Yummy Broccoli on the way - at last!

It's amazing how different a bit of sunshine makes you feel. I spent Friday morning on Bournemouth beach, taking photographs for an invitation, to entice people down to Bournemouth, as if you need any encouragement, it really is a lovely place to live, especially when the sun shines!

                                                                                    Bournemouth Rocks!


Busy, busy, busy in the garden. Potting on the tomatoes, sowing more tomatoes, this time Legend, which claims to be blight resistant. Sowing lettuces in a trough. All cut and come again and positioned quite close to the kitchen, which will make it much easier for harvesting, rather than being at the end of the garden, as in previous years.
Andy has been doing manly tasks in the garden; welding his axe and chopping down a hedge to make way for the new greenhouse. The bottom of the garden looks like a bit of a bomb site at the moment but I guess you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Luckily my gravel garden, at the beginning of the garden is starting to burst into life. My favourite Geranium, Anne Folkard, has the most vivid acid green leaves and once it bursts into bloom, it stays all summer long, spreading about the border.

                                                                                    Geranium Anne Folkard

The buds of my Peony look so beautiful and strange, emerging out of the stones.

                                                                                                   Peony

Dobbies garden centre are following me on Twitter and I reciprocated which was very advantageous because they sent me a direct message to say if I have any garden questions to DM them. I have mentioned before that my purple sprouting broccoli has been puzzling me, as it hadn't flowered and I was starting to think that I had done something wrong and was just about to pull it up, when I thought I would ask Dobbies why it hadn't flowered yet. They messaged me back, assuring me to hold tight, as the broccoli takes a year to flower. Well I am so glad I took their advice, as lo and behold, my first flowers are beginning to appear.

Lots of yummy broccoli on the way. I love Dobbies, it's like having your own personal gardening guru at the end of your fingertips!

I received a lovely email this week from the NGS. I am very happy to say that I now officially represent the NGS as a garden photographer. The National Garden Scheme is such a wonderful organisation, with amazing amounts of money raised for charity that  I feel so proud to be associated with them. http://www.ngs.org.uk/ Follow the link to find gardens near you which are open for the NGS, or pick up a free brochure from your local library or garden centre which has details of gardens open in your county. It's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.