my little helper

June 27, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the wonderfully wise comments on the previous post. I suppose I was looking for a little reassurance that my parental compass wasn't completely out of whack! It is incredibly reassuring and heartening that so many people feel the same way about raising children. I loved reading all of the comments especially since they were from such a diverse group of women and yet echo the same strong maternal instincts to protect and nurture. Thank you again x

Amy's enjoying stretching her wings gently and has been out for a bike ride with friends over the weekend – it's good to give her freedom to do fun stuff with her friends that doesn't involve wearing too much make-up!

Over the weekend the temperatures here have soared and since this comes hot-on-the-heels of a rainy week, everything is growing well in the garden. I expect the first harvest of french beans in a week or so and we've been enjoying fresh picked lettuce for a few weeks now. The strawberries are also at their best and I've been picking a delicious bowlful every few days.

Thankfully I've got a little helper living in the strawberry patch who has been keeping the slugs in check for me.

Isn't he a sweetie?

shoots

May 18, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)58 Comments

I really enjoyed reading everyone's nostalgia on the last post – thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reminisce with me.

Here things have been hotting up in the garden and all my veggies are getting ready for planting out.

I love growing things from seed – it's like magic really, especially with something prolific like a courgette.

You take a tiny wizened seed, poke it into some damp compost and after a week or so you have the most perfect little seedling – looking just like a child would draw one. After a little watering and tending for a couple of months you have a huge bushy plant popping out fat and delicious courgettes.

Lettuce and leaves are quick to reap rewards from too. I sowed some rainbow chard and oak leaf lettuce around 8 weeks ago…

and look at them now!

My little courgette seedlings have me feeling all inspired and so I've been playing around with charts and have knitted a new seedling dress design…

I hope to have a bunny to wear this along with a few friends ready by the end of the month.

garden stuff · general stuff

spring has sprung

March 20, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)35 Comments

According to my calendar, today is officially the first day of spring here in the UK. The sign that spring has arrived in our garden is always the blossoming of an old plum tree.

One week ago::

Today::

Last year it suffered the loss of a major bough but it seems to have survived and hopefully some of the blossoms will yield some juicy plums for jam making later in the year.