Gardening . . . . . . With Vintage China

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Thank you all so very much for your kind & encouraging comments on my last post.  Not one of you told me to get over it & get on with it (like The Mr did) & I do appreciate your kindness with all my heart. You are right dear friends, nature is resourceful & I am sure it will all return to its former glory again given time.

I have been continuing on with my mantra of tackle one small corner at a time ... so it all doesn't feel so overwhelming.

Captured last week - the Magnolia tree in full bloom & look at that wonderful blue sky  💙

 

I pulled this old red cupboard out of the woodshed - I'd not used it for a couple of years & it was looking tatty & unloved.  I gave it a good scrub as I wanted to change the colour. 

You can read a bit about this cupboard in * this post *.

The green block of wood in matching colour is to ensure the enamel sink sits straight, not on a slant

 

I painted it with my (Resene) Green Paddock paint & then gave it the same stencil treatment as before.  I love this soft sage green colour.

The old vintage enamel sink had been languishing behind my garden, overgrown for a number of years - I used to have it planted with succulents.  I hauled it out & scrubbed it thoroughly.  

This whole vintage china idea came about because my friend Joyce had cleaned out her china cabinet & given me a box of china oddments, some of them chipped or cracked, but still beautiful.

I planted the enamel basin with a punnet of blue & white Lobelia & then I tucked some of the chipped china cups & plates into this.

 I also lined the drawer with a black rubbish bag & planted blue Lobelia in this.

I planted a small thrifted soup tureen with succulent cuttings from around my garden, to sit in the middle shelf.

I'd already washed the walls of my house so I changed out the vintage plates I'd previously hung there in pink, green & red colours ...... & instead hung Joyce's blue china plates - I liked the change of colour way & the soft green & blue palette.

 

Once the pansies in my big square planter finish, I'll plant blue & white Lobelia in here too.  

 

I'm really liking the softer colours out here.  Note to self - give the wooden chest of drawers a good wax (!!) 😉

 

I had a couple of Lobelia leftover so I planted an old cast iron kettle & a hanging wall pot that my friend Jane gifted me last year.

 

All the while that I worked out on my deck Blackie slept on an old trunk that I was trying to in the process of carting over to my Cottage for storage.  Though it looks like Little One is sleeping beside him, he is actually down on the deck but is pretending that he is asleep beside "his friend Blackie". 

 

I have been trying to clean up the mess close to the house & trying not to look at the mess further down the section. I filled in a large trench with top soil & sprinkled some grass seed over it.  You can see in the photo top left that it rained heavily & all my grass seed washed down onto the driveway & left big channels.  I found an old piece of downpipe & shoved that up into the guttering pipe & this redirected the water directly onto the driveway.  You can just see my 2nd lot of grass seed coming through in the top right pic.  (this would grow a lot faster if a certain large black cat stopped lying on top of it!!)

 

I cleaned out my worm farm & filled 15 bottles with worm tea, I gifted some to friends & neigbors as this is prime feeding time for plants.  I snapped a photo of a Tui in my maple tree which is yet to get any leaves on it.  I love all the birdlife in my garden. 

 

To say Thank You to Joyce for the china, I made her an apricot & coconut fudge slice as I knew this was her favorite.  It's school holidays here in New Zealand so I made Chocolate Fudge, & Rice Bubble Crisp for my Grandsons last week. 

 

The Mr milked for 4 days last week & when he'd finished he dumped his stinky cow mucky overalls on the deck for the cleaning fairy that lives here to wash & clean again (!!) 😉  Within 5 minutes Madam Pippi had come along ... sniff, sniff, oh yes how wonderful ... rolling round in it & then falling asleep - absolutely no class at all that ginger girl !!! 😲

 

We have computer issues dear friends  - it has taken me 3 days & lots of chocolate to manage to write this post going between my computer & The Mr's laptop.  I am not sure when this will be resolved & I am also having trouble commenting on some of your posts, but I will keep trying & hopefully eldest son can come & fix it for me (tho' it was not sounding positive by his last phone call).

Thank you as always, for your ever welcome visits here today,

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead,

With much love & friendship to you all,