Tuesday 27 January 2015

Deep in an old shoebox

It's that time of year when I start to think about seeds and plants again.  Nothing has actually been sown yet, but the box of seeds has been eased down off of its high shelf and I've had a rootle through.



It's not an especially large box, but tucked away inside, sleeping soundly, are enough seeds to fill a garden and an allotment with all manner of flowers, herbs, salads and vegetables.  I even got out the garden notebook (you knew I'd have a notebook, yes?) and had a look at the lists of things from previous years and the scribbled notes I've made about which varieties of things to try this year.


The garden at this time of year is of course always perfect, because it all exists in my imagination.    A profusion of pretty flowers, plump juicy vegetables, butterflies and bees, honestly, I wish you could see it, it's like Chelsea Flower Show in here (the small sensible gardens, not the big architectural ones).  The reality will have more slugs and less profusions, but it will give me something to aim at next time.

A couple of inspirational books have been helping with the daydreaming.  Firstly Louise Curley's lovely "Cut Flower Patch".  It's a book I won in a giveaway last year, and I happened to open it the other day and it really reminded me how wonderfully rewarding growing flowers can be.




The simplest little vase with a few home grown blooms always lifts my mood.  It reminded me to include a few things for cutting around the garden and the plot.

The second book is "The Writer's Garden" by Jackie Bennett, that I was lucky enough to receive in a giveaway on Tanya's blog, Lovely Greens.


It really is gorgeous.  It features the gardens of twenty writers, beautifully photographed by Richard Hanson, as well as excellent pieces on each writer.  The information is fascinating, a little biography of the writers and some of the thinking behind their homes and gardens.  Here are a couple of the entries that really caught my eye.

Roald Dahl's gypsy caravan, which you can just see nestling amongst the trees.


The stunning Lake District countryside where Beatrix Potter lived.  Perfection.



And the vegetable garden she created at her farmhouse.  It's easy to imagine Peter Rabbit stealing the odd lettuce.


The gardens I'm most drawn to are the more natural looking ones.  Lots of greenery, plants rambling over stone, edibles mixed in with the flowers.


And as always, the walled gardens.  This one is at Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, where William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and spent a few idyllic childhood years.


Lastly the garden of the Dorset cottage where three generations of Thomas Hardy's family lived.  It's a true cottage garden, bursting with life, but prettily informal.  Vegetables mix with flowers and there's a small orchard of cider apples.


So you can see why I'm feeling inspired and ready for the new growing season.  Of course nothing here will look like these amazing places, but nonetheless, even the smallest corner of greenness with a pretty flower or two has the power to calm and cheer and cure all manner of ills.  I can't wait to shake out those first seeds.

36 comments:

  1. Two beautiful books, I've got Louise's but I shall have to look out for the other one. I love this time of year for planning the garden for the year ahead, anything seems possible and luckily, something always manages to come good.

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  2. Oh, they are such inspiring books! This is the first I've seen either one and I think they both look wonderful. I love that you put so much time and thought and care into your gardening. I have enjoyed seeing your gardening progress so much and I can't wait to see what you do this year.

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  3. I can see it now - just like mine will be!! But as the song says "You've got to have a dream or how you gonna have a dream come true?" Love those books too. This is just my sort of gardening - no slugs, badgers rootling everything up, pigeons eating the delicate shoots etc!

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  4. It's funny isn't it, how it's so much easier to get the garden together in your head. There's always so much more time at your disposal, the pests WILL leave it alone this year, the weather will be perfect and everything will grow lushly in the fertile, weed free soil. It's just as well us gardeners are persevering sorts.

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  5. Packets of flower seeds and gardening books like these make for a wonderful combination at this time of year as we dream of the blooming good season ahead. Flighty xx

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  6. Exciting times - I love the idea of having one of those packed to the brim gardens you see at Chelsea and Hampton Court. If only nature would read the same book as me! Have fun. x

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  7. Walled gardens always seem idyllic don't they? We all dream of beautiful pest free gardens full of colour and birdsong.

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  8. What lovely inspirational books. I'm hoping to include more flowers in amongst the vegetables on the allotment this year. Just like you, I have visions of a beautiful plot overflowing with flowers and veggies and not a slug or weed in sight!

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  9. Hey CJ,
    Well blow me down if I haven't done exactly the same this weekend! And I've half written a blog post about it too!!! I like the look of your second book very much. It's on my Amazon birthday wishlist. I have become very excited all of a sudden. And plot number 10 is gathering apace. I should really finish the post and hit send.
    Much love and wafty cottage loveliness,
    Leanne xx

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  10. Your look so well organised with your seeds! I haven't seen the Writers Garden book before it looks full of inspiration! I went to talk about NT gardens in Dorset and Thomas Hardy's cottage will be on my list of places to visit later in the year. Sarah x

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  11. It is so lovely to look at the seeds again and start the planning. I came home from work early today to see the garden in the daytime for once and made the mistake of looking through the glass of my greenhouse - yes, hubby has mistaken it for a shed again! I know now what I will be doing on Sunday :-) !! Enjoy your planning x

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  12. Oh what heaven! I used to live close to Dahl's caravan when I was little and always loved driving past there. Such a beautiful place. As for that walled garden of Wordsworth's, well, no wonder he went on to write about nature with a start in life like that.

    I've been thinking about seeds here too and planning my dream garden as well. I think it looks pretty similar to yours, judging by those pics. Now, good luck to us for actually creating it in the soil this year! xx

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  13. Beatrix Potter, a walled garden and Thomas Hardy- say no more my dear, I am in heaven! :o) xx

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  14. I am looking forward to seeing your dream garden come reality and read about it here! xx

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  15. Yep, Thomas Hardy is one of my favourite authors and I love Hill Top Farm. It all sounds so romantic to sit in those beautiful gardens writing stories. Looking forward to your entrant for the Chlsea Flower Show! I know exactly what you mean, do you know, in my imagination my garden would make a good exhibit too! Judging by the photo your son took of you last year in your garden it will look very much like some of those photos above!
    Caz xx

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  16. Making plans for the garden is one of the nicest things about this time of year for me. Lovely books - we visited Wordsworth House when we were on hols in the Lake District a few years ago, the garden is beautiful. Have a lovely week, hope all your garden dreams come true this year!
    Jane xx

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  17. All those photos in that book remind of the photos that you take yourself!!!

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  18. Oh my.. what an inspirational post, my friend! Makes me want a garden.. except for all the work. LOL! I wish I had a team of gardeners that I could tell what I wanted and then have tea and crochet while I watch them create magic. I want a walled garden! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  19. We call that "winter dreaming". Except here in Florida, we do it in the summer. By July nothing will grow here. We start planning our winter gardens. Right now we have four pots of peppers. They have flower buds, but no peppers ...yet.

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  20. I'm ready to shake some seeds too! And thank you for sharing these reads!!! Could you imagine having a large space like that!?!??!? Holy cow wouldn't that just be amazing!!! And those photos......ahhhhhhhh....like a dream!!!! Here is to dreaming and planting buddy!!! Nicole xo

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  21. It's so very exciting to read your post ... I keep all my old seeds too, tucked in a very large soup mug (which holds a surprising amount of packets). This year I'd like to try growing lovage, as it sounds a fascinating crop. We have only a few tiny planters, so my garden reach always exceeds my grasp so to speak, but still it's great fun to dream.

    Those writers' gardens are so lovely - especially Beatrix Potter's. I like all the wooden stakes and poles - over here people seem to use a lot of plasticky stuff in their gardens. Wood just seems to fit in better.

    "Climbing Borlottis" - very intriguing! Off to look it up. :)

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  22. There's nothing nicer than a bit of Winter dreaming over a box of seeds. I love the photos of the writers' gardens, especially Dahl's caravan and Beatrix Potters veggie patch. I can't wait to see photos of your garden/allotment later in the year and I have my fingers crossed that the deer won't be quite so brutal to my veggies! Have fun dreaming. x

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  23. I see you're a fellow DT Brown seedsperson! I've been ordering from them for a while now. Their seeds are good and I like their solid, not overly-hyped approach.

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  24. I love this planning time of year x

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  25. We visited Beatrix Potter's house and garden a few years ago. It was really lovely. Like you, we have a box of seeds and a garden notebook but nearly as neat and tidy as yours.

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  26. That writer's garden book is beautiful - it would certainly inspire lots of daydreaming and maybe even actual real planning!

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  27. I have a box exactly the same. Can't wait to start planting again though I have a sneaky feeling it's going to be a lot later in the year than I'm use to.

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  28. You put me to shame, CJ. I was given a gardening notebook for Christmas, with spaces to write names of things and notes on things and boxes in which to paste photos of things, and the chance of those spaces ever being filled is zero. But both your books look delightful, and encourage me towards my walled garden, for which I only need a wall, surely no great matter.

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  29. Must be time for me to get my old shoe box out again then CJ. I've got the version with cardboard dividers made out of old cereal packets to separate different seeds. I'm thinking of trying to use months of the year instead this year to make seed sowing a bit more organised. So lettuce would start off in March and get replaced in April after first sowing ready for successional sowing. Best laid plans and all that.

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  30. Just when I was getting excited about maybe starting off a few broad beans and peas to see how they would fare in my 'microclimate' here in London, and the weather has turned so cold with worse forecast! Still, I probably needed the reality check. I've yet to go through my seedbox, I always have lots of leftovers from previous years that I find hard to chuck out but, of course, fresh seed is always best. I'm thinking of reorganising my seeds into an A-Z order having first noted on my calendar when to sow, transplant, harvest, etc. Well, at least that's the plan … :-D xx

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  31. What gorgeous books! I barely have space for a cutting patch here but I have picked a flower per month and planned a border that I'm hoping will deliver (I'm in the middle of writing a blog post about it).

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  32. So many wonderful things and ways to be inspired!! Your garden will be stunning I hope, and your allotment too! The pictures in the boos are so beautiful. Hope you enjoy your planning. xx

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  33. What a gorgeous book, it is so fun t start planning.
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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  34. They look inspiring books. I love cottage gardens like Beatrix Potter's. All lovely and green. Not like here at the moment, it's all white, we've had loads more snow and skin-peeling winds. xx

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  35. Oh the last three of your posts have been completely gorgeous! They've given me so much pleasure and inspiration. I am envious of your albums. I have all the stuff saved but just need to do it. A big job but so worthwhile! I love planning a few bits to plant in our veg plot but due to my health it's not a lot. My sis has an allotment and it's so full of potential! Have a good week, J9 x

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  36. Oh, CJ, what a lovely post! I am excited for the summer now and all the things I could (but let's face it, probably wont) grow. But the joy is in the planning and dreaming! Those books look great. xx

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