Pre-Easter Weekend

 

So this weekend I've been tackling my own garden before we get down to laying turf in Julia and James's garden next weekend (over the Easter weekend). This is the front garden all mowed and edged just before the rain came in for the whole afternoon - why are my days off wet and my work days nice and sunny??

And this is the back garden mowed and edged on Saturday morning before the rain & hail kicked in and the bird house acorn popped up on the garage wall complete with fake bird because trying to manage it at a height of 2m isn't going to work for me!

So here are some images of said hail, boy did it come down! Like bobbly snow! So much so it collected outside the backdoor 🥶

And because next weekend is potentially going to be busy I thought I would put up the Easter decs in the porch today!

And it's been productive on the gardening level as Dad came by and managed to dig out the two fuchsias that I've been trying to kill off because I'm fed up with them after all these years, too big for where they are growing and prone to the fuchsia gall mite which leaves them looking awful. So now the ground is clear for me to plant some ornamental grasses which I bought a few weeks ago, Festuca Intense Blue! Should be good.

More Still Life Weather!

 

So in preparation for another wet Off Friday I froze some water in a tub and placed this pink gerbera on top and then added a little more water and popped it back in the freezer over Thursday night into Friday.

Setup in the studio with the 77D fitted with the 60mm macro lens on the tripod legs and had a good session as the ice melted. On occasion adding the smallest extension tube to the mix.

It whiled away most of the morning and then played in the afternoon with this daisy type flower:

This was sitting in a small bud vase with my tinfoil covered box behind it for a rather unusual backdrop.

All in all a good camera day :-)

Still Life Weather!

 

So as this weekend, including my Off Friday, has been mostly wet weather I took the opportunity for some still life photography to keep me from getting too bored. Using my lightbox and various props I spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon taking photos. Including playing with some old sweet film wrappers in front of the built-in flash...

This is one such example using a piece of red film - naturally! Really like the effect and cheap as chips too although now the Quality Street brand from whence these pieces of film came have moved to recyclable wrappers so glad I saved as many colours as I could whilst they were still available. This set of old bracelet beads were shot on an old box covered in scrunched up tinfoil which makes for a quite interesting background. All in all it whiled away time on a day where going outside was out of the question.

Saturday saw me and Julia shopping up at Bluewater, mainly for New Mum items for James's sister who is about to have twins!! So lots of useful but perhaps less exciting toiletries for her and the new bubbas when they arrive next week (via a C-Section) and some time saving bits for her like dry shampoo and hairclips because new mums don't have time to fuss about washing their hair! Julia and James are excited to become Auntie & Uncle - especially Julia as she has no siblings and sees James's brothers and sister as her own.

Sunday has been brighter weather for once, been outside briefly in the garden but still too early to do much beyond a little tidying up and trying to hopefully kill off a couple of old fuchsias that I'm looking to replace with alternative plants because they are rife with that fuchsia gall mite. Hoping that if I can kill them off then digging them out will be less of a challenge. Fingers crossed ;-)

Shopping & Plant Supports

 

So this weekend has been about nipping up to the top shops for a nose around and to get some fresh air away from the bloody rain and shoring up the daffodils and crocuses which are being battered by the crap weather.

Using some thin sticks and garden wire I've managed to hopefully hold them up, for now at least or until more grow and are outside the rim of the wire. Weather is beginning to get on my nerves, too much rain and wind and whilst I'm grateful we've no snow or floods I'm looking forward to some decent dry weather and time to get out in the garden and start planting up this years flowers.

Got two sets of modular planters to utilise rather than individual pots, those with bulbs will be left to settle until next Spring rather than planting on top of the bulbs like last year. Going to focus on zonal geraniums and petunias as you get a lot for your dosh with those plants and they need little looking after other than watering and deadheading.

Also going to plant a couple of hanging plants, Lobelia most likely, in the plant rack on the yard wall rather then keep buying artificial plants which fade in time and last year's lot had pots which weren't supposed to be outdoors - something that wasn't made clear when I ordered them from Amazon! Pre-ordered a stack of self-watering pots which will hopefully stop the water running down the wall. Maybe I need the bigger size for the wheelbarrow to replace the spring bulb pots?

Have also managed to squeeze a resin bird into the bird house so it looks like it's in use but not! I'm not a bird lover per se plus having to put it up at a 2m height is going to be awkward for me so opted for the faux look! At the moment the acorn house in indoors but once the yard bits go outside I'll hang it up somewhere where I can see it :-)

And the narcissi in the front garden are now blooming, like baby daffodils 😍

And on my second trip to the shops today I bought some more of the windmills to go into the garden to replace the others which have faded although they have lasted a lot longer than I'd anticipated! I love windmills! Also bought these two blue ornamental grasses, probably to replace the fuchsias that I'm looking to dig up given I'm fairly sure that the disease they had last year is unlikely to have disappeared. Plus they are getting hard to manage, very woody and lots of thin branches everywhere. These grasses are evergreen and need minimal maintenance - what's not to like? If they are successful then I may look to pop a few more in here and there, they provide quite good ground cover.

Feeling frustrated at the moment that there isn't much to be doing outside and not enough decent weather in which to do it. Most of any nice weather often coincides with me  working which isn't very helpful. I feel jealous of those for whom retirement is already a reality and feel like somehow I've been left behind. There never seems to be the opportunity for what I want to do on my down time.

Packing up work for good cannot come soon enough!

Spring is Sprung!

 

So Spring has started to make its presence felt in the garden with my bulbs shooting up and in some cases blossoming :-) Miniature Iris, Crocus and Snowdrops to mention a few.

Some have even started to push through the lawn although now I'm thinking I should have planted them closer together rather than spreading them out. And the wind/rain isn't helping as it's knocking them over when the stems are quite delicate.

Even the Hellebores are getting in on the act - I transplanted two from Dad's garden last year, one each of the purple and white. It's been quite slow going but I have new leaves and in the case of the white plant, some buds!! Looking forward to seeing them bloom, although nicknamed Christmas Roses they rarely flower at Christmas but are another sign that Spring is coming.

The rest of the bulbs planted last year are all coming up and buds are beginning to form, should see some daffodils soon from the pot I bought to go by Mum's sewing machine last year. They were planted into the garden where I would see them flower. I love daffodils. I have a mix in the garden of mainly daffs and tulips, even the alliums got planted into the front garden from last years pot - they were a disappointment, all white even though they were supposed to be mixed and instead of a collection of blooms I got one at a time pretty much. Lets hope they do better this year. Bluebells are the other bulbs popping up everywhere and I'll have a riot of blue a bit later.

At least its a sign that Winter is receding - evenings are staying lighter and hopefully better weather is on it's way.