Happy New Year & Emergency Gardening

Not a bad haul! 

Christmas and New Year over, visitors have left and I realised that the garden was in dire need of a quick fix before it all got totally out of hand, like it so often does here at Ripple Bay. It was so windy today that I battled my way to the hidden garden tucked behind our garage and pulled out weeds and things and trimmed and tied back tomatoes at a rate of knots. Felt very virtuous when I also found a whole hidden cache of yellow cherry tomatoes from a plant that was supposed to be in a trailing pot but which I had stuck straight in the ground last year in a fit of optimism.

Big bucket of weeds and things

makeshift driftwood bench

garden after the quick fix

My New Years Resolution? Get in the garden and keep on top of things? Nah, only joking. My real resolution is "DO MORE STUFF"! Thanks Kate (one of our groovy visitors) for the inspiration.

Happy 2014, Emma x

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Blue Pattern Friday

There is something about watercolour flowers which just lend themselves to wonderful repeat designs for fabric. I had a go at capturing these grape hyacinths gathered from our next door neighbours garden. 

One person who really does have the whole watercolour thing nailed is Fi Douglas of Bluebell Gray from Scotland, I have been coverting a panel of her fabric (or two) for some time now, but perhaps I will have to create my own after all!  

Last night I went out with my gardening group friends to see a film which has been taking NZ by storm, called "Gardening with Soul" a documentary film about a nonagenerian gardener who also happens to be a Nun. Or a Nun who also happens to be a 90 year old gardener. Whichever, she was pretty inspiring and a reminder to be Mindful rather than Mind Full. 

Happy creating Friday, Blue x

Eggy Ideas

With the school holidays around the corner, I've been thinking about kid-friendly projects.

I saw a great idea in a magazine (I can't remember which one - a sign of age!). I love it because it costs next to nothing, can be tailored to any age and appeals to budding chefs, artists and gardeners.

It starts in the kitchen - get the kids filling the baking tins with some of their favourite egg-based recipes (mine are currently enjoying Simon Holst's Butterscotch Slice).

Save the egg shells giving them a quick rinse under the tap and dry off on the window sill.

Once clean and dry pop them into a display dish, egg cup or egg tray. The eggs can be decorated with pens or paints or left undecorated. Then fill with potting mix and sow your favourite fast growing seeds (we are trying microgreens).

So that keeps them busy for one day... anyone have any other ideas?

The Summer of the Spud

Gosh my potatoes did well this season ... I think it must have been The Summer of The Spud! I was so encouraged by my first harvest in January that I immediately planted another batch.

However the colder weather caught up with them, so when I put the fork into the ground this weekend I unearthed some beautifully formed marbles.

 While they tasted very nice in a tortilla, the real success was my homemade chips made from store bought potatoes (sigh!):

Thinly slice peeled potatoes and lay out on a baking tray.
Spray with a little olive oil and cook for 20 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.

They got the big thumbs up from the nippers.

Which came first the Tomato or the Egg?

Every year I am always surprised and caught out by which vegetable plants decide to take off and which dwindle off and fall by the way side with barely a small offering. This year the star of the show have been the tomatoes which have been amazing, particularly a variety called Cherokee which are huge, almost black and heavy and warm from the sun.

I think they must like all the seaweed and fish skeletons I have been cramming into the soil. Are you a neighbour like me? I rush round to the boats I see coming in with a catch and requisition the fish remains after they have been gutted, and then I plant them in my garden. And....it really works!

Happy weekending,
Blue x