WATCHING the rain out of the window again, I am kept from working on my garden for another day. Being forced indoors has; however, made me think about the concept and meaning of gardens, and how their meaning is explored in contemporary art. For my first post for this blog, I am going to muse a bit on this relationship and how it will be represented at the Liverpool Biennial later this year.

Back in June 2011, I met Apolonija Šušteršič (pronounced apple-ony-a shoshtershay) when I was visiting her home town of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Our group was lucky to catch her there as Šušteršič's international practise takes her all over the world. We caught up with her in a community garden that she initiated for one neighbourhood in Ljubljana. The garden occupied a former wasteland space, in a city where land is cheap and abundant, but the pace of rejuvenating run-down areas is slow - reminding me a bit of the situation here in Liverpool. (Interestingly, we were visiting at a time when Maribor - the country's second city - was preparing for 2012 when it would be given European Capital of Culture status.) Around 30 people participate in the care - and reap the rewards - of Šušteršič's garden, which is surrounded by high-rise flats. Each family or individual has their own raised bed and everyone shares in the hard work required to keep the rocky ground hydrated.

GREAT news - the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is playing at the Proms again this year. I went along two years ago and it remains one of my favourite experiences in my job of arts editor.

Details. . .

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor, Vasily Petrenko will perform at the BBC Proms on Thursday, 23 August 2012.

HAVING spent three days running around after the giants, tweeting as I went, I thought it would be nice to share it here on this blog. So here are the three days presented as a Storify timeline.

A BRILLIANT end to a fantastic weekend - the giants may be gone but we're richer for them having been here.

Here's my round-up of today's events.

And here's today in (wobbly) video:

JUST a quick blog from me tonight as it's been a long - but very happy - day. For a full recap of the day click here to read the piece I wrote for our main website.

I filmed a bit of footage on my Flip camera as I followed the giants around and here it is. A bit shaky but you get the idea...

WOW - what an incredible day. I spent roughly 12 hours chasing giants around the streets of Liverpool, with a brief gap in the middle when I had a tour of Marianne Faithfull's new exhibition at Tate Liverpool from the woman herself (more of that in a future blog post).

I have probably driven any of my followers on Twitter slightly bonkers by taking up their timelines with hundreds of Sea Odyssey tweets - with all of them going on to our live blog. We'll be continuing to live blog the event all weekend so if you're planning to attend it then we'd love it if you shared your experience or, if you can't get to it, you can follow it online instead.

THE giants are finally here and ready to take us on a 23-mile journey around our city that will make us see it with fresh eyes.

I and the Liverpool Post's team of reporters will be live-blogging the event all weekend on the paper's homepage so you can ask questions, share your own opinions and reaction and post your photographs.

In the meantime, here are a few articles to whet your appetite:

Interview with artistic director Jean-Luc Courcault

Party weekend planned for Liverpool

The story of the little girl who inspired Sea Odyssey

My column on why Liverpool is the perfect place for the giants to visit

LIVERPOOL City Council and Tate Liverpool have launched a new photography competition...

The Liverpool Parks Friends Forum - a forum for all the Friends of Parks groups in the city - stages the annual competition which shows the best of Liverpool's 70-plus parks, gardens, recreation grounds, playgrounds and nature reserves.

This year to celebrate the major summer exhibition at Tate Liverpool -Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings.(June 22 to October 28) - there are three special categories in the competition, inspired by the exhibition: ark Landscapes - 'My favourite view', People and Parks, Flora and Fauna - park plants or wildlife.

ARTIST Mark Greenwood is providing an alternative to the Grand National at Camp and Furnace this weekend.

Lad Broke is a a 48-hour durational, performance work - the final one of his PhD at Kingston University - and looks at issues around gambling, chance, habitual behaviour and the betting shop as a social gathering place. It's been organised by Mercy and is aimed to appeal to artists and the general public. There is a gathering at the space 5.30-7pm at Friday and the work will be available for viewing throughout the 48 hours.

Hello and welcome to my blog. As this is my first, here goes with a little bit about me.

I'm press and marketing officer at LIPA, a position I've held since 2009. Prior to that, I was something of a nomad, working across the UK and overseas as a journalist and press officer. While working in Santiago, Chile, I also taught and translated.

I like all types of music, from Mozart to Megadeth, and can knock out a tune on the guitar. In my spare time, among other hobbies, I like reading books in Spanish, partly for pleasure and partly to keep on learning.

Although I'm not a professional snapper, I also like photography and get to do it as part of my job. A few weeks ago I was on Hope Street taking photos of the former Liverpool College of Art building - where John Lennon studied in the 1950s - for LIPA's website.