Fiskars Garden tools - my wish list for Father Christmas!

Whilst visiting my parents a while ago I spotted bright orange plastic peeping out from  a corner of the garden room.  Naturally, I had to investigate!

I've bought Fiskars tools for years, they're reliable, long lasting, and bright orange, so hard to lose!  This was Fiskars' orange that I had spotted!

Mum showed me the long handles loppers and the secateurs she had acquired.  Mum's getting on in years and her hands don't have the strength they once had.  I was amazed at the lightness of the tools.

What makes them easy to use is the "Power Gear", which is essentially a ratchet.

As the majority of the tools consist of tough plastic, with only the blades (and screws!) being metal, the cutter remains remarkably light in weight:)

The secateurs are equally to be drooled over! 

Very lightweight and easy to use, but very effective.

So, Santa, if you're reading this - this is my grown-up Christmas Wish!  And yes, I've been a good girl:)

Pea shoots grow up!

I sowed some peas in the spring so that I could eat delicious, tender pea shoots with my salads and in stir fries.  I sowed them in the new herb border, as it didn't have much in at the time.  I was very logical and popped the peas into the soil in amongst the onion sets I'd bought for a bargain price of 90pence the bag.

It was great to walk out and snip a few inches of succulent green shoot and tendrils to add to my oft-served avocado salad.

Then we went away for a week.  Then it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  And the pea shoots shot up, entwining themselves around the onion leaves, if, indeed, they are called leaves.  Good point, that - does anyone know what the green shoots that arise from an onion are called?  They appear to perform the function of a leaf, yet are not what one would commonly recognise as a leaf.  Interesting.

However, back to the shooting pea shoots ... white flowers appeared in no time at all, the red splashes you can see are the pelargoniums behind them, on the patio! 

Then the cutest, tiniest peas thrust away the white flowers, and I picked the tiny pods and ate them like mangetout - so sweet, and crisp - delicious. 

I've allowed the rest to swell - all the rain in our hose-pipe banned area is doing a wonderful job for them!  Now I crop a handful of peas every now and then, and this makes up for the fact that I no longer have the pea shoots on my salads:-)