One of the simple pleasures is breakfast at our local coffee shop with good book in tow. This morning these beautiful spring flowers welcomed me at the table.
I am reading Kate Llewellyn’s A Fig at the Gate (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2014). Her reflections on gardening and life are wise and considered.
Now I ready for a day in the garden. How have you started your Saturday?
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crabandfish_garden for short reflections too. Happy weekend.
Tulips sprinkled by spring rains – in our garden today đ·đ·đ·
A walk around the garden always reveals some special treasures!
Take time to “be botanical”. đ
WordPress just informed me I have been blogging about my garden for seven years – that’s amazing! Thank you to all my followers and to those who comment and share their thoughts and ideas – it’s great to a part of your botanical community!
For all you gardeners and historians – Hluboka nad Vlatovou (Hluboka Chateau on the Vltava River) – grand gardens filled with hostas, roses, peonies and zinnias. So opulent and wonderful.
Some summer inspiration for you. Happy botanics and happy gardening. Love this sunshine.
I can’t say I’m a seasoned traveller because we do seem to go to the same place more than once. I guess it’s a comfort zone for us and of course, there’s family to consider. However, I do love the changes of season no matter where we find ourselves. So, I guess I’m a seasonal traveller.
My cousins live in this beautiful town, Pelhrimov, about 120 kms south of Prague and every couple of years they host us. As you can see we’ve been here in both summer and winter. Still can’t decide whether I prefer the summer or winter experience.
Once our jet-lag has left, our summer here should be green and colourful. Happy gardening no matter where you are. Lots of botanical observations to come.
The winter seeds are planted, the garden raked, pots spruced up, house secured, cats and magpies fed and chores completed. 
Time to travel back to see family in Prague, Trieste and Rijeka. Please join me as we revisit some wonderful cities and beautiful gardens. Happy gardening!
This weekend, I rifled through my seed packets and found some âDiggers Clubâ seeds to plant in the winter garden. Some of them are winter recommendations and others, well, they were just what I had in store. We will be going overseas next week so I had to get these babies planted!
The first seeds I sowed were Spinach âPerpetualâ Beta vulgaris. The label reads that it is a cross between spinach and silver beet. It can be planted in any season â tick! Harvest in 10 weeks. So, I should be able to harvest it around 20th August. Looking forward to that!
Near these seeds I planted a few leeks âJaune du Poitouâ allium empeloprasurnâ a French heirloom variety. The packet read that I should plant them in punnets â it pays to read the label carefully. Also, the seeds are a bit old, so fingers crossed. Harvest in 20 weeks â thatâs a long way off, around the very end of October.
Behind this group of seeds and below a short trellis, I wanted to use up some flower seeds. I chose Sweet Pea âLord Nelsonâ lathyrus oderatus, a fragrant heirloom variety from around 1890âs. Can you believe, the label describes these as having âdark and stormy navy blue flowersâ. Oh well â we shall wait and see until the end of October as well! Hopefully it will be worth the wait.
In another raised bed, I popped in some peas, âGreenfeastâ pisum sativum. Harvest in 15 weeks the packet read â so that will be around the end of September. The label reads âeasy and rewarding crop for new and experienced gardenersâ. These are dwarf bushes, so it will be interesting. Letâs wait and see.
In the foreground of peas, in went some calendula flowers âGreen Heart Orange â calendula officinalisâ. The edible petals are much sought after as a gourmet treat. If they germinate and grow here in our cold area, they should put on a bright display at the end of August.
Thereâs only one catch living here in the mountain zone micro-climate and that is we are usually three to four weeks behind the city with respect to germination, flowering, and harvesting. There go all my calculations. Add to this dilemma, the packet information reveals an 85% germination rate, so stay tuned and happy gardening. Hope these seeds are as successful as the parsley! Happy gardening!
Yesterday, a beautiful sunny day, for a change, after yoga, I went to the local nursery and bought some compost and potting soil. I tilled the soil in the two raised garden beds in the âchick-house gardenâ and added the compost and the soil. By the way, the “chicken-house” garden, is, as the name suggests, a chicken enclosure which is now a vegetable and raspberry garden. We used to have gorgeous Plymouth Rock chickens but after a terrible fox attack, we decided, no more chickens for us, sadly.
I pruned some of the grape vines and raked around to neaten things up. You see, we will be going overseas in a couple of weeks and I want to plant some seeds for when we return.
 I always try to plant seeds purchased from the The Diggerâs Seeds club www.diggers.com.au â a well-respected heirloom seed savers cooperative here in Australia which has been around for about forty years â their latest issue suggests seeds for our Cold Zone:
I have a bit of work in preparation but it will be worth it to return to sprouting and growing seeds into plants. Happy weekend gardening.
Be botanical, be in the garden.
Please don’t eat all my plants! 
