It has been a beautiful afternoon and I’m inside watching the rugby for half an hour after having spent the afternoon in the garden, scrubbing the outside of the pots with tulips and daffodils in them before I put them at the front door and planting some seeds with the children.

I recently won some seeds from the Secret Garden who now have an online shop with everything for gardeners from seeds to bulbs to gardening vouchers and gifts to tools.  The Secret Garden are located in North Cork and I will definitely be visiting the next time I am holidaying in that part of the world because apart from a lovely garden centre, Sarah and Brian seem to be lovely friendly people and they have a gorgeous cafe with lots of goodies like cream teas – yum.

Back to my seeds, I won ones that I probably wouldn’t have dared to purchase, thinking them too difficult to get success with them – I got salad leaves, (ok, I could probably manage that) leeks and broccoli so I will keep you posted on the results – hopefully I will end up with leeks that look like these.

I have also just purchased some dahlias from the Secret Garden.  I am expecting that many of our dahlias will have died over that harsh winter although I did find one tuber the other day when I was digging that actually looked okay. Dahlias are great, they start flowering in July and if deheaded, can last till late October. They make great cut flowers for the house too. 

 I ordered 3 Black Narcissus Dahlias, I love its dark wine colour and the shape of the petals, and 2 Dahlia Sunshine as we have one long herbaceous border that has gorgeous reds, oranges and yellows in the late summer and I call it my ‘hot bed’.  I got one Dahlia Blue boy as our central bed has a lovely blue delphinium as well as lots of creamy white flowers so that should be nice.

Finally, I ordered 2 Dahlia Priceless Pinks for another bed which has lots of whites, purples and pinks in it.  I will be putting them into pots initially so the only thing I have to be careful about is to note somehow which colour dahlias were put into which pots so I remember which one goes in which flower bed!

Time for February’s Special offer.  February crept up so quickly on us, I forgot all about it.

As it is now officially spring and the snowdrops are peeping through, keen gardeners are going to get started in their polytunnels and clearing flower beds and this would be a lovely gift for a gardener who likes to record what is happening in the garden as it is a gardening diary from France with lovely cream  paper.  Normally €44, it is €34.95 so do click here if you are looking for a perfect gift for the gardener in your life, plus it is a bit different to the gardening tools!

Here’s some more Christmas gift ideas:

This one is for someone who has a new office or indeed an office which needs some smart storage as well as a bit of style.

A Black and Blum Ring Ring which is wallmounted and ideal for holding papers and magazines; a smart Black and Blum desk tidy as well as a Jimmy keyring and bottle opener; and a very smart business card holder – This hamper has all this for €66 with free gift wrap – now what could be easier?

The hamper below is perfect for a stylish gardener - it contains 4 gardening mugs in a lovely gift box, a gardening journal and a lantern for the patio, deck or conservatory.

I thought this image from House Beautiful epitomised the perfect outdoor dining scene – imagine having exotic wisteria twisting tumbling down from a pergola above the dining table and I love the geometric design of the bricks – reminds me of a garden we had in Lower Road, Lower Bemerton, Salisbury – well, we had the geometric brick seating area, albeit smaller but unfortunately had neither the pergola nor the wisteria!

Naomi from the wonderful inspire*inspire blog (that I discovered via Twitter – I’ve recently found brilliant blogs that I am going to add to my blogroll whenever I get the chance) recently featured this wonderful eco-friendly willow playhouse that is made in the UK from sustainable materials and is gorgeous into the bargain.  Created by Judith Needham if you wish to look at some other designs.

We recently decided to make the children a playhouse for their main and joint birthday present.  Having spent almost €800 on wood, we’re beginning to feel it might have been cheaper and easier to have bought one but I guess the wood does include the decking, plus it wouldn’t be ‘an original’ if we bought one!  We bought a book on making playhouses from Amazon to save our poor heads and it’s pretty good and accurate.

Brian is working on the roof as I type!  We had hoped to have it finished by their birthday party next week (let’s face it, if it’s raining, I’ll be hoping the 24 of them will fit in it!) but I think if the roof is on and the decking and porch finished, we’ll be doing well.  Then it’s a case of making and fitting doors and windows, treating it, painting it and decorating the interior (my favourite bit) – so hopefully it’ll be done and dusted by the end of the summer.  We’ve made it a bit larger than the plans so the house is 8ft by 6ft.  (Don’t you love the royal ‘we’ – I have to admit all I have done so far is carry the wood up the hill and hold a few bits in place)

The children would have liked a treehouse but there weren’t any suitable trees that near the house so this is located on the hill to the side of our house, it’s beside the wood where they can go exploring and it has fabulous views. I would have loved my own little den as a kid and they get on great so I’m sure they’ll be happy role-playing and sharing it.  We’re going to let them have their own little garden up there too.

Speaking of gardens, here’s a photo of my raised bed. Since the photo was taken, the lettuces and tomatos are doing well, the peas and runner beans have appeared and the salad onion (or scallions, as we call them here) are definitely growing.

The trees at the back are doing well and I have started digging for another raised bed to the left of this one.