Tag: gardening
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a few nice things
There is a lot going on here behind the scenes (I’ve been writing a book and designing a new collection with our brand new yarn) and I’ve not found myself with much spare time for blog posting . . . but in amongst all the hard work I’ve been enjoying some nice things, such as…
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treit
Good morning and happy Friday everyone! Today we are feeling particularly pleased because Ardnamurchan is back in stock! And with stock of this lovely tealy-green shade available, we can now release this new summery design of which I’m really very fond – Treit. Treit is a simple tee with a lace yoke, knitted from the…
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SHEDS one and two
Hello, it is I, Bruce. Today I am here to tell you about SHED. If you don’t know the meaning of SHED, I can reveal it is a strange wooden place with a distinctive smell in which humans like to spend a lot of time, particularly at this time of year. Here there are two…
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tomatoes no more
I just wanted to write a quick post to record a few of our gardening successes . . .and failures, this year. Growing vegetables here has many challenges: the soil is waterlogged, acidic, and clay-ey; and this being west-central Scotland, the weather tends to be, more often than not, cold, wet and windy. Last Spring…
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in the hills and at home
As anyone round these parts will tell you, it has not (so far) been a vintage Scottish summer. One must make most of the fine weather when it appears, so we headed out for the hills, and enjoyed a lovely day’s walking. A favourite tree Dog on log Falls of Falloch I love the rich…
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Garden beginnings
One of the things that drew us to this house was the fact that it had a garden. Or rather, it came with a nice big blank expanse of lawn that might one day become a garden. I’m not too keen on lawn, but I’ve always liked growing vegetables, and was excited by the prospect…
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you say “potato” . . .
Hiya! It is I, Bruce. Today I am here to tell you about a delicious and intriguing object: the POTATO. Also known as “tattie” or “spud”, and, often (for some mystifying reason) prefixed with the adjective “humble”, the POTATO is one of my all-time favourite foods. Together with other wondrous food-objects (for example, CHICKEN, SAUSAGES…
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sweet peas
When Tom and I first moved in together in the late 1990s, we rented a tiny house in Sheffield that we affectionately dubbed “claustrophobia”. The tiny house came with a tiny garden, and I cut out a section of turf there and planted sweet peas. In the Summer, there was always a bunch on the…
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garden days
One of the saddest things I had to do in the months following my stroke was to give up our Edinburgh allotment. I simply did not have the strength and energy to maintain a garden, and since then I have rather missed growing things. Our new home has lots of outdoor space, and happily I…
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Anne Eunson’s artistry
What’s this? A fence? A fence and a flowerbed? Take a closer look . . . for this is no ordinary fence. . . . . .this is a knitted fence . . . . . . a Shetland lace fence, no less. This beautiful and imaginative creation is the work of Anne Eunson of…
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more neeps . . . more beer
In a mysterious repeat of last week’s missives, today we have more neeps . . and more beer. If I am now inhabiting a turnip-and-beer filled time warp, there are probably worse places to be. Here you see my entirely non-literal rendition of the turnip tops and here, how the turnip roots feed down into…
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GQT *
Sarah (possessor of much gardening wisdom) popped round for lunch today. The weather was just right for pottering about down the allotment, and I took the camera along so you can see how things are progressing. The tomatoes and courgettes are ripening nicely, and at least some of the beans survived the Evil Slug Attack…
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spent
You know when you get so physically tired that you can barely even speak? Well, I’ve been there a few times this week. It’s not an altogether unpleasant feeling — I find that toiling to the point of total exhaustion has a pleasing brain-clearing effect — at the end of an evening down the allotment,…