Farming Friends

I did a seed swop with Lucy @ Smallest Smallholding (thanks Lucy) and one of the seed varieties she sent me were sweetpea. Sweetpeas always remind me of my Grandparents and particularly my Grandad who always had sweetpeas growing at the cottage they lived in when I was growing up.

I love the colours and the scent of the sweetpeas. I am delighted to say that the one’s Lucy sent me are doing really well and the flowers are growing up the canes and greet any passers by with their pretty colours of pink and red.

Do you have any flowers that bring back memories for you?

I did a seed swop with Linz @ The Pondering Sheep (thanks Linz) and one of the seed varieties she sent me were mesembryanthemums.

My mum loves these so I wanted to have a go at growing them from seed. I must say that they have done really well and I now have a garden full of the sun loving beauties.

One of the attractions of mesembryanthemums is that the flower heads open out in the sunshine. I am pleased to say that they have started flowering and I look forward to watching the orange and red flower heads open up their smily faces as the sun shines this Summer.

Back in October my bay tree wasn’t looking very good and after consulting TopVeg for an online consultation via skype, I planted my bay tree in a sunny spot that was sheltered from the wind.

I am thrilled to say that the bay tree has new leaf growth on it, so I will be able to enjoy using fresh bay leaves from the garden very soon. So thanks TopVeg for your excellent advice. I will certainly be consulting you again.

If you have a vegetable or herb gardening question then contact TopVeg and if you’re feeling adventurous then you can book your online consultation and feature in a TopVeg podcast.

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As The Garden Grows for more information.

Fresh flowers from the garden are a lovely addition to your home as they bring a little bit of the outdoors inside. I have been inspired by Fiona from The Cottage Smallholder to have fresh flowers from the garden in my house, so thanks Fiona.

This little vase of fresh flowers has fragrant hyacinths, petite white daffodils and an unknown delicate white flower. I placed this little posy of flowers in the vase on my kitchen table and the hyacinths produced a wonderful fragrance that filled the room.

The pretty vase of flowers, the lovely fragrance and the knowledge that these beautiful flowers were a free gift from our garden has inspired me to continue to look for flowers that I can cut for the house.

I dedicate this post and the pretty posy of flowers to Fiona @ The Cottage Smallholder who gave me the inspiration to cut fresh flowers from my garden.

Tulips are a lovely flower and I only have a few varieties in my garden. Last year I bought a colourful tulip for the garden and it has brightened up my garden with the multiple flower heads of colour throughout March and April.

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As The Garden Grows for more information.

Do you have a favourite variety of tulip?

Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.

Can anyone help me to identify this perennial flower? It grows in full sun and the leaves are small and slim. The flowers are pink with a hint of white on them and the stigma and stamen in the centre are very yellow.

Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As The Garden Grows for more information.

Soilman kindly sent me some lily seeds (lilium regale) last year and I have recently planted the seeds following Soilman’s excellent instructions.

I have never grown lilies from seed so I look forward to seeing the results. I have just read on Soilman’s site that his seeds have germinated. I am going to head out to the greenhouse now to see what is happening to mine - I’ll let you know.

Thanks Soilman for the lily seeds and the excellent growing instructions.