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.

Dad's 86th Birthday

 

So this is us all around the table at our usual haunt to celebrate Dad's 86th birthday and a good excuse to catch up with my brother and family.

The boys get taller each time they visit, especially George who is towering over all of us now.

After a lush dinner we went back to Dad's and had some cake:

Here it is before we lit it, a Maltesers one 😋

Not the best of images, think on wide angle my hand, or someone else's got in the way, but it's the memory that counts! Dad about to blow out the candles and cut the cake.

We had a good catch up, including Annie who got her Christmas treats from the boys who had wanted to see her open them. A game to find her treats and some treats of course! Annie being Annie proceeded to bite most of the game but she'll get the hang of it eventually! She's a clever cookie 🐶

January's Bits 'n' Pieces

 

Finished this Granny Square finally, after a collection of other more pressing crochet projects. This little coverlet was to take into work for over my lap as the air-con had been broken for some time and so the office days were bordering on the fridge end of the thermometer 🥶 As luck would have it, by the time this was ready to take into the office the air-con had been fixed and so it's sat in my locker ever since!

Having got Dad to buy me a cordless combi drill/screwdriver for my birthday to use instead of the old electric drill, this was my first project. Drill more holes in the sides of this single part of the wardrobe so that the shelf Dad made could be lowered, thereby attaining more storage space above the bagged up Christmas Tree. I've restacked the shelf since snapping this so there's even better use of the space and whilst I don't need any more Christmas decorations at least I have room for the ones I may inevitably buy 🤣

So a couple of snaps here of the Spring Bulbs starting to sprout out in the garden and the yard pots. Gotta love a snowdrop, they are the quintessential sign that Spring is around the corner. The others are a variety of crocus, daffs from last year, miniature daffs and grape hyacinths and tulips and there is more to come from the front garden. Hoping to see a riot of colour when they start to bloom which is still a month or two away.

Prepped this wooden sign ready for Easter using some coloured pencils I bought rather than the crap tiny felt pens included in the pack from The Works. Quite pleased with how it's come out, it can hang on the porch door when I decorate for Easter 🐰

And this weekend's DIY was to put up my 40th service certificate having finally received it from work. Suspect it's a generic fill in one seeing as how despite the firm logo it just mentions "your company" rather than naming the firm and isn't quite as nice as the 25th service one, although it did come framed. Once I'd managed to hang this I decided to finally tidy up the utensil rack in the kitchen which I put up years ago with just a couple of nails which ended up bent out of shape as it's on an outer wall which is much harder to nail into than the internal walls - which are hard enough. Managed to get the old nails out and drill into the holes left behind, a couple of raw plugs and screws et voila - now it's nice and sturdy. No threatening to fall off the wall every time I reach for something! Mind you, looking at the state of the nails I pulled out I'm surprised it's stayed up on the wall this long 😂

So this is January's "what I've been up to", obviously it's included my birthday, 59yrs young this year and another step closer to retirement. As my birthday always falls on a busy working week I was not only in work but in the office too, along with some cakes and sweets. Out to dinner in the evening with Dad, Julia and James at The Honourable Pilot and then back to Julia and James's for a cuppa and some cake. And to see their latest DIY project - creating more of an obvious lounge space. 

Let's see what February brings, hopefully some better weather and lighter evenings, the Dockyard reopens at Half Term so a visit is long overdue. Maybe a visit from my bro' and family for Dad's birthday.