over the place.

One of the baskets that hang by the front door.

One of my Pumpkin plants, I didn't have anywhere to put them in the back garden so they are residing in the front borders. I have about 5 of them all growing nicely. Anybody got any good ideas on how to stop the snails getting them once the fruit starts to grow.





A Week in Menorca

Just come back from a nice relaxing week in Menorca. We stayed in Cal'n Bosch quite near to the harbour in a little complex of bungalows.

It was very very quiet, just what you need. No noise at all. The pool area was quiet till about 5.30 pm and then it got a little busy, when I say busy there were 2-3 people at any one time.

Mainly Spanish families were staying there and I believe only one other English couple other than ourselves and our friends who we holidayed with.

A nice relaxing drink down at the harbour which was lined with restaurants from every part of the world.

The bungalows that were home to us for the week. They were basic but had everything you needed for a nice stay. It was very well kept with lawns all around looking very spruce.

My hair had a mind of it's own, nothing I did could keep it straight so curly I had to be for the whole week. This is me with my chicken kebab. I have never seen it served in this way, much better than how we present it. It sort of hung there and had a wine bottle cork to stop the chicken and veggies from falling off the skewer. I really enjoyed it.

We visited Ciutadella one day and viewed all the historic buildings. Ciutadella was originally named by the Carthagians, who called it Jamma, and was the original capital of Menorca until the British came along in 1772 and made Mahon the capital. But Ciutadella still remains the religious capital of Menorca. We drove past the new statue, on the roundabout on the new city bypass. It is a magnificent statue of a rearing stallion and symbolises the famous Ciutadella fiesta, Fiesta de San Juan. I didn't manage a photograph unfortunately as we zoomed past it on the local bus.

Roaming the streets of Ciutadella.

The long narrow inlet which forms the harbour of Ciutadella Menorca (Es Port) was once an important trading port. Today the harbour is filled with yachts easily outnumbering the few remaining fishing boats. The quays around the harbour are lined with restaurants. Ciutadella is still an active port and you can watch all the fishermen unload their catches further along the quays.

Garden Time

A few gardening quotes:

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~ Author Unknown

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden.  ~ Orson Scott Card

Coffee.  Garden.  Coffee.  Does a good morning need anything else?  ~Betsy Cañas Garmon, www.wildthymecreative.com

I think the second quote is very apt!

I have been spending time in the garden lately, potting up a lot of flowers. It is something that I did every year at one time then somehow got out of the habit. Thankfully I have got back into the habit. There is nothing nicer than borders or containers full of blooms on a nice summers evening. With the addition of a nice comfy seat to sit and contemplate them.

Carrie very kindly swapped some nasturtiums for some pumkin plants. Give them a couple of weeks and they should be climbing hell for leather up the trellis. The pot beside it is full of lettuce seeds so they should grow and be ready to pick within a month.

I really packed this wall basket with Petunias, it should be stunning when all the flowers are out. Will take some photo's of it in bloom.

My three tomato plants are growing well, not sure how long before they will develop fruit. It's the first time I have grown them. I did have two cucumber plants but sadly they both died. Saves me shouting at Bert, I am sure he would have eaten them. I will have to watch the tomato's, he's partial to those too.

The baskets are growing well, it must be the chicken manure I put in the bottom.

The comfy seat to contemplate the garden and Bert to watch over them.

Only trouble with this is he drops all the grass and twigs etc as he comes running back into the house. The hoover is never away!

Of all the places to build.....................

We got up a couple of weeks ago and found a bird had been very active during the night building their nest. No problem I hear you say, unfortunately they chose to build it on top of the hose pipe outside the back door. Now with the best will in the world it was never going to get any peace and quiet raising a family there.

So I did the only thing I could and took it away. Cruel I hear you say..... but weight up the facts. Bert likes to sit and watch the world go by not two feet away from where it was and the hosepipe is constantly in use for watering the garden and washing the cars. Bert would have had a field day trying to catch it, he constantly has a battle with the Wood Pigeons in the back garden. They sit on a branch a geode him till he goes for the kill then they up and away leaving him flustered and confused.

You can just see the bird leaving another mouthful of twigs. It must have taken them a good while to get it to that stage.

The next morning the whole nest  was back again. Built to the same standard, so once again I had to take it away. To make sure it did not happen the next morning we fashioned a ski slope out of cardboard and fixed it to the back of the hose. They must have build another pretty near as they are often in the front garden. I caught the male of the species hopping under the back wheel of the car and thought ' oh no, not there, they can't have built there'. So we were on our hands and knees just in case. They hadn't thank goodness, he must have just hopped in out of the rain.







Wedding Fayre

Hi

I am going to try and get back into blogging using this blog. Please bear with me if I bore you to death.

Weddings of Clay is taking up a lot of my time, but hey, time is what I have in abundance at the moment so I am not complaining.

Lynn and I took a stand at Whitworth Hall Wedding Fayre in April. We made some good contacts and things are starting to happen.

We enjoyed the day but did have a little to say to the organiser at the finish concerning their advertising leading up to the event and their signage at the event! We have not decided as yet which Fayres to do in the Autumn a lot depends on price and location.

But nothing ventured nothing gained.