Gardener's Gift Ideas (pt. 2)



Sunbleached Ripple Bird Bath



If you are still struggling for gifts for gardening family members and friends, or if you just fancy something a bit different that you won't find in the shops, I've just done a blog post on my designing blog with an updated list of handmade items from Folksy.com. If you think handmade might be a bit naff for a Christmas present, have a look at these items and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised -

Gift Ideas for Gardeners

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Gardener Gift Ideas





My mosaic ornaments are suitable for garden use


I was on Gardener's Corner forum yesterday, and I found a thread discussing Folksy.com, which is the craft website where I sell my handmade bits and bobs. On my other blog, which I use for telling the story behind some of my items, I have been doing a series of themed Gift Idea Lists using items from Folksy,  and one of the themes I've done is for Gardeners. I ended up linking the list on the forum (after checking first because the list shows some of my own items). I think it might be a good idea to have a link here too.





One of my mosaic bird baths



This is a link to my other blog, and then there is a clickable link in the blog post that takes you to a gallery of items all picked from Folksy.com sellers which show you what you can get on the site for the garden, and there is some pretty nice stuff on there, at a range of prices too -

Handmade Gift Ideas for Gardeners

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Summer's Back. Then Autumn's Coming. Again.

How odd has this year been, weatherwise? Boiling in April, tailing off to a mediocre summer, and finishing off with a boiling week in September.

Autumn's coming.

Walking in East Yorkshire - Hull Marina and Waterfront

Not strictly a walk, but a stroll along Hull's marinas, along to The Deep aquarium, and a stop off for a brew.

Walking in East Yorkshire - Canal Head, Pocklington







Ducklings at Canal Head



July. Summer?

Gaillardia Fanfare

It's not been amazingly warm, or sunny up this way in July. There's not been much rain either, so I've been a slave to the watering can...

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream Recipe

It's all go.




The bee border plants

  

Just into June



Laxton's Superb Apple



Just into June and the fruit and veg are starting to show what crops I might get from them.

Walking in East Yorkshire - Flamborough Head

Flamborough Head

What's Looking Good in May

Nicked this idea from one of the forums I go onto......

Veg Bed Special



Walking in East Yorkshire - Beverley Minster and Westwood

This is a walk that you can make as long or short as you want.......

The Garden - Update

Things have moved on slightly since the last pic on the 'Starting Point' blog post from April. I've marked out the shape of the new bit of lawn I want to put in. Not sure if I want to use that log roll as edging, I think it'll sit too high up and create too much of a shadow at the edge of the lawn. On the other hand, I like the look of the log edge around the woodland garden, so I'll have to come up with a plan to make sure the lawn doesn't get shaded out at the edges. I've bought some more plants......

Walking in East Yorkshire - Skidby Windmill

(These walk instructions were written in April. We've since done the walk again in September, so I've added more photos and updated the description slightly.)

The other half is currently on a 16-mile charity walk. I've had one update so far saying he got to a mile. That was about an hour ago. Hopefully he's not keeled over. If you are wondering why I, the keener walker out of the two of us, am not doing the walk, it's a question of car space. The walk isn't a circular one, it's a straight 16-mile of old railway track from Hornsea to Hull. Other half is doing it on behalf of his work charity with a few others from there. They've got a work car to drop them off at Hornsea and to collect them at the other end. So the car space was at a premium.

Skidby Mill

While I'm awaiting for the next update from him, this is another one of the walks that we did to prepare him for today's walk - Skidby Mill and Risby circular walk -

The Garden - The starting point

I didn't take a picture of the garden as it was when I first started on it in 2009. But, it's been a slow evolution while I tried to work out what I was going to do with it, so over the last two years only a few things have happened to it. This is a picture of it in nearly it's original state. Disintegrating fencing on two sides, and an elder bush that had suckered and grown it's way to a 20' tree with about 6 decent trunks (the pic shows it halfway through being tamed, now it's been cut down to stumps at nearly ground level). The concrete paths, patio, and the manhole with the wonky concrete surround are as they are now. The veg bed has just been started on the right, and the compost bin is in. There was a 6' x 4' shed in the far-left corner of the garden that the elder was slowly growing through, so that went. So this pic is practically how the garden was - minus the veg bed (that was just more grass), minus the compost bin, and plus 50% more of that tree and a rotting, collapsing shed.

This is a plan of the garden as it is now, to give you an idea of size and layout....

Walking in East Yorkshire - Spurn Point

My other half is on the countdown to a 16-mile charity walk taking place on Sunday 1st of May. Now, usually, he's not one for walking in the countryside, he finds it a little dull. But recently as 'training' he's been willing to try a few circular walks I have found for this area on the net.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Spurn Point Nature Reserve to walk the perimeter, which is an approximately 8 miles in total. What a fabulous place it is.....

What's it all about?

The blog that is. Well, I'm Jo, and I am a small (5'4) gardener, with a small (14ft at it's widest x 30ft at it's longest) town garden in East Yorkshire. So, my gardening is on a small scale, and 'The Small Gardener' covers me, my garden, and the type of gardening I'm doing. Clever, huh?

I'm not an expert gardener. I watch Gardener's World and that occasionally gives me ideas. Generally I use it for a 'what needs doing now' guide. Otherwise I find most of the info I need on the net. (How did we cope before the www.?  We can't have had books on everything.) Or, I learn by trial and error, you can always move a plant if it's in the wrong place.

I will be using this blog to show the transformation of the garden. Hopefully I will be passing on some useful info about creating a garden on the cheap (which I believe you can do with a bit of research, and being in the right place at the right time). Plus, I will pass on any space-saving garden things I find in the shops, or online, for people a bit short on acreage like me. And, I will pass on any discounted, or just generally cheap, garden items that I find, because even if your garden is bigger than mine you'll still appreciate saving a few pennies. Everyone loves a bargain.

I will also be sharing my discoveries of East Yorkshire. Because, let's face it, unless you live here you've probably have no idea what's here. I certainly didn't before I moved up here. And I would imagine you have no inclination to visit either, because I didn't have it on my list of places to visit either.....