Back from our hols

We had a lovely few days in Spain, enjoying the sun, sea and strolling along the prom.  We take the opportunity to chill out, relax and just slow down, making the most of much warmer weather and some excellent food - fresh from the sea and simply prepared, yum!  

Now, back home, and it's all go in the garden (and the washing machine's been quite busy, too!)

Before weeding and cropping . . .

. . . and after.

Despite our best efforts beforehand, there were one or two issues with watering whilst we were away - lessons learned along the way - and not all the seeds we sowed have survived, some drying out and some rotting in situ.  We thankfully have time for another sowing and we're now on hand to monitor watering.  N has been thinning out and potting on over the weekend, and all the raised beds are now full, in fact we did consider the possibility of another bed for veggies as we seem to have run out of space!  And someone is wishing for a bigger greenhouse, too.  I've taken on the role of chief weeder; even after those mammoth weeding sessions last year we are finding ourselves with a major battle against the little blighters but I am absolutely determined to get on top of the problem.  There is a perverse satisfaction to clearing a bed of weeds and it's simply a case of 'little and often' to keep ahead.

We've begun cropping the spinach, it is such an easy and obliging crop, and tastes delicious raw or cooked.  Plus it's very good for you.  What's not to love?

Weekend round-up

Another year older (way past counting!); an excuse for some age-related cards:

We've had a good weekend pottering in the garden, and doing a spot of packing for our hols.  Oh, and an emergency repair to one of our bags - the zip had pulled away from the fabric, and yet again I was thankful that I had some strong thread (and needle and thimble) to effect a more than satisfactory repair.  Phew, emergency averted!  I've also finally managed to finish a project that got put on hold for a while, so the kitchen walls look a bit brighter at last.  It's surprising what a splash of colour does to life some plain walls.

Although we've had bright blue skies and sunshine where we are, the foghorns have been sounding out over the weekend and today, and on our walk into town this morning we understood why - the sea was completely blanketed with sea-mist/fog (I think it's due to an inversion of cold air over hot air - or is it the other way around?, I'm never quite sure!)  Either way, today it had cleared by the afternoon but as I'm typing this evening I can hear the foghorns blaring away again so I guess the visibility over the water is bad again.  It is a timely reminder that if you live on an island, weather conditions do have to be factored in to any travel arrangements getting on and off the island, especially if there are further connections to be made with trains etc.  A delayed sea crossing can mess travel plans up completely!

Everything in the garden, and indeed the hedgerows, suddenly seems to have taken off.  

Tomatoes and squashes

Trees that just a week ago had the merest suggestion of colour are now bursting with fresh green-ness; the fruit trees have blossom and the lawn is covered with bright yellow dandelions - I must try to pick the flower heads off before they set seed and go everywhere.  Every day there are new seeds emerging in the greenhouse and propagator, it's such an exciting time.  The promise of all that wonderful homegrown goodness to come . . . mmmm!

With the heating now firmly off for the summer, our gas consumption has dropped right down (always so satisfying!).  We continue to record the weekly figures and whilst the gas is down, the electric usage is only slightly down.  Cooking, laundry etc still have to be done.  Perhaps it will reduce a little in the summer.

The list of projects I began at the start of the year now has lots of very satisfying ticks alongside the items and I think the time has come to begin a new one for the next two or three months.  Having this checklist to work to has kept me focussed over the winter and some projects that have been outstanding for several months have at last been finished.  I am now mentally compiling my new list and already it's getting quite long ;-)  

Back after our hols . . .

Saving money

The pieris with it's wonderful flames of new growth

Herb seedlings

When we had finished digging over the side border on Wednesday, we absolutely decided that we would wait until we came back from our holiday before we completed it.  Yes, well, that didn't quite happen ;)

All neat and tidy, just waiting for some plants

First thing yesterday morning, we were up and about, just trying out a few paving stones . . . and then a few more . . . no way were we going to wait another couple of weeks to get this border finished.  Once we had the paving stones in place we began to think we might be able to scoop enough gravel from elsewhere not to have to buy any more.  Always up for a challenge like that (no way were we going to spend a penny more than necessary!) I began racking off surplus gravel from pathways, and it was very satisfying to find we had more than enough.  We are really pleased with the end result; the whole area has been opened up and tidied up and now looks as if it has some purpose.  A few big plant pots and perhaps a climber, and we'll have a very pleasant area to sit in summer evenings.

In between gardening I've been trying to fit in a bit of pre-holiday sewing - or more precisely, altering - a couple of pairs of summer trousers desperately needed taking in (I don't mind loose-fit, but two whole sizes too big is too baggy for my liking).  Alterations now completed and the trousers are good to go and no cost except my time.  And even more money saved today - I had relented and decided to have a 'proper' haircut, to restyle more than anything else, and I even got as far as booking an appointment when I sensibly enquired about the cost of a dry cut.  Gosh, I knew I was saving money cutting my own hair, but I had no idea I was saving that much.  Oh my goodness!  I couldn't bring myself to spend that amount of money on a dry trim so tomorrow I shall be cutting my hair myself.  

Garden design, of sorts

We both really enjoy gardening, but when it comes to designing a garden border or bed it all gets a bit random.  In this garden we have been guided very much by what was already here and what we could re-use in a different way or location, as we were keen to make do with what we had.  

N tends to leave the flowers/plants to me - he is i/c vegetables - and he has pretty much given me a free rein with the borders that needed revamping.  I had a general idea of how I hoped the end product would look but we have found that it has been a very fluid process this time around, and each time we potter in the garden, a little more falls into place.

However, like all good plans, my ideas usually start with a scrap of paper or the good old stand-by, the back of an envelope!  Nothing wasted here ;)

The conversation tends to go along the lines of:  'So we could use the paving slabs we lifted from that bit by the kitchen, and there are some more around the shed if we run short, and those big pots that we didn't know what to do with would work well in this area if they were planted up with the annuals I'm going to sow today.  Can you make some trellis, please?'  

So this is the last bit of garden design to tackle.  It has provided all the plants for the front garden and one or two for the back, in fact, I think every single plant has been used somewhere else and quite a few have been divided or split to stretch just that bit further.  This morning, in sunshine and bright blue sky, we weeded this patch (oh, the roots!) and levelled it in readiness for the afore-mentioned paving slabs.  We considered one or two alternative ideas as we worked - putting the theory into reality often throws up something that hadn't been considered - but in general it'll be the sketch on the back of the envelope.

Simple, really.

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.