On my reading table - Jane Packer's Flower Course

 This weekend my dahlias were finally blooming profusely enough that I was able to pick a big bunch of them and stuff a vase really full. I've been wanting to do that all summer. Another thing I'd been wanting to do was learn how to arrange flowers 'properly', ie so that they stay where I put them in the vase and don't flop all over the place.

 Jane Packer's Flower Course covers the basics in flower arranging, with step by step photographic tutorials of techniques including a flat bouquet and a classic hand tied bouquet.

 It also has plenty of eye candy in the form of beautiful photos, showing different examples of the techniques.

It's definitely on the 'floristy' side of flower arranging, with a chapter devoted to wedding bouquets and buttonholes. But the pretty pictures were enough to inspire me, and if I can actually master the hand tied bouquet, I'll be in business!

I'm linking up to HolleyGarden's monthly book review post - click here for other garden books to read!

March flowers

Yesterday I showed you what was blooming at the flower show, and here is what has been blooming in my home and garden this month. (Well except for the stone bench one... that is a sneaky pic from the Botanic Gardens.)

I'm linking up to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Pictures from the Ellerslie Flower Show

 Here are some photos from my visit to the Ellerslie Flower Show last weekend.  I'm afraid I haven't in most cases noted the name of the garden or the designer, so I'll just have to give you my humble opinions.

This garden was the People's Choice award winner, with lily pads, lush purple velvet and a firepit in the centre.

 This garden was inside one of the marquees. I was very taken with the rustic wooden sleepers, and the 'fireplace' design - cool! I also enjoyed the plant combinations - spiky with fluffy, dark with light, flower with foliage, etc.

 This was one of my favourite combos - echinacea with feathery grass and cosmos. The purple and lime green work well together.

This was called El Templo de Bloom, and had an Indiana Jones feel to it. A waterfall, tropical plants and skulls on posts!

 Obviously the earthquake was a recurring theme. This rock garden is made from rubble.

And this garden used upside-down road cones as planters.

Other trends I noticed were white gaura - on every second garden it seemed. 

Also Japanese maples were all over the place.

 Lots of hard landscaping - although that's the case at every garden show I think! This deck had some alternate squares filled with tiny plants, which reminded me of the pothole gardening idea.

 I like the herbs and shade lovers tucked under this bench.

And how clever is this birdcage planter! Me wanty.

 This is a clever design for a small courtyard. The compost bins are under the decking! The garden also featured vege plants that had flowered and/or gone to seed - it was interesting to see 'past their best' vege plants used in a garden design.

There were lots of sculptures dotted about the place. This grassy meadow was filled with metal poppies and irises.

 A metal heron peeks out from grasses.

A monarch butterfly enjoys the show.

On the whole it was a good day out, but I didn't really feel that there were enough flowers in the display gardens. So I was thrilled to look out the window on the way home and spot this cute little cottage and garden. It was like it was put there just for me! I nearly pocketed it to take home, but I contented myself with just taking photos. And if any garden designers are reading this, this is what I want to see at the show next year: white picket fence, weatherboard walls and flowers, flowers, flowers.

Feeling autumn

 After the chilly and disappointing summer we just endured, most people were hoping that autumn would be golden and glorious and Indian. No such luck! This weekend we were treated to a cold and stormy taste of things to come. Normally when there is a significant weather event the newsreaders like to give it a name; "winter chill", "polar blast" and so on. This one was a Weather Bomb. The bomb mainly exploded on the north island where roofs, trees and trampolines were flung around all over the place. Here in Chch we had gale force winds, horizontal rain, and a bloody cold Saturday. Since our chimney is halfway through being removed (thanks for your quick response, EQC) we were unable to light the fire and spent the day huddled in the kitchen with the fan heater. 

Sunday was warmer, but there is no denying it... summer is gone (if it was ever really here) and it's time to switch back into cool weather mode. For me this means as much light as possible in the form of candles, lamps and decorative lights, and as much warmth as possible from the pellet fire, blankets, hot water bottles and heaters (I'm pondering an oil heater for the kitchen which I hope will provide a nice constant warmth in the background - does anyone have experience running one of these?)

I also felt the urge to put up my Tiny Things Display Shelf again. This is momentous because it fell down in the earthquake and a lot of things got smashed, so I put it in a cupboard and put the display things in a box and really just didn't want to look at them for a while. But recently I felt that the time was right to get them out and have some pretty things to look at. So this is Tiny Things - the Autumn Edition.

I reattached the shelf to the wall and used Blu-tack in the bottom corners to hold it steady. I arranged all the bits and then carefully put little blobs of Blu-tack under each of them as well, so they are as safe as they can be.

 Green berries, acorn caps, printers letters, a tiny egg made from malachite, an ornate photo holder, a little house, a handcarved printing block, a bottle stopper, shells, dried seedheads.

 Tiny autumn flowers, a Tamsin Cooper embroidered brooch, a glass inkwell, eucalyptus nuts, a metal kina shell.

A glass inkwell, a feather from my walk last weekend, more eucalyptus nuts, a vintage perfume bottle, funny spiky seedheads, fuzzy acorn hats, and in the top right corner, a bird skull.

One year on

 Last weekend I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. My bike seems to have a constant flat tyre these days, there must be a tiny piece of something sharp embedded in the tyre or something. So rather than combining exercise with errands, I'm having to actually make an effort and Go For A Walk. The most scenic place to walk is still along the river, even though it's a pretty sad place now. The roads are rutted, cracked and full of holes. Even when the holes are patched it doesn't take long for the asphalt to wear away, since the land is still unstable and settling itself.

The saddest thing of all is the houses: lopsided, windows broken, waist high grass on the front lawns. Gardens which were once lovingly tended have gone wild and all but disappeared.

 For the anniversary of quake day, someone came up with the idea of putting flowers in all the road cones. There are A LOT of road cones around Christchurch, and that morning as I drove to work, every cone I saw was sporting a bouquet. Some were simple - agapanthus and dahlias were popular - and some were mixed posies. It was beautiful and uplifting.

The rest of the day was strange. Memories and emotions kept surfacing, especially at 12.51 when I was sitting in the exact same place I had been when the quake struck. 

I find myself thinking back to how things were a year ago - the first few days without power or water, the weeks that followed where we were unable to use water from the tap without boiling it first, the inconvenience of sewage pipes not working properly. The traffic congestion and bumpy roads (neither of which has improved much in the following 12 months!) The time spent with family who looked after me when I needed it, and friends whose support and kind wishes kept me going.

This is a bridge over the Avon River in Dallington. There was a commemoration ceremony here where people gathered to throw flowers in the river.

A couple of days before Christmas last year our neighbours came to the door. They were holding this beautiful quilt, which was made by some lovely ladies in Australia. The quilt was sent along with some others to my neighbours' church, to be distributed among people affected by the quake. They are the pastors of the church and they very kindly brought the quilt around to us as a gift. I was very touched - both to be thought of, and also that people in another country had worked together to make this loving gift to send to Christchurch and show their support.

I put the quilt of love on our bed straight away. I've spent a lot of time looking at the individual squares and feeling the good wishes of those who made them.

My thanks to the Coolum Quilters of Queensland, Australia.

♥ ♥ ♥

Salad greens for summer

 I recently came across the 52 Week Salad Challenge, and since my aim when I started the potager was to keep it stocked with edibles all through the year, I decided to join in. I'm not a huge salad eater but I do love having fresh crunchy lettuce in my sandwich each day. Also, if the veges are just sitting there in the garden waiting to be eaten, I'm more likely to try and find something to do with them - particularly if there is feta cheese in the fridge!

 My potager has four quarter-circle beds in the middle, and these tend to be my salad beds. Each one has an upright rosemary in the middle and is edged with chives and carrots, with any other gaps filled with spring onions and lettuces (Freckles and Red Flame). The lettuces are growing well, it's been a cool summer which they seem to have enjoyed, although it did take them a while to get up to size. I've got a few spring onions left but the seeds I sowed a couple of months ago have been very slow to grow.

While I was waiting for the lettuces to fill out I sowed a row of rocket which has been true to its name. I'm not in the school of people who find rocket peppery, it's more... nutty? Earthy? Either way, I love the depth of flavour it brings to a humble pile of green leaves!

My favourite summer salad:

Mixed greens torn into bite size pieces, including Freckles lettuce, Red Flame lettuce, rocket, and basil

Sliced spring onions

Quartered cherry tomatoes

Finely chopped red chilli (flesh only, no mouth-blistering seeds for me thanks)

Crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:

Juice of a lemon

Slosh of oil

Salt, pepper and about half a teaspoon of honey

1-2 tablespoons plain yoghurt

Whisk together till combined.

If you want to join the 52 Week Salad Challenge, see this post for more info.

Curving edges and late summer veges

I finally finished curving the edge of the back garden beds. After much digging up turf, digging over soil, hefting bricks and hauling compost, the bed is now ready to plant. I have a matching pencil conifer to go in, then I'll just see how it takes me. I've already planted out some pansy seedlings that popped up somewhere else and a couple of baby dahlias. I'm thinking about winter colour now so will probably put in a hellebore or two and definitely some bulbs. Maybe a camellia? I don't want to overcrowd the bed but I do want it full.

I also have to bear in mind how big the apple tree will get (something I'm bad at doing, so no doubt at all that this garden will be redesigned many times over the coming years). The tree is Baujade and it's clinging on desperately to the only surviving apple fruit in my garden this year. Good Baujade, hold on.

Here's a view from further back so you can see the full curve. Hope you can ignore the state of the grass. To be honest, I'm not one of those people who cares much about their lawn, except when dandelions pop up all over the place. There was one morning a few days ago where it was only slightly windy instead of a full on gale, so I pounced on the Round-Up and got spraying. Once they die I'll put grass seed in the holes and wish it well.

This is the little "outdoor entertainment area" (ha ha) that I've created. As you can see we don't have a table, chairs, barbecue, deck, french doors or fairy lights yet. But I'm working on it, in my mind anyway. I'd just love to have a little deck with french doors leading into the kitchen. It's definitely not in the near future, but I'll try to swing the rest of the requirements. I already got an umbrella!

The potager's getting to its overblown late summer stage. Most things are cropping well except the tomatoes and peppers. I'm harvesting spuds, zucchini, carrots, lettuce, spring onions, red onions, runner beans, herbs and silver beet. The drying beans (cannelini and borlotti) are fattening up. In the glasshouse I'm picking cherry tomatoes and strawberries. The two capsicum plants in there have plenty of green fruit, so hopefully it will ripen.

I've got seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower and silver beet nearly ready to plant out. Some of it will go where the spuds were, and I'll also clear out the patch of flowering leeks and phacelia at the front. I'm thinking of spring bulbs to go in the blue pot - crocus or snowdrops.

February flowers

 I'm a bit later than usual with this month's flowers post. I missed out on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! Oh well. Here it is, and you can see the main colour theme is pink pink pink! With a bit of white to harmonise and a splash of red to spice things up.

This is the driveway garden. It's a hot, dry spot that was formerly planted with hebes and shrubs. Most of them were out of control and would attack you as you got out of the car. They were too big and constantly needed pruning. And, I hate hebes. So I began to dig them up and replace them with camellias. They are fairy blush, with delicate little leaves and flowers and I anticipate no bad behaviour from them. I've underplanted them with sprawling carnations and petunias.

It's really difficult to photograph this planting effectively - it looks much better in person! I absolutely love the softness created by the pastel colours and the cloudlike plant structure, and the pops of red stop it from being boring. The carnations are such giving souls too, flowering from spring to autumn - I pick them for vases all the time, and you can never see where I've been!

I'm planning to continue this planting all down the rest of the drive. I took some cuttings from the camellias in spring and I'm crossing fingers and toes that they took. The carnations are really easy to take cuttings from when it cools down more, just break bits off and stick them in the ground - it's how I got most of these!

Crochet in the summertime

Edit Feb 2014: I've finally finished the blanket! You can get all the details here.

 I've been working on my Summertime Patchwork Quilt Blanket. It still works up as fast as ever, but it seems that the bigger it gets the slower it grows! It's somewhere between a third and a half of what I want the finished size to be, and as I continue to sew the little hexies on it seems that it will never get there.

 I've nearly run out of the ginger coloured yarn, and since it was stash yarn I've been unable to find any more the same. So I'll try blending a couple of strands of thin cotton, it won't be the same but hopefully won't look too out of place.

Here it is so far, about a third or so done. I'm thinking a thin white border to finish, possibly with picots on the pointed corners. And maybe some half round hexies to fill in the obvious gaps down the side? We'll see.

Top crops and flop crops

 This morning as I walked around the garden, I looked at my flowers and crops and realised it hasn't been the best season for a lot of things. It's been a cool and windy summer which, coupled with water restrictions, has been stressful for a lot of plants.

My biggest flops so far have been:

:: Tomatoes. Blossom end rot has struck in both the glasshouse and outside. I was expecting this to happen since I just haven't been able to water well and consistently, but it's still frustrating! The cool temperatures have meant they are also slow to ripen.

:: Rainbow carrots. I've had a low strike rate on all the ones I sowed. The few I've harvested were lovely though!

:: Outdoor chillis and peppers. Slow to grow and set fruit.

:: Leeks. I transplanted a punnet out a couple of weeks ago so they will have time to fatten up for winter. Some are ok but most of the smallest ones shrivelled in the hot sun. Guess I'll be buying a punnet after all to bulk up the stores!

:: Apple trees. Most of the trees (I have 4) decided to give themselves the year off by not setting fruit. The 2 that did then dropped most of it.

:: Blueberries. Again, not much fruit set, then the little that was set got eaten by birds.

:: Hollyhocks. I had 3 different kinds of seed to sow, and not one came up in spring! I'm trying again for autumn.

 So, boo to the weather and the birds and the capriciousness of nature. Fortunately some things have been doing really well, including:

:: Brown Berry and Green Grape cherry tomatoes. These are in the glasshouse where it's warm, and haven't sustained any blossom end rot. They are also ripening quickly. Yay cherry tomatoes! 

:: Spring onions. They are growing reliably well, what else can you ask for?

:: Strawberries. Also reliable. Also sweet and delicious.

:: Boysenberries. Doing good for their first year in production.

:: Dwarf lavender. The tray of seeds I sowed is loving life in the glasshouse. (I'm going to use these to edge the potager.)

:: The beans are all growing well and looking lush. I'm enjoying the green wall made by the runner beans.

One benefit of this cool season is that I haven't seen any caterpillars around, so that's definitely a plus!

 The flower gardens are filling out, and I'm making the most of it, spending a lot of time just walking round looking at things. It's nice to just be in the garden.

These are my water storage bins, tucked in beside my homemade rustic bench. (Please ignore the crack in the wall... it's only from where our house has sunk a bit! EQC should have it fixed within the next decade!)

 Due to damage sustained in the earthquakes to pipes and drains, and the water reservoirs, we have been on water restrictions since October. Sprinklers and unattended hoses are banned, and you are only allowed to hand water your garden from the tap on certain days. So for those days when I can't use the tap, I have these bins. We keep a bucket in the shower to fill up while the water warms, and I also use that cut down milk bottle you see there to hold under the pipes in the drain and scoop up washing machine rinse water. Yep, you bet that's a tedious job, and there really are a milllion other things I'd rather be doing. But one rinse cycle fills a bin about three quarters, so it's worth doing it. Then it's easy just to dunk my watering can in to fill it. Quicker than filling it from the tap actually! Still. I'm looking forward to the day that sprinkler comes back out.