Little Cotton Rabbits

a little sun and some strawberries

Thanks for the good wishes. Things are a little brighter on all fronts today. The weather has improved a little and Amy & I have dodged the intermittent showers to head off to the pick-your-own-farm.

We picked 4lbs of strawberries and then came back home for our annual jam making session. Unfortunately, I've got it into the jars a bit too soon and now it's cooling I can see it's not fully set so tomorrow it will have to go back in the pan for another 5 minutes of boiling - I find it really hard to judge when it's just right! Once we have it back in the jars again we're planning to make some bread to go with it.

In the meantime Toby has been a little happier after a good bout of swinging in the garden.

The weather is looking brighter for next week so hopefully we'll get the chance to squeeze in that overnight camp-out. Enjoy your weekend whatever the weather with you!

weeks 3 & 4...

...have come and gone and are really best forgotten about. The weather has been mostly wet and windy which has meant postponing many of the plans we had for outdoor activities. Toby has been extremely agitated with lots of aggressive, self harming tantrums and we're not really sure why. It could be the lack of routine or not being able to play in the sunshine or he might be feeling unwell - it's always a guessing game with him, although no-one in our household (and probably our neighbours too judging by the amount of screaming he's done) has been left in any doubt that he's a very unhappy boy right now. When he's like this he needs constant attention so there's not really been much time for knitting which has meant my little bag of lovely new yarn that I treated myself to a few weeks back is still waiting to be got stuck into. 

I'm hoping that the next 3 weeks bring a bit of dry sunniness so we can have some fun outside before school starts again. Amy is desperate to camp out over night and I'm sure that a garden day with a little paddling pool action will improve Toby's mood no end! I know that dipping into that bag for a little knitting in the sun would make me a happy bunny! Still, it does make me glad that we're not away on holiday at the moment as life would be much harder if we were dealing with Toby like this in unfamiliar surroundings. There is always something comforting about home, even when things aren't as relaxed as you'd like them to be.

sacrifice

Thanks to lots of rain over the last few days things are continuing to grow and ripen quickly here in our garden. Although I think it's also partly due to an acquired bit of veg growing wisdom that I picked up from various books and blogs - the practice of companion planting sacrificial plants.

I've been growning nasturtiums and borage both of which are incredibly easy and cheap to grow from seed and are self replenishing as they set seed very well and so you have a free crop for next year. These are both now crawling with blackfly, aphids and caterpillars while my tomatoes, beans and raspberries are completely bug free and growing delicious crops.

There's another benefit too as there's a little ecosystem developing with ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies all swooping in to feed on the blackfly banquet. It feels good not to be spraying chemicals all over the garden and instead trusting in nature to keep my crops safe from mini-munchers and I love showing Amy the interaction between all the insects. We especially like ladybirds and can trace the entire lifecycle of the 7 spot under our very noses...

...from larvae...

...to pupae...

...to adult...

 

If you're growing any fruit or veg yourself then I'd definitely recommend planting some sacraficial companion plants alongside them - there's a good list here.

wet weekend

It's pouring with rain here, so there's no chance of knitting in a sunny garden today. Still, I have managed a little crochet inside and I've now finished 3 of the 4 crochet cushions that I'm working on. I really like the first one (on the left), I'm quite pleased with the second one (on the right) but I'm not sure about the 3rd one (in the middle). It doesn't bode well for the 4th one and I've run out of steam a bit - hopefully it will look ok when I eventually finish it!

(1, 2 & 4 are based on Attic 24's summer garden granny and the 3rd is Jan Eaton's square target granny from her book '200 Crochet Blocks')

week 2

The summer hols are continuing happily here with everyone still in good humour! The highlights of our second week have again been water-based with a lovely day at the seaside (West Wittering in West Sussex) with Grandparents, Cousins and Auntie.

 

There has also been some splashing back at home in the paddling pool - not quite as exciting but still fun, especially with a garden hose!

 

We've also had some rain this week which has been great for the garden and everything is growing fabulously. I'm still enjoying getting to grips with the camera which has resulted in far too many photos being taken around here!

 

 

 

We're quite enjoying the relaxed pace of summer, with a few days out and about thrown in to prevent bordeom setting in. I'm at my happiest though when I get to grab a little time in the garden with my knitting or crochet and have a new favourite corner by the shed where I've been sitting on my newly-finished cushions and an old chair that was my Grandparent's.

With any luck I'll be spending a little of my weekend there - hope you get the chance to do something you like to do this weekend x