Attic24

Autumn flowers

Yesterday afternoon I was late for the school run. My usual 3pm amble along the canal side turned literally into a run as I attempted to condense the 12 minute journey into 7 minutes. I ended up arriving at the school gates just as the first children were coming out so I wasn't technically unforgivably late, but I was very red in the face and knackered, and felt bad all the same.
And the reason for my lateness?? Violas that's what.

To be more specific, Viola Magnifico, the most delightful, cheery little five petalled flowers that ever existed. Just look at that prettiness, that cuteness, the sheer downright cheekiness of that little flower face! It had me so enraptured I lost track of time.

Yes, yesterday afternoon saw me doing a spot of gardening, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too. Nothing too arduous you understand, just a little pottering around in the afternoon sunshine, playing with flowers and moss and compost.

I decided that the time had finally come to tackle the Hanging Baskets at the front of the house. They were a total, utter disgrace. Put it this way :: if J comments on how bad something looks (and he has a reputation for never noticing anything gardeny), then I know they are really, really bad. They were bad when we moved in to the Attic24 house last winter. I distinctly remember noticing them when we viewed the house, thinking how uncared for they looked. And then when we bought the house and they became my hanging baskets, I had all sorts of plans to pretty them up. But typical of me, it only ever got so far as the planning stage. I failed to plant them in the spring with the intended pretty bulbs and then failed again in the summer to fill them with colourful summer annuals.

So during the past few days when I've been shopping, I've accompanied my fruit and veg buying with pots of pretty violas, cyclamen and ivy. I already had the moss and compost,  purchased in the Spring when Good Intentions were rife.
I'm almost too embarrassed to show you the baskets that have been adorning house number 24 for the past 10 months.
Please don't think bad of me if I show you?
Ok, here goes ::

Well what can I say, except that they were the work of the previous house owner.
And I should never have left them hanging there looking so forlorn and sad for so long.
And now I fully intend to have seasonal hanging baskets to be proud of.

Wanna see how it turned out?

 

Quite cute eh?

And this poor, sad, neglected wall basket with a few straggly nasturtiums in it, looked over by White Bird....

....now prettied for Autumn.

And this is the third basket hanging right at eye level next to the front door. This morning I really enjoyed the surprise of seeing it when I stepped out, as I had temporarily forgotten my gardening efforts of yesterday. My memory is seriously shot through I tell you.

I just love those violas so much.
Love 'em to bits.

ps. before I forget to mention :: I LOVED all the shopping trolley opinions yesterday, oh I really loved reading  your comments so very very much. Thank you for taking the time and effort to let me know your thoughts. Seems the opinion is overwhelmingly in favour, so  I could soon be TRoLLiEd, I'll keep you posted!
xxxx

Back Yard

Hello! So glad you made it, yes awful weather isn't it? Hope you didn't get too wet on your way over?
Up in the rooftops of Attic24 the rain is thundering down this morning, its' very noisy indeed so no doubt about the weather from where I'm sitting, I don't even have to look. I can hear the weather. Hear that it's not very summery at all. But just to clarify, look ::  this is the view from the velux window which looks out over the back. Dismal.

Yes, such a shame. I really did want to show you my little back yard,  I had envisaged my outside table laid with a pretty cloth, tea and cake in the sun. A warm, summery chit-chat about flowers. I really wanted to share my outdoorsy ideas, run them by you.Oh well, we'll manage somehow, best not get too down hearted eh. Ok, lets raid the photo archives....

....This above photo was taken last month whilst I was still flapping and procrastinating and not getting very much done. Its not a terribly good photo I'm afraid, I think the settings on my camera were a bit off and it looks a bit washed out doesn't it? But no matter, you can get the gist of it. You can see my yard is small, I think you could call it compact, or perhaps if you were being very generous you could say it was bijou.
Its in an L shape, the main square of it you can see here is 3m x 3m, with an additional 2mx2m off to the side under the kitchen window.

And this photo was taken on a lovely sunny day a few eeks ago, not long after I spent those backbreaking hours shifting, carrying, potting, sweating, planting. I shifted my blue plant benches around, moved the table, tried to create a pleasant space for eating. It's not easy working in such a confined area, but I love our little space all the same. Its manageable, do-able, even for a lazy arse like myself.

We live in a middle terrace of tall Victorian houses, so we are literally surrounded on all sides by houses. We are extremely overlooked, most especially at the back, and it has taken some getting used to in the seven months that we have lived here. Our last house was a detached modern house on a corner plot, so we had quite a sizeable garden, surrounded on all sides by either tall hedges or fences. Privacy was important there, most people craved it, built boundries up around themselves and isolated themselves in their back gardens. Here it is very different. Folk like to see other folk, like to lean on walls and chat, like to pass by and see what's doing . Kids play in and out of each others yards, up and down the streets, grown-ups take a brew out and chatter, gossip, pass the time of day. Its very friendly and I do like it for the most part, but sometimes I do crave a green view and space.

The photo above was taken yesterday afternoon just after it had stopped raining. See the wall there to the right? I've put some pots and troughs along for now to help the yard feel a bit more enclosed, but I'm hoping my lovely father in law will come with his wood and scary tools and build me a short fence along. Nothing too scary or high, just a dinky little picket fence that I'm thinking would look nice painted a sort of a tasteful  grey-blue. J is Yorkshire born and bred and he tells me it's perceived as "unfriendly" if you fence yourself off. And I tell him I do not like to sit and eat my dinner with half the neighbourhood watching me. As a result, we find ourselves having a mild, on-going disagreement about it. To fence or not to fence? Privacy v Community? Northern ways v Southern ways.

But aside from the privacy issues, I have this idea for plants :: ok, lets see if I can describe my vision to you. Imagine a narrow, L-shaped raised bed built the whole way along the right hand wall and also along the back wall. It would be about 2 ft high, built out of stone or maybe timber, high enough and wide enough so you could perch your bottom on it if you wanted. Imagine the planting this could contain :: ivy, climbing hydrangea, honeysuckle, clematis, ceanothis, passion flowers. It would create a year-round wall of living green. It would be under planted with bulbs and other smaller plants. Annuals could be sneaked in for the summer to add colour. But for climbers to work on the right hand wall, they really need to be able to climb, higher than the present wall allows, don't you agree? Well I shall let you know how the debate goes.

I like a garden to be decorative, don't you? I like to see little decorative bits and pieces in a garden. Pretty pots, mobiles, painted birdhouses, mosaic. That book I showed you the other day has some wonderful, wonderful ideas, it's brimming over with inspiration. I visited Barcelona last Autumn and ooooo the Gaudi mosaics in the Parc Guell are truly amazing :: I would love to try mosaic for my outdoor space, maybe a wall panel or even some big pots? Actually, I've booked to go on a half-day workshop in September which is all about recycling broken crockery and china to make mosaic so I'm going to collect plates this summer from jumble sales, car boots and charity shops with this in mind.What fun!!

This is my geranium and herb bench. I use mint and parsley a lot and love to have these just outside my  back door.

Ahhhhh geraniums, geraniums, you make my heart sing! I think they're one of my favourite flowers, the colour, oh!! YEs, the colour is magnificent. I've put these beauties right outside my back door so that I'm hit with it as soon as I venture out. Bam! Magenta and cerise in your face!

I did have fun planting up my big pots. They are still establishing themselves, and the trailing geraniums have not yet flowered but I think in a month or so they'll look lovely. I've even noticed one brave sweet pea flower has emerged, so am hopeful for a good show there too in a while. Thats if the sun ever decides to shine again.

Well, it has stopped raining now, but everything is still dripping wet outside. Shall we have tea and biscuits inside, I baked some raisin and peanut cookies yesterday and the locust-children didn't eat them all. Still some left for you and me.

Oh, yes it's been lovely to have your company, thanks so much for coming, I do enjoy a good natter with friends. There's nothing nicer than that, rain or shine.

Planting stuff

I do like to pretend I've got green fingers, my Mum has them for sure :: you can't run 2.5 allotments simultaneously and successfully without a definite shade of green at your fingertips. And I like to think I  inherited them. But if I am brutally honest, I think I am too damn lazy and sloppy to be considered a successful gardener. I can plan, dream, read and partake in garden retail therapy like a pro. I have the kit, see :: pink trug, gardening apron, cute tools and a designery watering can from Heals no less. I have the inspiration and the desire to create a beautiful outdoor space in which to eat al fresco surrounded by greenery and colour and beauty. But the harsh truth is that as I am rubbish at doing any thing at all on time, this seriously impedes my gardening efforts. Seeds sit in the packets. Baby plants get pot bound. Things wilt dangerously. But I persevere and am undaunted. I am knowledgable and enthusiastic.

I can walk round a garden centre and name dozens of plants because in my time I have read dozens of gardening books and seed catalogues. I even occasionally watch Gardeners World. I LOVE garden centres, get all giddy with butterflies in my stomach when I walk round, get slightly overwhelmed at the sheer scale of it all, but love it all the same. I am quite good at garden-related shopping, I consider my purchases carefully.

I buy pots, not too many but just the right number for the plants I plan to have. So far so good.

I buy herbs that I know will come in useful for cooking :: parsley, thyme, sage, mint and chives. A few tumbling cherry tomato plants too. I leave the wacky herbs behind, congratulate myself on being restrained.

Bedding plants are a bit harder to resist. Remember I am a colour junkie, and the colours of summer annuals blow me away. I LOve them. A lot. Purple petunias, crimson million-bells and deep blue lobelia. Lush. I move on to hotter colours :: clashing scarlet and magenta geraniums. I can't stop buying them. I visit the market stall for verbena, marguerites and sweet peas. I notice the supermarket is selling bedding plants right alongside the fruit and veg....ohh I need a loaf of bread, I'll sneak another geranium in my basket too.

All these little plantlets keep arriving into my house through April and May. They look promising, they grow fast. June arrives and their little roots are spiralling round and round and round screaming for more space to stretch. I write "plant out plantlets" on my to-do list. They continue to grow and start looking a little sad, yellowy leaves appear. I procrastinate and feel guilty. Then one day in early June I decide today is the day and spend hours and hours planting stuff. I go mad with it, make my back ache and my fingernails black with compost. I heave big pots around, I go through three bags of compost. I begin to create the modest beginnings of quite a delightful little haven in my back yard.

If you are at all interested, please stop by my place tomorrow and I'll show you around. Come for a cup of tea and a bun and we can sit out a while. See you then xx

Seeds

Seed packets manage to seduce me in double quick time. I go to the Co-op for a pint of milk and before I know it I've also bought three packets of seeds. I go to the garden centre for some compost and I'm drawn to the racks of seed packets like a moth to light. I flutter helplessly in front of them all, mesmerised by the colours and the promise of it all. Its a bit like the magazine syndrome. I only have to see a packet of seeds and I immediately go off into a daydream, create my own magazine spread in my mind. I see a beautiful courtyard full of huge pots brimming over with colourful flowers, herbs and edibles, see myself sitting amongst it in the sunshine drinking coffee/tea/pimms depending on the time of day, idly doing a bit of deadheading or harvesting fresh salad leaves for my lunch/dinner.

 

I am such a daydreamer, I have never met anyone so disconnected with reality as myself (with perhaps the exception of my paternal Granny, who was scatty beyond belief). I somehow convince myself every year that by buying the seeds in March/April, I am actually going to end up with a maaarrrrrrrrrvelous garden full of flowers and produce. I forget that the packets of seeds sitting in a pretty blue bowl in my kitchen actually have to be planted and tended to. April and May come and go and the seeds continue to sit prettily in the kitchen. I look at them every day, think how pretty they all look, think to myself I really must get them planted. June arrives and suddenly a bit of mild panic sets in. Several packets of seeds are now no longer viable for summer of '08 as I've not planted them in time. But no matter, they will keep another year.

 

I get busy with the seeds that I can plant now in June. Aren't seeds an absolute marvel of nature? It never, ever fails to amaze me that these little unpromising bits if stuff will manage to know what to do and grow into plantlets. Produce flowers. They delight me, really they do.

I have my Little Buddy to help me. We plant yellow beans and purple beans, little fingers pushing the seeds down into the soil.

Nasturtiums and sunflowers next, grow, little seeds grow.
We go and check our seeds every morning, look hopefully for signs of growth. Water them and talk sweetly to them. Sing to them even. Grow little seeds, grow.

We have dreadful weather, wind and rain and cold, not summery at all. We continue to water, talk, sing and look. Then one morning when we are out in the yard in our pyjamas doing our early morning rounds, we spot little green shoots pushing through the soil. Little Lady (and Mummy) start clapping and jumping up and down. We are thrilled, honestly thrilled.

 

 There's nothing more promising than a little green seedling is there?