All Kinds Of Randomness - And A Giveaway Winner!!

(Do you sometimes struggle with what your post title should be? I do, I try and make it something that will grab a readers attention as well as give a preview to the contents of my post, but I think I am usually way off the mark!!)

I had a hobble around the garden, picked myself some flowers and took some pictures to share with you.

I'll start with the sweet pea saga - you may remember me wondering where are my sweet peas? a few weeks ago? Well, as of last week there were still only a couple of buds on the big bank of them and a couple of blooms on the ones in the pot outside the door.

I contacted The National Sweet Pea Society and the chap replied to basically say I was on a hiding to nothing as:

• They shouldn't be in a raised bed
• They shouldn't be in bought compost
• They shouldn't have been bought at B&Q
• They should have had their side shoots pinched out
• They should have been planted out way earlier

Mr G also noticed that they were covered in greenfly and so I Googled what to do and the majority of advice was to spray them with diluted washing-up liquid. So I did - and this is what they look like now:

It fried them!! :0(

I did it on a cloudy day too, so it wasn't as if they were scorched by the sun!! 

They are all dry and crispy but on a brighter note there is no sign of the greenfly!!

Luckily I didn't do my potted ones, although they look a bit tatty at the bottom they are OK:

This is our second year of having flowers (we just had lawn up until last year) and TBH the whole flowerbed is looking a bit crap. I favour the untended, cottagey look but things that are tall have grown at the front, there's big gaps and it's all looking a bit scruffy. Nothing I planted from seed direct to the flowerbed has been a success this year either.

The hollihocks have come back from last year (as did one delphinium, goodness knows where the rest are!!):

Look at Mr Bumblebee!! We have a tiny gap in the path at the front of the house, just below a large buddleia and we think we have a nest (hive?) living in there as we often see bumbles going in the hole.

We have pink ones too (hollihocks not bumblebees!!):

Now on to giveaway news - I used the random number generator and the winner of the Home Sweet Sewn book is:

A Mermaid's Purse - well done!!

I have been really honoured and chuffed to receive a couple of awards, so I'll pop back tomorrow to tell you about them and pass them on. I can't say how much it means to me to receive an award from a fellow blogger - especially as I am in awe of you all!!

Now as for my sciatica - still v. sore. I thought it was marginally better yesterday and gritted my teeth for the short drive to the garden centre but I'm not entirely sure that was a good idea as it's as bad as ever today. The pain has gone from my back and has settled in my leg - it kind of feels like that calf cramp you sometimes get at night - not pleasant.

Mr G did suggest earlier that "I bet your leg is fine now, you're just enjoying being waited on" - and I had to resist the urge to thump him!! Still, I can't complain he has been a star looking after me and the boys.

There's a Hitchcock movie on this afternoon "Dial M For Murder" with Grace Kelly so I am going to settle down in front of that with my knitting....

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend.

hugs,

S x