A New Look for the Garden

Life has been rather hectic of late and I'm sorely missing being able to quietly sit and work on a creative project. Particularly one that I actually finish!

However, hectic can also be good and, after a few years of wishing I finally have new garden furniture. Sadly, it's not hand-crafted, unless Ikea have changed their brand ethos without telling anyone! Mind you, I did have to attach the legs to the table myself - does that count as home made?

I'm pleased to say that the old furniture is slowly finding new homes. It's about 35 years old and has lived outside for that whole time, so it has seen better days. The table is extremely wobbly and will probably end up being burned or recycled in some way.  However, the bench is off to my friend's house to be painted and made into a garden feature up against the side of her house. It too is wobbly but seems fine when placed firmly up against a wall. As for the two chairs, I'm pretty sure they will make their way next door. The students there have a tiny outside space but nothing to sit on and when I offered them some furniture they almost bit my hand off. One slight snag is delaying delivery - they've misplaced their back door key! However, I'm hopeful that it will turn up before too long (and before I get sick of looking at old furniture cluttering up my garden.)

I can already feel the need to make some accessories for the new furniture.  I'm thinking of chair cushions, place mats and coasters - perhaps in a nice royal blue to match some of the garden pots? If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to go out looking at fabric... as if I need one!

I've also been busy planting out most of the seedlings that have been slowly growing since I sowed them in early March. The first of the tomato plants have been out a week, followed by most of the climbing beans and a couple of the patio peppers which went out this weekend. They have experienced sun, rain and wind in equal measure so are hopefully getting used to everything that a traditional British summer can provide.

And finally, with a big family holiday next week to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, I've also made a cake. Not a big celebratory cake, but one to fuel us in our walks and adventures in the North York Moors. It's a Fudgy Banana Loaf and looks pretty stodgy, even if I do say so myself. Mind you, that's because I know what went in to it and it's mainly mashed banana (3 unripe) and ground almonds (250g) mixed into a fudge sauce made by boiling together equal amounts of butter, agave nectar and Demerara sugar for a few minutes (125g of each), with some ground cinnamon (1tsp), ground allspice (1/2 tsp) and two eggs beaten with a pinch of salt. It has been baked in a cool oven (150C, gas mark 2) for an hour and 10 minutes before being partly cooled in the tin and then lifted out onto a rack. I've left it on the baking paper so that I can lift it back into the tin for transporting to Yorkshire once it's cold.

The recipe suggests glazing it with a sticky mixture of apricot jam and lemon juice but I have decided to forego this to make it easier to transport. As it is, I fear the car will be at bursting point as we prepare to cater for nine healthy appetites! I have fond memories of eating banana loaf as a child so I hope this one lives up to expectations!

Emergency Baking Therapy

This weekend didn't turn out quite as planned but, if I'm honest, how many do?

I was preparing for an early and very speedy trip to Ikea to pick up a few bowls and jugs for work before settling down to write a job application.  Then there was the laundry to do, the house to clean and, if all that was done, I should really pot up some climbing bean and sweet pepper seedlings.  That was, until the phone rang and I discovered that a very dear friend was very much in need.  Plan A was soon swept aside as I drove off to pick her up so that she could have a weekend of TLC.

Mind you, I wasn't going to let her get off too lightly!  After a swift assessment of the situation, I formally proposed that baking therapy was the order of the day.  As I began to get my head around my job application and its rapidly approaching deadline, my friend slowly examined my baking folder. Yes, I am an organised so-and-so and tear tempting recipes out of magazines to keep in a folder. But not in just any old haphazard way - oh no! My recipe files are colour coded with labelled section dividers. Oh, and if I'm really honest, no tearing of recipes takes place, all are carefully cut out and, if they go over two pages, equally carefully pasted back together. [Right about now my mother will be scoffing at such organisation.]

Anyway, this meant that I could present my friend with an organised selection of recipes to peruse; although admittedly, if my recipes weren't filed she could have occupied herself for a lot longer, mainly just trying to find the baking recipes! I had decided that much tea was to be consumed over the next two days and something good and sweet would be required to soak it all up.

After due care and consideration, my friend chose a Hemsley and Hemsley recipe for Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies. They reminded her of something her late mother used to make and I can't think of a better reason for choosing a recipe than that!

After lunch, work on the cookies began by mashing together a tablespoon of soft butter with 8 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, a quarter of a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and a quarter of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Into this was mixed 100g of ground almonds.  The crumbly dough was then placed in the fridge for half an hour and the oven was pre-heated to 160C, 140C (fan) or gas mark 3.

Once things were appropriately chilled and heated, tablespoonfuls of the dough were rolled into rough balls, placed on a lined baking tray and gently squidged with a fork.

They were then popped into the oven for 15-20 minutes before being carefully removed and allowed to cool, still on the tray.

It was at this point that I suggested that a walk around the neighbourhood would be good for us both. Besides, the sun was shining and there was a house that D and I had come across a few years ago, fallen in love with but never found again. I decided a mission was required and off we set. We found lots of lovely houses and some even more beautiful gardens and plants, but alas no house. I'm now convinced we must have imagined it or that it lives in another dimension. However, the walk did us both good and we arrived back at the house to be greeted by the smell of fresh baking and cooled cookies.

Oh, and it was just about time for another cup of tea!

What a perfect welcome home

Surely not all for me?

In the end, the job application did get done, as did the laundry; most of the house has been cleaned; and the peppers and beans have even been potted up. That just leaves the trip to Ikea, but there's always next weekend for that!

Spring inspiration

What a busy few weeks it has been, with scant time for making but lots of time for reflecting and being inspired.

It began with the former whilst house and cat-sitting in North Devon, where much time was spent reading in the sunshine (mostly) with long gazes out to sea. It was a perfect few days spent relaxing and appreciating nature. Plenty of beach, gorse and even a beautiful walk by a stream through the woods surrounded by bluebells, wild garlic and primroses. My favourite place? Probably this blue bench but can you blame me?

Next stop was the Cheltenham Jazz festival. I'm not sure if that was inspiring or reflecting. Perhaps in reflection, I can now say that I'm not a fan of 'avant-jazz' but it was fun, even if the Indian inspired street food stall was my favourite bit (aside from the company of course!).

Following that there was the May gathering of Craft Club where I chatted so much I only managed to half make a pair of trousers. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see them I fear. They are now in the sewing room along with the grey duvet set which is still awaiting its appliqué adornment.

However, the icing on the cake was the RHS Malvern Spring Festival - a true feast for the eyes. The show gardens were jaw droppingly beautiful and the flower tent (or should that be tents since it looked to be three giant marquees joined together) had some fabulous displays. I'm sure the following photos won't do it justice but I feel that I have to at least try to share what inspired me so much.

The Festival 'best in show' garden - a competition for new designers

Spot the Cheshire Cat in this 'Alice' Garden 

And the fun water feature

The Bees Knees! 

The Gift of Life - Organ Donation Garden

The path of life - if you say Yes to donation

The 'No' Path

The Journey Garden for St Michael's Hospice

A 'tapestry lawn' able to be mowed twice a year 

Cornerstone - with a great idea for storage in small garden

An Andalusian Moment - an incredible recreation 

The white houses are really just painted chipboard - amazing!

I certainly came away inspired but not quite empty handed. Well, who could resist a plant called 'Bunny Tails'?!

My first purchase

Planted at home (with room to grow of course!)

I also picked up some Ajuga Reptans 'Catlins Giant', featured in one of the show gardens, but it took us a while to track down one (or two!) to buy. These were the final plants to go into my much planned new trough for the front garden, which I'm proud to say got planted up this evening.

For gardeners out there (or more appropriately 'non-gardeners' like me). The Ajuga is the blue flowering plant at the front.  The climber is a Passionflower, which I'm hoping will cover the railings, eventually.  The bright green shoots are Crocosmia, dug up from my friend's garden when she was having new paving laid and handed over to me last Autumn in a plastic bag. Not quite a show garden but a welcome splash of colour, with hopefully more to come as Spring moves into Summer. Now I need to go an clean the soil from beneath my finger nails - strangely satisfying, probably because its evidence of having done something a tiny bit creative.