March already and World Book Day !

Yesterday was World Book Day- children dressing up as favourite characters from books and receiving  book vouchers ,to encourage them to love reading  :) Everyone talking about their favourite books ......well here's the pile of books I,ve brought home with me from the library this week . As usual quite a mix..... Danish embroidery , botanical water colour painting  , archaeology , Japanese patchwork and applique  , The Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook   Simply Heavenly ! by Abbot George Burke and a beautiful old book , Silence in Heaven by Thomas Merton for some gentle spiritual meditation and reflection for Lent .

 

This book Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford is top of my list at the moment . It surprised me , since it is really is  how I have always gardened ..only he does it better !

 I pricked out the tiny Cherokee  Purple Tomato seedlings and took them out of my warm kitchen and into my husbands shed with the big sloping window so lots of light .

 My leek seeds are germinating  and I was surprised to see how the  tiny Babbington Leek bulbils have sprung up . I took the bulbils from a clump that I have in my garden . They have moved house with us several times. Originally coming from down Angrouse Lane here in Mullion , where they grew on my ancient Cornish hedge alongside our 400 year old thatch cottage . They taste leeky /garlicky .
  I also grow Amish and Egyptian walking onions , sometimes I have a few bulbils to share .

                                           Cornish Wild Leeks / Babbington Leeks .

                                                         Poldhu Cove .

 I have been trying to find Daubentons Kale ...a perenniel kale and was very kindly given some by a fellow gardener on Allotments4all .I am so grateful and really would like to return the favour . Ah..I didn't put a picture on of that ..I,ll post a picture of that one next time .
 It is very important to keep these simple ,old and once dependable varieties of perennial vegetables going in our home vegetable gardens .
  I bought a variegated form of it from Alison Tindale at The Backyard Larder .

It arrived so beautifully packed with shredded seed catalogues ..yes I found myself reading them ... Then quickly got to potting it up.  Actually both the cuttings I received , I will bring on  for a little while in pots , before planting out .  They revived very quickly from parcel to pot .
   The new pumpkin/squash bed ......
                                          ..........I,m going to grow something really special this year  ,  from seeds a blogging friend  has kindly sent me .

The new Pumpkin bed is really coming along now, so much good earth for so little effort .
 We have had quite a bit of rain and the earth is soft . It is a "no dig" bed and a "not too much walking on" bed either, but I gently and very easily turned it over yesterday afternoon and am amazed at the number of earth worms amongst it all . It is the worms that are doing all the hard work .

 

               Lastly my favourite Camellia "Water lily " with its pretty pointed petals .