Hello Friends,
Yes, alright, alright, I know I promised that my next blog-post would be a tour of the veggie garden, but it isn't. Why isn't it? Because I am still way behind & it's most likely going to be at least another week before I feel like showing it off. Herb garden nicely productive though.......
.....so I decided on a little bit of herbal activity to try out an idea I spotted in the Guardian recently, namely instructions on how to make a reed diffuser. This is the sort of 'room fragrance device' often received as a gift. Refills are available, which for me, was all very fine & laudable until, halfway to the counter, I noticed the price. HOW MUCH?? A modest 250ml bottle of the fragrance liquid costs between £11.50 & £14.00........which, litre for litre, is pretty much comparable with a single malt! What exactly is in this elixir? Well, I would imagine it's water, artificial parfum, a dash of preservative industrial-type alcohol & a side-helping of assorted chemicals. I could be wrong, but somehow I doubt it. In lieu of my veggie garden photos being ready to share, & because people have asked me, here are the instructions for making your own reed diffuser using recycled materials & no nasties.
You need an empty glass jar (clean & dry), a few bamboo skewers (the cheapo BBQ variety are fine), essential oil/oils of your choice and vegetable oil........
.....also a handful of fresh herbs & a ribbon or similar if you want to go a bit lah-di-dah fancypants.
OK, so this is such simplicity, even Albert Whiskers could do it (if he wanted to, of course, which he doesn't because the ten minutes it takes would intrude far too drastically into his valuable sleeping & eating time). Stuff the herbs into the glass jar. Cover them with vegetable oil. Add 20 drops of essential oil. Stand the bamboo skewers (we're calling them 'reeds' now, cos we've gone posh) in the oil. Finish with a ribbon bow, or whatever you fancy, or leave it plain if you prefer things minimal......tho' if you fall into the latter camp, you're unlikely to be farting about making one of these.......
The carrier oil does need to be unscented, as you don't want a back note of eau de chip fat. The essential oil can be anything you like - I used lavender. Ditto the fresh herbs. I picked sprigs of lavender leaves, lavender mint & lemon balm. A more floral oil such as neroli or ylang-ylang would work well, as would citrus, such as lime or grapefruit. For winter, I plan to try a green-smelling oil such as juniper with cloves, orange peel & surreptitiously acquired sprigs of pine tree. As with a bought diffuser, remember to turn the reeds regularly to keep the fragrance strong.
So there you are. Very easy & with the added satisfaction of not having squandered £14 on a titchy bottle of chemical fragrance. If room fragrance is not your thing, then you have the satisfaction of never having wasted your time making one either. It's a win win.
Here at the People & Cats' Republic, we are still recovering from the post-election blues, but we are feeling stronger this week & proud to be one (well, three) of the 63.1%. Actually, make that two, as Albert Whiskers doesn't have a vote. As a cat-loving past MP of a Nottinghamshire constituency once told me 'if only cats could be enfranchised, my life-long position as MP would be assured'.
So chins up, friends, & onwards. 'We are many, they are few'...........
Have a good week, all,
C x
Hello Friends,
Well, I know that I & so many of my family & friends, were hoping for a very different political result on Thursday - one which brought some kind of progressive left alliance to our increasingly right-wing, insular-feeling country. Yet, in a scenario horribly reminiscent of 1992, we ended up with a Tory majority. I can only hope that the 36.9% who crossed that particular box are looking forward to the draconian austerity cuts which are now coming......because it won't just be those idle shirkers you read about in some or other 'Daily Mail' spewing who will be on the sharp ends of the cuts, it will also be every one of us who wants to live in a country which values those markers of a civilized society - a health service which puts people before profit, care for the most vulnerable, decent social housing, police, fire & ambulance services with sufficient numbers of officers to function effectively, properly funded schools with qualified teachers who feel valued, public libraries, the arts & our much-loved country parks. Just 1 day after the election, we are already reading that teaching assistants may disappear from schools. I'm sure parents of children with learning difficulties will be particularly appreciative of that one, Mr Gove. As an active Labour Party member, I know the election post-mortem will surely follow, but today, I needed to rid my head of it, to enjoy some simple pleasures. Decided to take a walk around our garden & share some pictures of calming green loveliness. It was a S-L-O-W walk......a bit like the slow canal trip shown on TV recently..........
.....so try to imagine you are walking around with me & we are not talking about horrible election results at all.
We're on the courtyard here. Why don't I call it a 'patio?' Because it's a dark, dank space where not much thrives (except Steve & the BBQ). This is a climbing hydrangea, which just about manages to stay this side of deceased. I like the green shiny leaves against the brickwork, & it does flower, albeit grudgingly.
Nobody really bothers about witch hazels unless it's their flowering season (winter), but they do fill out with lush lime-hued leaves in spring. The veining & the fact that I never remember to prune it makes it quite a textured tree.....more so in summer, when most years, our leaf-cutter bees arrive to chomp out, roll up & carry away little tubes of leaf for their nests. Love watching them in action.....that really is life in the slow lane as they return countless times, each visit leaving behind a perfect crescent shape in the leaf.
Remember our Christmas Tree? It can't be too unhappy in its pot, as it's producing fir-cones. Lots of them. These are just the ones I could reach to photograph. I expect the 5'11" half of the relationship will produce some sort of fancy-pants photographic fir-cone study before long!
It's aquilegia time here at 'Hagstones'. They are a hugely promiscuous plant. Seedlings pop up everywhere, sometimes purple, occasionally white or yellow, but mostly shades of pink.
This one insists on coming up each year in the tiny space between my herb bed & gravel path of the veggie garden & is such a strong vigorous specimen, I don't think I could pull it out if I wanted to.
Another self-seeded one - Years ago, a colleague gave me some seeds from a maroon-coloured aquilegia she was sick of, in return for some seeds from my pink ones. I still find traces of the maroon ancestry each year, like this one with dark red bonnets & white undercarriages. I find so many self-sown aquilegia seedlings in my borders, I should really be potting them up & giving them away to spread the planty love!
The hardy geraniums are just starting to flower. If dead-headed & given the 'Chelsea chop', they'll flower for ages. The one on the right grows like a weed here. If I need to fill any odd spaces, I just break off a piece of root, shove it in the ground, aim a watering can in its general direction & it romps away. Free = Definitely my absolute best kind of plant!
Some general shots of stuff in my borders now. The colour combination of this acid- yellow euphorbia & purple-leaved ligularia happened by accident, but I like it.
A carefully nurtured lammium - yes, I know it looks like a nettle, but it's actually a lovely domesticated member of the nettle family I bought at Cragside when we were up in Northumbria one year. It was a proper fussy sod about where it wanted to be planted & spent the first few years trying its utmost to cark it, but has now decided to do the decent thing & earn its keep. The bright blue petals in the background are dyer's alkanet - a native wildflower which looks fab in borders this time but reproduces like mad. It has deep thick taproots. Husbands generally break spades when called upon to dig them out.
Pleased with the clematis over our arch this year. Mum knows this variety as 'Mile-a-minute' because it is a really speedy grower & virtually indestructable. This is our second one (!). The first defied its nickname, withered & met an untimely end on the compost heap.
This poppy is 'Tangerine Gem' or 'Those Orange Buggers'. I sowed 3 packs of these seeds in successive years & not a single one germinated. When I was given another pack of seed, I gave it to my very green-fingered friend, Helen, saying, 'See if you can get these to do anything'. A few months later, she appeared with some plants for me & said it was 'those orange buggers you gave me'. The orange buggers are now thriving perennials & if deadheaded & not too icy, will still be flowering as late as November.
One of the last bluebells in the wild area under our apple tree, which is now coming into blossom.
Oooh, & look what I've spotted, another freebie - a self-sown hellebore, the native 'stinking' variety.....
......I know it looks a bit like a plant of much more.......er.......recreational use, but it really isn't!
And walking back towards the house, the blossom on the ornamental cherry is looking good.....
......and the under plantings change regularly with the seasons......
........so that's a slow leisurely walk around our garden. It did me good to commune with lots of green stuff after Thursday's long dark night of the soul .......& when I got inside, I found the ever-entertaining Albert Whiskers just starting to wake himself up in case there might have been any danger of his dinner appearing (there wasn't!)
I'm not happy about Thursday.How could I be? 63.1% of people who voted did not want this result. But one thing I do know. The Tories are mostly defeated not by other parties, but by themselves. They have some intensely difficult & emotive stuff to deal with surrounding the Scots & Europe. They also have a whole lot of rabidly right-wing back benchers (remember John Major referring to his particular cohort of these lovelies as 'the bastards'?) who will surely be planning a resurgence of their game-play now that they are no longer in coalition. I fear life will sadly worsen for the poorest & most vulnerable in our society & we must all help them fight their corner when we can. However, I have absolutely no doubt that the Tories will be the architects of their own downfall, so bring it on!
Peace.....& every respect to the people of Scotland who were brave enough to vote for change.
Yours until next time,
C x
