Still no rain here

Its been another warm and sunny day, we certainly can't moan about the British Summer this year but all the heat has taken it's toll on the garden.  My garden soil is mostly clay and there are big cracks all over, It hasn't been the best for weather for hydrangeas either, mine are already quite faded and the leaves are very dry and of course the grass in not green anymore, it's a lovely shade of brown.

We still have some lovely colour though.

The aster seeds I sowed were a couple years out of date but they still produced some lovely flowers

The climbing rose by my back door was attacked by saw fly in June, I thought it was a goner so cut it right back, It survived my hacking and has come back lovely and healthy and is almost as high as the back door again.

Not all things have done well.  I planted three raspberry canes but only one has survived.

I popped to the allotment this afternoon to water, I didn't expect there to be much to bring back but there were loads of runner beans and quite a few tomato's both of which I've given to my sister, also picked the last few courgettes and a few more beetroot which I'll have a go at pickling tomorrow.

I was surprised to see so many peppers on my pepper plants.  I didn't do well with peppers last year so apart from watering I haven't really paid any attention to these.

Joanne is taking the kids on holiday tomorrow so I have a lodger for the week.

Her name is Pickle, she's so cute and really friendly, I don't usually like rodent type pets but I'm ok with hamsters, lol.

It's Bank Holiday tomorrow.  Mark Is still in Scotland so I'm going to have a day sorting through my craft supplies in the hope of being able to clear out some things that I know I won't use, wish me luck on that one, ha ha.

-X-

This and that

 It's been quite hot and humid here today although not really sunny, rain threatened this evening but then passed us by, again.  I know that other parts of the UK have experienced heavy rain and thunder storms, but here in my part Midlands we haven't had significant rain in quite a while.

I was out in the garden watering this morning and thought I take a few photos.

The dahlias are just starting to flower, those copper scouring pads seem to have deterred the slugs and snails, of course it has also helped that we have had such a dry Summer so there haven't been so many of them around.

I have fuchsias in the kitchen window boxes and two long planters, all are still doing ok with lots of flowers and buds.

I had to do a rescue job on them when I came back from holiday, Mark was supposed to water as he was here for part of that week, lets just say he didn't do a very good job!  But, they recovered well.

The sunflowers on the left are what I planted on the allotment, tall and strong, just what you expect from a sunflower, the ones on the right are in my garden, obviously they don't like the clay soil.

And the mind-your-own-business I bought in the Spring is growing better in one pot than the other, might have to put something else in the grumpy face.

I do like to have the doors open in the Summer and we have been having a visitor.

She, (i think), has been making herself comfortable, I found her curled up on the sofa in the back room the other day too, she never stays long, comes for a fuss and a sit down and then she's off again.  She has a collar on so I'm assuming she has a home somewhere nearby.  Sometimes she will appear several times a day, other times I don't see her for a few days.  I'm wondering if her owners are out at work and perhaps she can't get in and that's why she comes for a comfy seat.  I don't mind, I don't want to encourage her but at the same time I'm happy for her to come in and take a seat sometimes.

Yesterday was another stitching day retreat.  I haven't worked on any stitching for about a month and I thought It might kick start my stitching bug again but by just after lunchtime I gave up and got some knitting out.  It was a lovely day though, nice to get out the house and to catch up with people I haven't seen for a while.  I have to say though that I found it a little noisy, I'm not sure if it was that noisy or it's just the fact that I'm in the quiet on my own for most of the time, perhaps that's a sign that I should get out more 😂

I had my steroid injection last Wednesday, I had heard that it could be painful in the hip but It was just the same as having a jab in your arm.  I had to take it easy for a few days but I'm happy to say that it seems to have worked, now I just have to start up the exercises again to get the area stronger so it's less likely to return.

-X-

I don't like Summer...

 But the feeling is mutual, Summer doesn't like me either.  

I was bitten ten times over two days this week, one was quite nasty and the swelling is only just going down.  I've tried all sorts of things over the years that are supposed to stop you getting bitten, nothing I've tried has worked, they always get me!

But apart from not liking bugs, because they like to nibble on me, I have a serious fear of things that flutter, so butterflies, moths, dragonflies, daddy longlegs, that sort of thing, but moths in particular.  I didn't go into our back sitting room for two days a few weeks ago because there was a huge moth in there, Mark was away so my son in law kindly came to evict it.  

Hubby likes to tell people how I abandoned the car in the middle of the high street once because a moth had got through the air vent, it's true, I did, It was about 10pm and I just stopped the car and got as far away as possible.  I stopped a random stranger, who must have thought I was a complete mad woman, but he got the moth out for me.  Might sound like a funny story but I would have walked home rather than get back in that car, and in fairness it was one of those big hairy things, ugh!!

Anyway, bugs and fluttering things aside I have managed to get quite a bit done in the garden this week.  The greenhouse has had a good sort out and clean,  I've washed and organized all the pots and modular trays and taken anything I wasn't going to use to the allotment sharing shelf

It been a bit of a chore going to water the allotment every night, I was complaining to Mark when he phoned that it was too much and that I might give my share of the allotment up when the season ends, sometimes it just feels like the work out ways the reward.

But then I came back with this little harvest on Monday and Wednesday and I'm chuffed to bits that I grew this food 😀

It seems I'm not the only one that's been suffering in the heat, my sweet peas at the allotment did really well for a couple weeks and now they are on the turn, the ones at home haven't really got going at all, a very poor show this year.  The fuchsias in the window boxes are doing okay, I got them from the garden centre this year and they haven't trailed as much as the ones that I've bought from Aldi in the past although the flowers are lovely and big.  Five of the eight dahlia's I planted came up, hoping they will grow a bit now they have been moved, I bought some copper scourers which I've stretched and put around the pots.  I got Mark to move the hydrangea in the pot to the middle of the boarder, the ground is just too hard to dig out to plant anything and it fills the place nicely, I can see it from the kitchen window too now. 

These are the copper scourers I used on the dahlia pots if anyone is interested.

 No grass was growing in this shaded corner so I cut it out and planted some shade loving plants a while ago, so far they are all doing really well, even the hosta has survived, I'm putting that success down to the wool pellets I scattered around.

And a few weeks ago Aldi had one of the pots I wanted for the mind your own business plant I bought in the Spring, I was happy to find one at a reasonable price, although he does look rather stern

The temperatures have cooled a little from earlier in the week, it's still sunny and warm but without the stifling heat we had at the beginning of the week.  Showers are due here at the weekend, that will be a blessing for the garden, the ground is so dry and cracked.

-X-

 All my plants and seedlings had come on in leaps and bounds while I was away, my new sowings of runner beans were only just beginning to show when I left, they grew about a foot in a week!  

The garden needed a good tidying up after being unattended for a week, I spent all day Sunday doing that as well as my holiday washing.  Good job I did as it hasn't stopped raining since, looks like I chose the best week to go away 😉

Tons of strawberries just waiting now for a bit of sun to ripen them.  The birds have been eating some of the ones on the allotment, we've covered them in netting now so hopefully that will stop them.  It's not a problem I've had with the ones in my garden

Beautiful yellow roses, all came out in the week I was away, hopefully the rain won't destroy them all.

Monday was a Bank Holiday, I met up with Joanne at the allotment and we spent the day there, it drizzled most of the time but we managed to fashion a structure to grow our courgettes up.  We finished just as the rain started to come heavier.

We have lots of lovely lettuce and rocket already and still picking radish.  We will plant more in the coming weeks so that we have a supply through the Summer.

Do you like our cute signs?  We bought a few different ones from the Malvern Spring show and I've ordered another couple from Amazon.  They are metal so should last longer than the wooden ones we used last year.

I didn't get home until late on Saturday, I decided to have a ride to Bangor and Beaumaris on the way home.  Bangor town was much the same as Colwyn Bay, a bit run down.  I did walk to find the pier, It was a bit of a trek though and there was a charge of £1.  

Nice views looking out over the Menai Strait though.

This house looked like it would a bit too close to the water for comfort when the tide came in. 😨

Beaumaris was only fifteen minutes away so I thought I might as well go there too as I was so close.  

In hind sight I should have given Bangor a miss and gone straight to Beaumaris.

I managed to get a parking spot right by the pier but It was limited to an hour I did take a walk along the pier but is was so windy, honestly I've never experienced trying to walk in wind that strong! and I was wearing a dress not a good combination, never mind hanging on to my hat, I was making sure I hung onto my dress to save my modesty😅

Beaumaris castle stands on the edge of the town, sadly I didn't have time to explore either the castle or much of the picturesque street but I did stumble on a little doorway that said Castle Garden Centre.

What a gem and what a great entrance to a garden centre 

And beyond that was a lovely space, more garden than garden centre selling not only plants but garden ornaments, pots and quirky things with lovely winding paths, beautiful,  I could have spent more time there but was aware that I had to be back to my car before the hour was up.

So if you are in the area my advice would be to bypass Bognor and head to Beaumaris instead.

On a completely different note, we have new neighbours.  My lovely neighbour, Doug, died at the beginning of the year, he was 96 and was such a lovely man and I still miss popping in to see him and taking him some cake and having a natter, he did love my homemade cakes bless him.   Anyway now his family have sold the house.  I haven't seen anyone yet, a small van came yesterday and bought some bits of furniture and I saw lights on last night.  

It's always a bit of a worry getting new neighbours isn't it?  

-X-

Springing up all over

 We're only a little over a week into the lighter nights and already I'm not keen.  I struggle with lighter nights much more than when the nights draw in, I find it hard to call it a day and be done when It's still light, It seems there is always one more thing that has to be done and then before you know it it's time for bed!  I need to be stricter with myself, set myself a reasonable cut off time for the day to be done.

I have been making the most of the nice weather though and spent some time Monday afternoon at the allotment and got carrots and radish seeds in and also planted some of the onions I'd started off at home, (thank you to whoever mentioned starting them in cells, I'm sorry I can't remember who it was now to give you credit).  

I've covered them all in mesh just until the seeds start to pop up, then I'll set them free.

I've tidied my greenhouse out again and moved some of my sweet peas and sunflowers into there.  Mark got me a couple pieces of wood to make more shelving space, I have plenty more seedlings to go in there over the next few weeks.  Everything is doing really well at the moment, the only things that don't seem to be showing any signs of life yet are the dahlia's.

I made the mistake of sewing my runner been too early and now they are already quite big and it's still not warm enough to put them out!  They're in decent sized pots so I'm hoping they will be ok until at least the end of the month.

I bought two dozen hazel sticks locally from fb market place so we are all set up ready to plant them out once the weather warms up a bit more.

We have a strawberry patch all planted up and a few more added today because I drove past somewhere that was selling them for 50p each, couldn't pass up that bargain.

I collected our Spring seed pack today, we get a free one twice a year, 26 packets of mostly veg and salad but there are some flowers in there too.  Looks like I'll be busy again over the weekend, ha ha.

And there is a plug plant party at the allotment on Saturday morning so I'll be going to see what's on offer, they are all free so might as well take advantage.

My garden is coming to life too with all the sunshine we've been having.

My hosta's have grown such a lot in a week and there are alliums popping up all over, the Pieris is putting on a lovely show.

I came across this photograph on Google showing a completely cloud-free sky across the whole of the British Isles, apparently the image, which was taken on April 2nd, was so clear that sediment patterns could be seen off the coast.  March was the sunniest since records began with 185.8 hours of sunshine.  It has certainly been a lovely start to Spring, much better than last year when we had snow and sleet in April.

We are still getting wonderful blue sky's here, although we are forecast some much needed rain on Sunday and into the following week, the kids break up for Easter on Friday so of course it was going to rain, lol.

 In-between all the outside jobs I have been knitting and stitching and I will share an update on that next time.

Take care

-X-

Another month gone already

Another month of the year gone so quickly, but the weather has been good and a lot of jobs in the garden have been ticked off, so that's good.  I over-seeded the top lawn last week, I haven't seen many birds stealing the seeds so fingers crossed we should see signs of growth in the next couple weeks.  I also went ahead and purchased two small raised beds for the top of the garden, we have yet to fill them, but that's ok I'm not ready to plant anything out just yet.

The one last big job outside is to jet wash the path and patio, that is on tomorrow list of things to do.

We still have daffs out and for once they haven't been battered by rain or snow.

The grass just before over-seeding, there should be fewer bald patches in a couple weeks

Yesterday was Mothers Day here in the UK, we went out for lunch with Joanne and the kids, Stevie and Jenny popped round later in the afternoon.  They all spoilt me with lovely cards, flowers and gifts, Joanne also got me a seat I can use for gardening and planting, that will save my poor knees 😂, (not in the photo as it wasn't assembled)

As you know Joanne and Gavin are no longer together but he usually makes sure Bonnie and Jacob have something to give Joanne for Mothers Day but for some reason he didn't offer to take them to buy her anything this time so me and Mark took them out on Saturday to get flowers and choose a gift, they also made her cupcakes while they were here.

They wrapped everything up and when I took them home hid everything in Bonnies wardrobe, they were so excited to give her the things they'd bought, Joanne said they went and woke her up at 6am 😆

I've been for my second physio appointment this morning, I think the exercises are slowly working and he was happy that I could now do a more difficult version of one of them.  I'm still in pain most days, some days are worse than others but I'm following the exercise plan so hopefully one day everything will settle down.

Mark had the results of his prostate biopsy last week, it was benign, so nothing nasty to worry about, which was a relief.  He has another appointment in June to assess him again to see what they can offer him in the way of help as his prostate is enlarged and that's what's causing him to have frequent bathroom visits.  The letter also listed some of the treatment options, tablets are the easiest treatment, the operation for more troublesome cases doesn't sound very nice and requires time in hospital and at least four weeks at home.  Needles to say he is hoping that he will be able to have the tablets option.

I've been stitching lots this past week and made great progress on my Hoot in a Boot which I'll share next time.  

Wishing you all a wonderful April

-X-