How does my garden grow

Thanks to some fine weather, its growing in a much more orderly fashion.

 My roses are about the only non edible plants that I cultivate.  Although cultivate may be too generous a word for it.  I prune them twice a year and dead head them in summer.  DH takes pity on them and occasionally waters them as well.  Pretend you can't see the aphids on the rose stem.

  

 My lavender also looks great, I'll harvest these in a month or so (if DH doesn't get to them first with the hedge trimmer).

 Every year I fight a losing battle with my cherry tomatoes trying to keep the laterals under control.  This year I decided not to bother, so we will see if it has an effect on the crop.  No ripe tomatoes yet, but plenty of flowers.

 Our pumpkin patch (sadly affected by the wet weather - some of the pumpkins have rotted).

 Look how orderly my vege garden looks!

Herb garden.  From bottom: Basil, Lemon balm, Marjoram and Oregano right at the top.  Its a pity its so low to the ground or I'd use the hedge trimmer on that as well - the Oregano needs a really good prune.

One project a week revisited

I'm only a week into my projects for the year, and already I have rejigged them.  I've updated the post here.  But my project this week remains the same - presents for P's birthday.  She'll be 4 in April and so far I have a barely started shrug for her, and that's about it.  So its time for some brainstorming about what she might like, and some serious crafting.

What do 4 year old girls like?

My poor garden

Our garden has been seriously neglected over the past month or so.  Its one of the areas of my life that has really suffered, because I am working and more recently from early pregnancy.  So this week's project is to get stuck into the vege garden.  This would be a bit easier if we hadn't just had the wettest December on record, but I have been helped by DH's chemical weeding.

My raspberry canes are hiding in amongst this grass.

DH and I came home from our holiday to find the strong winds had torn the top off our Courgette plant.  I was gutted, there were a good couple of months of courgettes left, and now we have none.

One Project a week 2012

My projects for this year, one week at a time

9/01   - Gardening
16/01 - P's birthday presents
23/01 - Selfish/Maternity sewing
30/01 - Knitting
6/02   - Photos
13/02 - Baby sewing
20/02 - No project yet
27/02 - P's birthday presents
5/03   - Nappies
12/03 - No project yet
19/03 - P's birthday presents
26/03 - Nappies
2/04   - UFO's
9/04   - No project yet
16/04 - birthday prep
23/04 - Winter sewing/sorting
30/04 - Nappies

You will notice that they only go to the end of April.  That's when I'll be 30 weeks pregnant, and I know from past experience that things will get much harder at that point.  So after that I will be knitting, and stocking up the freezer, but not much else.  DH thinks I will be working until I'm 38 weeks, but we'll see about that.

So that's the plan.  Anyone keen to join me? I promise I'll do a button.

Decluttering

My project this week is to declutter my house.  The reasons for this are twofold.  One, I need to make room in our small house for the baby; and two, P and J are away with my parents until the weekend.  The opportunity to declutter their bedrooms was too big to pass up.

I thought I didn't have enough storage space but after some concerted decluttering, it turns out that actually I just had too much stuff.  The bags above are just the things to go to the Hospice Shop, there was probably an equal amount of rubbish that I got rid off, and there is still a bedroom and laundry to go.  Wish me luck, and if I don't post in the next week, its safe to assume that I've been buried under a pile unused and unnecessary junk.

Some big news

I had intentions of writing an eloquent post about Christmas and New Years, with a witty explanation as to my blogging absence of late.  But eloquence has definitely left the building around here.  And I'm blaming it all on the baby.

Yes, that's right, we are expecting another little one in July 2012.  Up until this point I've been feeling too nauseous and exhausted to devote much time to blogging (or in fact anything other than 'living'), but I'm hoping that I will get some more energy soon.  So look out for a modified one project a week this year, and a new feature '12 in 2012'.  Oh, and lots of baby craftiness of course.

Christmas animals

I have finished knitting P's animals for Christmas, and I hope she really likes them.

 The pig is Oink by Susan B Anderson.  Its a pretty easy knit, and she is so cute!

 Check out the little curly tail

 And I have a partner for P's stegosaurus.  I ran out of time to knit any more of the family, but I'm sure she'll still enjoy the couple of them.

More creativity over at Natural Suburbia.