Glasshouse

All grown from seeds and pips

 Nasty corner

 Salad garden

 50p tomato plant

 Potting bench

Most of my plants are planted outside, the tender plants in pots are now permanent outside, I have a couple of displays I put out in the day, but come back in at night. It is really nice to have space in here again.
I have a few seeds and pips I have started, cherry pips, a plum pip, Braeburn apple seeds and a cape gooseberry, I do like a challenge, I will keep you informed of their progress.
Yesterday was a perfect day for a wedding, Meghan looked stunning, we thought her dress suited her figure perfectly and Queen Mary's Tiara finished the whole look. Perfect day to show England at it's best.
Today nothing to do, as with most days this week, we will spend loads of time resting in our garden, watching the wild birds at our feeders.

Eat,shoots and leaves.

Yesterday was a perfect day, we spent our time in the garden, firstly we moved this table and chairs down to our decking area, it captures the first of the sunshine. 

 The empty space outside my greenhouse, I filled quickly, I have moved the blackcurrant bush here and have a huge pot for our outside tomato plant, plus a few smaller pots. 

 Our wooden table and chairs are often in the shade through out the day

 Even the cats came out to play

 These are grown from seeds and cutting, on the left is a kiwi, on the right a passion fruit. In the middle I'm not sure, I think it could be a pomegranate, I will have to wait until the leaves to form. 

 Right photo, is my new Clematis, Lovely yellow flowers, middle sweet peas, right is the grass plant, I decided to put it in front off the hedgehog pot,  once it grows it will give cover to the space, this pot was used last year by our local hedgehog. 

Hubby cleaned his motorbike (loads of chrome to polish) and then our car, I just pottered, it was so lovely and warm, I am loving the extra space outside my greenhouse, I will miss having the table to use, but I have a tall stool in the shed I can use. My shed is tidy, and looking good. I have planted out a few stronger plants, the bedding plants won't be ready until next month.
My walnut twig has new shoots and is out side the greenhouse, but both my citrus plants look sad, I am going to keep both in the greenhouse for a bit longer, my olive bush is also still inside the greenhouse.
The area along the front of the greenhouse now has more space, we pushed the huge pot with the rhubarb in the corner by the raised cut flower bed, we had the blackcurrant bush here, but I was worried about harvesting the fruit in such a small space, it won't be a problem with the rhubarb.
We had a late lunch early dinner at 4pm we had our first BBQ of the year, we sat outside until almost 6pm, it's a perfect prelude to summer, and like so many other I can't wait for it to come.
Last night I watched Monty for an whole hour, I love this format, we also watched a Viking York, shown on BBC2, last week it was Roman Chester, these are very interesting to watch, we have visited both cities and could relate to where they were filming.
This morning, we are dull, loads of mist, which should burn off in time the the fore caste rain!

New life

Our Magnolia tree is catching up, loving the blue sky

 Acer with loads of colour

 Blooms on my 1st blueberry bush

 50p tomato plant looking really healthy and has grown loads

 Lettuce seeds on tea bags, 

I read teabags are very good for starting off seeds and I do like a challenge.

I spent a couple hours outside yesterday afternoon, it was sunny and warm, I had our patio doors open, both cats followed me out and lay close by as I pottered. I am trying to grow seeds on teabags, inside the bag has everything a seed requires to grow, plus after having the boiling water poured over the bag is sterile. Lots of my home started things are in bud, my kiwi and walnut tree's, I have a new clematis growing from a cutting taken last year, all 12 of my violet cuttings are now planted around the garden. I have coleus cuttings growing, they won't be planted until next month. 
I am very please our Magnolia is now catching up, we had it cut back last year, then twice the cold snowy weather burnt the buds, I was a bit worried it would all be too much for the tree. We have it trimmed every 2/3 years, our garden is small and the tree is a lovely size, we are keen to keep it looking so good.
Hubby has booked two night's away for our campervan next week, the fore caste is very good, we are going to the New Forest, the first two sites did not have hard standing, so we could not book the van in, so we are returning to a site we visited last year, which has hard standings. Our plan is to take our cycles.
I sat and knitted last night, the second sleeve has grown quickly and should be attached to the yoke when I next pick it up, I can see the finish line so I am keen to knit at the moment.

In the greenhouse

Free plants,

 I have 12 violets grown from roots taken from a huge plant in my garden, I want to plant these all along the front of my side garden, so they hang over the raised bed. Soon I will pot these on, to stay in the greenhouse all winter. I will then get another 12 root cutting to grow for my sister. 

 This is my Kiwi plant, grown from a seed, 

it took three attempts, bit it is now a nice size. 

 I was given this walnut tree and a small plant, it has tripled in size. 

 Not a free plant but a reduced daisy I purchased last month, it will stay in the greenhouse over winter, I have the perfect spot for it next spring. 

I love my nasties, I made a few mixed pots this summer, but again these will winter in the dry, they do not mind the cold, but hate to be cold and wet. 

 Geraniums, loads of different ones,

 in the spring I will take cutting to make more plants.  

 A close up of our back fence by my greenhouse, so full of colour, not alot grows here, my neighbour has four trees all in his back 9 foot of garden, they make a lovely backdrop for our garden, but stops most things growing. The table and chairs make a great workbench for me, when I am not sipping my tea. 

I am not planning to heat my greenhouse, I have a big plastic propagator, which I have placed on the raised bed inside, and a few of the delicate plants sit in it, when the real cold weather comers I can close the top to give extra protection. My citrus and olive plants both do well inside away from the frost.
It has been much cooler today, on my walk this morning the air had a bit of a chill, I do love cold sunny days.
We had a family lunch this afternoon, Will, mummy and daddy, plus daddies parents, we had been looking for a nice pub, but all the good ones were very busy, so we decided to eat at home and allow Will plenty of play area. We had our second turkey dinner, plus roast beef, Grandma and grandpa brought the desserts, rhubarb crumble, lemon meringue, so a huge lovely meal was had by all.
Will has been a bit out of sorts, we thing the clocks going back last night threw his routine, he has been tired most of the day.
We have a quiet night in together, and a lazy day tomorrow, we have so much leftovers we won't need to cook. I will be having Will again tomorrow, I do love our days together.
I have not done any more to the quilt, I hope to finish it this week, and then stitch the reading wigwam.

August, my new life

July was a very low spent month

I spent most on the bargains from my last post, but I see them as investments for my future garden. I got 4 reduced plants from B&Q for £6.50 to fill in a few gaps in the garden.

 I also got a couple of cotton tea towels for my sewing stash. 

I have a healthy £62.56 under spend to use with this months £70, when I redo my side garden. 

 My shed was a tip, 

so on Sunday I pulled every thing out and sorted, 

I had loads of space when finished.

 Had a go at the greenhouse as well 

 This is my lovely nasties shelf, 

 Kiwi seedling is now getting much bigger

 Poinsettia has so much new growth 

I aim to have this for celebrations this Christmas 

I have read how to get the leaves red

 Walnut sapling has doubled in size. 

This pot should be it's home for a long while. 

 Two more books

In Bitter Chill - great read

The Quality of Silence - not really my type of book

but I did read it all

It's been a busy few days,
Sunday we spent time in the garden, I was working at the back section, my growing area, I was in a tidy mood, so the shed was sorted.
We had friends over on Monday for lunch, later family arrived from Derby, we had a BBQ on Monday evening, Will and mummy came and cousins met for the first time.
Today after the family had left for their next part of their holidays, we had Will whilst mummy popped into her work, sorting her new hours for when she returns in January.  We took Will for a long walk, we later met mummy in a local shop where we stopped for coffee.
Tonight it's just the two of us, so a lazy evening. I need to rest because on Monday morning whilst giving the house a quick clean, I twisted my back, really stupid thing to do and it hurts. I am OK walking slow, but I can't bend and standing from sitting, I look as if I have aged 30 years. Not the start I had planned for my new life, but it does stop me rushing about, I have to remember I have more time to do things.

all sorts of everything

Sewing machine is out, this is the 3rd cushion almost finished

I love the fabric, very easy to work with, but it does fray.

I hope to have all 4 cushions finished by the weekend

 Hubby finally decided to sort his wardrobe, it's full of clothes from his working days. I have kept these 3 cotton shirts for Hexi's the rest have been taken to the charity shop.

 I hope to varnish my items made at our break in May, 

The last week it was way too hot to get things done.

 This corner by my water but is looking good

The Peony did not do so well this year, soon I will dig it up and make 3 plants. 

I love the bird feeder, which never worked, so I have put an alpine plant in there

 Lillies are looking good, some flowers are going over but still loads of buds. 

 Walnut sappling in my greenhouse

 Kiwi and pomegranate on my desk 

 Two books from a lady in work, 

I will start one later. 

A very mixed post this time, I have enjoyed using my sewing machine, the design on the fabric makes it very easy to match up. I don't have a pattern, I just cut the pieces and sew them back together again, I did not want to wrap the material around the foam, I wanted it to stay looking neat with the lines straight and the seams keep it all in place. The cushions are for a camper van for our neighbours.

I am hoping to do some more hand sewing of hexagons, I have loads stitched, I just need to sew more together.

The garden is still looking after itself, all I am doing at this time is watering and harvesting fruit and salad things. I am planning to redo the side garden as I stated in a previous post, plus my raise cut flower bed is not shaping up to what I wanted, so I will be sorting that, I have sown some Sweet William seeds for plants to over winter in the garden. 

With just under 5 weeks left of my working life, I am busy making leisure plans, I am tracking down the local gardening club, they help out alot in our local parks, which I think will be fun. I want to go back to doing yoga once a week.  I would also like to be a part of a craft club, but I don't think there is a local one. Once I have finished work I might test the water and see if I can start one. 

Last weeks steps = 80,568, average 11509 steps each day