An early Spring Garden

The skies are finally opening up and the garden is getting some much needed rain. The sun is starting to peek out and the Geraniums and Lavenders are getting a much needed bit of sun. The garden got a much needed cleanup this month, scrubbed and trimmed and polished up. After a winter full of rushing about it gets a bit untidy out there, doesn’t it? It’s a fairyland of pinks, purples and all shades of green, with a pop or two of orange and red. I’ve finally given the Pink Rose a home of her very own, and decided to part company with my Red. It’s a very small space for a garden, and I’m starting to have to thin out some plants, and trim down the ones that are staying. The Camellia is being given a trial period after getting a trim and a whole new pot of soil. Hopefully she’ll decide to bloom this spring. The herbs have a new home- they’re all together in a low window planter, which I like much better as they can be layered up in front of the larger boxes I brought in for the Lavenders.

I did get a new Dill this time around, and placed it outside, but it’s not doing so well out in the garden so I’m thinking of bringing it inside to live with the Chives and Parsley I picked up this last weekend.  I’ve missed having a little herb garden in the kitchen- the tiny window is the perfect spot for them to bathe in the early morning sun and fresh air keeps the bugs away. I had one when we first moved here but it’s since migrated to the balcony garden, which has been slowly turning from lovely and fun to overgrown, scraggly, and a bit of a pain- I can’t ever seem to find any Thyme or Sage right when I need it for cooking, and they just don’t like it out there anymore and sit sulking all year. So this is what I did:

I took a pretty little basket and lined the bottom inside with foil (for now- I might just make it permanent and line it with thick plastic) and just placed the plants in their plastic pots in it- easy-peasy! There’s English Thyme, and Parsley, Golden Sage, Chives, and two pretty little pops of colourful Ranunculus. So pretty, easy, and fast! It makes the whole kitchen smell like a spring meadow, all I do is snip-snip and dinner’s delicious!

It also doesn’t hurt that the Faerie’s are now competing to see who is the best gardener- I haven’t had to lift a finger all weekend!

A Strange Change in the Wind…

Well- hopefully not that strange! I thought we could all use a bit of a change of pace around here, and updated the old blog a bit. Shined her up, tossed some things out, rearranged what was left, and voila! I quite like it, and hope that you all will too!

I’ve also decided to change the content as well- it’s been so long since we’ve had any sort of structure in this space, I thought it was high time for a bit of a change, don’t you think? We’ll set up a kind of an on-line Journal, perhaps even the feel of an old fashioned Magazine, shall we? How does that sound? And to break it down for you, I’ve created a new List!

Our new categories are:

Letter from the Editor (perhaps I’ll change that title, but the intent shall remain the same; once a month, a few words to set the tone, hmm?)

Cleaning (Recipes for cleaning supplies, tips, hints, admonitions, bewailments, you know-the vagaries of life in a dirty house!)

Cooking (ooo- this one will be scrumptious! Recipes, receipts, formulas, techniques, etc.)

Crafting (How about an easy-to-do project, for everyone to join in on once a month? With Instructions and step-by-step pictures to boot!)

Gardening (Well, it wouldn’t be a Magickwyrds production without pictures of the lovely Hedge out the Backdoor, now would it?)

Myth & Lore (Faeries, Trolls, Mice and Men- basically anything that catches my fancy we’ll use as a monthly theme- sort of a backdrop for the whole issue? That ought to keep everything in line…)

Seasonal (We could throw a Party for Mother Nature, with the theme inspired by the current Season!)

Sightseeing (A place to put all those lovely pictures of our Outings.)

Writing (I’ve had ever-so-many-ideas popping into my head for more chapters in the Market Faire book- stay tuned for Plot, Conflicts and maybe even some Themes in the coming months.)

Well, that sounds just marvelous, doesn’t it? I love a good Spring  Cleaning, and this dusty shelf certainly could benefit from it I dare say! I look forward to seeing how this “new” space progresses this year, and all your thoughts on our New Look as well!