Working on the outside

I know, I know, it has been ages since any of us updated this little piece of the interwebs. A lot has changed over the last couple of months, and I promise we’ll give you a tour of the place soon. For now we have been working outside mostly. A huge amount of garbage has disappeared into trash bags and the recycling. So now it’s time to give it some flair. Such as giving this old barn wall a little colour and shine! We found these mirror boxes at the action store (yup, we were spending again). Oh yes, even though we have neglected them, every rosebush we own is in bloom!

 

Sometimes I just love living in the country

Have a look at what our neighbours brought by a minute ago! They’re simply gorgeous. I should probably start taking tomato-lessons from them. Mine are still ginormous and very very green.

Gardening in the small

Meanwhile back in Belgium, the “garden” is growing quite well.

Little green banana:

Things exploring new worlds, new civilisations, boldly going where no… ahem.

Tomato section:

With little nearly-red balls of fire!

And also some flowers:

Anything is possible with enough watering and singing and loving care!

DIY Hairy Buddha Bust

Remember the Medusa bust I posted about a couple of days ago? Using it as a source of inspiration, we decided to make them ourselves.

What you need:

• Hollow bust (we used a Buddha head)
• Stone drill bit
• Stone cutter
• Potting ground
• A ‘hairy’ plant
• Ear and eye protection (you’ll need it)

First of all we drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the Buddha. Then we drew a very nip-and-tuck-ish cutting line through its hair. Tom used a stone saw to cut through the stone. I have to tell you, it really felt like preforming brain surgery on a Buddha! We then put potting ground in, and planted a pretty hairy plant. We’re so happy with the result.. it feels so zen!

Honestly, I have the bestest boyfriend ever!!

Cherries

Message from my parents: the cherries are ripe!!

Even my parents are gardening

When I was little my parents tried having a veggie garden. However, everything died it soon became a flourishing cactus garden. To my surprise they've started over again. As you can see it's growing slowly.. and it's still alive (yay).

The veggie garden

The flower garden

And a 'salad' birthday gift for my mother

Basil, Rosemary, Chives, Thyme and Parsley.
Perfect for my mothers amazing salads, and a very cute gift.

Potted Gift

I just wanted to share the super cute mothers day/birthday gift we made for Toms mother. She's a real flower person (you won't believe how pretty her garden always is), so we thought this would be an appropriate gift. We'll be dropping it off this afternoon, so I'll wait with posting till then, to keep it a surprise for just a little bit longer!

Oh, and the lavender in the middle is called Edelweiss lavender, it blooms white (we have one too)!

Amat and her paw

When you wonder what happened with your seedlings...

Plant Labels

Transplanting some of the seedlings to a new container, I found that I had to label the containers in some way. This is the solution I came up with:

There should be other ways, but hey, this is what I had lying about. and to be very honest, I like the effect. Even when I slip a plastic bag over to mimic a greenhouse I can still read what they say, and they keep up  the baggie too.

Growing Seeds

I have the amazing ability to kill every plant around me. I'm especially bad at making seeds grow! So when Tom bought a couple of seed packages and a teeny tiny hot house, I saw a very dim future for them.

But lo and behold! It's growing! The petunias and the broccoli already had to be transplanted to different containers because they were crowding their own family. Even the strawberries (very small seeds) now form a green little carpet. I'm so proud of myself!

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Growing Garlic

Someone told me that you can multiply garlic yourself, and that it is terribly easy! This morning I decided to give it a try. We have had this old garlic bulb living in our fridge, it had already sprouted, a perfect bulb to experiment with.

This is the gnarly old bulb I'm talking about. What you have to do (so I'm told) is separate the bulb into parts. Plant the parts and wait. Apparently a single bulb-part will grow into a whole new garlic bulb. Worth a try right?

Balcony Herb Garden

The last couple of days have been such sunny and spring-ish, that I decided to fill the pots on the balcony with herbs and flowers again. I'm pretty sure they will all be killed very very soon (good weather never keeps up in Belgium), but it is worth a try.

(parsley, thyme and rosemary)

(hydrangea)

(basil, oregano and chives)