Crafting week

I have finally finished the crochet on my brothers lap blanket, I have clips along the top and bottom just to flatten the square joins, it took longer than expected. I have a green yarn to knit the icord edging, then I can sort all the loose ends, I'm really pleased with it. 

Hubby has been busy as well, I purchased these beautiful lamps in 2009 from BHS, they had a touch base, where you could have three levels of light, for me the best ever bedside lamps. A couple of years ago they started turning themselves on in the night, so we switched them off, but left them in place as we loved them. We are now ready to start working on our bedroom and the lamps came into our conversation, I really love these, so hubby took them to his garage and rewired them without the touch feature, and they are staying.

Daughter was checking George's school page and sent me this, I've covered the teachers name, so I'm famous, he is doing so well, smashing his start targets, we are all so proud of him. Can you see me in his masterpiece. He had his 5th birthday this week, it was a family affair, he will have a play session with friends this weekend.

Another great book, it's an early title, another enjoyable book, a whole family has gone missing, an old friend of Rakers wants to know what happened to her sister. Set in Devon, with ties to USA, things unravel, people show their true faces, ending in Las Vegas. Book 80 read this year.

We had heavy covering of frost on Wednesday morning, the bird baths were frozen, my wildlife pond had no ice, it became a really sunny day, so everywhere looked good by lunchtime, I picked up loads of leaves, our neighbours oak tree is huge so we are getting leaves in our garden for the first time. 

Thursday morning I walked 5 minutes to our doctors surgery for a blood test, I walked in icy rain and sleet, on the way back, less than 20 minutes later it was snowing and cold, it lasted for an hour, too wet for any to settle, but enough to cheer the grandchildren. I have my long winter coat and duffle coat out, ready for whatever is to come.

This morning we have blue skies after a heavy frost again, we are all sorted before storm Bert arrives, just heavy rain and strong winds for us, I hope you are all OK, warm and snug inside, we have no plans for the weekend.

Repurpose

 I have spend loads of money finishing off our new layout garden getting the veg section sorted,  normally when in the garden I do like to reuse bits, I also save stuff, just in case. I have had some small black fencing left over from around my butlers sink with my grasses in, having stored these for ages, I am now using here in the front of this rhubarb bed.

I had these bigger loops in the bed, I purchased them for the back of my now rhubarb bed 3 years ago and then used them in my tall raised bed, I then put them in the front of my rhubarb bed, but they did not look right, too tall. Sunday I used hubby's hacksaw and cut off the loops, I can now use these as cloche frames, I was going to purchase some to make a run, I already have netting or fleece, these are the perfect height to protect my seedlings and will make a nice run.

I love lights in the garden, neither of these lamps were cheap, both are years old and I've had good service from them, but the solar tops have gone, rather than purchase new lamps, I have got these smaller ones and popped them inside a very cheap way to prolong the lives of the lamps. 

I have the underside of our old outside round table as half hoops, the chains holding up the nets are from cheap hanging baskets, the baskets I cut the outer ring off and use them upside down to protect my young plants, purchased from B&Q years ago, again much cheaper than cloches.

All my raised beds were made from our decking planks, which only had been down a few years, hubby used wood from the frame to join every bit together, he even reused the screws. he made more into raised beds for our neighbours, the rest of the planks are beside my greenhouse, just in case.

My ponds were made reusing containers and pebbles I already had, sadly I did waste money on a pond liner, which did not work. I am always looking at what I have, as much as I can spend loads in the garden, I do love a bargain or a recycle and as I have said, I throw very little away. 

The one main thing I now do is when purchasing new I buy quality, for years I got cheap obelisks, which maybe lasted 2 years, this time we paid much more for ours and they are solid and will last years. I tried to save money going for a bargain, but it's not cheap over time. 

My biggest savings is to purchase off Facebook market place, I have had many bargains over the years, I prefer second hand bits to new stuff outside. I got most of my clay pots from one person who was clearing their grans greenhouse, I also love old chimneys, which I reuse as planters.

What's you best garden recycle. 

Phase 1

These veg beds do look big, we cut a huge hole in the fake grass and dug it out back to soil level, keeping the paths as 'grass'. I used homemade leaf mulch, loads of green stuff and some spent compost, which was placed at the bottom of each bed. Hubby lined the insides with heavy plastic, he has used the same plastic on my other raised beds.

These look like veg beds now, it makes me smile to think of all the fun I can have, and very proud of hubby, who works hard and does not run for the hills when I say 'I have an idea'  I have planted all the veg from my previous post, already one bed is full. I used the top section of my new runner bean poles, covered with a wire net, keeps cats and foxes off the beds. Other than earthing up potatoes I don't need access to the other stuff before the spring.

We moved the blueberries, the tub looks much better here, I am looking for a rhubarb crown for the middle back, again loads of room for them to grow, they should be planted in November. Next to the post with the bird house and feeder, I have placed a huge pot, I am planting it with spring bulbs for early colour, then I will use the pot for a cucumber plant, it can grow up the pole, it's a very sunny spot. I have dug this space and added drainage and top soil, taking away loads of the clay, I have a small gooseberry bush to go in here. 

I have cleared in front of the greenhouse, the huge pot I used for tomatoes this year now has a mock orange in its permanent home and a couple forget-me-nots. Our 3 statues are here for now, I will need to store pots here whilst the ground work is being done. Next year I will grow tomatoes in my raised veg bed, this path will be kept clear, I will need to get to the blueberries and rhubarb for harvesting, and it's easier to sort the raised bed from this side. 

Even behind the garage has been sorted, I gave the area a good sweep, it's much easier to get to the tap for rain water, all the containers along the fence can be easily moved, if needed, the 2 black bins are for leaf mulch. My raise bed which I use as a cold frame, just fits in here, I had struggled to find a place for it, the plastic home made lid is pushed down for now as it is empty. This area can't be seen from the garden, but I do like it tidy.

We sunk the flower bed frame into the ground, I did not want it to be too high, the veg bed frames sit on top of the grass, All my plants have been moved, this bed is much closer to our house, so we can see all the different blooms, my shrubs at the back I will allow to get a bit bigger, I have put the gladiola and other tall plants along the railings, this is a much better spot for them, any spaces can be filled next summer. I did purchase loads of  spring flowering bulbs rather than dig out from the old bed, no tulips, they all grow in pots. I will get some bark for this bed for over winter protection. Hubby's sundial looks good behind the railings, as does my big cider pot.

All our work is done, all the rubbish left hubby took to the tip, now everywhere is level, we have popped the strips of cut out grass as a path from the back door, now the decking is gone. We both work well together, I am so relived the big stuff is done, hubby will tackle anything, with me looking on hoping it's not too much for him, he leaves the planting to me, these days I do include him more, I was going to change the contents of a pot, but he said he loved the blooms this summer, so it stays.

We have spent a few days sat outside enjoying the warm unseasonal sunshine, with nothing much to do, other than enjoy our work, watching the birds, bees, butterflies and bugs around the place. It's cool morning and evenings, so it does feel wrong to have so much heat in the middle of the day, but lovely to have time to sit and enjoy our space. Both cats have enjoyed sitting out with us, lazy slow days, perfection. 

The best bit, so far we have spent less than £350, reusing the decking for frames and moving plants around, the railings I already had, I did purchase one more. The biggest expense was the top soil, we did look local, but any going free was full of stones and weeds, and not enough for our needs. We filled 4 old compost bags with the last of the top soil, I can use it in the spring to top up the veg beds.

As always one job leads to another and we are looking to get one wall of our extension rendered, we hope to get it done before the ground work, it's a need not a want, some of it is loose, hubby's not keen on doing it himself, we are now planning a restful few days. 

Books

 Jodi Picoult always write a good story, and always about a difficult subject, this was the story of a father who after an accident was on life support, his son, daughter and ex-wife had to decide his future. Whilst the topic of the books was hard, the story was about lives lived, I enjoyed this book. Book 31 read this year.

I love second hand books, I get them from charity shops, online and local selling pages. One recent book purchase online had this inside the cover, look at the beautiful hand writing, don't you want to know who these people are, it's an old garden book, did they love to garden or just look at blooms, it's the same year as the book was published, was it that years must have gift. Oh for a crystal ball. 

My 2021 book has arrived, I got another 30% off and free shipping, so as it was finished, I thought I would take advantage of the savings. I've only imported 4 months of 2022, they updated the site and I'm not loving the new systems. I did say I was going to stop at 10 books, 11 years of post(my 1st book had 2 years together) but Covid changed that, and now I want Molly included in my set of books, she is the last grand child, so they are all in there. 

We had loads of long decking planks left, one of our neighbours said she would like to grow along her sunny fence, beds not too wide, she thought veg, I suggested fruits, they take up less ground space, she loved the idea and came back with measurements for 5 beds, did we have enough, hubby built one bed so they could see if it would work, it did. Hubby is building all of them, using most of the decking, he uses the best bits of the frame for the side corners to hold them together, he is even reusing the old screws, which came out of the decking. Our neighbours hubby has MS and is not able to build them with ease, so my hubby has chosen to help, and at the same time reuse so much of what we don't need. 

We have our date for the hard landscaping, late November which is no problem, for the past few days we have been outside, sorting raised beds, and digging out plants. All my decorative bits are packed in the garage for winter, I have left the bunting out and the string of lights, which are not working, I am hoping it's because it's not dark enough, our lovely neighbour keeps her outside lights on in the darker evenings. 

Storm Agnes did not come far enough east to cause any issues, just a breezy day and a few spots of rain, we had both our Covid and Flu jabs, nice to have them sorted, we both had dentist this week.  I met with an old work mate for lunch on Thursday, I had not seen her this year so far, all's well in her world, lovely photo's of her fast growing granddaughters, just time to chat, we did manage a short walk. Pilates went well, I am really enjoying the classes.

Talking of dentist, ours is lovely, still NHS, and very helpful, sat in waiting room listening as you do, one man was told they do have an open waiting list, but the wait is 3 years, another lady registered with the practice came in with tooth ache, they could not fit her in for a week and was told to call 111. I'm not surprised, just another part of our health care in crisis. We booked our next appointment as we left, knowing nearer the time we will arrange our lives so we don't need to change the appointment. 

Today and tomorrow is all about filling the raised beds, the top soil will arrive this morning, planting shrubs and putting everything tidy. The garden is a mess, there is a huge hole where the decking was, we are moving pots to new homes and ensuring everything is clear for the landscaper. 

Some finishes

I have made more mask for hubby and I, again using Tea towels from my stash, the inner part are just plain white, these will wash well and should last us as long as we need them. I used the last of my good quality elastic, so any more I make won't be as sturdy. 

Hubby wanted this pennant for his motorbike, but it would not stay attached so now I have added the top ties. 

I have had these for ages, but before Wednesday they were long trousers with slightly flared bottoms. I had tried them on a few times and was not happy to wear them, so I cut them off, once washed they will look good and get used on sunny days. 

This is book 2 of 5, another huge book with 720 pages, she has a style of her own, but a storyline I can loose myself in. Book 64 read this year. 

Will had a fall at nursery, they suggested mum take him to A&E (emergency room), he has fractured his wrist, loves the brace he has to wear. He was scared of all the Xray machines, but sat still, the lovely doctor allowed him to see his bones once they had checked him. 

 At 10 months George decided to show us his skills of sitting on his own, he stayed upright for over a minute, mummy was closed to tears, our clever boy. 

Mummy came to visit on Wednesday, Will could not have his swimming lesson, so we played with both boys together. We did walk to the village, it was market day, nice to see lots of stalls, almost back to normal. 

I'm still not doing much craft, I know I'm not in the right frame of mind to get things right, and unpicking is a pain. I am loosing myself in books, I've always been a book worm. I have enjoyed using my sewing machine, I have a few more things to make, as yet I have not packed my sewing machine away. I have just finished season 3 of In the line of Duty, I have seen them all before, but well worth another watch. I have started a small granny square blanket, using my new random colours yarn. 

Our weather has changed, autumn has arrived, and we had some rain Wednesday, it's much cooler, we changed our summer quilt for a thicker quilt, I am watching my plants, I will soon be moving some into the greenhouse. This morning we have had heavy rain, which is soaking into the dry ground, and it's really windy, so leaves are starting to fall. 

I did my weekly shop in Lidl on Tuesday a day later than normal, some of the shelves were again empty, it seams some people will never learn. 

Colour all around

Kirk leading the way, his hair is looking good, I moved him to this cooler spot as he was getting really hot in the sunshine. The black cable is tacked to the wall behind and nothing to do with Kirk, my Jasmine  behind which I cut back is now a deep green of new growth. 

Just some of the many flowers in the garden, 

so much colour and loads grown from seed. 

Pot's will always be loved in my garden

The herb bed is done, the poles are there until they grow bigger, for protection. I moved the smaller round hoops to the left of the bed, and popped a bigger round hoop on the front right, to be able to grow a mixture of tender herbs. My pomegranate in the big clay pot I will move once the fruit net is packed away. The Rosemary is at the back, I did cut it back and now I can see new growth.  

My raised bed, not looking so great, but I am watching for new growth on the replanted climbers. I am not planting much in here this summer, I have a plan for next year, but for now I want to be able to watch the climbers come back. I also want to plant a honeysuckle when I have created a new plant.  

These became a main meal for bugs when planted in the garden, so they are back in pots, each is showing tiny signs of new growth. 

This makes me chuckle, carnivorous plants all together in a water bath (they love their roots in rain water)  with a fine spiders webb, mainly around the pitcher plant. 

I treated myself to another planter, this is bronze, I love the handle, and had been watching it on a facebook selling page, once the price came down to a level I felt happy with, I got it. It will have to be placed out of direct all day sunlight as it can become hot, now the fun of deciding what to plant in it. 

We did get a visit from daughter, Will and George, on Friday afternoon, just long enough for Will to eat most of our fruit, typical growing lad, 'hello Nanna, I'm hungry', I do love he is always looking for fruit and never asks for crisp and sweets, I know it will change as he gets older. 

Most of the weekend has been sat outside, watching and listening to the small birds in the garden, they are very entertaining, the warmth of the sun is great again, Saturday we had more cloud, but still warm, Sunday was a beautiful day. It does feel good to be able to sit and enjoy the space we have created, it's full of life and colour, and for a change, I can sit and not see anything which needs sorting, both hubby and I love a chat over coffee and a small treat, home made cake or biscuits.

Hubby has started working on 2 benches, one child's size and a full size, he's not so good at sitting and doing nothing, again purchased second hand, so he has plenty to keep him busy.

I have not done any knitting or crochet, I have been reading, the heat makes me tired in the evenings, which is not a great thing when crafting. I have been thinking about  designs for a glass fusion, I hope to be able to make it soon, I am hoping I can make one good enough for a gift for my sister. 

Just another lazy weekend, no desire to pop anywhere, it's peaceful and safe at home together, 

Outside in my glasshouse

I saw this for sale on our local Facebook pages, it was a useful kitchen storage basket, now living in my greenhouse, I have loads of small clay pots to go in the bottom basket. 

These shelves on the other hand were expensive, I had been looking for a while for a set, these are way better than all the other shelves I have seen, perfect for this corner, I love the extra height they give me. The little bottles on top are solar and light up different colours at night. 

Most of my time is spent outside, even on wet days I am in my greenhouse, our outside space is a calm and healing place, I can waste hours outside doing very little, often hubby is working in or just outside his garage, so we are both in the same space. 

Whilst my greenhouse is a working space, I do like it to look nice, I love things in there to be neat and tidy, having one side for nasties, the back for potting, and the side along the back fence is my working area, which at this time is full of cuttings, most are doing well.

The two items above were purchased online, we are planning a trip out today to get the few items for the garden, it will be our first trip to shops away from our village, sadly I'm not sure I am looking forwards to going, but I am desperate for some blue slate to finish the herb garden. 

Hubby and I have been discussing replacing the arch in front of the greenhouse, in 11 years we have had two, this one was not expensive and is starting to rust, so we have been looking at wrought iron arches, not cheap at all, I started to think do we need the arch, you can't walk under it. So my next job in the garden is to remove the arch, and if I can transplant the passion flower to the back, so it grows up the fence behind the raised bed. That's my task over the coming weekend, Oh and to plant any new plants I may just purchase in the garden centre. July might be another expensive month, not as bad as it could have been if we decided to replace the arch. 

Freedom at home

Hubby made marmalade cake again, we both love this moist cake, we have just 1 slice with our morning coffee each day, this time he used triple fruit marmalade, again very tasty. Have you any other recipes Maggie?

Our outside table, we have had for years, hubby stripped it back to tidy it up and match the chairs, sadly one side support for the struts had started to rot underneath, so hubby purchased a new larger square table. This is not the end of the story, the struts have been cut out and are stored in my shed, they will be handy for replacing struts on my greenhouse staging, the legs are stored as well, 4 lovely bits of hardwood, the rest has been chopped up for burning in our chimenea on a cool evening. 

Our new table is much bigger, but we often have more people here for BBQ's, it's darker, but it's just stained, hubby will sand it down and match the seating next spring. We are both pleased with how the decking is looking outside our patio doors, this view we see every time we sit inside. Grace managed to get into the photo, it was taken early morning when it's still cool.

I went on a Clark's shoe sale site and ordered 2 pairs of half price shoes, I was very pleased with myself, but a couple days later I got an email to track my parcel and found they were coming from China, I rechecked the site, it does look authentic, but it was a case of wait and see what they send me. My parcel arrived yesterday and as you can see, they did not send my shoes, I got a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, which when checking the site I visited I find they don't sell. I have requested a refund and a return label, I won't pay to return the glasses as the error is there's. I think I have been caught, oh well expensive lesson to learn.  

We did not go for a walk on Wednesday, it was just far too hot, even for the water front, we avoided the shade as we thought it would be mobbed, the news at 10 o'clock showed beaches here in the south full of day trippers, no social distancing, other places shut roads when car parks were full, loads of angry drivers.  We stayed at home, inside when it was too hot for us, I got loads of knitting done, I've finished my 1st hank of yarn and worked out how long I can make my top, I was asked how I can unpick and start again a question I am often asked, simply if it's not perfect I would only see the mistake and not the lovely top I have made, and that would stop me wearing it. I have always been the same, so starting again is always for me is an easy thing to do. 

Thursday and Friday was much the same, I am always fascinated that we can both spend all morning doing bits and bobs around the garden, keeping busy, when most our jobs are done. I have started removing the slate from my herb bed, and moved the much bigger Rosemary plant nearer the back, I have more to do, but I'm not going mad to get it all done quickly. I am toying with a trip to a garden centre, we have not been in one since early March, but I need a few items, I can't get from shops in the village. 

Daughter visited with Will and George, we stayed inside as it was so hot outside, we kept our distance, George on the rug on the floor, Will ate most of our fruit harvest, he loves all fruit, I had purchased some English strawberries as my plants are new this year and not fully producing. As ever we caught up on everything and everyone. We had a video call and saw baby Dominic and his big brother Jake for the 1st time. It's the simple family things which keep us going.

Today it is raining and much cooler, we got up to 32 on Thursday, I had been watering the garden tubs each day, the rain will top up the water butts as well as giving everywhere a good drink. So another inside day, which is OK, I have plenty of hobbies. It's becoming a typical English summer where it's sunny all week when most people are at work and wet at weekends. 

Some of the things not growing in our garden.

I love signs in our garden, metal birds and loads of other stuff. As a woman of a certain age, I have lights along the back fence which twinkle at me most evenings. My garden is always about growing things, but I do like to see a few (humm, OK alot of other bits). 

At this moment I love the 1st 3 photo's, the shelf along the wall, it holds most of my birds. 

Yesterday I purchased the large slate 'things to do in the garden', I got it for £5 off a local Facebook page, 2nd hand and no attached plastic.
As yet we do not have a water feature, we had one when we moved in, but used the space for my water butt, as yet we have not seen anything we can agree on. I would like a reflection pool, but with young grandsons, who all love water, I might have to wait for it a bit longer. We have loads of water in the garden for wild birds.
I have done a post on this subject before, many of the things are the same, I have just moved them around, I still have loads which I did not include in these photo's.