Strawberries and Simon Drew

I had no intention of writing a blog post about Simon Drew, an artist I have long admired whose pictures are often based on a pun.  I was going to tell you all about my strawberry bed which is in desperate need of renovation and which I found time this morning to start work on, but then I took my gardening mug outside and decided to take pictures of that too.

This is the strawberry bed.  It’s got rather embarrassingly overgrown this last year and with the damp weather the buttercups have taken hold.  As you can see, I’ve had a bit of a go at it already, but it was time for some serious effort.

It was also time for a brew, and serious gardening effort calls for a serious gardening mug.

Here it is.  I’ve had it for years and it’s a good sturdy mug for being outside – I never take my favourite Herdy mug out of the house.  I’m not entirely sure that I love the picture on it: “Famous Slugs of History” as I have a big slug problem in my garden, but I like the biscuit saucer …

which doubles as a lid.  A nifty idea, don’t you think?

We’ve got a few Simon Drew pictures around the house.  This was one the first we were ever given as a wedding present.  I worked with a lady whose entire hallway was covered in Simon Drew pictures and I loved looking at them – I could never choose which one I liked the best so she chose for me and that was our wedding present.  Puffin Nuffin has hung on our wall ever since.

This one’s a biscuit tin which my lovely Yorkshire friend gave to me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  It makes me smile every time I get it out of the cupboard.  You probably know why she chose it for me 🙂

And what I really like about it is that there’s another picture on the bottom.  This one makes me smile too, although I don’t look at it very often.  I like the attention to detail of having a picture on the bottom of a tin; it’s a bit like a sculptor who bothers to work the back of a sculpture even though they know it may never be seen.

So, anyway – back to the strawberries!  It didn’t take long to clear the bed (it’s only 4ft by 4ft) and I’ve got weed-proof membrane underneath it so the weeds are quite easy to pull out.  I took all the strawberry plants out too.  You’re supposed to replace them every three years or so anyway and in theory, you save the runners from the year before to replace the older plants but I never remember to do that.  I’ve just ordered some new runners which I’m looking forward to arriving in the post soon.

Once all the weeds were out, it was easy to see how low the soil level had dropped.  I’ll need to raise the level again before I plant my new runners; I’ve got compost in the compost bin which I’m hoping will be ready to use and I’ll probably add a bag of bought compost too.  It’s surprising how quickly the soil drops in raised beds, but it’s the easiest way for me to keep the soil in good condition and keep some kind of control over the slugs too.

The blueberry raised bed is next to this one – that’ll be the next job!

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10 Responses

  1. Mummy3+1dog says:

    Looks fab hun, never noticed these in ur garden before

  2. Fiddly Fingers says:

    Simon Drew's pictures often bring a smile to my face and what a lovely idea having a picture on the bottom of the tin too. Looks like your hard work in the garden paid off. You can look forward to some beautiful fresh strawberries in the summer now 🙂

    • Winwick Mum says:

      There's nothing like strawberries picked straight from the garden – definitely looking forward to them! xx

  3. Jo says:

    You only have to turn your back for two minutes with strawberries and they run wild, that's a job well done I'd say. My strawberry bed on the allotment needs some attention, but then every bed down there does so it'll just have to wait its turn. I love that tin, the picture on the bottom is brilliant.

    • Winwick Mum says:

      It's great, isn't it? I'm trying to get ahead of the game by doing the work now because I know that leaving it until the spring will make it a huge job. Looking forward to seeing how your allotment's coming on! xx

  4. Unknown says:

    Wow, not come across Simon Drew before but absolutely love Puffin Nuffin. The tin is lovely as well. Good luck with clearing the strawberry bed, buttercup us so hard to eradicate. x

  5. Anonymous says:

    Hi, My mother has spoken of seeing your Slug Mug in a shop. Haveyou any idea where I might get one?

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Mine was originally in a gift set from Boots one Christmas many years ago so I don't know whether you can still buy them, but I'd suggest that Ebay or even Amazon might be a good place to look. Hope you find one! xx

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