So I can't sleep........ for an hour now I have been trying to sleep with no success so I've succumbed to the perils of blogging. What it means is I'll be wide awake for even longer but with a full time job there's not a lot of time to do all I want to do (in fact, there's not enough time for that) so my day off is spent cleaning or gardening ad let's be frank ere, it's mainly gardening to the shame of my living room floor (I've been meaning to clean it for almost two weeks!) Still, the spider who came in from the cold, along with the wood for the wood burner, isn't complaining; he gets the run of the place - emerging usually at the end of the day to scuttle across the floor in plain view of us. He's not quite a house pet or big enough to be one but we have shamefully named him Grenville. Now when you have your own pet spider surely that is a wake up call to get the vacuum out, isn't it?
Then again I did wash, peg out and iron four lots of washing yesterday - you have to make hay whilst the sun shines and I love getting fresh bed linen sorted. In fact Jack from next door popped out to tell me I could use his rotary drier if I needed to and I did. What a fab neighbour and what a lovely set up; a gap in the border means we hop across to one another's gardens. Him to give us updates on what he is doing and us to watch him produce golden bowls in his wood turning 'shed' (which is in fact a brick built building at the end of his garden). Even the cat, Socks, uses the gap to hop through although she is slinky enough to fit in most places along our shrub edged boundary.
So this week, despite the radio discussion that said it's too early to be an Indian Summer (we have to wait till October to use that accolade apparently) the temperatures have meant that instead of using the wood I brought in (along with Grenville) for the wood burner I should be lighting up the barbecue. It's been deliciously hot, even more welcome as we head into the colder months and snow is already being mentioned by the weather reporters.Yesterday I spent the day in a tee shirt and cut offs and very nice it was too. In fact I started off with socks and wellington boots but very soon the boots were replaced by sandals and soon after that the socks were thrown off as they were so warm. By the end of a very grubby day in the garden I had to wash my feet in the sink because even with my gardening shoes off I was still traipsing mud through the house.
My plan for the precious day off was to pop along to the garden centre and buy something for the veg garden I wasn't sure what but wondered if there was anything I could get to plug a small patch of nothingness I have. Well, as I type that it sounds phony, who am I kidding (certainly not you)? I don't have enough room for what I already have. Anyway, that plan was scarpered because Luke took the car to work so I was stuck at home (the garden centre is close enough to walk to but knowing me I would buy heavy plants and then have to lug them home and it was much to warm to do that). So plan B was to sort out the black and white border because that had been made in a hurry last Spring when we first moved in and I was literally desperate for some interest in the garden. I had dug up great slabs of cement but had never conditioned the soil before planting it up such was my hurry. I've meant to rectify that for a year but now I didn't have a car I couldn't buy sharp sand and soil improver so I had to make do with what I had here; a quarter bag of sand and some fish, blood and bone granules to sprinkle into the earth. Again, not ideal but when did I ever let good sense stop me from doing something? So I opened up the hen house, fed them last night's left over rice (which they LOVE!) and started my clear out plan.
Now this is a cheat photo because that is the border that I have already cleared and replanted on the other side of the garden but until I get Luke to sort out my photos we are stuck with no photos and just my writing so I thought a little light visual relief was called for.
Anyway, I've wanted to plant up my bulbs for a month now and it's actually the ideal time to be doing it. I had planted up a few of my favourite giant alliums last month, worried that I was doing it too early but wanting to get them into the ground before it got too cold (for me) in the garden. This time, instead of digging a hole only to find I'd just sliced into a healthy looking bulb from last year (and I've done this countless times much to my dismay) I decided that "everything must go" like a closing down sale.
So the sensible thing would be, if I need to take things out of the ground on a sunny day that I pot them up and put them in the shade. Ah, but I'm not sensible! That is my poor back just wants me to do what I have to do and then give it a rest so I short cut things like potting up and moving heavy plants and instead they all got lifted and unceremoniously dumped on the lawn in light shade.
Once I'd removed what I could (some plants were either too well established or too heavy to lift out on my own) I dug over the ground, removing what detritus I found which ended up being a large bag of stones and broken bits of concrete before lightening up the soil by shaking over the sand and adding some of the blood and bone mix. After that I raked over the surface to provide a more even patch before putting everything back again - much like a spring clean when all the furniture is moved to ensure a proper clean up before being dragged back to where it was before.
This time, whilst realising I still had too much to go into this bit of ground, I planted up slightly differently to how it had been before, putting the enormous hollyhocks along the fence and then using the spaces between the shrubs to plant up the tulips, alliums and hyacinths. Lastly, my famous hose trick (which actually only involves turning it on and directing it over the newly planted bed) to give them all a good bedding in and I was done....., now t was just a matter of those four loads of washing to be ironed.
I wouldn't mind but here I am, ten past five in the morning, finding time to type it all up. I must get a part time job instead! Oh, to be able to dream...... or to sleep coem to that.
Then again I did wash, peg out and iron four lots of washing yesterday - you have to make hay whilst the sun shines and I love getting fresh bed linen sorted. In fact Jack from next door popped out to tell me I could use his rotary drier if I needed to and I did. What a fab neighbour and what a lovely set up; a gap in the border means we hop across to one another's gardens. Him to give us updates on what he is doing and us to watch him produce golden bowls in his wood turning 'shed' (which is in fact a brick built building at the end of his garden). Even the cat, Socks, uses the gap to hop through although she is slinky enough to fit in most places along our shrub edged boundary.
So this week, despite the radio discussion that said it's too early to be an Indian Summer (we have to wait till October to use that accolade apparently) the temperatures have meant that instead of using the wood I brought in (along with Grenville) for the wood burner I should be lighting up the barbecue. It's been deliciously hot, even more welcome as we head into the colder months and snow is already being mentioned by the weather reporters.Yesterday I spent the day in a tee shirt and cut offs and very nice it was too. In fact I started off with socks and wellington boots but very soon the boots were replaced by sandals and soon after that the socks were thrown off as they were so warm. By the end of a very grubby day in the garden I had to wash my feet in the sink because even with my gardening shoes off I was still traipsing mud through the house.
My plan for the precious day off was to pop along to the garden centre and buy something for the veg garden I wasn't sure what but wondered if there was anything I could get to plug a small patch of nothingness I have. Well, as I type that it sounds phony, who am I kidding (certainly not you)? I don't have enough room for what I already have. Anyway, that plan was scarpered because Luke took the car to work so I was stuck at home (the garden centre is close enough to walk to but knowing me I would buy heavy plants and then have to lug them home and it was much to warm to do that). So plan B was to sort out the black and white border because that had been made in a hurry last Spring when we first moved in and I was literally desperate for some interest in the garden. I had dug up great slabs of cement but had never conditioned the soil before planting it up such was my hurry. I've meant to rectify that for a year but now I didn't have a car I couldn't buy sharp sand and soil improver so I had to make do with what I had here; a quarter bag of sand and some fish, blood and bone granules to sprinkle into the earth. Again, not ideal but when did I ever let good sense stop me from doing something? So I opened up the hen house, fed them last night's left over rice (which they LOVE!) and started my clear out plan.
Anyway, I've wanted to plant up my bulbs for a month now and it's actually the ideal time to be doing it. I had planted up a few of my favourite giant alliums last month, worried that I was doing it too early but wanting to get them into the ground before it got too cold (for me) in the garden. This time, instead of digging a hole only to find I'd just sliced into a healthy looking bulb from last year (and I've done this countless times much to my dismay) I decided that "everything must go" like a closing down sale.
So the sensible thing would be, if I need to take things out of the ground on a sunny day that I pot them up and put them in the shade. Ah, but I'm not sensible! That is my poor back just wants me to do what I have to do and then give it a rest so I short cut things like potting up and moving heavy plants and instead they all got lifted and unceremoniously dumped on the lawn in light shade.
Once I'd removed what I could (some plants were either too well established or too heavy to lift out on my own) I dug over the ground, removing what detritus I found which ended up being a large bag of stones and broken bits of concrete before lightening up the soil by shaking over the sand and adding some of the blood and bone mix. After that I raked over the surface to provide a more even patch before putting everything back again - much like a spring clean when all the furniture is moved to ensure a proper clean up before being dragged back to where it was before.
This time, whilst realising I still had too much to go into this bit of ground, I planted up slightly differently to how it had been before, putting the enormous hollyhocks along the fence and then using the spaces between the shrubs to plant up the tulips, alliums and hyacinths. Lastly, my famous hose trick (which actually only involves turning it on and directing it over the newly planted bed) to give them all a good bedding in and I was done....., now t was just a matter of those four loads of washing to be ironed.
I wouldn't mind but here I am, ten past five in the morning, finding time to type it all up. I must get a part time job instead! Oh, to be able to dream...... or to sleep coem to that.
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