Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts
Author | Robin Stockwell
Publisher | Time Inc
Publishing Date | 31 January 2017
Pages | 288 Pages
Source | Review Copy
Purchase | Amazon
My Rating | 4/5
About The Book
Inspiring, practical and richly photographed, this comprehensive guide offers creative ideas and DIY projects using beautiful low-maintenance, water-wise plants
Succulents are the ultimate easy-care plant: versatile, effortless to grow both indoors and outdoors, and drought tolerant. From Aloe and Agaves, to Senecio and Taciveria, this handbook by leading garden expert Robin Stockwell highlights 200 of the easiest, most useful, and gorgeous plants, and shares advice on care and cultivation. Readers will find inspiration for imaginative and exciting new ways to use succulents in striking garden designs, containers, vertical walls, and indoor arrangements, as well as step-by-step projects, such as living bouquets and terrarium ornaments.
This is the essential reference for landscapers, home gardeners, and anyone looking for a thorough introduction to the perfect plant for modern times.
I love getting out into the garden, and I have to admit that I have learnt most of it from my Mum. As a little girl I'd accompany my Mum and Dad to the garden centres out in the countryside and I learnt about buying plants, choosing the right ones, looking for healthy growth above and below the soil, the types of plants that work best in certain soil types and what looked aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
I'd then help Mum plant them and care for them in our gardens at homes. Since I've become an adult I know that these are skills I've been so blessed to have been taught that will be very useful when the times comes for me to tend to my own garden with my other half. I generally become alive when I'm in the garden, surrounded by nature or in garden centres (take note Mr S - so does my Mum!) but as someone who loves to learn new things, I jumped at the chance to review this book.
I'd then help Mum plant them and care for them in our gardens at homes. Since I've become an adult I know that these are skills I've been so blessed to have been taught that will be very useful when the times comes for me to tend to my own garden with my other half. I generally become alive when I'm in the garden, surrounded by nature or in garden centres (take note Mr S - so does my Mum!) but as someone who loves to learn new things, I jumped at the chance to review this book.
Succulents are plants that I have around 3 varieties of at home, but other than the fact that they grow in any soil - perfect for the dry soil on my front garden as you need a road digger to penetrate that earth, I don't know very much about them.
In Succulents, Robin has given very high quality detail of how to look after these plants, how to plant them, where to plant them, and given really inspirational ideas of how to make them look very pleasing on the eye. This book goes beyond just listing the plant name (including latin name), height, spread, soil type, and time of the year. What Robin has created is almost an encyclopedia of everything you need to know about Succulents.
As a beginner to gardening technicalities this book would be brilliant for someone wanting a beautiful yet easy to maintain garden. The plant placements are almost contemporary yet minimalist - if you have OCD this might be for you! I actually said to my Mum over the past few months that I just really want to create an area in the garden for Succulents - and this book has given me the tools and knowledge of how to do just that.
As a beginner to gardening technicalities this book would be brilliant for someone wanting a beautiful yet easy to maintain garden. The plant placements are almost contemporary yet minimalist - if you have OCD this might be for you! I actually said to my Mum over the past few months that I just really want to create an area in the garden for Succulents - and this book has given me the tools and knowledge of how to do just that.
A really wonderfully insightful book dedicate to a variety of plants and style of gardening that could be embraced this year. It's never too early to plan ahead.
Hi Everyone!
One thing I wanted to do more of this year on A Page of Love is blog about more than just books. Lately I've been planning somewhat of a clear up on social media, mainly to mainstream and neaten up my presence and help it to become somewhat less chaotic.
I'm approaching my 30s now (I'm 27!) , and whilst I adore having fun with a girly blog about books, I'm just not feeling it all that much anymore. So to keep my interest alive and allow my blog to grow with me and my life I am adding more Lifestyle features to it.
There is so much more to me than books. I really enjoy gardening, home decor, fashion (A little!), crochet, crafting, planning with my filofax, and being a generally all round "Housewife in Training!". So because I LOVE those things too, I'm going to share them with you.
To kick off these style of posts, today I'm going to share with you my gardening haul. It's really cheap and a basic supply, so it's perfect if you want to kind of see if you have green fingers (nail varnish not compulsory - but kinda looks cute!), or just want to spend less than £10 to kick start your 2016 garden.
I'm approaching my 30s now (I'm 27!) , and whilst I adore having fun with a girly blog about books, I'm just not feeling it all that much anymore. So to keep my interest alive and allow my blog to grow with me and my life I am adding more Lifestyle features to it.
There is so much more to me than books. I really enjoy gardening, home decor, fashion (A little!), crochet, crafting, planning with my filofax, and being a generally all round "Housewife in Training!". So because I LOVE those things too, I'm going to share them with you.
To kick off these style of posts, today I'm going to share with you my gardening haul. It's really cheap and a basic supply, so it's perfect if you want to kind of see if you have green fingers (nail varnish not compulsory - but kinda looks cute!), or just want to spend less than £10 to kick start your 2016 garden.
***
First on my "go-to" places for great cheap garden accessories is Poundland. Now, granted, not everything they stock would fit in with the Chelsea Flower Show, but, BUT, the important thing is that you allow yourself to see beyond the price tag, and ask yourself whether or not they would fit in with your garden scheme.For me, a few of their products do, like the bird feeders, garden twine (useful for tying up floppy plant stems, scented citronella candles in the summer etc.
But this week I picked up some bulbs and seeds. Pretty basic supplies for the garden, and gives you the chance and responsibility to grow something beautiful in your garden.
As you can seen, all these cost me less than £10 (£7 exactly) and I have over 100 bulbs, and 24 varieties of seeds. My collection includes scented flowers such as night scented stock (they are my favourite!), sweet peas which always look gorgeous, morning glories, and plenty of climbing/creeper varieties to trail up walls, fencing and even the shed!
Mum had one of the chinese lantern plants when I was really young and it looked so beautiful. We have quite a big garden (100ft x 20ft) so we have lots of room to cater for all these flowers. We're very lucky.
Next up is hanging baskets. Don't you just adore pretty flowers in a hanging basket? especially with trailing lobelia, fuchsias, geraniums and such in them? I've grown up watching my mum create the most spectacular displays in her hanging baskets that I've grown to love the process of making up the baskets and watching them grow.
There are two types of basket I purchased. There are the quite large square baskets that I got from Asda - both of them together cost less than £10. They were £3 each which is UNBELIEVABLE but it's true. In fact I really would like to get some more as they are so good - fingers crossed they still have them on the shelves next time I go (purchase here - 12 inch square hanging baskets) . The cream baskets are half circular ones, that will look pretty on my shed either side of the windows. These were from a bargain store too (can't recall the name SORRY!!!) but they were £1 each. I know that places like Poundstretcher do them also, and although they might not be cream in colour - a simple lick of paint on a bright warm sunny day will get yours looks gorgeously creamy soon enough.
Lastly, I made a trip into Wilko and picked up some shed paint. Last year I covered a 8x6 shed with 2 tins of 750ml paint. I had two tins because I used two colours. So this year, I picked up 1 tin of 1 litre paint for the shed, as I want to paint it one colour with a slight accent with a different colour (future post will discuss and show this!). The paint cost me £7.50 which is a bargain!! I haven't tried the paint just yet but weather permitting and also after checking in with the family to see if they need me the weekend (haha) I will try, hopefully to test it out on the weekend!
One thing I really wish Wilko would do again (and I say this on begging knee position - my knee hurts like this so this is how much I really wish this!!!) I really wish they would do their catalogues again that feature homeware and garden bits and bobs! I know it's cheaper to run on the internet, but I really do prefer browsing a catalogue, and taking it down the garden with me and visually seeing the product out there before I purchase!
Anyway, that is all I have for you right now, but I will be back really soon with more Gardening posts because I've really loved writing this and sharing with you something in my life that I love. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and please feel free to leave a comment below, i'll get back to you ASAP.
Title: Ivy Lane
Author: Cathy Bramley
Publisher: Random House / Transworld Publishers
Availability: Paperback or Kindle
A Page of Love Rating:
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
From spring to summer, autumn to winter, a lot can happen in a single year...
Tilly Parker needs a fresh start, fresh air and a fresh attitude if she is ever to leave the past behind and move on with her life. As she seeks out peace and quiet in a new town, taking on a plot at Ivy Lane allotments seems like the perfect solution.
But the friendly Ivy Lane community has other ideas and gradually draw Tilly in to their cosy, comforting world of planting seedlings, organizing bake sales and planning seasonal parties.
As the seasons pass, will Tilly learn to stop hiding amongst the sweetpeas and let people back into her life – and her heart?
DAWNS THOUGHTS:
I first saw this book as 4 separate eBook installments available for the kindle and eReaders on Netgalley, but I decided to wait until the entire 4 parts was brought out as one book. I'm so glad that I did, because not only is the cover delightful (as they all were and are) but to read each part consecutively without having to wait, is perfect. I couldn't wait anyway, because no sooner as I;d finished one part, I HAD to continue into the next part.
Each part is dedicated to the four seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn (in that order) and it follows the lives of truly beautiful and heart warming characters who meet and become friends on Ivy Lane allotments. Reading this on a sunny weekend had me doing all I could to stop going outside and digging in my own garden! The main character whom we meet is Tilly and she starts a new job in a primary school and we get the feeling that she's starting over again because of something awful in her past.
Personally, I had no idea what had happened completely that made Tilly want to start over. She keeps herself to herself (or at least she intends to) and slowly she finds herself opening up to those at Ivy Lane allotments and shoots of fresh growth appear in her over time. She finds that she shares her allotment plot (16B) with Gemma whom has a daughter - who spends more time being grounded (no pun intended) than not. I loved how the friendhsip between Gemma and Tilly bloomed and blossomed. I'd love to have been friends with them - they were a right hoot!
Personally, I had no idea what had happened completely that made Tilly want to start over. She keeps herself to herself (or at least she intends to) and slowly she finds herself opening up to those at Ivy Lane allotments and shoots of fresh growth appear in her over time. She finds that she shares her allotment plot (16B) with Gemma whom has a daughter - who spends more time being grounded (no pun intended) than not. I loved how the friendhsip between Gemma and Tilly bloomed and blossomed. I'd love to have been friends with them - they were a right hoot!
Remember me saying that Tilly wants to keep herself to herself and just tend to her patch? Well it seems that Ivy Lane's residents have other plans... Gemma's Mum gets Tilly involved with the committee and before long Tilly finds herself staring at a camera talking about her allotment when Ivy Lane takes part in a TV show. But if that wasn't hard enough for Tilly, she finds herself having feelings for a certain producer. But does he feel the same way? And if he does, would Tilly even allow herself to act upon her feelings?
Ivy Lane is full of action, with community service being paid back with offenders, and Charlie falling for Tilly and Tilly just wanting to be friends.... then there is a heavily pregnant drama when waters burst, and places catching fire... oh it's non-stop and so damn enjoyable! I didn't want to leave Ivy Lane... EVER!!! I want to go back!!!
If I wasn't giving maximum rating hearts out of 5 on A Page of Love, Ivy Lane would have at least triple that amount, but I have to settle for 5 gorgeously humongous hearts for this book! Go get your copy now, fall in love, buy some vegetable seeds, grow a patch in your garden this year, and embrace the love that is, Ivy Lane.
ABOUT CATHY BRAMLEY:
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After four years of flinging herself round the dancefloors of Nottingham's nightspots, Cathy somehow managed to get an honours degree in business. She then plunged herself into the corporate world of marketing, working on high-powered projects such as testing the firing range of SuperSoaker water guns and perfecting the weeing action of Tiny Tears. After making it onto Timmy Mallet's Christmas card list, she realised it was time to move on and so in 1995 set up her own marketing agency.
She now lives in a Nottinghamshire village with her husband, two daughters and a dog called Pearl.
Random Facts about Cathy Bramley:
She now lives in a Nottinghamshire village with her husband, two daughters and a dog called Pearl.
Random Facts about Cathy Bramley:
Lucky charm: pottery frog out of a Christmas cracker
Favourite tipple: Polish cherry vodka
Best ever Christmas present: potter's wheel (toy version)
Hates the expression: 'Compliments to the chef'
Favourite tipple: Polish cherry vodka
Best ever Christmas present: potter's wheel (toy version)
Hates the expression: 'Compliments to the chef'
Find her here:
www.CathyBramleyAuthor.com
www.Facebook.com/CathyBramleyAuthor
https://twitter.com/CathyBramley
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