Beautiful chard

 If you like year round edible colour in your garden then I can highly recommend Rainbow chard.  The colours are intense and practically glow in the dark.  

Add it to salads or cook it in stews and stir fries. 

The slug trap

 I made a little beer trap the other day. I've used some polystyrene and corner protectors that came with our new craft desks. The inside container is a milk carton and I've pinned it into the garden using barbecue skewers. Ten slugs popped in for a drink last night and didn't leave. 

Fruit press

 I've been given a small fruit press and it's the perfect size for making  small amounts of fruit juices. Last year I gave away more than three quarters of the grapes that I'd grown.  This year I'll turn them into juice and freeze it. I'll do the same with the apples and pears and might have a dabble at making wine. The press is about the size of a  bucket so isn't going to need vast quantities of fruit to make it worthwhile 

Beautiful fragrance

 I love this time of year when everything looks sparkling and green. The new leaves always have a wonderful freshness don't they.  It helps that the sky is a beautiful clear blue and not that horrible drab grey. Each time that I step outside into my back garden the scent from the wallflowers stops me in my tracks.

Softpots

 If you have followed me for a long time you may recall when Tony and I went to a Softpot workshop.  Sadly the lady that ran the course passed away not very long afterwards.  Well last night we were over at our friends for a meal and Elaine happened to mention making a softpot for a bonsai tree. They're off to their house in France on Monday but when they get home we're going to make a softpot or two. I'll have to dig out my supplies and it'll be a great way to destash some more crafting stuff. 

Lovely colour in my garden

 The lovely warm sunshine lately is really helping the flowers to bloom. I'm absolutely loving the fragrance of wallflower and narcissi in my garden.  The warmth brings the fragrance out beautifully 

Upcycled cider tins

 I've been using my dies cutting machine to cut up empty cider cans. The flowers look really pretty hanging in my garden 

And yesterday I picked my first ever home grown asparagus.  To be honest I much prefer the taste of the white nine star broccoli 

My beautiful blue GreenStalk

 Look what's just arrived.  I've spent the past half hour deciding on the perfect spot and filling it with compost.  I've plans to fill it with flowers so that it's pretty all summer.  Through the winter I'll grow brightly coloured chard. It'll look gorgeous and we love chard both cooked and raw.

Time to sow tomatoes

 I don't know how I've managed to wait this long to sow my main crop of tomatoes but it's definitely worth hanging on. The plants soon catch up with those sown earlier and it'll be far too cold to put them outside for at least another month. The difficulty this time was choosing which varieties to grow from my huge stash of seeds. I've settled for 11 different varieties and plan on doing a taste test in the summer. Everything in the porch is coming along nicely and hopefully I'll have my first Viola Cocktail tomatoes in  month from now.

My garden today

 I can't believe it's almost April. Seems no time since we danced the night away at the New Year's eve ceilidh.  We're off to whist this afternoon and the country dancing group tonight. I'm absolutely loving being retired and having all the time in the world to do whatever I choose to do. Giving up invigilating was one of the best decisions I could have made. No more trekking out at the crack of dawn. I'd got to the point where it felt like a real chore. Now I get to spend all the lovely warm spring days working in my garden.  This it what it looks like right now.