How does your garden grow?

March has been marching along relentlessly and here we are, on the cusp of its final week. I've got next week off which means that, hurray, I'm actually on holiday now, and in just a matter of days, we'll be off for a short but well-needed break.

Not that my blog has made it this far, obviously, so I'm picking up where I left off, which was at the end of the month's first week.

As if to make up for lost time, the sun has been regaling us with her presence for a while now and it has been a joy to leave the house in the morning and come home again in the daylight. Making outfit photos after work, however, still hasn't been happening. Work continues to be hectic and chaotic, leaving me with little or no energy to spare, so for now, it's still weekend outfits and escapades only.

There wasn't much to show and tell that week anyway, although I did make it to Think Twice and may even have made a purchase. But more about that later! Oh, and plans are afoot for a blogger meet-up in June as - fingers and everything else firmly crossed - it looks like we might finally make it to the UK this year. 

But let's not be too hasty and stick to the matter at hand, which is Friday the 11th of March. 

It was a joy to wake up to another sunny day, yet again with a frosty start but with forecasted highs of 16°C. 

After our customary fruit & yoghurt breakfast, I washed my hair and then I stood myself in front of my wardrobe for the pleasurable pastime of choosing the day's outfit.  Among the dresses airing in the spare room was this plaid Diolen dress I'd recently wore to work, so I decided to give it another outing before chucking in into the laundry basket. An ancient Think Twice find, it originally came with a lining which had seen better days and as it had further deteriorated over the years, I'd recently removed it completely.

I took my lead from the red stripe in the plaid, adding a red vinyl belt and my red tie-neck cardi, taming its tie with the pansy patterned scarf ring I charity shopped the other week. Green was the colour of choice for my jewellery, which consisted of a butterfly brooch, beaded necklace and perspex ring.

My legs were clad in a pair of moss green opaques and my feet were happy in my low-healed fiery red boots, which were a flea market find back in November 2018.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that we were off on our weekly trip to the charity shops, but first let me tell you about my visit to Think Twice earlier that week. 

I spotted this groovily patterned long-sleeved dress with its cowl neck, pleated skirt and self-fabric belt on Wednesday, but after some umming and ahing I decided to leave it behind, telling myself I'd go back for it the next day in case of regret. Imagine my delight when on Thursday morning I scrolled through my Instagram and saw a Think Twice post announcing the start of another one of their sales that very day. Needless to say, I went back during lunch break and snaffled the dress at 30% off!

Arriving at the first of our chosen shops on Friday, we were initially put off by the fact that whole sections of the shop seemed to be cordoned off. Then it dawned on us that on Saturday that infamous yearly charity shop event they call Retro Day would be upon us and that the overpriced vintage and retro stuff behind the barrier was out of bounds until then. Not that we cared, as we weren't going anyway.

After fruitlessly trawling the clothing aisles, I was about to join Jos who was having a coffee at the cafeteria, when my eye spied a pair of delicious red clog shoes in my size. They are by the French Bosabo brand and one of them still had its original € 115 price sticker inside. I paid a mere € 4,50.

However, I absolutely hated its original laces, which I replaced with leather ones in exactly the same shade of red, belonging to a pair of shoes I never wore.

Before taking them to the till, I had a look at the nearby jewellery display, finding three more necklaces for my collection. 

Same Retro Day scenario at the second shop and at first sight the clothing aisles were uninspiring. But then I spotted the funky bell-sleeved blouse by JBC - a Belgian high street label - and the skirt in quick succession. Having a gut feeling, I totally ignored the skirt's size which normally wouldn't fit my generous hips, and took it to the changing rooms. And hey presto: instant outfit. Doesn't it look fab with my red boots?

And look, Sheila: it's by Essentiel Antwerp!

Back at home, the afternoon was spent catching up on some long-overdue chores. I dusted the upstairs rooms, swept the staircase, cleaned the banister and re-glued a piece of torn wallpaper in the stairwell.

No prices for guessing who was responsible for the latter!

In spite of the sunny weather, I was in a bit of a black mood on Saturday, which wasn't in any way helped by the fact that the outfit I'd originally earmarked wasn't working at all.

When I finally got dressed, we booked our yearly sojourn in Belgium's west country in September, and then decided to drive down to the garden centre after lunch. 

I based my outfit around the burnt orange faux suede skirt I bought in the January sales and added a vintage Tweed jacket I hadn't worn in ages and which is part of a skirt suit.

We wanted to check out a fairly new garden centre we'd passed a couple of times on our way to the charity shop in Mechelen. I think it's fair to say that it was a bit of a disappointment, but we still picked up a pot of budding Bridal Crown daffs, a couple of Primulas and a pot of red double daisies (Bellis perennis) with an unusual shaggy haircut.

Then we made a U-turn and drove to our usual garden centre, which is spacious and has lots of choice. Walking among the tables of plants on offer always makes me feel better. Obviously we made a couple of purchases here as well, including some Ranunculus, Anemones, Muscari and the ubiquitous Tête-à-Tête daffs.

 

I couldn't wait to get stuck into the garden, starting with the window box in front of the dining room window. The eagle-eyed among you may even spot some cockle shells!

Bess was supervising my efforts from her perch on top of her scratching post. She was soon bored, though, and took a catnap, leaving the supervising to her stone counterpart who lives on the corner étagère!

I'd managed to contain myself and refrained from enthusiastically loading our trolley with all kinds of perennials. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist bringing home a pot of Fritillaries which I planted next to the only one which had deemed to grow from the bulbs I planted in the Autumn of 2020, just to keep it company.

All these pots of colour provide some welcome cheer when looking out of our kitchen windows!

I continued my gardening chores on Sunday by clearing up some more of last year's perennials, marvelling at the fact that there's so much new growth already. Dove Cottage's garden is very sheltered and we haven't had much of a Winter.

Clockwise from top left, there's our Oriental Poppy, Dicentra formosa a.k.a. Pacific Bleeding Heart, Delphinium and a host of Alliums watched over by our garden angel.

I'm leaving you now with closer look at Saturday's outfit.

The blouse I was wearing is King Louie, picked up in a charity shop in Poperinge during last September's holiday. Pinned to it was one of my Cameo brooches which, same as my pendant, was a a flea market find.

The charity shops provided my turquoise King Louie cardigan and burnt orange beret. Both my opaques, in a slightly darker colour than my skirt, and my moc croc ankle boots were retail buys.

I might try to squeeze in another post before our little trip in order not to get even further behind but if not, I'll see you on the other side!