Down the garden

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago. Sam in his Ben Ten outfit and Bella in her worn out tutu. The light was perfect for the camera. It's peaceful down there and wild too - making it a perfect place for foraging and making pretend campfires.

Out there

When looking through my photos from the last couple weeks, I realized that every one had a soggy, muddy theme to it. I can't remember the last time it was dry. This weekend promises 22oC on Sunday!

Nevertheless, Sam and Bella don't seem to notice that the garden is a quagmire and enjoy splashing in puddles and digging for the largest worms.

p.s. I made Sam's jeans in the second photo. With side pockets and everything!

Nature in the home

I'm notoriously rubbish at keeping plants alive in the house. But I do love spider plants and I am planning on adding more house plants soon and making a concerted effort to keep them healthy. In a few weeks I'll (and my little helpers) will be able to bring spring flowers into the house too, adding some much needed colour.

Joining my lovely friend Lou at Littlegreenshed

The woods

We've spent alot of time walking in the woods this Christmas. Crossing the narrow bridges is a little nervewracking but of course. the children always want to cross. Our Dutch neighbours were here for Christmas too so Sam had a fantastic time with their family of 6!

This weekend

This weekend we visited the animal reserve - La Haute Touche . Situated in 500 hectares with some of the world's rarest animals. They work on conservation projects and open their doors to the public to walk the massive grounds or even better, cycle.

Scott was full of facts on every animal, whilst Sam just wanted to see the tigers and go to the cafe. Bella had a pee pee stop regularly and Scott carried her potty in his back pack! Thank goodness it wasn't busy.

Poor Sam nearly fell off his bike cycling past the wolf compound. They must have thought he was a tasty snack as 3 of them ran at the fence next to him.

Finally we stopped for ice-cream where Sam immediately made a friend :)

 

This is our garden across the road, opposite our house. The garden we didn't know we owned until we had bought the house - so it was a nice surprise!

It turned out that old Monsieur Durand planted his veg here too and although the plot was overgrown when we moved in, he did leave us all his fruit trees. We have pear, quince, cherry, plums, damsons, grapes and figs. He was also known as the medical herb man too and a patch of grass is overtaken with a large leafy cluster every year. Even our Doctor commented he didn't know what mysterious herbs were tended here.

Sam and Bella (mostly Scott) have planted so far in this garden - potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, beans, peas and onions. It always looks good at this time of the year. Hopefully, unlike last year it won't look like a jungle by September :)

Tidying up

It's that time of year again when the garden is treated to a manicure - sort of. Mowing, strimming, weeding and pruning. Everyone is motivated for the first few weeks and then the weeds take over. And each year we say to ourselves that we will do a bit every day. It never happens....but this year I am determined to try and keep on top of it. I remember reading in a gardening magazine, where a gardener said that the trick is to not pick every single weed but to keep the weeds evenly spread so it doesn't look like a jungle. I like that way of thinking. We shan't go overboard with the veg this year and just plant what we can handle to maintain.