Teeny Tiny Gardening

I was in Sam Read's bookshop in Grasmere one spring when I was up in the Lakes on holiday, and bought a delightful book called "Teeny Tiny Gardening" by Emma Hardy. (see extras)

It is packed with lots of creative ideas for making little gardens out of everyday objects, and as soon as I saw it I just had to buy it. It is probably self-evident that if I like wrens, dormice, snowdrops, primroses and violets, then I am a lover of small things ...

This is the second year that I have dug up some sweet violets from the garden and re-planted them in two bone china tea cups which used to belong to my mother. They sit on my kitchen window sill and give me so much pleasure. It doesn't matter that there are no drainage holes because I just give them a tiny amount of water each day to keep them moist.

Incidentally, I bought a few pots of these sweet violets a few years back from Crocus (online garden supplier) which were being sold as Mothering Sunday presents. I just wanted to put them in my garden! They were amazing plants and have spread all over the place, much to my delight. They are interspersed with primroses and it all gives a spring-like feel to the garden, even though it's technically still winter.

For those who have said they like my twisted hazel tree, you can see it in the background (and you can probably just make out a wretched parakeet sitting on it!). This is the spot from where I take all my photos of the birds on the feeders, and it's another of my happy places.