Growing Indoors and Out.

The lighter mornings and longer days are bringing life and colour back to our garden once more, thank heavens. Today I found myself up with the lark and actually feeling awake instead of groggily fumbling for the coffee pot. Admin work was out of the way by seven thirty leaving time for a little look around the garden before beginning work and there, shining brightly and scenting the air with that dainty perfume, were clumps of primroses beginning to flower.

We have several borders which are starting to show signs of life too with the pretty mauve and pink of pulmonaria providing tiny flowers for eggcups as a change from the many jugs of daffodils with their bright gold.

The daphne is still flowering well and the scent is so delicious as I run up the steps to the front door. (Please note the knitting in the background - more on this in a mo!). There are many tasks catching my eye as I glance around just now and I am quite desperate to tidy through. A trip to the dump will be necessary I think as there seems to be rather a lot of broken bits - toys, tools and various other debris - scattered throughout making our patch look forlorn and unloved. We are notoriously bad at tidying things away at the end of the autumn!

So far the parsley plants Isabella and I potted up from our supermarket bargains are growing well and sit in a protected part of the courtyard avoiding the cold winds which are swirling around most of the time. They don't appear to have been checked at all by being re-potted even though I eased the roots apart to enable them to grow properly. I have used some in cooking to cut them back a little but other than this have left them pretty much alone for the moment. I am spurred on to do the same with these basil plants also bought from a bargain shelf, though I will keep these in the porch as it is far too cold outdoors for basil.

I think I mentioned the bright gold of the daffodils but did I tell you about the orange centres too? They are so like the colour of our hens' egg yolks in the spring when they eat so much fresh green stuff weeded from the borders. Omelettes and scrambled eggs take on a whole other appearance to the pale shop bought eggs we have been using lately.

I love pale lemony yellow in primroses but not in eggs!

Even Isabella's broad beans are breaking into flower...

and many of the seeds Lucy and I sowed less than a week ago are already through in my plastic box greenhouse.

And so, all is well in the garden and indoors my knitting project is growing nicely too. The pattern I am using is called Garnet by Jean Moss and is available on Ravelry. So sorry about the dreadful photo but obviously I am hoping to be transformed by this knit into a lithe young thing as per the picture!

I am using the Summer Tweed yarn I bought recently in this gorgeous summery shade of jade and have already finished the back.

This is one very easy, fast pattern as it is knitted on size 6 needles...perfect. The pattern is so simple that I have memorised it and can work on it as I watch telly and sip wine!

Hope we get a warm summer or I will be feeling the draughts through all those holes!

Well, that's me for new. Have a lovely rest of day x