I’ll hold my hands up, I’ve been more than a little distracted of late, I have neglected my blog, twitter and facebook. This is mainly due to SEPTEMBER…
For us, as for most of the UK, the 9th month of the year heralds the start of a new school year, with 2 out of 3 of my sproglets now at school, and the youngest sprog starting nursery, I frankly have been running around like a headless chook.
But, I have not been entirely neglecting my garden. So here we are an update.
Meet “Longcat”
So named by my 4 year old, She named him Longcat and he guards the back door, keeping cold air from my ankles as I sit by my desk.
I have said that my garden now resembles the aftermath of a rather nasty explosion in a garden centre warehouse.
From this view the most noticeable changes are the Large arch - this will eventually be embedded in two large pots and have white roses trained over it.
And my Oh so Glam Rotary Washing-line. Well, it does need to be a practical garden too!
I’ll guide you round the newer features with photo’s of progress:
My beautiful wind chime, I’m not sure she’s going to stay there but she’ll do for now.
The Patio Pot collection, Clockwise from topleft: Potato Barrel, Lavender, Rosemary and Saffron Crocus.
Autumn Bliss Raspberry Bush and its willow trellis. (and a total hackjob of lawn edging plastic)
First of the Raised beds, made from pressure treated timber - this one will probably be the onions leeks and garlic, I have two more wooden ones (this style) to construct and one already constructed of recycled plastic:
Obviously this one isnt in its final position.
My swinging birds. These two lovelys serve as a scare-crow, their moved by the wind and spin and bob in even a gentle breeze. Much prettier, and they reflect the sunlight so on their circular path you’ll get the odd flash of sunlight off their chromed breastsphere.
Le-compost bin. Gotta get a screen to hide this beast.
Le contents of Le Compost bin. Need more!
Pretty Bronzed flower marker. Will be going in one of the raised beds, so I remember which one is filled with flower bulbs and doesn’t need digging over/planting up.
Ok, this isnt the most obvious picture, the yellow is line in the upper-left is a tape-measure,and the roughly hacked mud lines are marking the 6x6 box that my potting shed shall occupy.
It’s not all been easy….
This is a 1ft 3inch by 9 inch by 10inch slab of concrete rubble, weighing in at… I actually don’t know how heavy it is, but I couldn’t move it, I had to get the husband in to shift it. This was dug-up less than 4 inches below the surface of what became my raspberry patch.
But yes, this is the progress thus far with my garden, not bad for a couple of days. And I shall end with this, a video of the wind-sculpture hanging from the Arch.
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
~Grace Hopper
This is one of my favourite quotes, and one to a Certain extent I live by. It goes hand in hand with the other philosophy of my youth
“If I’m going to get in trouble I’m going to bloody well earn it!”. I remember the point I realised that if I’m going to get yelled at for being home 5 minutes late, I might as well stay out 3 hours and enjoy the evening before the inevitable grounding.
My husband knows I still hold a similar principal, now not so much with “Going Out”, but the shopping budget, Lord knows he has sighed in his seemingly limitless patience when I stumble home laden with plants, pots and tools and the words “I’m dreadfully sorry darling, I seem to have gone slightly over budget…” falling from my lips, masking the truth that my ‘slightly’s would make a lesser man feel faint at the hammering of the bank-card.
Still - Proper updates soon - In short this post is an announcement:
Work has commence on my garden, Let the Planting Begin!
I should not DIY before a cup of Tea while the children are awake
Using Wallpaper Samples to Line shelves is a good plan
ME using wallpaper samples to Line shelves before I’ve had my morning cuppa is a BAD PLAN.
Screaming at your husband because you haven’t had a cuppa, are incompetent, and cross because it isnt going to plan isnt going to solve anything.
Getting REALLY cross and pulling the half stuck wallpaper off the shelves only (a) Ruins the wallpaper and (b)Ruins the paint.
So - I now have another pot of cupboard paint, which I will be using over the next few days to repaint the botched shelves, I also purchased a roll of patterned wallpaper to use to line the shelves.
I Stand by my original plan of using ‘Samples’ but frankly to have gone and got more was moving more from “Resourcefulness” to “Bare-faced Theft”.
So I will update with the finished shelves, It’s just going to be a little while longer….
Given I lack any sort of Measuring tool I opted for “Paces”, which at my longest-stable pace is around 1m (Just shy of), so my morning was spent with Maxi-dress, wellys and paper marching around my garden.
This gave me a good starting point for measurements, and probably gave my neighbours a laugh as staggered around in my boots with my dress hoiked up so as not to drag it through the earth. (not sure why, this dress is already completely coated in various emulsion paints as my “Decorating Dress)
I also realised how soft the newly laid topsoil still is as one foot vanished into the soft-earth up to mid-shin.
3 hours later, having been armed with paper’n’pencil, a ruler, My wishlist off http://www.crocus.co.uk/, and careful browsing of Homebase and B&Q, my garden plan began to take shape.
North Half
Going from Top to Bottom Left to Right.
Top: Trellis along the Fence- Southfacing Maximum Sun - Planned - 2 Varieties of Hardy European Grape to be trained across the full length of the fence and the Corner Structure.
Top Left Circle & Arc: This is a Family-group of Apple Tree’s. Specially grown 3 different apple saplings bound and intertwined, to allow Pollination, longer cropping, and 3 different varieties of Dessert Apples (Fiesta/Cox/Greensleves)
Top Right Shaded Square: Corner Seating Arbour with Trellis for climbers.
Left Below Arc- Trellis & Trough Planter - Logan and Blackberries (Thornless Varieties.
Right Below Arbour - Large Pot and Sour-Cherry Shrub.
Bottom Right rectangle - Raised Bed, Beans/Peas/Corn climbers.
Ground Coverage for Area: Pebble, Numerous Pots, Raised Beds and Planters containing Seasonal Vegetables.
Southern Half
Top Left: Diagonal placed Raised Bed
Central Patio (Again Pots/Planters to be confirmed/decided)
Top Right Circle - Roatary Washing line (I have no option in this positioning as the Post is already set deep into the patio’concrete)
Bottom Left: Chicken Coop & Run.
Bottom Central: Steps to Kitchen Garden, With Trellis-Rose Arch, With Climbing White Roses.
Bottom Left: Narrow Garden Shed.
Not Shown
Also I will be fitting a Lean-to Greenhouse on the North-facing wall against the Kitchen wall, to make the most of the Highly-Sheltered position and to allow hardening off of Seedlings.
There will be a wide selection of Hanging Baskets on the fences which will be used to grow Herbs.
So Yes, This is the current Plan, I’m forseeing it taking 1 to 2 years to afford all the structure I’m hoping for, to have Established the permenant plants, and to have discovered what thrives and what doesnt.
4 years ago, I bought a Bookcase from a well known company, for not very much money.
Due to my sheer disorganisation it remained in its flatpack boxes for 3 years and 2 house moves. Eventually I put it together, and it looked something like this:
Within a week I had broken the drawers (Cheap MDF Bases apparently cant hold heavy things), Never-mind, at least it held the books up.
We’ve since moved house again and I decided to have it in the master bedroom so I can keep my nice books out of reach of sticky fingers and little children who would colour them in.
But - Given it is 4 years since I bought the thing very cheaply I now hated the look of it. It was that really nasty “Beech Effect” Veneer over Heavier duty MDF/Chipboard, and just looked, Well, cheap.
“Well if it wasnt that much just chuck it and get one you like”, I must admit this is tempting but that doesnt really sit well with me, as all I’d end up buying is another mass-produced shelf with flimsy drawers and plasticy handles.
So, I decided to see if I could turn it into something unique.
As Bob the Builder says “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!” (As a point I think this probably says a lot about my life, that my moral compass and attitude isnt shaped or influenced by government policy, Green Ethos or an Enviromental concience, but by a plastic character aimed at children that has brainwashed me)
So I went out and grabbed some “Cupboard Paint” in a nice steel-grey to go with the rest of my decor-scheme, and set to work.
For those of you who dont know what cupboard paint is, it is like gloss but designed to stick to that weird stuff they make Kitchen Cupboards and flat-pack furniture out of so that it can be updated without having to replace everything.
2 hours later I am coated in paint and frankly horrified by my own painting skills…
now before you all run off and buy new furniture as clearly nasty Beech cannot be updated, Understand this:
I Never admit something isnt going to plan until it is actually unrepairable…
So the cupboard is painted, the paint is patchy, brushmarked, and in places has run, and I am currently letting it dry. And yes - the drawers have been painted shut. They are now (In my head) A “Decorative Feature”
So for the cost of 1 tin of cupboard paint and a paintbrush my cupboard has gone from Naff:
to Botched:
The More astute among you will have noticed I have not painted the interior of the shelves.
That my lovely readers is because I have a PLAN!
In order to have a pretty bookcase and not just a “Badly painted Bookcase”, I will be lining the shelves, with decorative contrasting paper, to add depth, texture and “Prettyness”.
Great, so Now a Cheap Bookcase now costs an additional tin of paint and loads of probably expensive paper?
Nope
I scavenged a wide range of wallpaper Samples from my local DIY store which should more than suffice (I also purchased a small pot of their “Super strength wallpaper paste”).
I hope to post in the next few days showing you all how my botched Bookcase turned out!
After a week of complete uselessness, destroying 2/3rds of a a ball of wool, Many knots, more dropped-stiches, and even more cursing, I gave up and went to see my mum.
An hour, a cup of tea, and minimal “Being Laughed at” I can now Knit!
I shall endeavor to fix this as soon as I work out what is wrong…..
EDIT: It seems that if I link to a Photo (from flickr) it shows on the main page but not the dashboard, However if I upload to Tumblr itself it shows in both :)
The rain, and temporary lack of funds has put a halt on any garden progress (To be rectified next week).
So I have been making the most of my indoor time and working on our ‘Interior’, Project one: The master bedroom.
Let me assure you - this image does absolutely NO justice to the hideous shade of Orange Terracotta it actually was.
I seem to live under the false assumption I enjoy decorating. As I write this I am halfway through the task, and I can now tell you that what I actually enjoy is “Picking the colour scheme”.
The plan for this room is a beigy/mushroom colour paint, and behind the bed will be a bold patterned wallpaper.
Now - I am having two main problems.
The Terracorange is so vile that it is taking 2 and sometimes 3 coats to not show through the paint. And what the room photo doesnt show is the height of the ceiling.
The ‘paintable wall’ is 2m 47cm High.
I am 5ft 2. Or in metric: 157cm tall.
I am 2 days into painting, and even jumping up and down, stretching on tip-toes and balancing precariously on a small step-ladder I still have a good 2/3 inches around the top of the room I cannot reach.
My husband is refusing to help (Bless Him) Because apparently its more entertaining to watch me struggle….
I think for the next room I will be going to buy a telescopic handle for the roller.
Well, we finally moved in on Saturday. After an Obligatory game of “furniture tetris”, we’re finally a bit more settled and can start planning.
The builders finished removing the foundations of the sheds from the garden, and the topsoil was laid by Monday afternoon.
Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday it chucked it down, so now the ground is sodden ((perhaps should get pigs instead…)) and finally managed to get out there this morning and get a better feel for the place - it’s very light and sunny for a southfacing, and there will be loads of room for the chooks. (photos on the gallery page- or Flickr)
But the Internet is now on- expect more photo’s and updates!
