Spinach Soup

The trellis is installed, the compost bin rebuilt and relocated, the buried paving uncovered and lifted, the soil levelled, the pond dug and the excess soil distributed so FINALLY, the spuds have been planted.

Geum 'Mrs J. Bradshaw' is out in her glory, she's a beauty - thank you J :)

Trials and tribulations: we've three broad bean plants out of the usual six showing promise, the other three have been replanted several times, having fallen to some furry, feathered or frosty jeopardy or other.

We celebrated the first of our spinach by making a favourite: Marcella Hazan's ♥ spinach and rice soup ♥ from her 'Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking' recipe book. We like to poach an egg per serving in the broth.

A Walk on Tottenham Marsh and the Lee Navigation

How sweet this meadow o' meadow sweet? View from Tottenham marshes towards the Edmonton incinerator.

♥ Rebutia Heliosa 'Sunset' ♥

She's gorgeous. A beautiful, unexpected gift - thank you J :)

Sustainable City

Biotecture's green wall, Goods Way, Kings Cross looking luv'ly this spring.

We are everywhere surrounded by the sustained proliferation of fryscrapers by sclerotic architect/developer juggernauts, their futuristic visions museum-vitrine-cased arrogance, their creative talents an atrophied veneer to miserly property speculators' avarice. London's burning and they are hell-bent on further stoking the heat island.

We denizens of ye bricked and asphalted London boroughs, are heartened by genuine attempts to develop technologies and strategies to overcome climate challenges and improve the living experience of the 8.6m of us.

We ♥ living walls because they act as thermal insulators, reducing the need for air-conditioning/heating thereby reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, release of greenhouse gas emissions and associated damage to habitat and pollution of the environment. They provide habitat for urban flora and fauna. The plants act as acoustic dampers and improve air quality, they look good and mark the of passing seasons - what is not to love?

Greenwich

Joy illimited: a happy sighting in Greenwich park.

A Visit to the Lambeth Palace Gardens

Our curiosity was piqued having walked along under the tall Lambeth Palace garden wall a number of times on the way to visit the Garden Museum. So we couldn't resist a peek when we found out the oldest continuously cultivated garden in London was open on the first Wednesday of the month.

We were able to purchase a Helleborus foetidus seedling and some pots of the Florentina Iris we'd admired in the chapel garden - we plan to plant them behind our new pond.

Pond Update - And So They Came.

The pond two weeks on - the new water algal bloom is hopefully being minimised by the oxygenating plants and pouches of barley straw. We emptied out some of the tap water to accommodate the rain we've had. The cool weather has allowed the transplanted plants to rally.

Small red damselflies Ceriagrion tenellum have staked their territories.

A toad has seized the opportunity of a newt-free nursery and spawned.