A week of big changes at home........... from something so tiny!

Thank you to all the participants of our willow weaving workshop last Saturday afternoon. We were very lucky with the weather and it was great to share how I create and weave our willow fedge here in the nursery. I got some more willow weaving done myself and a few other tasks done after. Then home for take away and watching movies.

Sunday and a day off, after being back to work and working six days in a row I am ready for a couple of days off. I spent the day catching up in the house and making it presentable again and I made sure I sat down and did some painting. The next few weeks and then months are going to be be busy so I need to be as organised as possible.

Something really vibrant today to try and lift my mood and remind me of better times back in the summer last year. These Echinacea really dominated the railway garden from mid summer through into late autumn. I did take an awful lot of photos of them, but I was so pleased I'd managed to grow them from seed and that they had flowered so well in their first year. I think the nursery facebook and insta followers were getting bored of my photos of them

I've included my reference photo in this post, a few things I'm not so happy with but my main aim was to be BRIGHT

Echinacea in the Railway Garden

The reference photo

A big day on Monday when we went over to Fife and had some lunch at the Buffalo farm and a wander around the farm shop. Then we did this...............

We'd like you all to meet Maisie we just picked her up today and she is adorable. Life will be chaos for quite a while, but what's not to love about that gorgeous wee face.

She is 8 weeks old and already full of confidence and mischief. The jack russell adventures continue.........

Winter is a great time to clean, fix and oil your garden tools before you need them in the busy season. This is especially so for tools with blades (and includes lawnmowers, strimmer’s etc).

I got my Felco secateurs for my 18th birthday and they have been by my side for all of my working life, which means I've had them for 34 years in that time I've replaced the blade 3 times and the spring twice. The coating on the handles is worn, but I love them the way they are. They've proved more reliable and trust worthy than a lot of people who have passed through my life! They get used almost every day, all day. It just proves investing money in good tools is worth it.

I strip them down using the tool that came with them, I've even managed not to lose that Once in pieces they got a spray of oil and then a good scrub to get all the plant debris, rust and muck off. I leave them for a while with another spray of oil. After an hour or so I rub them down and put them back together, replacing the blade if needed. As well as longevity Felco are great because you can buy each piece individually on their website, so you don't have to replace the whole secateurs.

I have stitched up as much of the holster as I could, hoping to prolong its life a little longer. Cobblers thread and a large needle did the trick. Will they last another 34 years?.............will I?

Using them for the first time with the new blade, what a difference and I still have all my fingers intact, bonus!

On Tuesday I got another 40 feet of willow weaving done along the second side of the winter garden. Its mainly going to be me that gets the benefit of this garden as no one else is around in winter but most of the plants have interest all year round, so it will still look good through the rest of the year. I put it in this position as it can be seen from the café in winter, hopefully the café will re-open one day. Names of the plants are in the photo description. I did notice that the voles / mice have been busy digging up the Chionodoxa I planted in this garden, grrrrr expensive rodent food

Carex 'Ice Dance'

Corylus avellana 'Contorta'

Cyclamen coum

Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys'

Viburnum davidii

Lovely to see blue skies and sun today, and again not too cold for January. Speeding along the second side of the willow, making the most of the good weather. January has been incredibly dry here, we are in week 3 of the year and we've had virtually no rain, wind and no snow or ice. It will be a worry if we get a dry summer! Day temperatures have been averaging 9C daytime temp and only an few nights below freezing!

The sky on the way over the hills to work this morning

Useful plants from the garden - Rosemary

This is a great stew for cold winter nights. Serve with mash potatoes and steamed veg for a real comfort dinner. Rosemary and juniper berries from the nursery gardens and locally sourced venison from Tweed Valley Venison

Venison Stew

Serves 6

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

200g smoked lardons

1.2kg shoulder of venison, diced

50g flour

300ml red wine

500ml beef stock

250g redcurrant jelly

1tsp juniper berries

5 sprigs rosemary

~ Preheat the oven to 150C, Gas Mark 2. Fry the lardons until crisp in a large pan, Remove and set aside. Add the onions, garlic and oil and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Remove and set aside.

~ Dust the venison in the flour and season well. Fry in batches, in the same pan, until browned. Add the onion, garlic, lardons and the rest of the ingredients to the pan. Cover and move to the oven. Cook for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender. Serve with vegetables and mashed potatoes.

More from Maisie the amazing mouse dog

Sunset at the nursery

More reflections, not so happy with this one

Depth and distance in the glens of Scotland

On Friday I swapped my days so Maisie could meet family.......not sure who was more excited......

Carrot cake for lunch

Fragrant Friday - Sarcococca confusa

or Sweet Box. A bushy evergreen shrub with glossy, deep green, wavy ovate leaves and in winter, inconspicuous, very sweetly scented, creamy-white flowers, followed by glossy black berries. A great shrub for the winter garden or by a door where you can enjoy its heady scent and evergreen foliage through winter. H 2m, S 1m.

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