More spring gardening, unraveling

Lilac season! I think it's early this year. When my mother visited, we trawled three different garden centers in search of a dark purple lilac, but found only white, pink, or light purple. Therefore, I got no lilac. However, today I made the most astonishing discovery. I may actually have a lilac in my garden after all. We have a little space between our garage and next door's property. It's got several elder trees growing in it, and a lilac. How can I not have seen this lilac before? I've been living here six years! In my defense, this space really is quite tiny and impossible to get to; it's almost completely blocked by our garage and the lilac is sandwiched between two very leafy elders. Now, it may actually be next door's lilac, as it's growing right on the property line. But hey, the part of it on my side is mine, right?


I'm loaded down with seedlings, both in the ground and on my windowsill. This winter I once more lost all my dahlia tubers stored in the garage; I think the extended cold got them. Again. Luckily, I have a few leftover seeds. Please survive this year, little lovelies! Of the seeds I collected last year, both the beets and chard are happy happy, but the broccoli refused to make an entrance. I wonder if it was one of those F1 hybrids, which don't produce viable seeds. I don't remember it on the package, but...

It is my dream to one day grow enough, so as not to need to buy vegetables, ever. In this climate, it's possible to have fresh garden vegetables all year round, though the selection is narrow late winter/early spring. But it would still be so cool, wouldn't it? Some, like potatoes and carrots, can be stored after harvesting, and some have a winter harvest, like parsnips, turnips, and cabbage.

I got the asparagus bed razed. I found evidence of only one (very paltry) asparagus spear in the process. Sigh.

Elsewhere in the Life of Me, I've become addicted to unravelling sweaters. The kind I buy at the charity shop, which could be an ugly style, or have a hole or stain, but still have very nice yarn. New yarn can be really expensive, especially the natural fibers like wool and cotton (pictured is some lovely 100% cotton from which I've started knitting a cardigan). And the luxury yarns like merino or cashmere I can only dream about purchasing--unless I find them in sweater form. A few weeks ago I bought a 100% cashmere sweater for £1. One. Pound. I nearly fell over when I found it. If I bought cashmere yarn new, it would probably cost about 10 times as much for about a quarter of the amount. I've not unravelled it yet. It's in my stash and I keep pulling it out to pet it: soft.