Baby plants

     

Some healthy plants growing nicely in my living room, next to the french windows. These were sown in march: mainly tomatoes, chillis, peppers, tomatillo, squash, pumpkin and melon. Whenever the weather is nice, I take them outside in the garden but put a propagator cover on top and leave the vent open.

Yes it’s that time of the year again, when my living room is like a greenhouse, full of seedlings and baby plants. This year, I am going to keep a few chilli plants indoor (the numex variety) and see if I can keep them going till next year.

 

A bit of home decoration

While the garden is getting lots of my attention, the house gets behind. We are now in our 4th spring in this house and I feel that there are still lots I would like to do and improve. One area that still needs improving is my sewing space which is half of my living room.

The living room is supposed to be a living dining room but instead we chose it to be a living creative room (well, it’s my creative space as my partner gets a whole room for himself that he uses as a music room and office). One way to solve the lack of storage in my sewing space was to buy an Ikea Expedit shelving, the one that has 16 cubes. I decided to put it on my sewing table, which is really great as a sort of vertical storage.

So that’s one storage issue solved. Next I need to think of a creative way to have a neat cutting / ironing area as right now my ironing board is to big and I’m using a hacked breakfast bar as a cutting table (it’s great as it’s higher than a desk or table and it’s the same size as my cutting mat), ideally I would like just one long table that incorporates my cutting mat and a custom made ironing board.

As you can see, I use various colourful bags and boxes as storage inside the expedit, they are all from Madagascar but you can buy similar ones from Rice DK.

I have also made some new cushion covers for the living room sofa. I used some of my favourite fabrics to make them: fine cord with designs similar to kenzo fabrics and oilily fabrics for the front, and purple velvet for the back, they all have a side zipper.

I’ve also took out the broken pink slatted blind in our bathroom and sowed some curtains for the window. I used a fabric by Jennifer Paganelli called Vintage floral for the front and the lining is pink peony solid from Moda Bella.

This window is southfacing so the geraniums there have all flowered since. We also added a little shelving to add more storage space.

Next on my list is sewing more pillow covers for our bed.

Happy new year

Happy new year everyone.

I’ve started the new year by indulging in my favourite hobby which is gardening. This year I am trying wintersowing, you can read all about it at agardenforthehouse blog. The idea is to sow seeds outdoor in winter in anything that would protect your seeds/seedlings from the harsh weather (snow, frost, wind, to much rain etc), most people use milk bottles. I am also going to use milk bottles, but I have started in december by using a botanico let’s grow single sun tunnel ( a gift from my sister).

I sowed these seeds on december 15th and most are germinating:

* Trough 1: Salad leaves speedy & Oriental salad leaves mix (both by thompson and morgan)
* Trough 2: Corn salad cavallo (thompson and morgan) & Lettuce red salad bowl (Taste of Italy by thompson and morgan)
* Trough 3: Salad leaves sorrel blood veined (thompson and morgan) & Mizuna (chiltern seeds)
* Trough 4: Chervil herb (thompson and morgan) & moss curled parsley (one pound shop)

The seeds were sown directly outdoor in these pink troughs (2 varieties per trough).The troughs sit on a botanico tray, protected safely inside of the matching single sun tunnel. The tunnel has 2 opening vents which I have kept closed in order to keep everything warmish, I will open them when it becomes necessary.

I have also placed my 1st seeds order of the year from Thompson and Morgan (you can get free delivery for purchases over £10 if you use this link):

Cucumber ‘Picolino’ F1 Hybrid (Organic)	Within 7 Days	£0.69	1	£0.69
Salad Leaves ‘Speedy Mix’	Within 7 Days	£0.49	2	£0.98
Tomato ‘Sungold’ F1 Hybrid	Within 7 Days	£0.20	1	£0.20
FREE* Potato and Veg Grow Kit	By end of Apr 2011	£4.50	1	£4.50
Godetia ‘Rembrandt’	Within 7 Days	£0.99	1	£0.99
Stephanotis floribunda	Within 7 Days	£1.49	1	£1.49
Catharanthus roseus ‘Mediterranean Lilac’	Within 7 Days	£0.00	1	£0.00
Jacaranda mimosifolia syn. ovalifolia	Within 7 Days	£1.49	1	£1.49

I have also been very lucky to win some veg seeds in a giveaway organised by Mark from Marksvegplot blog. I am particularly excited about the yellow carrots seeds. Thanks again Mark.

And my dad gifted me some exotic seeds that he bought in the reunion island:

As for indoor gardening, the houseplants seem not to get enough light and therefore only a few of my flowering plants are flowering (geraniums on the kitchen windowill shelving). I also have an amaryllis from last year which is getting super tall (you can see it here), again because of not getting enough light I reckon.

Happy Christmas – Joyeux Noel

Wishing you all a wonderful christmas and a happy new year.

I’m spending christmas with my partner and mother in law. More than ever, I am grateful for a lot of things in my life: my loving partner, my family and friends, my house and garden, and my life in England. I miss my family in France, but will  go and visit them soon.

Cheers to 2012, another year to create the life you love.

Summer 2011

Summer has gone so quickly. Most of my time was spent working on the garden and lazying around.

Travel:

went to visit my mum in south of france.

Garden:

decided to get a summerhouse which I’ll use as a potting shed (bought with birthday gift from my family). Painted the outside pink. I used cuprinol garden shades: a 2 litres can of pale jasmine mixed with a sample can of rich berry and 2 sample cans of forget me not, this was enough for the 2 coats needed for the exterior. I’m painting the inside in white.

 

Tried some new plants: purple new zealand ricinus from seed (very easy to grow and tropical looking), red banana, brugmansia from seed, pink and red mandevilla, lemon, pink double bonbon cosmos from seed, among plenty others.

Beautified the side yard with lots of plants in pots: dalhia, tamarillo, tomatillo, geranium, purple ricinus, rose, hydrangea, aster, peppers, etc

The back garden was so full of plants, it looked like a jungle at some points. Unfortunately I did not have time to work on my front garden, the only nice plants there were some some self seeded pink and white cosmos and pink foxgloves.

   

Harvested and ate the fruits of my labour: 1 peach (yes only 1 this year), 3 apples (from one of the midget apple trees), 1 fig (forgot to harvest on time so most were uneatable), 1 cherry (the rest must have been eaten by the birds), 4 bunches of white grapes, 3 very small pears, lots of lettuce everyday,  spring onions, a small harvest of strawberry, lots of raspberry, courgettes, cucumbers, kuri squashes, mini pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, chillis, cape gooseberries, corns etc

House:

Painted the living room coffee table in pearly purple.

Installed a shelving on the kitchen windowsill (Ikea Varde shelves again, simply painted in white).

Got more houseplants (mixed in with fake flowers) after being inspired by Laetitia Maklouf book the Virgin Gardener.

 

Sewing:

Made 2 pillocases for the bed.

The garden in May

One of my resolutions this year was to grow enough lettuce to eat everyday and I’m glad to say that I have been harvesting lettuce everyday now since last month. I don’t have a separate bed for them (although I would like to eventually), instead I grow them wherever I can find a space for them. Some of my fruit trees, fruit bushes and roses and peony trees are in big pots (66cm and 55cm sankey bell pots), and they are all underplanted with lettuce or with herbs.

This pot has an apple tree underplanted with lettuce (red salad bowl which I use as a cut and come again salad leaves – I love its rich red colour and the fact that they are untouched by snails and slugs).

This pot has a rose underplanted with thom thumb lettuce – a small size variety.

This one has a grape vine underplanted with speedy mix lettuce leaves – another cut and come again lettuce.

This one has a kaki fruit in it (yes it looks like a stick, I’m impatiently waiting for it to show some signs of growth) underplanted with the same thom thumb lettuce. Kaki fruit trees (or sharon fruit or persimmon fruit) are quite hard to find in UK, I bought mine from Spalding/Bakker, the 1st one they sent me was dead so this is the replacement.

The same kaki fruit tree here next to a pot of broad beans and a plum tree in the ground.

And finally my fruit trees and fruit bushes alley (this used to be my tomato pepper and chilli alley last year). The fruit trees are temporarily there as I’m planning to plant them in the ground in my side yard in the future ( I’m planning to transform my side yard into a little orchard alley – part of my front and side garden renovation project later in the year hopefully).

The lettuce above is a little gem (with a nectarine tree), next to it is some mibuna that I eat as salad leaves (with  cordon redcurrant fruit bush that hasn’t grown any leaves yet).

Spring garden in april

The cold winter in Britain had made me very lazy. I haven’t done much decorating nor sewing during those winter months. But now that spring is here, I am again full of zest and have lots of ideas and plans for prettifying the house and garden.

I planted some spring flowering bulbs (daffodils, tulips, hyacinth and muscari) in the back garden at the end of january (yes, that’s super late as they are supposed to be planted from august till december), and I’m so glad I did as the garden is now full of pretty flowers.

This is our 3rd year in this house and it’s the 1st time that we are having a proper spring garden.

  

I have been busy planting seeds since march and bought lots of new fruit trees/bushes. I also got a new rose arch and a plant etagere as christmas presents and bought myself a potting bench in Homebase. In an attempt to make the garden more colourful (or tropical looking – in my dreams!) I’ve painted the potting bench, plant etagere,  new raised bed (from a local artisan on ebay), a trellis (from lidl) and 4 basket metal hangers in a bright cheerful blue colour. I used “True Blue” by B&Q Colours (one coat paint for interior and exterior wooden and metal) and was very impressed by the quality of the paint, one coat was enough and I still have left over paint from my 750ml tin.

  

The concrete floor paving on the patio is a nightmare, it’s a patchwork of yellow and red/pink colour and it looks horrible. It’s due for a pressure wash but after washing it, I really want to paint all of it. I have been searching for an outdoor concrete paint without any success. I know it must exist as I have read a makeover article in GardenersWorld where Joe Swift advises a couple to paint their paving with an outdoor floor paint (theirs are exactly the same pavings as mine), unfortunately he does not specify any brand or shop where to buy it. But while reading some blogs, I found this picture (garden concrete stairs painted in bright pink) and am now dreaming of painting my pavings in that colour. I wonder if a dulux masonry paint will do?

Interview from co-founder of japanese books Edition Paumes

I  stumbled upon this interview from the japanese books paumes and wanted to share it with you here (interview found on french blog Sympa Simone and re-printed here with her permission)

Interview from Hisashi Tokuyoshi co-founder of Edition Paumes (Jeu de Paume):

What is Editions Paumes background? When was it founded, and by who ?
We started our family-run company back in August of 1997, two years after returning from Paris. The company is run completely by us – Hisashi is the photographer and art director, and, his wife, Fumie Shimoji represents the french artists that we met during our stay in Paris. Lately, we work with artists through out the world. We really make an effort to respect everyone that we collaborate with, and to maintain good relations with them.

We also have « Galerie Doux Dimanche » a galerie and boutique where we exhibit objects made by artists. As you know, we have a line of books that focus on interiors and the lifestyle of artists, so this fits into our interests quite nicely.

How many people work at Editions Paumes ? Is it a small business ?
Right now, we have 7 people working in Tokyo, as well as 7 people working in Paris who help us with the books. And for us, all of the artists who are in our books are also part of the team ! Maybe it is a small business compared with a large publishing house, but thanks to the connections with artists through out the world, it seems larger.

How do you choose the subject of each book? Do you have a team of stylists, decorators, etc?
We do not have a stylist or a decorator… We do not need them because we take photographs of reality. This means that we do not go into the apartments and re-arrange them. Rather we leave the apartment exactly as the owner lives in it. This makes for more interesting photographs.

What is the process from the idea to the finished book?
Really, it depends on the book. We were lucky enough to be in Paris while working on the book “Ateliers des Artistes à Paris.” When we were in Paris, we visited the atelier of some friends. It was wonderful, because it was full of interesting things. There is a whole universe of undiscovered creativity! While we were there, many of our friends introduced us to artists that they know, and so we were able to complete the book thanks to their col

Since then, we have created circles of artists in several areas – London, the North of Europe, Paris… We always work in this style of meeting people and remembering what they create. You never know what will happen – sometimes, after meeting an artist to make one book, we will have an idea that will lead to the next publication.

What would you suggest to parents to decorate their children’s bedrooms? Is there anything that is a “must-have”?
We are interested in things that have a history and a story. Sometimes, the object could be given by their grandparents. We also like things that parents make for their children. And especially the things that children create by themselves! We think that all children are little artists!

To only have modern things in a home makes it feel like a show room. The important thing is to include things in the home that create a sense of love for children, and create a link to the family.

What do you like best in your line of work?
I love that I have the power to share joy. Right now, there are many artists that are happy to participate in the creation of our books. I am so happy and honored to have their help!

Us, the editors, the artists who are profiled in the books, and of course the readers, should be happy because they are all indispensable in the quest for a great book!

And finally, it is wonderful for us to meet new artists who are going to make an impact in the future!

The picture below is from one of their newest books: Finland Family Style

Garden tour

As requested by a few people, I am going to give you a peek into my back garden. It’s a town garden, with a paved patio area and 2 gravel sections with miniature wall around each one. The gravel areas have hard clay soil underneath. And when I moved in last year, the only plants already there were a mature white rose bush with some blue irises at its feet.

You can click on the pictures to see a bigger view of each of them.

It’s a small garden but I wanted to make the most of the space, and I wanted to have a go at growing fruits and vegetables. Last year,  I’ve made the smaller of the 2 gravel areas into a mini orchard and planted a peach tree in the middle, raspberries plants on both sides, a fig tree in the back, and some strawberries in pots on the mini wall.  I also planted a cherry tree in a corner of the bigger gravel area. This year, I’ve added a kiwi plant (after seeing the heavy crops on my dad’s kiwi trees), a redcurrant plant, and 2 gooseberry plants (in pots for now). The trees/plants planted last year have already fruited this year, I am particularly happy with the raspberries as I got plenty of them this summer and best of all they do spread which mean more fruits for us next year.

One of the things I did this year in order to brighten the space was to paint the garage wall (the garage is in the garden) in a bright lavender colour (velvet ribbon 6 by dulux) and the wooden fence (and shed) in bright blue (barleywood by cuprinol). I then bought one high raised wooden container for the strawberries, and had 3 other wooden raised beds custom built for the space (built by my partner), 2 of them lay on the patio and the other one (L shaped) is on the bigger gravel area. I also painted all the raised beds in bright blue.

This year, I planted nearly everything from seed. I don’t have a greenhouse so I started them in my kitchen, some were eaten straight away by slugs once I took them out so I can only show you the ones which made it. One raised bed has 2 yellow courgettes, 2 mini pumpkins and 1 yellow scallop squash, they are doing very well despite being crowded in the container. Another raised bed has 2 cucumbers, 4 borlotti beans (I had to keep re-sowing new ones as they kept being eaten by slugs), 2 aubergines (still small), plenty of pak choi and spring onions. The L shaped raised bed on the gravel has a section with 2 red kuri squashes, a butternut squash, alpine strawberries (white and red, the fruits are so small) and some volunteer tomatoes, the section along the garage wall has one giant sunflower, lots of cosmos, some lavatera and a few other flower plants; this bed is so crowded it looks like a jungle.

I have also planted lots of tomatoes, peppers and chilli plants (in pots) in the alley space (from the shed leading to the garage area). With flower plants in pots throughout the garden, the space looks crowded but I love it, it gives me so much joy to see all the colours and plants there. I am already thinking of new plants to try for next year, I want more fruit trees (plum, blueberries etc) and more raised vegetables beds.

I hope you enjoyed the mini tour, I wanted to show that it is possible to grow lots of the things you like in a small garden. And it doesn’t have to be expensive, in order to save money you can grow from seeds, buy the fruit trees from shops such as aldi/lidl/wilkinson, and make your own wooden raised beds (pallets can be obtained for free from freecycle sometimes or check your local timber yard as their prices are usually very competitive).

For next time, I will share an interview with the founder of japanese books Edition Paumes (formerly Jeu de Paume).

Japanese Jeu de Paume books

Great news, I have been accepted by my favourite japanese publisher Jeu de Paume to be one of their resellers. So I am now selling the whole range of their books. I’ve just received my 1st shipment from them and have started listing some in my etsy shop and ebay shop. Below are the titles currently available. If you would like to buy one and mention that you heard about it on my blog then I will include a surprise handmade gift for you (only for the first 10 buyers who mention it please).

You can see some pictures of the inside of the books in my flickr or in my etsy shop and ebay shop. I realy want to carry the whole range so next time I will order different titles and if there is one you would like but you don’t see it here or in my shops please let me know so that I can order it next time.

My favourite one is the London Gardens, as it’s full of inspiration for my own little garden. I’ve been injecting some colours in the front garden, by painting the garage wall bright lavender (it’s what I first see from the living room/sewing room so I wanted to brighten up the dull natural stone colour of the wall) and I will also paint the brickwall (that separates my patio to my mini orchard area and my gravel flower bed area) in bright fuschia. I’ll post pictures next time but you can see 3 photos of the work in progress in the garden in my flickr.