Loganberry or Tayberry?

Hello! We are back from camping - a day early due to the weather - torrential rain all Saturday night and then rain pretty much all day Sunday so we decided to leave Sunday afternoon. We had a fab time and managed to do all the things we had planned. Will do a separate post with photos later on this week.

Just a quick post today as I need your help. I went to look at all our lovely things growing in the garden as I knew they would have grown due to lots of sunshine and a bit of rain over the weekend. I discovered that the "raspberries" had started to change colour and had grown quite considerably in size. In fact, they are far too big for raspberries and with a little bit of a search on the internet and a chat with my Mum, we think they may be loganberries or tayberries, but which one I just don't know. Any ideas? Any recipe ideas? We have a few, but not enough to make jam. I am hoping that our crop will increase next year once I have properly weeded around them.

I have got some fruit net so I will cover them over today to keep the birds off. I think I may chop back that shrub that's mingled in amongst them too.

If you have any clue as to what these berries are, please could you leave me a comment. I would be most grateful. Always nice to know what's growing in the garden (and also what you are eating!). Thanks.

Right, better hang up yet more washing and get back to the gardening. x

We're going camping!

That's right, we're away for the weekend in the Forest of Dean, in our trusty tent for 3 nights. We put it up in the front garden a couple of weeks ago to make sure it was all ok and here's a photo. Very blue, but happily with this season's orange. We may be considered trendy at the campsite, doubt it though! Eldest daughter has promised to cook us a fry up for breakfast one day - not sure how she's going to do it with a smallish frying pan on a camping stove but as long as I don't have to cook...

We have already packed the boot of the car and it all fits, just! I'm taking a book and my crochet, tea bags and wine. I am sure we will venture out and about at some point but I'm hoping the kids will make friends at the campsite and entertain themselves so us adults can get some R&R. I'm sure I'll take a few photos so I'll be back next week to let you know how we got on. Please don't rain...

Just a few more inches to go...

Crochet and Pears

Rummaging around in the cupboard under the sink, I found the above bird feeder which we bought in the sale last summer. We promptly put an apple in it, hung it up in the garden and the apple rotted away without the slightest bit of attention from the birds. So this time I decided to put a beautiful blush pear in it (no because it looked too perfect to eat but because I tried one of these pears and it was like eating cotton wool - yuck!) and see what happens. Anyway, in the meantime...

I bought some cotton yarn from the charity shop a few weeks ago. Four balls at £1 each - bargain. I pondered over what to make. Initially I considered a stash bag to keep some unfinished projects in, but I wanted to make myself something, something pretty. So I flicked through my crochet book (thanks Mum!) for inspiration.

There was a photo of a shawl in the book which was stunning, but there was no pattern for it - it was just being used as an example to show you how to join individual blocks. There were some close up photos of the shawl and I thought I would just have a go at copying the pattern as it appeared fairly straight forward. No harm in trying, is there?

And this is the result, after a couple of attempts I had got a version I was happy with and just kept making them, joining as I go. This is addictive crochet, that's for sure and it won't take much longer to finish. I have worked out that I have enough yarn to make 30 of these (hopefully) so it will be a shawl of three rows of ten. Knowing my luck, I will end up with 29 and have to take it all apart and rearrange it - I have already checked and this yarn is now discontinued! As you can see, it definitely needs blocking which I really dislike having to do as I'm lazy, but needs must. If I remember, I will post about blocking, as maybe that will spur me on to do it, rather than squirrel away the almost finished shawl in the unfinished projects cupboard.

And yes, the pear got nibbled, but we still don't know who did it. I keep looking out to see if there is a bird on it, but nothing. Will let you know (and try to get a photo) if I see birdie's mealtime in action.

Have a great day. xx 

How to...

 My youngest daughter is feeling poorly today - bad cold and certainly not well enough to go to school. Unfortunately she is therefore missing Hot Dog Friday at school today so I felt we had to push the boat out for lunch today. Here's my 'How to cheer up a poorly seven year old' guide.

Firstly, take some left over tortilla wraps (I prefer corn tortillas but any will do) and spread with passata mixed with dried oregano and seasoning. Sprinkle over some grated cheddar (or whatever cheese you have handy in the fridge) and bung on toppings of your choice. We had pepperoni. Cook at 200 degrees c for 8 minutes.

 Take out of oven, slice each tortilla pizza into four and slide onto a serving plate. Take into lounge with napkins and drinks.

 Sit on sofa and demolish pizza with abandon whilst watching Nanny McPhee 2. Eat some crisps.

 Previously prepared blueberry and chocolate muffins - left on rack to cool whilst cooking pizza. Dish out a muffin each and...

enjoy with a cup of tea (or elderflower cordial if you are seven years old). Upload lots of photos of unhealthy food and make note to self to remember to eat some fresh fruit later on this afternoon.

Little one is feeling a bit better but she looks extremely tired. I am sure an early night tonight will do her the world of good.

Hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend. I'll be back next week with a crochet post - no, I haven't finished the chevron blanket yet, nearly there though! x

Are you bored of gardening posts yet?

 All I seem to do is gardening at present, and if I'm not gardening, I'm walking round the garden seeing how things are growing and making mental notes of what needs to be done once we have turfed over the weed patch. There is just so much to do, the garden had been left to fend for itself for over 7 years so no surprises there. I went out for a wander on Friday evening and look who I found rooting around in the undergrowth. I'm now feeling really guilty about digging up his hedgehog restaurant - he's doing such a good job as I rarely find any snails or slugs. Maybe I could get away with buying some Hostas afterall...

I have been marvelling at what is growing in my garden too, especially of the edible variety - I think I'm going to have to grapple with the kids to get a strawberry off this plant!

The gooseberries are looking fabulous. another two or three weeks and I think they will be ready to pick. I'm really desperately hoping there are enough to make some gooseberry curd - doesn't it just sound heavenly? Imagine making a pavlova with whipped cream and some gooseberry curd dolloped on top - yum.

I think we are going to have a bumper crop of raspberries too, as I have managed to chop down all the tree shoots that were blocking the sunlight last year (and preventing us from actually finding these little beauties). Mmm, these would go nicely on a pavlova too.

This morning I decided we needed to tackle the ugly conifers along the back boundary of the garden. So I roped my poor husband in to saw down the lower branches which were encroaching a bit too far into the garden. I forgot to take a before photo, but the below photo was taken a few weeks ago - it's not easy taking a photo of someone on a swing, is it, or is it just me being useless?

 

You can see how close the conifer is to the back frame of the swing, with all the ivy growing underneath.

And here's what it looks like now - we have gained another six feet of garden and yet another giant pile of branches. We have plans to plant a honeysuckle (tortoises love to eat honeysuckle flowers) and a clematis montana, which will both hopefully grow over the conifers and make them look a little more interesting.

I will be back out in the garden this week, continuing the uphill battle of weeding the veg patch. I am half way there so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm looking forward to watching the kids playing on their swing and slide on the newly turfed area. That thought is what is keeping me going with this project. I am certainly not the most enthusiastic gardener, that's for sure. I hope you all have a fruitful (!) week. x

Hope you have a relaxing weekend. x