Saturday 14 April 2012

'Vintage' Spring Gardening and bunting blowing in the wind!!


This photo is a little fuzzy but I really like this type of moving image -  Bronte holds the key as to how to do this so I am at her 'mercy' for photographs!
Anyway aren't the plants growing like Topsy at the moment!  Ours are growing like bamboo - I am sure I can see them moving!!  As you may recall we have a tiny garden so every single thing in it has to either carry some meaning or look beautiful - preferably both!  Our garden is 'vintage' because many of the things in it came from elsewhere a long time ago.  I have wittered on Flickr about the hard labour that went into our plot - when we moved here it had not one plant but two layers of concrete slabs.  Dom dug out all of it and then we laid down this brick area, we built the little pond using bricks from our neighbour's pulled down chimney (edged with tiles that came from an Edwardian barn from my childhood...sniff, sniff).  My blue chair was bought from a local junk shop and I had to repair it a bit - but a little plaque reveals that it was made using timber from HMS Powerful (which was built in 1895 and had sailed into our local harbour a hundred years ago after serving in the Boer War) - cost me £20 and I love it very much.  Lots of the plants were originally in our mum's garden and though the tree peonies sulked for a few years now they are fantastic.  The hellebores have seeded all over the place - how do they know the best places to land!


I have a few vintage rhubarb forcers (bought from a local car boot but worth lugging home) and lots of old galvanised buckets that we use for vegetable growing....oh and some old enamelled bowls...and one or two enamelled potties...and china tureens...Steptoe and Son...
Dom has repaired out little shed (again!) - fresh lick of paint and it is a right as rain (its window, that you cannot see here, is made from stained glass that we found in our cellar).  I have a few of these bay trees in little pots - in the front garden there was an old bay with suckers which I potted up.  Some I plaited in threes and some I twisted - this is a twisted one.  It is a bit rubbish really as you have look hard to find the twist and it has taken about eight years to get it to this point!  Never again. Note the broken pot....some things are difficult to throw away (and many have been mended over and over again).  I keep an old enamelled bread bin full of old crocks. Oh I do like an old watering can.....


Also we have several large tubs that have pygmy water lilies in - this lovely copper tub I bought for about £10 many, many years ago.  We used to keep it in the house for logs but it is has been outside for the last 10 years or so (I have seen them for sale for several hundreds of pounds - crikey). You can just see in this picture one of the two concrete 'memories' we did with  prints of the children's hand and feet - dated 7.4.02.....time flies

Little watering cans for little watering jobs...
Our mum's old bee hive - a little more falls off it each year...
Just sending some older photos of our garden in the summer - something to look forward to

I grew our banana from seed and it has been outside for years - I have not seen any sign of it this year so sadly think that the cold winter has not been kind. The tree fern has been our only real expense in this garden - I bought it when my mum died as something special and a rememberance

It sounds a bit daft bit we also have a few sea worn wood things in the garden - they have shells and sea 'bits' embedded in them.  They take some lugging up from the sea front!


I like this photo most of all as it reminds me of the best of British summers - tea and cake of course (my vintage Chinese lanterns that usually are used in the dining room at Christmas have been thrown in for good measure)!

Must get on with some more seeds! Have a nice weekend
PS Blue tits have not moved into bird box but Great Tits instead!

10 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous garden ... Love the fact that everything has 'lived' before, and especially like the chair as HMS Powerful was built in the shipyard wher my husband and eldest son work now. It was called vickers then and is now BAe Systems

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    2. That is sooo marvellous and wonderful - I had searched the history of this ship before and knew a little about it. They must have made lots of chairs and tables don't you think because it looked huge! There is a memorial to the ship and the sailors in one of our parks. This chair is so comfortable and if I had any sort of business mind I would go into manufacturing - I could be making the next Lutyens chair (talking of coincidences I once looked after Lutyen's great niece in coronary care!). Thank you for detail that is really lovely

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    3. Awwww I was sighing deeply looking at those photo's...A secret garden indeed!!!......Beautiful!!!My husband a long side Claire's(Thriftwood)worked on the boat as mentioned at the ship builders Vickers Armstrong...Happy Sunday!!I am also at my daughters mercy for help with photo shop piccies....hehe....Chocolate usually works....Kind regards Mariax

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    4. Hello..Just reread my comment and must wear my glasses at all times...It should have read works on the boats at (vickers shipbuilding)now BAE systems and not that particular ship hehe...Hes not quite that old yet...

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    5. How funny - I did think exactly that when I read your first comment! How lovely to work in a place with such history

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  2. Hello dear Jenny! I am loving your gorgeous garden!!! The moving photo is fantastic! Well done Bronte! I love the history that is planted with your garden, and the bench being made from a ship of that age is really incredible! What a treasure you have there! Oh, and the plants from your dear mum's garden are so precious too! I can imagine all the happy hours you and your dear ones spend here, enjoying tea and cake and all of the beautiful flowers! You and Dom have made this a very welcoming and cosy place! I am so glad the Great Tits have made a nest in your birdhouse! I love the vintage lanterns and the bunting! So cheerful! Enjoy your seed planting and the rest of your weekend! Sending much love and a hug across the pond! xo~Paula

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    1. Do you know Paula those nesting birds have provided us with more entertainment than anything on the telly! Garden not so cheery today as very, very wet and windy - still it helps things grow! Have a nice dry day - Love Jenny

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    2. I am thrilled for you dear Jenny, and know just how you feel! I would rather watch birds than the telly any day! We have Carolina Wrens nesting in a wreath on our carport door. The nest is truly an amazing work of art! A year or two ago they nested in the pocket of my husband's jacket that he had hanging on a peg in his workshop! When we lived in town we had a hole in our window screen and the wrens would come in the house and perch on the lampshades, sewing machine, etc. If the french doors were open, they would come in and perch on the sofa and look at you so quizzically! I love living in the country as we are blessed with a wider variety of song birds at our feeders (and it is so peaceful!) Though in the city, our little tiny garden attracted quite a bit of wildlife, including an little Eastern screech owl that perched on our patio at night to hunt, and a naughty hawk that wanted to eat our songbirds. Oh, and one sweet little wren would sleep in our clothes peg bag. I could go on and on, but as you can see, I am a bird lover too! I hope your weather is better this week! xo

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  3. HI Jenny just re browsing your garden photo's, it's just delightful!!I love your blue painted furniture and the bunting, I can't wait for the sunny days to be here again, Thankyou for the gorgeous photo's Kind regards Pam.

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