Six on Saturday – Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

Six on Saturday: 22 January 2022

Published on 22nd Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden6 Comments

There have been some gorgeous sunrises recently; the featured image above is from Tuesday morning.

Today, as throughout the week, thoughts are with the people of Tonga, and all those affected by last week’s eruption and subsequent tsunami. The pressure wave that followed was recorded here in the UK – a peak in the graph as it approached from the North (after passing over the North Pole) followed some hours later by a ‘trough’ from the longer route over the South Pole.

Current thinking is the eruption may mean a cooler summer for Europe, and an increase in spectacular sunsets over the next weeks.

Looking for some light in the darkness, aka Six on Saturday, I offer this small celebration of nature for your perusal.

Hellebore ‘Christmas Carol’ looks much better since I removed the old leaves, though after two years, I had hoped it would be more impressive than it is.

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Six on Saturday: 15 January 2022

Published on 15th Jan 202215th Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden8 Comments

Here we are again! There is more than a hint of sunlight coming through the window, and no sign of fog despite dire warnings on yesterday’s weather forecast. Like most participants of Six on Saturday, my garden was – and still is – in need of a good tidy up. But I’ve made a start and Nature is doing her bit too!

I spent an hour in the garden on Tueday morning, taking a break from studies to clear my head. It was time for the fuchsias in the raised beds to have a haircut! It’s times like these when I wish I had asked for three narrower beds instead of two as they are just slightly wider than I can comfortably reach from either side and I had to turn to the long-handled loppers to attack that centre fuchsia in the first photograph. When the weather warms up, I’ll move a couple of fuchsias from the front garden to fill the gap on the other bed.

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Six on Saturday: 8 January 2022

Published on 8th Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden10 Comments

It was touch and go if I’d be able to publish anything today – not only because of lack of interest in the garden, but because WordPress has been playing up. I could read everyone’s posts on the Reader, I could access my own blog(s), but I couldn’t access the list of published and draft posts. WP Help suggested clearing my cache, cookies and browsing history. It made no difference but the issue resolved overnight so here I am with a rather sad looking Six on Saturday.

Hellebore – I first spotted flowers the week before Christmas (hidden beneath the leaves) and there are plenty of buds waiting to open.

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Six from the Archives (2): 1 January 2022

Published on 1st Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden6 Comments

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone survived the recent festivities with waistlines and tempers intact. Here in North Wales, the weather has been grey and wet for two weeks, with a little wind thown in for good measure – not at all condusive to walking off those extra calories, though we have restrained ourselves and the chest freezer in the garage remains full.

I managed to get up to date with my OU course by Christmas Eve so took the full four days off from studying or writing. On TV, Gardener’s World – the final winter special on Christmas Eve – was a haven among the mayhem. The Weakest Link in its new incarnation was amusing. Anything by Aardman Animations is a joy; and where would we be without a Christmas themed Sewing Bee or two?

That was last year, though I am sticking with the theme for the first Six on Saturday of 2022 – with Part 2 of my look back over my 2021 garden.

July

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Six from the Archives (1): 18 December 2021

Published on 18th Dec 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden14 Comments

Good morning from a very dark, damp, and misty corner of North East Wales. I’m counting the days until the winter solstice and the slow return to lighter, brighter days. This week and next, my entry for Six on Saturday is a retrospective of 2021 floral glories and a reminder of good things to come in 2022.

January

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Six on Saturday: 11 December 2021

Published on 11th Dec 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden10 Comments

Another grey and damp morning here in North Wales with not a lot going on gardening wise outdoors or in, though I did remember to water my houseplants this morning and gathered more leaves from the patio yesterday during the ten-minutes of sun. So, to this week’s Six on Saturday hosted by The Propagator.

The babies on my air plants grew large enough to be removed. I’ve used a stand that previously held hanging candle holders and three glass ‘baubles’ that I’ve had in my craft cupboard for a while waiting for the ideal project.

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Six on Saturday: 4 December 2021

Published on 4th Dec 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden12 Comments

What a difference a week makes! Though not so much if you or your relatives are still without power. I have been wondering if the contiuing power outages has affected some UK postal deliveries as I sent a parcel from North Wales to Galashiels in the Scottish Borders on 22 November and my niece still hasn’t received it 5 days after her birthday!!

Of course, somewhere between here and there, someone might just be sitting down to read an anthology of short stories (some by me), drinking a choice of two different flavoured hot chocolate sachets and munching their way through a packet of five Curly Wurlies. Do leave a review on Amazon for the book.

So back to today’s Six on Saturday, edited by The Propagator.

“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag...” It costs a lot more than tuppence (1p) these days, and with the weather being so mild until a couple of weeks ago our feathered friends have ignored the feeders. But last weekend, after Storm Arwen had moved on to cause havoc elsewhere, robins, tits (great and blue – I’m hoping for long-tailed), a wren, and several sparrows (or at least small, brown and grey things with beaks) have been jostling for a spot on the feeders in both front and rear gardens so I’ve put more out, and a tray for the robins who do their best to hover but prefer to feed on the ground (or the garage roof). Of course, I’m never going to manage a photograph of them feeding unless I sit outside for hours!

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Six on Saturday: 27 November 2021

Published on 27th Nov 202127th Nov 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden13 Comments

Which is worse – not knowing what the weather is going to throw at us over a twenty-four hour period, or knowing – and dreading – what is on the way? Friday was wet, very wet, hail, windy, with sunny spells: the prelude to Storm Arwen. As we moved from a Yellow to an Amber warning with a risk of flooding (not a problem for me) and power cuts (which usually are), then to a Red warning for wind, I spent yesterday filling flasks with hot water, baskets with logs, and buckets with coal (smokeless fuel) for the wood-burner. I like to be prepared!

Apologies that this week’s Six on Saturday (hosted by The Propagator) begins with storm damage and repairs. We could have done without it.

First, the Potting Shed. We lost one plastic sheet from the roof overnight. Luckily, at 6.15 this morning, I spotted it lying in the field so we were out in our dressing gowns scaling the wall to retrieve it. The other end was loose too, so preventative measures in the form of a couple of battens and several screws hopefully mean this roof will last until next year when it is due to be replaced.

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Six on Saturday: 6 November 2021

Published on 6th Nov 20216th Nov 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden12 Comments

Against all expectations, I have scraped together a further Six on Saturday. Not taken this morning as I had my flu jab at 9am and have a two-hour OU Tutorial coming up in a few minutes time.

It’s a grey old day outside, without a hint of a breeze to move the clouds on but the sarracenia adds some colour. It’s still outside, though I should move it undercover, away from falling leaves.

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Six on Saturday: 30 October 2021

Published on 30th Oct 202130th Oct 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden10 Comments

I know I said – yet again – that last week would probably be my last SoS for now. I LIED (but I am scraping the barrel – after all, the brief says “six things in the garden on Saturday”; it doesn’t specify they have to be pretty or colourful).

The weather has been mixed this week, so not a very inspiring bunch to share; I’m surprised I have anything at all. I really am going to have to do something about getting more autumn flowering plants into the front border. But there are such things as autumn/winter flowering clematis, so the idea of one of them scrambling up the wooden arch is very tempting (but first we need to repair it). I’ve got my eye on a clematis cirrhosa – maybe ‘Freckles’ or ‘Wisley Cream’ (or both).

The feather grass looks great in the second photo, but you can see from the first that it is all leaning one way because the prevailing wind blows from right to left, along the main road towards me.

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