Sowing and Sewing

Despite my lack of posts to keep you updated, March was in fact a busy month. (I will apologise now for the rather uninspiring photos.)

At the allotment the greenhouse was crying out for a spring-clean. Empty seed trays were strewn amongst dead leaves. Raspberries had infiltrated their root systems under the base of the greenhouse and the spiny canes were entwined amongst the tendrils of the grapevine - which looked suspiciously dormant - (dead?).

A horrible and unfamiliar weed had also appeared and was enthusiastically spreading thin fibrous roots everywhere. (If anyone has an inkling of what my latest invader is, I would be delighted to hear.) All in all it was a mess and I had procrastinated over addressing it for sometime.

However as dark clouds gathered, and fat drops of rain began to fall, I abandoned my plan of digging over a bed in preparation for planting onion sets and retreated into the overgrown greenhouse. As the rain bounced off the glass panes I filled buckets full of dead vine leaves; tore out the rampant raspberries, digging furiously to get the roots out and gingerly teased out the root system of the unknown weed.

At the end of an hour and as the rain ceased, the greenhouse was respectable once more. Although I am not convinced that all the fine roots of the weed have been removed, the soil is bare and the vine tidied. A closer inspection revealed a happy discovery of new buds on the stems waiting to burst forth into life.

I had unearthed some old galvanised bucket containers from a dark corner of the shed and decided that this year I would plant them with strawberries as an experiment to see if they grow better under cover. The question was how to hang them? 

Mr Production had - as was his yearly habit, (in order to maximise the early morning light filtering through to his plot), removed some more boughs from the trees between the railway embankment and the bottom of his plot;

so congratulating myself for what I perceived to be great ingenuity, I engineered and maneuvered (thankfully without any major mishaps - such as getting hit by an oncoming train!), an unexpectedly awkward and heavy branch from the bramble and nettle strewn wasteland that runs alongside the railway tracks, over to the other side of the wire fence.

Once the branch was safely within the confines of my plot, I attacked it with a saw and created a limb-like crosspiece spanning the length of the greenhouse upon which to hang the buckets.

Strawberries planted, I sat in the greenhouse, sheltered from the rain and decided that next to follow will be some tumbling tomatoes in another bucket.

With the rain passed I resumed my work on the raised bed and soon the onion and garlic sets were sown. Peas are next on the list - some I shall sow in an old section of guttering and the rest will be planted later in stages straight into the ground. I spotted that as usual Mr Production is much more organised than I am and is already well ahead with his seedlings.

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The allotment is not the only place that I have been sowing. Back at La Petite Maison, now that almost all the building work is completed (don't get excited - I said NEARLY! - There is still a little way to go before it is totally complete), I have been happily engrossed with the pleasurable task........

(one that is so much more enjoyable than jollying along my Much Appreciated Men-Folk with the building work)..........

and that is - sewing with an "E"!

First there was a doorstop for the bathroom out of some vintage blue rose fabric from Cabbages and Roses that I have had folded in a drawer for ages.......

and

then a cushion cover from some other scraps of Cabbages and Roses linen fabric that I have been using for the Kitchen area.

The front of the cover is plain - but to fasten it at the back, I couldn't help indulge myself and instead of using a basic zip or button 

I attached three ribbon ties.

Lots more sewing (and sowing) is planned for the forthcoming weeks, and I cannot begin to tell you how marvelous it is to at last be free (sort of) to turn my attention away from the hard dirty work of renovating and instead be free to be creative; surrounding myself with lovely fabrics, ribbons and flowers. I shall soon be free too to return to my soapmaking!

Of course - the hard landscaping of the garden still has to be done, so with a rather weary sigh I accept that my time of keeping my Men-Folk on track and "helping out on the tools" is definitely not yet over!

xxx