Changing Publisher.

Changing my publisher to Books We Love is very exciting, but a lot of hard work is  involved. At the moment, I am updating my website, slowly but surely, and working on the final revision of Tuesday's Child, a follow on Regency novel from Sunday's Child and Monday's Child. Also it's the time of year when my organic garden in which I grow my own tempts me to go outdoors.

Apples and Plums

After torrential rain today I ventured out to pick ripe apples and plums from the trees in the garden. The fruit is delicious. The apples crisp and sweet, the plums sweet and juicy. And, for a change, this year there aren't many wasps buzzing around the plums.

Historical Novelist's Day

Today has started well. I woke at 6 a.m., and drank a glass of water, for which my kidneys will thank me, before going outside and turning on the sprinkler to water the fruit trees. I then put all my white clothes in the washing machine and turned it on. Next I wrote 600 words of Tuesday's Child my new traditional Regency Romance, by then the washing was ready to come out of the machine, so I took it out. I nipped out into the garden and moved the sprinkler so that my curly kale, black kale, chard, brussel sprouts, lettuce etc., would be get plenty of water. Back indoors put the coloureds in the washing machine and turned it on, gave my  kidneys a treat with another glass of water and then returned to my laptop.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the day. When I finish dealing with 'writerly' matters I shall work in the garden and make a salad with home grown ingredients, one of which will be Russian salad made with potato, carrot and French beans from the garden. In the afternoon I'll read and then write etc. 

This evening I will attend the writing group that I belong to.

I propose and hope God will not dispose of my plans.

Too Many Strawberries.

On a sunny day the fragrance of ripe strawberries growing in the garden tantalises the taste buds. The pleasure of biting into a sweet, sun-warmed strawberry is far superior biting into one from the supermarket. With this in mind, I ordered 36 strawberry plants, 6 each of 6  varieties, which should provide fruit from April to September.

I'm an optimistic organic gardener, who always imagines bumper rewards from my small fruit and vegetable plots, some of which are in the front garden, some and in the back garden as well as those in pots. However, after I placed my order I panicked. Where would I find the space to plant them?

I decided to pot up the twelve plants which fruit earliest in the year and put them in the greenhouse where I will pollinate them with a paint brush.  The remainder should thrive in plant troughs.

If I plant all of them in John Innes Number 3 compost I should have plenty of fruit for the next three years which will repay me for my investment. Hopefully, not only will I have fresh strawberries to eat, I will also  have enough to make jam and, maybe, cordial.

Spring Is In The Air

The birds that visit my organic garden know spring is in the air. The male blackbird and a pair of jays bathed in the water around the rim of my small pond, and then shook the water off their feathers.


While I get on in the garden I pause to admire butterflies and a narrow border filled with daffodils, white single and double tulips and narcissi, which have a wonderful fragrance.


The bluebells are almost in flower, but beautiful as they will be they grow like weeds and are overtaking the rose bed. I dug up loads last year but they are persistent so and sos.


Tomorrow I shall pot up runner beans and French beans, sow cucumbers, squash and pumpkins as well as moving plants from the greenhouse to the garden.

Gardener's Diary

I have decided to keep an organic gardener's diary this year. I shall enter details of the garden and record the use to which I put my home grown fruit, herbs and vegetables. This morning the sun shone from an azure blue sky. Although there was a chill in the air it was pleasant outside. I filled up one of the bird feeders with peanuts. Within minutes, the squirrel, which often lurks in the holly bush, fed from the peanuts I spread on the grass.

Herb Bed

My house is being cladded which will make it warmer and reduce the heating bills and condensation.
Two long narrow beds underneath the dining room and sitting room windows had to be dug up so I'm planning what to plant. I have decided to plant herbs in one. I shall sow sun flowers, dill and angelica at the back. In the centre I'll plant the marjoram, thyme, etc., which I have been growing in pots and at the front a row of pretty flowers according to season, ones with edible flowers.

Friendly Robin

Every time I go out into my organic garden a little robin appears. He has become so friendly that he perches only two feet away from me and watches every move I make. If I leave a watering can, the garden frame on which I kneel or even an pile of earth, when I return he is perched on one of them.

This morning, I left the greenhouse door open while I had a cup of rooibos tea. When I returned he was in the greenhouse. However, when he saw me coming in he panicked and stayed in mid air fluttering his wings to maintain his position.

I stepped out. He flew away but returned a few minutes later to see what I was doing.