Cooking and eating from the garden, Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I gardenLeave a comment

Six foxgloves, six peas and a lettuce glut

Reclaiming Paradise

Once again I failed to do a #SixonSaturday post but I did submit these rather lovely foxgloves via twitter. These are all growing along the back hedge and the new fence at the side of the garden, some transplanted from the raspberry bed during a weeding session back in January – for more see here – they have come out rather well, I think. I had wondered about doing a six for my six varieties of peas, but didn’t quite get round to it. So here they are for you, rather late on Sunday instead: I’ve already forgotten which one … Continue reading Six foxgloves, six peas and a lettuce glut

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden, Wildlife7 Comments

Halfway through 30 Days Wild

Reclaiming Paradise

I’m a bit behind with blogging this week but I thought I’d catch up by celebrating the wonder of June and the tiny joys of #30DaysWild. This campaign encourages people to get outside and enjoy the wildness around them. For some, that means getting out into the countryside or down to the beach and exploring the wildness. For me it is nearly always urban and this year, like last year, it has been largely confined to wildness in my garden and the streets round about. But there is no shortage of wild joys to be found even in quite a … Continue reading Halfway through 30 Days Wild

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden8 Comments

Seven years of blogging

Reclaiming Paradise

Seven years ago I wrote my first blog post – you can see it here – it was all about the ways in which my front garden brings pleasure to passers by as well as me. When we first moved here nearly twelve years ago, the front garden was just a car park. Today it is full of flowers and bees and brings us joy. Today was another of those days when I couldn’t help reflecting on the difference this makes. Here’s what it looked like in the early days when I had just started digging holes in the paving … Continue reading Seven years of blogging

Books I like, Wildlife1 Comment

Very Hungry Caterpillars – in memory of Eric Carle

Reclaiming Paradise

So sad to hear today of the death of Eric Carle, author and illustrator of one of the world’s most favourite children’s books ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. It was also a favourite in our house and I’ve blogged about it before, along with some of our other favourite children’s books involving gardening or wildlife. As I wrote, back in 2014, one of the things about this book is that it makes you much more sympathetic to the more destructive creatures in the garden: they have to eat after all. So RIP Eric Carle and thank you for bringing us such … Continue reading Very Hungry Caterpillars – in memory of Eric Carle

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Recycling and reusing, Wildlife7 Comments

Dreich

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s dreich, a word chosen as the most popular Scottish word in a poll a few years ago – link here. Anyway, it’s usually reserved by me for November which is month which is nearly always dreich. Not May. But here we are, experiencing a dreich May and trying to make the most of it. Despite the incessant rain, there have been some moments of sunshine and I did manage to get into the garden to look for ‘wildflowers’ for ‘International Biodiversity Day‘ on Saturday. I found this little collection, all growing in the lawn and tweeted it for #SixonSaturday … Continue reading Dreich

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden2 Comments

Broccoli cycle

Reclaiming Paradise

This is the time of year when the full circle of the broccoli life cycle becomes clear. You may remember last year’s broccoli, which completely took over the runner bean bed. The runner beans are long gone and so are most of the broccoli plants but this one is still valiantly standing and still producing succulent purple florets. We had these lightly steamed in a garden salad. They were rather good. The other remaining plant has finally gone to seed and has some lovely yellow flowers. Soon I’ll have to dig these up to make room for the next crop, … Continue reading Broccoli cycle

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers6 Comments

Seeds and seedlings

Reclaiming Paradise

After a week of rain and hail and overnight temperatures of 1 degree Celsius in the seed palace, is it possible that we have turned the corner into slightly warmer days? My tomato plants certainly hope so. These have gone out to the seed palace because I’ve run out of space on the windowsill. The reason I’ve run out of space is that the Costoluto Fiorentino seeds have continued germinating, multiplying all over the windowsill and needing little pots of their own. I think I now have ten of these little beauties. All being well, they will grow into monsters … Continue reading Seeds and seedlings

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers10 Comments

Six on the first day of May

Reclaiming Paradise

After a long hard winter, suddenly it’s the first of May and it’s still a bit nippy outside. However, today is also Saturday so in this post I’ll try and summarise what I found on this May morning in six themes for #SixOnSaturday Seedlings on my windowsill – green cucumbers doing rather well, all sorts of tomatoes growing nicely and, in the photo on the right, four new seedlings of the giant tomato Costuluto Fiorentino, which I thought had failed to germinate this year. Actually, make that five, I’ve just noticed a tiny seedling in the pot behind as well. … Continue reading Six on the first day of May

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden, Wildlife7 Comments

Six on Tuesday

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s all go in the garden just now and somehow I’ve forgotten to blog about it. I missed SixonSaturday so here’s a wee update of sixish on Tuesday. These gorgeous self-seeded wallflowers are flowering in funny little corners of the front garden: 2. I got along to the allotment last week and used some spare bits of wood to create a sort of terrace for one of the beds which was threatening to overflow down the hill. Here it is in all its glory. Please excuse the weeds and note the almost complete lack of broad beans in this bed, … Continue reading Six on Tuesday

Why I garden2 Comments

Chatting about the blog

Reclaiming Paradise

I recently talked about the blog on a podcast – link here, recorded by musicians Besingende Gedálland for their Wordlende series. Wordlende is a ‘chance to talk, commune and conspire with individuals who involve environmental practices in their day to day life’. Other podcasts in the series tell you about music, foraging and the wonders of nature. You’ll find me talking mainly about vegetables, but also about growing up in Shetland, the joy of seedlings, sharing tomatoes and spiky cucumbers, the wonder of apples, making weed pesto, environmental issues and how a song by Joni Mitchell inspired the name for … Continue reading Chatting about the blog