A very dreich day in the garden..........



Its been a very dreich day in the garden............

Oh dear what a weekend it's been. Dreich (bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary) or what? Between the force eight gales and the battering rain - to be honest its not been alot of what you'd call 'prime spring gardening weather'. I did heartily venture out there - nearly blew over - hastened inside quick style. This cheery robin in the window, guarding against the dismal weather, was a chirstmas pressie from fellow blogger and wonderful friend Daffy. Doesn't he just look so colourful up against the window looking out on all that - well - wet and nasty weather really. Isn't he gorgeous? And, look out there, don't we need a bit of cheering up?  At least in this weather, with a gale in this direction, the kitchen window which was previously salt encrusted from the last gale (last week) got a lovely clean - always a silver lining eh?

A very cheery robin on a very dreich day, I love him!

Having been around a few gardening blogs I've been cheered up by the spring delights popping up here and there in other parts of the UK. That, I have to say, has kept me sane, and away from the seeds - nothing planted yet. I have been trying to get motivated though and keeping my chin up. I decided if I can't share any outdoor delights with you all, and really, I can't, then I can at least share the plant thats keeping me smiling in the house at the moment Oxalis triangularis. Even the name makes me giggle, 'Tri-an-gu-laris'. It's like another one of those Harry Potter spells isn't?  What I like about it, is the vibrancy of the colour it has - before you adjust your eyes - yes it is purple - VERY purple. How gorgeous is it? Better than a cold shower or a slap in the face with a wet kipper - it's a plant that wakes up the eyeballs immediately.

Oxalis triangularis, Love Plant or Purple shamrock

I love it - my daughter bought it for me at a school sale, maybe why its other name is the love plant? I'm very pleased that she'd brought home not only a plant I didn't have (normally very difficult, given my addiction) but it is also purple, my favourite colour. Its a very easy plant to care for - in fact aside look at it and give it some water, its had NO care. And there it is, happy on the window sill making a very dreich day a bit more bearable. Thank you Mr Oxalis!

Bringing a bit of 'spring colour' into my life when there is NONE outside.

Very beautiful and an easy houseplant!

This plant comes from Brazil, I don't think it would like to be outdoors here! I do like the fact that it is a plant which has, wait for it, cos this is really sinister - 'Photonasty' - sounds terrible doesn't it? It just means that it is one of those plants which fold down their foliage at night - it kind of closes in on itself - when the light levels get low. Maybe its to protect itself from being eaten at night? When its sleeping? We haven't tried to eat it - far too pretty, but every night it closes up just the same. The term 'nasty' when referring to plants, isn't the garrish and the obscene (or for those plants we come to despise) - more the response that plants make to a specific stimulus which is suffixed with the 'nasty' ie - photonasty=response to light, Hydronasty=response to water, thermonasty =  response to temperature ..........what a bit of fun for me learning a new thing during my 'dreich day'! I've not a hope of doing anything 'out there' at the moment, so I've been opting for a bit of indoor gardening.

Chilli's which were cut back have started to come back to life - they take up one window sill...........

A bit of 'indoor gardening' in this house means covering the kitchen in bits of compost, plants and general garden debris.  I've done alot of propagating of my houseplants - kept me busy and playing around in the compost. Window sills are beginning to fill up with plants and cuttings, which is of course what they are designed for eh? The chillis I cut back are now sprouting back into life, a good tip I found online was to cut them back in the autumn and over winter them, well that worked very well. I'm looking forward to more fruits this year!

Cheery robin, watching over my new cuttings, one window sill now nicely full........

I can at least enjoy this little bird and its cheery colour - whilst it watches over my little cuttings rather than trying to pull them up or eat them. I think whilst I've not managed to get out there much, due to the weather, its made me do a few 'indoor' things and appreciate them too. As I'm hoping to be upto my elbows in compost soon, I'm happy I guess for this dreich day to have let me appreciate my oxalis a bit more and make a few cuttings. Maybe not too dreich a weekend after all. Indoor gardening, in this climate, has a lot of benefits - mainly that you don't get blown away whilst trying to do something!

And whilst I'm indoors, I'm still debating the whole, chickens in the garden thing, I've got time to think about that and plan a little. Thank you for all your helpful comments.

Enjoy the rest of your sunday.............x