Nature and Crafting

May 4, 2021 / Sue Dreamwalker / 72 Comments

As promised I will share some of my crafting over the last few months, and recent weeks along with how things are growing on the Plot.. April has been very dry here in the UK, and cold. With heavy frosts first thing in the mornings. So things in the greenhouse have been covered in fleece.. Tender plants are still vulnerable so holding back planting out some tender plants in the garden until later on in the month of May.

So here in picture format is just some of what is growing, If you click on the images they will enlarge .

So that is what is growing above. Below is what I have been creating . I have been painting, and creating knitting and crocheting. You will see a large crocheted blanket , and some small knitted and crocheted jumpers / sweaters/ tank tops for some teddy bears. And I recently had bought me a Mandala crocheting book from my daughter for my birthday and so I am now enjoying creating some mandala’s in crocheting.

The first is a bag I have done and crocheted the outside.. I made from a canvas back and created some pockets inside

Meditation Tree in Acrylics a present for a friend
A glitter butterfly, another present for a friend
Stone Circle in Acrylic
And I tried my hand at painting on glass, Some jigsaw patterns in the bottle Light I created.

So my friends, that is what I have been doing while I have been absent from blog land.. I feel the need to be creative. I hope you also embrace your creativity .. Enjoy ALL you create.. All you grow..

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw

May you never stop Imagining into being that which you wish to create..

Garden Blooms In May.

May 22, 2020 / Sue Dreamwalker / 80 Comments

Hello my gardening friends. How have you all been?…

Here in Dreamwalker’s Garden, there has plenty to keep us occupied. And the big bonus here in the UK has been the weather has been exceptionally warm and dry over May. It has meant lots of water carrying too and fro on the plot. But I have enjoyed even that, as we go early in the morning.. And it takes with both of us carrying water about an hour to water completely..

If you click the photos they should enlarge in a new window.

Dahlia’s now out of cold frame, waiting to be planted in their permanent position

I will start off with the Dahila’s… We had several over night frosts at the beginning of May and despite us having to move the Dahlia’s into the cold frame as we needed more room in the greenhouse as the Tomatoes were getting ready to pot on, The Frost caught the tops of several of the large plants… But they should bounce back..

We have now moved them out of the cold frame into a sheltered position between the raspberries and where I planted the sweet-peas, as hopefully as we near the end of the month fingers crossed we will get no more frosts… Next week we intend to plant them into their flowering positions.

Here you can see the Tomatoes and Cucumbers now in place in the Greenhouse

The Strawberries are the new plants we bought last year, They are now getting more established this year and already lots of fruit is forming.

Strawberries forming.. I have since put straw under the plants to help protect the fruit.

The Peas in stages of growth, so Harvesting them is staggered You can also see the Lupins in Flower.. We planted these all down the side of the plot, as they attract blackfly, and aphids and I would sooner them eat the flowers than be on my veggies 🙂

On the Home Garden, I got busy with the paintbrushes and painted the sides of the garage with wood preserver.. We had this Charcoal grey paint left over from the garden fences we did last year.. So I painted the border in the dark corner near the garage as well as sprucing up the fairy doors with a new lick of paint… And if you wonder how those fairies climb the distance from the ground… They fly of course!!! Silly… 🙂

Fairy Doors

And last but not least, I made a little video of the garden blooms within my own garden in flower this month of May…

I Hope you Enjoy and Happy Gardening as I send Love and well wishes to All…

A Video Update of April

May 3, 2020 / Sue Dreamwalker / 81 Comments

Hello my gardening friends.. We have been so thankful for our allotment plot as a place of refuge in these strange and trying times.. So instead of lots of photos here, I have included a video of how the plot looks and what has been planted in it..

The good news is that vacant plots on our site are being taken up and people are getting back into nature and growing their own food.. I have high hopes for positive outcomes.

With in our own community of neighbours I am seeing people helping each other, sharing resources etc.. We have been sharing extra veggies and in return they have been sharing back magazines, books, and other things.

We are lucky in we have a wonderful hub of neighbours who are pulling together..

My wish is that we come out of this more united and stronger, .. That we unite and co-operate in kindness and sharing, rather than living in fear, lack, and separation… We each have the ability to turn our communities around should we choose to do so..

Take care of yourselves and I hope All of you are getting out into your own gardens and enjoying the calm present moments of being out in Mother Nature… The birds are singing their joy and Nature too is taking a breath…

Happy Gardening!

Easter Creations With A Difference..

April 10, 2020 / Sue Dreamwalker / 82 Comments

Dear friends… So how are you all doing? Have you managed to get into your gardens, have you been creative with your hobbies…

I began a new knitting project, a cardigan… Though I chose to do a different stitch pattern to the one on the pattern below

As you see the stitch pattern is different, but quite easy only for rows to complete one pattern..

We have been on our daily exercise every morning in our plot… And the weather here has been beautiful and sunny and dry…. So dry that we have already had to start watering.. Our nearest water cistern was quite close but its broken and now dry so I counted my footsteps yesterday in strides and it was 82 strides to the next nearest and 82 back.. When you are carrying 4 gallon in two gallon watering cans at a time… My arms were more than aching.. It certainly puts into perspective those who have no water in their countries who carry every drop in searing heat over long distances… My gratitude for water took on a whole new meaning this week..

So I decided to give you a little treat in my other creative skills I am still learning, and that is to share a short video I made of our allotment plot… Its far from perfect and I will add below the video new pictures taken today of our planting of cabbages and where I mulched after shredding some of our conifers and cutting back some shrubs we needed to clear for repairs to our garage roof.. You will also see how this week the Sun has brought out the blossom which I didn’t think was there on our apple trees when I made the video as we transplanted and moved both trees in the autumn to a new position in the plot as they were not thriving where they were..

Enjoy your time my friends as much as you can in your restricted zones of lockdown… Create as much as possible… as you try to detach from the daily news.. Breath in Nature as much as you are able… And create your own inner peace in all you do..

Click onto the photos to enlarge..

Apple tree blossom

Mulch between the blueberries and raspberries

Cabbages these are various varieties. Grey Hound, Golden Acre and five broccoli are set here.

Brassica’s Put under cover

Happy Easter Everyone!

Exercise on Lock-down~ Creative Time.

March 31, 2020September 28, 2020 / Sue Dreamwalker / 74 Comments

Another Month has gone, and either ‘Time’ is flying for you right now, or it is dragging out… So what are you all doing in your Lock-down time? Have you taken up your artist brushes, or you ladies, sewing or knitting. Or maybe you found some DIY jobs you needed to do if you had the materials in before the lock-down… If you are lucky enough to have a garden have you been busy in it enjoying getting out in it as Spring starts to bloom.

Have you been creative?? Have you been bored? Why not give something new a try…

**I felt like creating something different, and found myself painting in aboriginal art form. This is just part of that watercolour painting**

Or are you perhaps seeing this time as a time to reflect and put into perspective all our blessings.. Maybe you are volunteering your time helping others, or maybe you need help. If you do need help, then do not be afraid to reach out to your neighbours, never be too proud to ask.. There are many who are willing to help right now.. I am witnessing some wonderful neighbours within my own community and a band of volunteers are organising through our neighbourhood watch scheme, and its heart warming to see.. What ever you are doing, where ever you are, I hope each and everyone of your are well, and stay well.

Have you been able to walk the dog, keeping your social distancing? or have you found time to dig your plot and garden and prepare your gardens ready for the growing season?

We count ourselves very fortunate in that our allotment plot is only a five minute walk away, and when we go early in the morning we hardly see anyone or meet anyone. When we do, we respect each others distance and get on with the job in hand of planting our crops.. ( If you right click the photo’s you can open up to view larger )

We have been busy busy, as those of you know this is sowing time. So In went the potatoes.. Hubby did this in gradual steps, digging two rows each morning, digging out the deep trench mucking/ putting manure it and placing potatoes in.. Covering up… Hard work, and when you are Three score year and ten plus it doesn’t get any easier..

**Hubby has now put in Nine rows of potatoes. Two early variety is called Foremost, and seven main crop are Picasso.**

While Hubby was busy digging in the potatoes, I got stuck in one morning and planted the onions and shallots.. The quality of the photo below is not good.. It was pretty cold that morning, as off came my gardening gloves to click the photo.

**Onions and Shallots setting, I planted Two rows of each and one row of red onions. Which are Turbo, and the shallots are Golden Orbit.**

The next morning while the potato rows were growing, two by two 🙂 I set too and planted a row of peas.. Growing in the cold frame.

**First lot of Peas sprouting, It was the second lot which the mice ate..**
**These are Hurst Green-shaft.**

**My row of Pea planting.. I would be lost without the kneeler. My knees did take the toll. Hubby later came to the rescue with his rolled up jacket as a cushion on the kneeler.**

These I set in rows of three.. And boy did I know about it with my knees and back.

Once the row was set, Hubby helped me put metal steaks in and we put wire netting either side of them. This is for support when they grow

**Peas now in neat rows with wire netting each side to help them grow up and support .**

Remember the sweater I was knitting and making up as I went along with left over yarns.. Well hubby took a photo of me wearing it as the peas we netted and I was raking the footprints we had made…

**Me raking up my messy footprints after the pea row is planted and covered with nets until they get a little bigger to flower… Otherwise pigeons and sparrows love young pea-shoots.**

Another morning I put the nets in place along the trellis which was where for years we have grown loganberries.. But as these have not been there best for several years, so we decided to dig them out in the autumn.. And I had a plan to plant sweet peas along the row… Hence my dismay in my last post when the mice got in and nibble their way through them… But my new plants are now growing and in the cold frame. This is where they are going.

**I mucked under the trellis work in the beginning of January, and now I put netting up for the sweet-peas flowers to climb up when big enough to plant out.**

The greenhouse on is still full of seedlings, brassica’s and leeks, lettuce etc.

**Seedlings and dahlia tubas. There really isn’t a lot of room.. But some now are out in the cold frame.**

**My Flower bed in the allotments.. Space for Dahlia’s at the side of the sheds.**

Well my friends, that’s all for now Stay safe and well and See you next time.

Sowing Seeds.

March 15, 2020 / Sue Dreamwalker / 65 Comments

This is the time when we get busy again with our plots and gardens, as we prepare the ground to plant our seeds and soon we will be planting our early potatoes at the end of March..

Now I could have shown you rows and rows of seed trays we had set.. We set our pea seeds and I set my Sweetpeas in February. My hubbies peas were just starting to sprout, when we had a little visitor sneak into our allotment plot greenhouse and who merrily nibbled their way through every tray…

So we have had to both resow again… And I alone set 100 sweetpeas, as I bought lots of different varieties this year… So we had to repurchase and start over… And its amazing how mice will nibble through the harder husk of the peas and take the tender centre and leave the husk on the surface of the compost…. Any how Hubby has found where he/she or them were getting in and so far so good.. But I am not risking my second sowing of sweetpeas being eaten again so they are now on my home window sill..

While the weather has been up and down, I have been merrily knitting.. And while it may look at the moment a mixture… I know what I am doing as I make it up as I go along… lol..

I know this looks a bit strange at the moment… But it my own made up abstract design.. lol

I just want to leave you with a little bit of Spring that is now starting to bloom, through the wet soggy days..

Take care of each other…

And Sow LOVE not Fear my friends…

Rock Garden

Crocus

hyacinths

Primrose

Have a Wonderful Christmas!🎄

December 23, 2019 / Sue Dreamwalker / 49 Comments

I hope those of you in the UK are not all bogged down in mud in your gardens, as record rainfall continually seems to be sweeping our country..

Thankfully our Allotment is on sandy soil so it drains away quiet well..

Have you got your Brussels Sprouts all in ready for Christmas Day? Ours are a small variety and I forget the name of them this year, they are tiny but compact and very tasty..

There has not been a great lot to report this last month as I have been taking a blogging break, except to say the Parsnips are also delicious..

So I will see you all in the New Year..

Have a wonderful Christmas Holiday all of you

and a wonderful 2020 and beyond..

September Harvesting

September 11, 2019 / Sue Dreamwalker / 72 Comments

September evenings are now drawing in quickly, much quicker than I remember in my childhood days, but then again the Summer holidays from school seemed to last and last when we were children, and now it seems within a blink of an eye they are gone, as children break up for the Summer and now already they are back at school again.

So while the temperatures brought an unexpected Late August heat wave on a holiday weekend here in the UK, its now dipped back to normal with a clear chill in the air first thing in the morning.

So before the rain set it Hubby and I got to work in harvesting the potatoes, along with the ripe sweetcorn cobs, and clearing out the litter of spent brassica leaves and weeds.

Click onto any photo to enlarge.

Just two rows of potatoes dug up here.

So while Hubby got digging the main crop of potatoes up, Picasso, I got busy picking sweetcorn and also pulling up the spent dwarf beans, collecting the pods for next years seed.

While Hubby dug I sorted into sizes and any damaged with the fork will be used first.

Gathering dwarf bean seeds, the rows covered in weed ..

There were also the Dwarf Beans which had finished to pull up and collect seed pods for saving next years seeds. The rows had got covered in weeds and so this area of the plot needed a good weeding and clearing out.

It’s very satisfying when its all cleared and raked, I also went under the Brussels sprouts clearing out decaying leaves.

Cleared area after pulling up the dwarf bean rows

Ladybird bug feasting on the aphids and white fly

Look closely for the ladybugs on the left photo, making a meal of eating the aphids.These little creatures are a gardeners friend, although the invasive species of the Harlequin Bug are now wiping out our UK Ladybird bug..

Sweetcorn ready to go into freezer.

Our sweetcorn has done exceptionally well this year, with the heat and often heavy rainfall which would fall in the night. On the left here you see 40 cobs ready for the freezer. There were cobs still ripening ready to be harvested. Quite a lot, but when we went to collect today it seems our thief had got there first leaving only six small ones..

We are having problems with produce being stolen again on the plot.. We had onions go, and the odd cabbage, broad beans we knew were ripe also went. You do not mind the odd thing missing but when they take a lot.. or a whole row.. It can be quite soul destroying when you put so much time and effort into your plot to grow your own veggies.. We have thought of putting our Motion camera on the plot, but as this was a gift we do not want this stolen, as we get a lot of pleasure watching the hedgehogs roam on our garden during the night via watching the play back.

Hedgehog out earlier in the Summer on our patio

I have no problems sharing, we always plant more than we need and give family and neighbours that which we cannot store.

I would gladly give produce away rather than someone think its there right to take it.. Though I am under no illusions people have no qualms with taking what is not theirs.. I just hope they enjoyed what they have taken.. They obviously must need it more than we do.. So we keep planting more than we need .. And are thankful we can do so.

So until next time.

Take care.. and be thankful for what you have, for there are always those less fortunate than ourselves..

Through the Sweetcorn view of plot

Happy Gardening!

Sue

Gardening and Leisure Time.

July 31, 2019 / Sue Dreamwalker / 61 Comments

I know, I know, its been more than another eight weeks since I last did an update here on my Gardening blog. And I am sure there are those of you who have unsubscribed and I wouldn’t blame you.

But Life away from the internet is what I am embracing more and more of this year, to be honest long spells on the computer drain me more than working on the plot.

So what have we been up to. Well at the beginning of July we took a holiday and had a wonderful time exploring the Pembrokeshire Coastline in Wales, and surrounding area, All of that to follow.

But upon our return we had to get stuck back into our home garden and of course while you are away the weeds on the plot don’t suddenly stop growing. So we trimmed back some of our home garden shrubs and trimmed our conifers and made some mulch out of it with the use of a shredder, to spread between the raspberry bushes to save on weeding.

While away we had a kind neighbour who watered our outdoor pots, and the tomatoes in the green house were well watered because of our thoughtful daughter who had bought her Dad for his birthday in June, a Solar Watering system which my hubby rigged up before we went away in the allotment greenhouse and it worked a treat..

A good thing too as the weather here the whole of July has been wonderful, Sunny days and showers, perfect growing weather, weeds and all. With the last few weeks of record high temperatures which reached 38C.. A new all time record here in the U.K.

We are back now to more seasonal temperatures and have had three days of rain, so the English weather is more or less back to normal.

After we got the garden settled. We decided to re-decorate our living room, and dinning room. This done, we then set to and redecorated the Hall, Stairs and Landing. We finished just two days before the Heat record struck and believe me, all we did that day was rest and drink plenty of liquids. We are just not geared up for such hot weather here in England, not even the fans we put on gave much relief. Our homes don’t have air-conditioning.

So first the plot in photos, since taking these, we have picked all the peas and in total have frozen, nine pounds in weight of peas

You should be able to click to enlarge these photo’s

Peas, lettuce, beetroot, parsnip

Shelled peas sorted, bagged and ready to freeze

Another view, the poppies really attracted lots of bees which was our intention

Hubby on the plot, you see how lovely the poppies were we set on purpose down the side of the allotment. The Bees loved them.

Strawberries, Onions, Potatoes

Apples

Dahlias and sweetpeas

Behind the sheds and compost bins we left this area wild this year for the insects and butterflies. There is a large patch of nettles butterflies like to lay eggs on. This was where the pumpkins grew last year.

More Poppies, these were huge pompom poppies

Ok and now for some of the holiday photos.. Carrying on the garden theme we we visited a wonderful Castle and Garden in Wales, called Picton Castle

Picton Castle

The gardens were set in 40 acres of land from the formal walled gardens with herbaceous boarders, its herb collection, to the wonderful woodland paths that surround it which of course I just had to explore those magnificent trees.

Inside the castle was no disappointment either it was stunningly beautiful.

But for me the gardens was where the’Wealth’ lay, with the fabulous shrubs and flowers.

So below is a collage of the garden and for those of us gardeners who now have electric lawn mowers, give a thought to those back in the early 1900’s who had to push and pull heavy lawn mowing machinery.

Me I did more than a little tree hugging

We also went to the smallest City in Wales, in fact St David’s is the smallest City in the UK. but boasts a wonderful Cathedral. So the next collage of photos are some views from St Davids and some surrounding coast line.

Pembrookshire Coast Wales

St David’s

St David’s the smallest City in the UK The top of the Cathedral

St David’s Cathedral

I hope you are all enjoying your Summer in your own gardens and exploring more of your own countryside.

Much love and

HAPPY GARDENING!

March Update~ Came in like a Lion.

March 24, 2019 / Sue Dreamwalker / 64 Comments

Well I think we have certainly had everything thrown at us this month. Gales, heavy rain, with flooding in some parts of the UK, while others had snow on higher ground. The Wind battered our lean too shed, which we were going to pull down last year, which we never got around to so the Wind saved us the job.. It was a second-hand shed when we got it, which if its true age be known, must have been over 40 yrs old, we had it for 15 yrs.. So it owed us nothing.

Here it is before, you can see why we called it our lean-too. We built our other second-hand shed using fence posts as a foundation base.

Hubby cleared the area and burnt the wood, spreading the potash on the garden. Nothing is ever wasted . And he put the compost and manure barrels on the foundations. This is the rough area behind the sheds, and will get levelled out and dug over when some of the waste vegetation has rotted down.. This was where the Pumpkins were grown last year.

This last week the weather has been better so we have worked hard on the plot. Hubby has now planted 3 rows of early potatoes, and 6 rows of Late potatoes..

Click to enlarge

Potato Planting

Hubby busy planting rows of potatoes while I hoe up the ground near and beyond the leeks.

The Peas are growing well, and will be put into a cold frame to harden off a bit.. Though you can sow straight into the ground, but we have found we have had more success planting them this way, as birds and mice do not eat them, so there are less misses in the row.. We will set more pea seeds later to stagger the harvest.

Peas growing well

Cabbage, cauliflower, spouts, broccoli, seeds have been set along with Leeks.

Leeks and young strawberry plants before they were planted in their beds

We also made a new Strawberry bed, replenishing our plants with some bought off the local market.. We will add straw around them a little later.

New varieties of strawberry plants..

It is wonderful to have some fine weather again and Spring to be in the air, the birds are now gathering worms and insects to feed their young and the home garden although it got quite battered by the high winds and rains for a solid week. Now is beginning to show more colour. So the remaining gallery are flowers in bloom.

So Until Next time..

Happy Gardening and Planting.