Finished!

We did get the garden finished and we were able to enjoy it during the summer and it all looked very nice.  We hope that things will grow and it will fill out a bit more this year, some things might not come back and we will have to decide what to do about them, but over all we are pleased.

Winter is now here and the garden has been asleep but things are now starting to come back, it will be interesting to see what does come back.  At the weekend we had a little bit of snow.

Pink Sky and Rain

It has been a bit of an odd week weather wise.  Walking to work, there has been several mornings I have witnessed a wonderful pink sky and then before you know it the rain starts.  Yesterday the rain was coming down in buckets, we had to go out so got a little wet.

Big sky

Saturday morning rain

The greenhouse has developed a leak, we have a bit of an idea on how to fix it but we need it to dry and we might move before that happens. It is strange to not be working in the garden and getting things ready for spring, but as it will not be our garden soon so there is no point.  I might have one last weed in a few weeks times, I will see how busy I am.

We have been given a date for completion on our new house, it will be ready on 28 February, we will move into it the first week in March.  It seems to have taken ages to get to this point but I am sure the time is going to fly by now.  I think we need to start getting organised!

 

The long wait

We are still waiting to hear when our new house will be ready.  It was going to be the end of January, but now we have been told it will be the end of February, we are a bit fed up with waiting.  The builder is unable to give us a confirmed date so we cannot even get organised, what a pain!

In the meantime we are trying to get a little organised.  I had to re-pack the garden lights as the box got wet in the greenhouse,  the roof has a leak.  Hubs had said the box woud get wet, but did I listen… well of course not.  The boxes have been opened and re-packed into new boxes and moved to the garage.   I also did a little weeding in the garden and filled up the bird feeders.

We seem to have lots of birds coming to visit the garden at the moment, I have no idea if this is because the natural food has run out or a sign it is going to turn cold.  Who knows?

Lots of little birds in the garden

Not so little bird in the garden

Someone who makes the little birds stay away from the garden

All the feeders are full so hopefully the birds will be happy, at least for a few days.

Garden update

We will soon be leaving the house and garden for our big move down South.  With this in mind, I have resisted doing anything more than light weeding in the garden, the new owners can have the job of putting in the veg and growing bedding plants for the summer.  It is a little strange not planning which seeds and veg I am going to grow, but hopefully I will have time to plant some when we move.

In the meantime, the garden carries on.  The snowdrops are starting to push through

and the green hellebore is thinking of opening it flowers

but the frost might keep it waiting a little longer.

I wonder how much will come out before we leave…

 

The Gift of Cake

I enjoy baking so making cake as a gift is something I often do.  Recently I made some cakes to take to a neighbour who had moved and they went down a treat. I use a standard sponge recipe for all my sponges and then just add any flavours I want.  I am sure I got the recipe out of a book but I cannot remember what one!

I weigh the eggs and make a note of their weight, I use the same weight for the margarine or butter, sugar and flour.  I cream the sugar and fat together, add the eggs and then the flour.  If it is a little dry I add some milk and anything else such as cocoa powder, vanilla or lemon rind for flavour.   I use a hand mixer so it is really quick and easy to do.  I then decorate them with whatever I have available!   I found some little boxes in a supermarket which finished off the presentation and made them easier to carry.

Walking on water

Hubs and I went to Peebles for a walk today.  It has been rather wet recently but we had not expected to see how much flooding they have had in Peebles.

We took a path along by the river, the waterline had been very high and was clearly marked by a line of plants and grass many feet from where the water’s edge would normally be.  Seats had the remains of trees and plants lodged in them and it was very muddy underfoot.  Wellington boots should have been worn, but we had not anticipated it being so very wet.

We got back to the car just as it started to rain…. again.

New Year, New Blog!

Happy New Year and welcome to my new blog.

My previous blog can be found here – www.gardengirl.blog.co.uk – if you are interested.

It is going to be an interesting year for us as we are moving back to England after 10 years in Scotland.  We are moving to a new house and a new garden.

GG stands for Garden Girl, I am really looking forward to getting the new garden!

Enjoy!