Well, spring has definitely sprung since our last spring watch update, with one of the driest and sunniest Aprils we can remember – the sunglasses and flip flops have already made an appearance! In fact we’ve sprung so far we’re almost in summer.

No longer is spring hiding its modesty behind early morning frosts and hazy showers, now it is out in all its splendor; our gardens and their visitors are testament to that.  We have an abundance of colour from poeticus daffodils proudly and fragrantly showing us their wares to the blossom in its final farewell for the year, leaving in its wake a confetti-like trail of petals.

Our “Turtle Towers” visitors are still setting up camp around our feeders. We have desperately been trying to snap a few shots of our resident yellow hammer but he seems to be a little camera shy! The Jackdaws in all their foreboding menace are however strutting around the feeders like Mike Jagger at his finest and have been since about the beginning of the month. Also spotted: finches, sparrows and tits. No return however of the woodpecker.

Of course, how could we forget April also means spiders – whether you love them or loathe them you’ll find them basking on some sunny wall. When dealing with our eight-legged friends we tend to follow the old English rhyme:

“If you wish to live and thrive, let a spider run alive.”

We’ve been propagating like crazy– white Black Eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata Alba) for which we are having mixed success with only 50% germinating, the ubiquitous sweet peas, Cosmos and other annuals; as well as veg a plenty.

Finally, there’s some rain forecast for this weekend (typically just in time for the bank holiday!) so if you plan to be out in the garden come rain or shine like us, then don’t forget your Turtle Mat at the back door for those muddy wellies!

In the final part of our “baking odyssey” to celebrate the launch of our new spring/summer 2010 catalogue we thought we would share with you a slightly unusual (but still scrumptious) cupcake recipe as well as offer you the chance to win your own Cupcake. Thankfully, we are not giving away one of our culinary creations but one Cupcake Turtle Mat worth £44.95

To be in with a chance of winning the ‘Cupcake’ just post your own original cupcake recipe or flavour combination as a comment on this blog. The entry we here at the Turtle Mat Company consider our favourite will win one Cupcake Turtle Mat worth £44.95. Competition rules apply (see below).

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Expanding our culinary abilities (as well as our waist lines) here at Turtle Mat, here is another cupcake recipe or two to celebrate the launch of our new spring 2010 catalogue with its “cupcake-y” cover. (more…)

…May not keep the doctor away but definitely keeps a smile on our faces here at “Turtle Towers”.

To celebrate the launch of our new Turtle Mat spring 2010 catalogue, with its kitchen inspired cover, we have been baking up a storm and thought we’d share with you over the week some of our favourite cupcake recipes.

As always, we would love to hear from you whether it be with recipes, pictures of your baking successes (or disasters), comments on how your Turtle Mats help catch culinary spills (they definitely helped when road-testing these recipes) or any other thoughts.

Finally, keep an eye on the blog over the coming few weeks for a competition to win our new catalogue cover mat – “Cupcake”. So without further ado, here’s the first scrumptious recipe.

Magnolia Bakery’s red velvet cupcakes (with Turtle Mat tweaks) with vanilla cream cheese frosting (more…)