Piglets

I intended posting last night but I got rather involved watching the final of the Miami Open between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovich; edge of seat stuff with lots of encouraging shouting from us.  Sadly Andy lost but by the end of the match both players looked absolutely shattered, having played for nearly three hours in sweltering heat and very high humidity.  

We've had some lovely weather here, too, this Easter weekend (and some rain, and a frost this morning, so a bit of a mixed bag really).  A lot of work in the garden, planting more seeds and potting seedlings on, and out and about walking.  Yesterday we visited the pigs and were surprised and delighted to find piglets.

One little piglet . . .

. . .  five little piglets . . .

. . . twelve little piglets!

Mama pig with the little runt suckling - he was so very much smaller than his siblings, and kept being pushed about by them 

And today we had a very pleasant walk along Cowes seafront and into the town. 

This huge container ship was on it's way into Southampton

 There were lots of people about, quite a few visitors and the local shops were doing a good trade.  The holiday season seems to be under way.

DIY in the garden

I've said it before and I will say it again - N is mighty handy with DIY.  Give him a challenge/problem and he will more than likely come up with a solution.  Now that he has a shed that doubles as DIY storeroom and workshop, his talents for building things out of discarded useful bits seems to have taken off!

We were in need of a cold-frame type of construction for young seedlings that still needed a little protection before braving the open conditions in the garden, and N has produced just the thing:

He has used the wooden framework of the single bed (the slats were used for shelving in the new airing cupboard) and a large sheet of plastic that the new guestroom mattress was wrapped in.  Nothing gets wasted; we can generally find a use for most things.  The peppers and tomatoes are coming along nicely in their little nursery.

N has also set about sorting out the assortment of water butts, ensuring the connecting hoses are watertight, and replacing broken taps.  He's also rigged up some guttering for the shed, as we need to harvest whatever rainwater we can to keep the crops watered during the summer.  Again, he's used up odd bits of guttering that were in the shed, and it's all balanced nicely on hanging basket brackets.  

Finally, we bought four lengths of decking boards (on offer, of course) and N has made two really smart planters for the front garden.  We'll plant these up with an assortment of geranium cuttings and annual bedding grown from seed, and that will hopefully add a splash of colour to the front of the house during the summer.  

There is a huge amount of satisfaction to be had with this sort of DIY, making use of what is lying around and finding solutions to problems.  And it's saving us a few pennies along the way, always a bonus ;-)

Something to show for hard work

We are now the proud owners of a planted front garden!  We are very happy with our work, but the aching backs and knees are testament to two days of really hard graft (and it might be a little to do with our age ;-o  )  We didn't finish until 18.40 this evening and it was too late to take a photo of the new front border; I'll do that tomorrow.

Please forgive me, beautiful hellebore, for moving you . . .

We are feeling very thrifty - we haven't had to buy any plants for the new borders; we have managed to use existing shrubs and grasses from other areas, and by careful division a little has actually gone a long way.  It's very satisfying.  We're now just keeping fingers crossed that all these transplanted plants don't have a massive sulk and die because they have been moved at the wrong time of year.  They have been fed and cossetted, watered in well but in the end, it's a chance we'll have to take.

On the move

As if creating a new border and a new bed was not enough to tackle this week, N had a brainwave that couldn't be ignored - he realised that the smallest of the garden sheds would actually fit very snugly into the area that is currently used for the rubbish bins, thus creating a very large courtyard area along the side path (once all the plants there had been dug up and relocated to the front garden - I hope you are following this!)  It really was a great idea and as we were already geared up for manual labour . . .   Needless to say the shed only just fitted in the designated space, it lost it's roof halfway through the moving process, and the capstone on the wall pillar had to be 'removed' in order to make things fit!  However, the shed is in it's new location and suddenly we have so much more space along the side path, it's like having a whole new outside room.  Hmm, so many possibilities . . . 

So we have used all the slate chippings, all the gravel (and had to scab a bit more from existing paths) and all the available plants.  The garden fork lost an argument with a buried breeze-block and we now need a new one *sigh*.  The car can drive itself to the tip and back without any help (I wish!).  The front garden looks wonderful and the path outside the kitchen is a work-in-progress.  

We're having a day off tomorrow.  It's been hard work today.  We are just a bit weary.

March round-up

March is certainly bidding us a very windy farewell; it has been howling a veritable hoolie for the past few days.  Near gale-force winds (but thankfully no more rain) have made gardening a little tiresome, to say the least.  But we have battled away, determined to make progress each day.  At the moment there are half-full/empty bags of gravel, soil, compost and slate chippings (not to mention dug-up plants - oops!) all over the place, as we try to plan the removal and transplanting of various shrubs from one location in the garden to another.  I had a feeling the logistics of this scheme were going to be challenging and it is proving to be just that.  The wind doing it's best to blow us over - and actually nearly succeeding with me this morning - was not something we had factored in and it is almost getting the better of us; it is pretty tiring to work in these conditions.  Possibly we should wait for calmer weather but we are both keen to get this project sorted, and with it, hopefully, the builders-yard mess around the place.  

However, the plans for March were to get outside and begin on the garden, and we have certainly been able to do that.  Seeds have been sown, most have successfully germinated and are being planted on.  We are experimenting with a small heated propagator to nurture some seeds that have proved difficult in the past and making full use of every available window sill in the house.  We dug out and replanted the long side border and that has certainly tidied the back garden up.  

This small congested bed is providing plants for the new border and bed - inevitably some roots get left behind in the process, no matter how carefully I try to dig them out!

We haven't, as yet, had to buy any new plants, making do instead with what was here, what we brought with us and gratefully accepting a friend's gift of spare perennials.  I'm hoping to grow a few more annuals and perennials from seed to add to the planting.  We're trying to keep costs down (as always) whilst improving the overall look of the garden.  I think we're on target so far.

Apart from progress in the garden, March has brought both exciting news and some sad news.  We've managed a lovely family get-together at the top of The Shard, and also enjoyed spending time with N's dad for a week.  Looking back, March seems to have flown by rather too quickly =:o

As for April, there is a birthday (I have stopped counting!) and a holiday to look forward to.  We will finish the new borders this week, wind permitting, and get some order back into the garden.  Perhaps April should be a month to take stock of what we have done so far, and plan the next phase of (mainly outside) jobs that need to be done in the warmer months.  I am sure there will be some sewing, quilting or knitting - or perhaps a little of all three.  And we will continue to potter along, quietly and simply, just as we like it.

Lighter evenings

Welcome BST (British Summer Time) - the clocks went forward an hour in the early hours of this morning and we are now enjoying lighter evenings for longer.  The days of pulling the curtains at 4 o'clock to shut out the dark are just a fading memory!

Friday was warm and sunny and N spent the day working in the garden in shirt-sleeves.  Since then, however, we've been almost marooned indoors over the weekend, looking out at wet, wild and windy weather.  This morning the wind was really whipping the trees into a frenzy and whistling round the house in a way we've not experienced since moving here.  Hopefully things will calm down a little by tomorrow.

So, what's been happening?  We continue to make progress in the garden, stripping turf for another bed and trips to the tip to make contributions to the municipal compost heap.  More transplanting of seedlings, and we now have chilli seeds germinating in the airing cupboard (the central heating pipes there provide just sufficient heat to assist in germination). 

A spare moment?  I'll just alter some curtains, shall I?!

More sewing for me, and more curtains but this time I am actually being paid for the alterations - yay!  And I have to say they have been a joy to alter; it makes all the difference working with quality fabric (a linen/cotton blend).  I have had to commandeer the lounge floor on several occasions, to spread the curtains out flat, and I found myself yearning for a large table to avoid all the kneeling - there were a few creaking joints to be heard (that would be my knees, not the floorboards;-).  However, they are finished now and awaiting collection.  

I've got a couple of mending jobs out of the way today - a velcro fastening stitched back on, and a pocket in a pair of N's jeans.

I wonder how many pennies fell through this hole?

The pocket lining wasn't just thin, it was worn completely away (I'm always nagging him for carrying too much in his pockets!) so I cut the worn bit off and fashioned a new one using a bit of second-hand sheeting.  No-one will see it's a different colour and the jeans are now perfectly servicable for a long time to come.  The ability to 'make do and mend' has saved us so much over the years.

Almost at the end of March - another month that seems to have whizzed by.  But there's the promise of lighter days and, dare we hope, warmer weather.  It's just as well as there is a lot to do outside - gardening and outdoor maintenance.  It keeps us busy, fit and saves us money.  Sounds good to me.

A giant in the Solent

One of the things I like about living close to the sea is that there is always something to look at, even if it's just big waves!  Since Sunday, the American aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, has been moored in the Solent as it is simply too big to berth in Portsmouth Harbour.  It's pretty big, you really can't miss it.  I walked to the end of the pier for a good view.

The red and white tanker moored alongside is dwarfed in comparison

She is nearly 1100 feet long, weighs in at over 100,000 tons, has a crew of over 5500 and can accommodate 85 aircraft, some of which can be seen (binoculars were useful) on the flight deck.

The ship is currently on a round-the-world deployment and Portsmouth was her first port of call.  She is actually much closer to the mainland; the Ryde-Portsmouth car ferry looks a similar size in the photo above but the perspective makes it very deceptive.

A couple of nights ago we went to see the Roosevelt lit up - not quite as spectacular as I had hoped, and sadly my little camera wasn't quite up to the job - but the ship's identification number - 71 - was illuminated (the very bright 'blob' under the two rows of lights).

She leaves tomorrow.  It's been an interesting topic of conversation for a few days.  As I said, there's always something to look at on the water.

The signs are here

We continue to potter slowly and quietly for a few days, and taking out time has allowed us to appreciate the many signs of Spring all around us. 

Fresh green shoots in the hedgerow;

hawthorn blossom;

swathes of roadside daffodils;

little clumps of sweet violet;

an ornamental cherry in full blossom;

and a robin singing his heart out - it was as though he was giving a concert just for us!

And as for the much-talked about eclipse, sadly it was so cloudy here there was nothing to see, no spectacular 'smile' that many parts of the country witnessed.  Never mind, the photos online have been quite impressive, and I do remember the last one.