Living The Good Life...
I'd like to say that I enjoy gardening...I don't. I enjoy the garden but not the gardening. Luckily I have a mother with permanently green fingers who has a vegetable garden (market garden to feed an army) to keep me and my brood fed throughout most of the year. But for those of you who are keen to do a Tom & Barbara and live the good life with a little self sufficiency, Wells Reclamation has loads
of stuff to help you create that perfect little small holding.As I've said, mum has a huge vegetable patch, but if space is an issue, I've consulted the experts (mum) and apparently you can grow vegetables in pots, troughs, urns or planters! Who knew??? We have lots of different options available in store - terracotta, stone, concrete etc. Our terracotta pots range in size from about 3 inches in diameter to about 22 inches. For beans and tomatoes, you could use a wire obelisk to help with support as they grow. These are also ideal for sweet peas and climbing plants. One customer bought lots of these to cover in fairy lights for her daughters wedding...very romantic...I digress...
Something everyone can grow is herbs (except me...I even managed to kill rosemary) and this beautiful hand-carved herb planter will make a brilliant centrepiece to your garden. And improve your cooking skills...bonus! I've also been told that this book, The Allotment Cookbook is brilliant as it gives you growing tips season by season and also recipes to use your produce. Genius!
To make your little haven of smug self sufficiency even more productive, it could be time to consider some livestock. The previous mentioned parent has a sheep, the lovely Bert, (who actually doesn't know he's a sheep as he was raised by sheep dogs) and he's used primarily as a lawnmower. He also likes a game of football but that's another story. If sheep are not your bag, then a couple of chickens or some ducks are lovely to have around. As a neighbour to someone with a cockerel, please be aware that they do not keep track of the sunrise and crow all the time...really great at 4am. However, to keep your little chooks safe, you'll have a coop - painted in a beautiful French grey no doubt and little chicken shapes cut into the
door...dreamy. To make this a little more mobile, we have cast iron wheels in stock...traditionally found on Shepherd Huts (so even useful for keeping sheep!). And we have an abundance of baskets to use to collect the eggs. Seriously, we've thought of everything.This all sounds idyllic but clearly the garden shouldn't be all about work, work, work. How about a little relaxation in the early summer sunshine? We've just had a delivery of some new oversized teak framed campaign chairs. They come complete with beautiful bottle green canvas seats and back rests
- I know I'm biased but they are so comfortable. Makes you want to crack open the chilled white and put the world to right for a few hours. And to soak up the wine, it's time to light the BBQ or better still, make a pizza using your lovely home grown produce. Have a look at our Pizza Oven Door - the perfect product to help you make the perfect pizza. I've even found this recipe for you to help you on your way to culinary greatness - you can't say I never give you anything. 
So it seems that Summer is on it's way - let's hope it's a good one. Happy gardening! (and eating)...(and drinking)....
- 12th March 2014
