Frugal Gardening

This year was to be the year that I turned my garden into one of those little "show" gardens that they have at "Tatton" or Hampton Court flower shows. I was going to treat it to some stunning features, amazing new plants, a new patio and new garden furniture. But just like every other year, forces intervened and the cash was spent elsewhere. And so, it was time to use creative thinking in the garden. With inspiration from last nights Gardeners World and a lovely lady who exhibited at the Malvern Spring Show (what I wouldn't give to attend that with a wad of spondooleys!!!), I set about today making a pond from a dustbin lid ( I use the bin to grow spuds in).

Not very inspiring I hear you cry, but with a quick bit of splitting plants from elsewhere in the garden, and repositioning all of Mother Natures Freebies (the Lady's Mantle and an unidentified Pink flowering plant had self seeded themselves on the drive!!), half an hour later it was looking something like. All it needs now is a bit of sunshine, a resident toad and perhaps I might treat it to a water lilly.

And finally, what to do with all your wine corks - I saw this great idea when I went to Carl Wilde's house back in December. Its supposed to discourage snails and slugs around your plants. I'll let you know if it works. Meanwhile, it looks as if I need to drink a few more bottles of wine!!

Irrational Fear

When I was a little girl, I had an irrational fear of:
Piranha Fish
Soldier Ants
Plagues of Locusts
Leprosy
and Japanese soldiers

none of which were in evidence much in Barnsley in the 1960's!

My fear of Japanese soldiers stemmed from the fact that the a fore mentioned Bishop of Wakefield who visited our school (the one who's knee I sat on!) had a very bad lisp, caused by having his tongue cut off, and then sewn back on again, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. We also had a very strange neighbour who had apparently been OK before he too was captured by the Japanese. Also, one of my favourite films when I was young was Father Goose - with the oh so handsome Cary Grant.

This is now one of my "ironing" films - but I still can feel the fear when the Japanese soldier is on the beach and a coconut falls from a tree near one of the little girls.

Did you have any irrational fears when you were little?

(I think the moral of the story is be careful what you let your kids watch on TV and if you go to church, or a church school like I did, be careful how you tell bible stories!

Spring gardens @ Wentworth Castle

So come with me to look around the gardens this springtime at Wentworth Castle.

They have a great display of all types of tulips.

I think this is Euphorbia, but I'm sure Michela will let me know if I am wrong.

We called this the Sheffield Wednesday Garden as it was all in blue and white. The young man is still in mourning and he says he's depressed - I think he's worried about the ribbing he is going to get from the Sheffield United fans at school.

The parkland is greening up nicely. Luckily the rain shower behind the trees got blown in the other direction!

The views from the top of the gardens over the surrounding countryside are very lovely. South Yorkshire has some beautiful hidden places.

Wentworth Castle is noted for its spectacular displays of Rhodadendrons which are just coming into bloom. I reckon if it warms up (!!!!), they should be at their best in a couple of weeks time.

The castle within the gardens was never a real castle. It was built as a folly to resemble a ruined castle. In summer, they have plays on the lawns here.

The banks of Rhodedenrons leading up to the castle will look amazing when they flower, I'll
try not to miss them.

The steps up to the top of the tower are very steep, but the view from the top is worth it. The hand rail is a dragon, his tail is at the bottom and his head is at the top.

I hope you enjoyed walking through this part of the garden with me. There is much more to see, but I'll save some for another visit.

Wentworth Castle

With both time and funds being in short supply this Bank Holiday Monday, we decided to make good use of our season ticket to Wentworth Castle Gardens which are at Stainborough (and not Wentworth!). We discovered a Medieval weekend was underway, and so had a good look around the tents and displays.

These two made bows and arrows, and lovely leather pouches. They belong to a reenactment society and everything was made just as it would have been in medieval times.

My favourite bit was the food tent, although sadly they were only making food for themselves. The smells wafting around the tent were gorgeous. Home made loaves and tons of herbs.

The lady chopping the herbs told me that in medieval times, they loved herbs, and often the rest of the food was just something to contain the herbs. For example, she was making a yeast pancake batter that was going to be fried with all the herbs that she was chopping.

They must have had fantastic digestion!

She was doing all of her cooking on the fire. The guy stoking the fire had the best job today - it was FREEZING!!!

This lady certainly was keeping warm under her layers!

Here are my 2 Knights in shining armour.

I'll show you around the gardens later. xx

They think its all over.......

...it is now.

The final whistle has blown and the fat lady has sung. Sheffield Wednesday needed to win Crystal Palace to stay up - they drew 2-2.

Hubby had resigned himself to the worst - he said that anything else would be a bonus! (His glass is generally half empty!!) but I think the young man thought it wouldn't happen. There have been tears. And so, just like Linda Bellingham in an oxo ad, Ive made them their favourite tea and mopped up their tears.

Ah well - the only way is up!

Teenage Kicks

Last night, I was lucky enough to grab 2 tickets for Pete McKee's "one night only" viewing of his latest collection - Teenage Kicks.

My sister accompanied me as hubby was working. I had applied for the tickets, but we had to wait until late in the week to find out where the secret location was - which made it more exciting!! The venue was in a new arty area of Sheffield - Sylvester Street - where they have converted old cutlery making workshops into art spaces. We loved the venue.

Pete is a really lovely chap with a great distinctive personal and artistic style. He has done quite a lot of work with the designer Paul Smith and I think that is where this collection sprung from. He recently took the collection to Japan in conjunction with Paul Smith. The Paul Smith T shirts and bags look amazing - I'm hoping they get them in TK MAXX!!!!

The theme behind the collection is the link between fashion and music for teenagers and how your taste in music influences teenage style. The pictures depicted styles dating from the Teddy Boy era to present day - with humour in each piece.

A DJ played music from these same era's, and the evening was round was rounded off by some great music from the band that Pete plays in called "The Everley Pregnant Brothers". They are a Eukelele band and play well know tunes, with words slightly altered to make them a bit more "northern" and very funny. "No oven no pies" was hilarious and was sung to the tune of "No woman no cry". The band also features Toby Foster who you may remember from "Phoenix Nights" (he played the drummer in LesAlanos). He is also a local DJ (once played a tune for the young man and I on our way to school!) and Comedian.

We also spotted another "celeb" - Phil Oakey of Human League, but I couldn't get a photo without looking a bit of an idiot!

We had a great night - really different. Pete is opening a gallery soon on Sharrow Vale Road in Sheffield, so of course I shall be taking you there for an outing.

A Rainbow in my garden

This is my easy way of remembering the colours of the rainbow (may come in useful if you find your self on "Who wants to be a millionaire".

Richard (red)

Of (orange) - try hard to ignore the very sad dead daffy!

York (yellow)

Gave (green)

Battle (blue)

In (Indigo - poetic licence invoked!!)

Vain (violet)

Richard of York, gave battle in vain. Remember where you heard it and send me a share in your winnings!!!