Emily or Beth?

When my latin teacher described me as a home body - at the tender age of 17 - I was a little offended. However, over the years, I have come to terms with my personality. What I occasionally wonder is whether I am the home-lover of this:

For there we loved, and where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts,

Oliver Wendell Holmes sp?

Or the home of Beth - the sister in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women - the family for which she would pine even in heaven:

"I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven."

But for me, the ideal of the home loving, responsible person is not Beth but Emily:

Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss
Old fat furry cat-puss
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring
Wake up, be bright
Be golden and light
Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing

The little girl who doesn't want to keep the things that she finds but would rather they were returned to their owners - people who might be reunited with them when they pass by the window in which her cat sits. I've had a number of Emily moments. I've handed in things - on a couple of occasions and in differnt towns in my life - and never quite recovered from discovering that the responsible copper advises you to be an anyonymous MOP in case the person who lost the item holds you responsible for what they do not recover or claim to have lost. At times, it is a sad world.

Spring Cleaning

Airing the quilts and washing the blankets are among the more pleasant jobs when one is spring cleaning. I particularly enjoy taking virtually everything out of the bedrooms and trying to remove every trace of the furry girls. I have to admit I have limited sucesss.

In fact, I am sure that Sakura's fur is still visible on the quilt in the picture above. (Incidentally, in use it is usually covered by a woven cotton bedspread and a polyester fleece overblanket chosen because it is so easily washed in the machine. The moral of the tale is probably that no one should have a cat with such fine, silky fur.

On the other hand, I am sure Saky's attention to the Rhubarb has been helpful. My garden has been very much inspired by the amazing kitchen garden maintained - not so very far from where I live - at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal. That garden also has helpful cats:

Although, I think the workload of Wisp and co is rather less arduous - what with all those volunteers to help them and fabulous, happily established plants like this:


Thankfully, I have the imagination to believe that this:

will soon look as good.
However it may just be the effect of the first sunshine of April.

I bought some "plugs u grow" from GWM

There was a very good offer in Gardener's World Magazine for strawberries. Despite the salutory warning of the poor gent whose crop worked out at £2.63 per fruit. He was magnanimous enough to write in to The Times to warn others - which presumably cost him the additional overhead of a first class stamp - I carried on!
The plugs have seemed to grow before my eyes since I planted them and the containers found amongst the things left behind at the bottom of the garden (and so not costly) are ideal.

I will, however, be counting the strawberries I get and working out the cost of the yield. Thankfully, I got the compost on a buy two get one free. Hence the upfront cost for these strawberry tubs is only £16 including plugs and compost.

The First Signs of Spring

I am pleased to report that the first things I have planted in the garden have begun to show signs of life.

Following the guidance I found in the gardening book I took out of the library, garlic was the first thing I planted out. I put some in a clay pot and some in this raised bed.

It's all come up and has made me feel positive about container gardening.

The Garden in Winter

These are the snapshots I took of the garden we inherited when we moved up North. I thought the gorgeous rime frost in the pictures was worth recording. At the time, I had done a little to sort out some of the planters that had been left behind in the garden but I hadn't decided to sort it out properly.

As you can see from both pictures, the previous custodians of the house had been great gardeners and there is, albeit neglected, a lovely plot designed especially for garden bird. I have slightly mixed feelings about attracting them to the garden as Imelza is an avowed hunter. However, if I follow sensible advice about minimising the risk when feeding birds, I am convinced I can create a space that is amenable to both.

Therefore, motivated in part by the efforts of the nice people next door and also inspired by the example of the allotment aunties, I decided eventually that the ugly slab of concrete was crying out for a container vegetable garden and the rest - lawns and a number of beds - would also need to be taken in hand.