Blogs I really like

I really like reading the following blogs. They are inspiring and beautifully created. 

1. Alternative Eden- this is a really well designed blog in my mind. 

It's easy to follow and there is so much information. It is a very 

unsual type of garden with a lot of plants I would personally not 

think of trying to grow.   



You do feel like you are entering a tropical garden 
in a hot climate 
surrounded by huge greenery and you are taken 
on a horticultural journey.

I love this beautiful flower. Very unusual for an allium
self-seeded in my garden.

2. Gardening know how - Based in Ohio. 

3. Home and Joy - Jeanne Grunert (freelance writer)

4. The practical homestead - Kathleen Marshall 

Ceramics

Welcome to my new Ceramics blog.

Please check me out on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/minigaardens



Happy to make an unusual gift as a
small sculpture or other form from clay.

Please message me your details here 

or on my Mini Gardens Ceramics page.

 Please follow my 

blog on Raku firing.

Raku, I love your quirky colours, effects, results.
Ask me more about this Japanese art.

Raku Firing Workshop 
May 2016

 It was a cold day to start with 

and we all needed
lots of hot drinks to keep us going.

It was a group of about ten

 and it was a lot of fun.

This is the special outdoor

 gas fired kiln
which all our pre-made bisque 

fired work was placed in.

Work inside red hot raku kiln




 It is heated slowly and the work is fired
 at quite a high temperature.



This takes a long time. The effects are
 really cool and worth waiting for.

This area had to be created
vegetation cut back, 
to allow the area to be safe

One of my pots I have glazed
on the inside

See how it is transformed below.

This has been fired and looks
like nothing right now


but when it has cooled I can put
on gloves and gently remove the
burnt black from the pot
and it will shine and look amazing.

Here you can see how I have brought

out the shine on the pot.

I love the effect you see from a Raku firing. 

The glaze looks crazed and is so cool.

The art of Clay.

What is the story?

Clay has been discovered over 

thousands of years, 

in the ground.

It is an amazing natural material which 

can be used in so many ways.

Pottery back in Roman times was 

quite advanced considering there

was so much less available to mould and 

create with.

But we know how adaptable 

The Romans were.

I love to look at ancient artefacts 

found in museums
all over the place. 

It gives me a lot of inspiration.

St Albans museum has an amazing 

array of potsand finds it is well worth a visit.



The British Museum in London has 

a whole floor dedicated to

ceramics, glass and a lot more.

One of my first small pieces of sculpture
I made during the 

summer 2016.

I really enjoyed making 

this 'Lady in Cloak'.

There is something really enjoyable

 about working with this 

fabulous medium of clay.

Working with a gritty type of clay
creating 'heads' in clay.

Clay is an amazing 

natural material to work with.

It is such a cool medium. 

It is soft, flexible and
comes in so many textures allowing 

us to create
all kinds of pieces of art work.

Your Garden Poetry

Hello Folks

Thanks for all my many followers to whom I am so grateful.

I want to introduce a little poetry competition. 


Time for some fun on my blog. 
Poetry time for you'all.

Please post up your short poems here.
Gardening themes would be great. 

Your Garden Poetry

Hello Folks

Thanks for all my many followers to whom I am so grateful.

I want to introduce a little poetry competition. Please see

my Mini Plot for more details.

Spring Poetry, William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda etc

Please follow with me my new Spring

poetry blog from some famous Poets.

Sonnet 98 - From you have a been absent

"From you have I been absent in the spring,

When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,

Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,

That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with

him.

Yet nor the lays of birds, not the sweet smell

Of different flowers in odour and in hue

Could make me any summer's story tell,

Or form their proud lap pluck them where they

grew.

Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,

Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose,

They were but sweet, but figures of delight

Drawn after you, your pattern of all those.

Yet seemed it winter still, and you away,

As with your shadow I with these did play.

William Shakespeare

What creative words. I love the rambling

tones of this poem. Don't you?

Haiku poetry
"Moonless night ...
a powerful wind
embraces
the ancient
cedars."

 "Wake butterfly
it's late-
we've miles to go
together."

"The moon so

pure

a wandering

monk carries it

across the sand."

D P Bishop

I love the simplicity of Haiku, don't you?

Pure blue,

reflections

below,

Nature is an

art form.

Bursting through

the damp earth,

shoots grow by

the day.

Primrose pale

tiny, compact

                   Looking upwards.                  

Day by day

sunlight on

my leaves,

from tiny green

tip to open flat

and shiny green

newest growth.

See me change

colour at the

tips.

New and

evolving

"My heart beats

and burns,

My restless soul

craves and

yearns,

Through endless

dreams I turn."

 "April's air stirs in

willow-leaves ...

a butterfly

Floats and balances."

"Mountain-rose petals

falling, falling

falling now    ...

Waterfall music."

"Camellia-petal

fell in silent dawn  ...

spilling

A water-jewel."



"Slowly spring

is coming back

moon and plum"

"Kannon's temple -

gazing at its tiled roof

through clouds of blossoms"

Haiku by Matsuo Basho

"O, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day."

"We know what we are, but know

 not what we maybe."

"He is winding the watch of his wit,

by and by it will strike."

William Shakespeare

April brings us

hope and belief

that days will be warmer.

"With the coming of spring, I am
calm again."
Gustav Mahler

"I want to do to you what spring

does with the cherry trees."

Pablo Neruda



Spring Poetry

Please follow with me my new Spring

poetry blog from some famous Poets.

Sonnet 98 - From you have a been absent

"From you have I been absent in the spring,

When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,

Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,

That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with

him.

Yet nor the lays of birds, not the sweet smell

Of different flowers in odour and in hue

Could make me any summer's story tell,

Or form their proud lap pluck them where they

grew.

Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,

Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose,

They were but sweet, but figures of delight

Drawn after you, your pattern of all those.

Yet seemed it winter still, and you away,

As with your shadow I with these did play.

William Shakespeare

What creative words. I love the rambling

tones of this poem. Don't you?

Haiku poetry
"Moonless night ...
a powerful wind
embraces
the ancient
cedars."

 "Wake butterfly
it's late-
we've miles to go
together."

"The moon so

pure

a wandering

monk carries it

across the sand."

D P Bishop

I love the simplicity of Haiku, don't you?

Pure blue,
reflections
below,
Nature is an
art form.



Bursting through
the damp earth,
shoots grow by
the day.

Primrose pale

tiny,compact

Looking upwards                                            

Day by day
sunlight on
my leaves,
from tiny green
tip to open flat
and shiny green
newest growth.

See me change
colour at the
tips.
New and
evolving





"My heart beats
and burns,
My restless soul
craves and
yearns,
Through endless
dreams I turn."

 "April's air stirs in

willow-leaves ...

a butterfly

Floats and balances."

"Mountain-rose petals

falling, falling

falling now    ...

Waterfall music."

"Camellia-petal

fell in silent dawn  ...

spilling

A water-jewel."



"Slowly spring

is coming back

moon and plum"

"Kannon's temple -

gazing at its tiled roof

through clouds of blossoms"

Haiku by Matsuo Basho

"O, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day."

"We know what we are, but know

 not what we maybe."

"He is winding the watch of his wit,

by and by it will strike."

William Shakespeare

April brings us

hope and belief

that days will be warmer.

"With the coming of spring, I am
calm again."
Gustav Mahler

"I want to do to you what spring

does with the cherry trees."

Pablo Neruda



Spring is here. Time to plant again.


Happy times to look ahead to planting anew. 
Just think of all those wonderful seeds you have 
tucked away in a drawer.

Please contact for any plant related queries,

tips or any Gardening advice.

I am happy to have a free consultation with you first of all then 
charge £15-20p.h. 

brandnewgardensuk.blogspot.com

07944-868209



Spring is beginning

"Life isn't about finding yourself. 

Life is about creating yourself."

George Bernard Shaw

Spring is here at last! 

Colour is all around 

us now. 

Daffodils seem to be 

getting bigger and better. 

Leaves starting to unfurl from 

their winter slumber. 

 

Winter flowering pansies 

suddenly perked up. 

Clumps of primroses

 palest delightful yellow. 



Spring is about
natural beauty waking up again. 

What do you wish for 

this spring in your 

green plot?

Do you love scent?

What is your favourite

scent?

What do you love 

in nature?

I love blackand white 

photography,

don't you?

Somehow it makes a flower

look very beautiful

in an artistic way.

What will you be photographing 

this spring?

How simplistic
and effective

What is it that appeals to 

the eye in this picture?

Are you like me and you can't help
treading on the flower bed to get
the best scent?

                                    

What simple pleasures I find in flowers.

"My brain is divided into two butterflies, 

and both are in love with your rose

shaped heart. If you've got the garden, 

I've got my whole life."

Jarad Kintz



Leaves whatever shape
are so artistic


Maples are very elegant and
best sat in a shady spot.

I love their simple shapes.


Red or green all look elegant.

"Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh how beautiful!' 

and sitting in the shade."

Rudyard Kipling

There's nothing so fabulous
as the scent of narcissus

"My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece."

Claude Monet

Do you also love pale
pink and white flowers?






What will you be experimenting
 with this Spring?

A new kind of shrub? or water garden?

What type of water
plant do you love?

Why not take a trip to Kew Gardens,

 West London

or any Botanical Garden to see 

intriguing water lilies?

We all need inspiration from other beautiful places.