Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

Eating an elephant.....

image from Clipart Library

.....one bite at a time, as the saying goes.

I've been alluding to what a terrible state the ornamental borders are in but up to now, my lovelies, I have avoided both showing you the evidence and actually doing anything about them 😳

To be perfectly honest, it all just feels so terribly overwhelming at the moment and I've found it very difficult to make a decision about just where to make a start.

Believe it or not, there is actually a little nature pool beneath all the overgrown weeds and plants here.  The fuchsia was originally a small piece that reappeared in the front wall border after all the old hedging had been removed.  It needs to be cut back regularly really but it's got somewhat out of hand this last year or so!  Beverly and Lyndi are going to give me a helping hand with this area at some point, and I've decided that the fuchsia will have to have a drastic pruning so it can be dug out more easily.  I have a place where it could be moved to, over on the other side of the garden where we have some issues with our neighbour's shrubs and brambles encroaching on our garden.  I will leave the fuchsia pretty much to its own devices and let all the shrubs fight it out amongst themselves 😉

Once this area has been cleared, I'm considering making the pool a little larger.  I may also replace the fuchsia with a small tree, perhaps a rowan.

Something strange seems to have happened to this mahonia!  It's throwing out new growth top and bottom but there is a weird section of bare trunk that looks as if something has made a meal of the leaves.  I going to leave it be and see if it continues to grow okay.

If you thought the kitchen garden borders were in a sorry state, well, just look at the ornamental garden borders ~ I have days where I look at them and just want to weep as we worked so hard getting them all set out😞

Adrian got the border on the kitchen garden side cleared out a couple of weeks back, and you can see the marked contrast with the border on the other side of the path.

The weeds, of course, are bad enough in this border but the worst thing of all is the dwarf elder that I planted.  I certainly made a rod for our backs and I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get the bloody stuff cleared out permanently😩

It's a shame, really, as it does have attractive leaves and pretty white flowers but it's just so incredibly rampant!

I don't know what the tall, rust-coloured, weeds are called but we get lots of them growing in the garden.  And as for the buttercups, well they also grow like they are trying to take over the bloody world 😒

The hedge border isn't really as bad as it might first appear.  Much of the growth in the various sections are in fact ground-covering plants that I put in, and they are doing a fairly good job as smothering and keeping the weeds at bay.  Just some general tidying-up required here I think, along with some trimming of the shrubs perhaps.

Again, this border isn't quite as bad as it looks, although the dwarf elder has made its way across and will have to be dealt with severely 😠

 Finally we have the soft fruit area, which we have decided needs a major overhaul.  I mentioned previously that the blackcurrants, whilst they have grown very well and are producing lots of fruit, said fruit is extremely sour.  It seems a shame to just dig them up and get rid of them, so they will be going into the little border near the bay tree in the back garden.  We don't put out bird feeders because we don't want to encourage rats and mice, but the birds are welcome to feast on the blackcurrants should they fancy a little fruity snack!

I may move the redcurrants to live with the three little cordon fruit trees in the back garden but I haven't decided yet.

We are aiming to rearrange these beds somewhat, with the whole area then being given over to ornamental plants.  This might be the first section that we tackle (not including the fuchsia/nature pool area, which is dependant on when the girls can come over), then as we work our way around the other ornamental borders we have somewhere to move plants to should any thinning-out be necessary.

I guess all I can do is keep telling myself "one bite at a time, Sharon, one bite at a time" 😳

A Make-a-Month 2024: July

 And in my spare time...

And in my spare time...

It must seem, my lovelies, like all we've done recently is slog away in the garden.  It's true that we do seem to be spending hour-upon-hour out there at the moment, but I have been making an effort to do other stuff as well.....namely crochet, of course!  What, don't tell me that you thought for a minute there that I'd turned myself into a Housework Goddess?  Nope, I'm still the "housework slut" that you all know and love 😁

Nothing to do with this post, really, but I kept forgetting to show you the fab Frida Kahlo mug Sam and Beverly got me (along with a matching trinket dish that I forgot to photograph) for my birthday.  When I came across the photo yet again, I thought I'd best shove it into this post whilst I remembered 😉 

Anyhoo, back to the crochet!  I made some more very simple dishcloths last month.  This one is rows of half-trebles (US half double crochet).

Corner-to-corner, with a scalloped edge that I must have come across somewhere but can't recall where at the moment.  I find that the cotton yarn seems to pull out of shape more than the acrylic, but as these are only dishcloths for my own use I don't bother blocking them.

A simple granny square, with an equally simple edging.

I do like to have a good supply of dishcloths ~ bet you would never have guessed that, eh 😏

I wonder if you even remember this project.....from early 2022 😳

I really didn't get any further than the planning stage back then, but when I knew I was going to be spending a few weeks with my Dad earlier this year I decided to dig the yarn out and take it with me to work on.  I took this photo last month when the pile of squares had increased to 56.  I've been working away each evening whilst watching TV and the pile is now up to 129!  I'm fast approaching my goal of 144, so will report back once I get there 😊 

Little words of wisdom

 

Ground to a halt

image from Freepik

I mentioned that we were temporarily abandoning stone chippings for building flat-packed wardrobes.  Well, with one down and two yet to go, that task ground to a definite halt when we discovered that the next one to be built had a faulty base shelf.....as did wardrobe number three 😒 They both have one hole, on the same side and in the same position, drilled in the wrong place.  If this had been for a simple screw then we would have just rolled our eyes and Adrian would have drilled a new hole in the correct position.  Unfortunately said hole is for a locking nut, which is a somewhat different kettle of fish.

Adrian contacted Argos yesterday to ask for replacement panels and spoke with a very helpful young lady who has arranged for said replacements to be sent out to us.  The downside is that we won't be getting them until the 20th August, which is a bit of a bummer.  We now have one unfinished wardrobe in our bedroom, plus the pieces for the other two which haven't even been started on.  The unfinished wardrobe needs its doors hanging.....which we can't do until it's been fixed to the wall with the safety brackets.....which we can't do until the other two have been built so that we can get them all lined up properly!

It's all very frustrating, as I'm sure you can imagine my lovelies, not only because of all the wardrobe bits and pieces currently propped up in our bedroom but also because our clothes-rails are now stuffed into the guest bedroom.  Every time I need to get some clothes, it reminds me of browsing the rails in C&A back in the day 😄

We live in hope that perhaps the replacement panels may come earlier than expected but in the meantime, I guess it's back to laying stone chippings.....no rest for the wicked, eh 😏

Queen of two kingdoms

image from Clipart Library

Not only am I the Queen of Procrastination when it comes to my garden but as you already know, my lovelies, I'm also the Queen of Procrastination in another of my little kingdoms: that of my poor neglected houseplants 😳

I did manage to get a handful of them repotted before Christine and John came up, although I didn't photograph each one as I don't want to give you houseplant fatigue 😀 

I believe this is some variety of agave, which was living on the dining room windowsill, but as it's label disappeared way back in the mists of time I wouldn't like to swear to it!

It was in a rather sorry state with very little compost left around the roots.....which were rather wet to say the least!

I separated out some of the little "pups", and repotted all the pieces ~ I'm pretty sure that I gave one of the offshoots to Beverly.  I removed the dead/squishy leaves, and trimmed the ends of the ones that were starting to go brown and dry.   The mother plant, above, is now living on one of our porch windowsills with another of the offshoots on the other one.

This "lucky bamboo" was a gift from Beverly a couple of years back.  It came growing in a small phial of water and I simply moved it to this hyacinth bulb glass, also filled with water.  As you can see, it had plenty of roots but the leaves were looking very sickly.  I had it on the kitchen windowsill and I think it was a little too bright for it there.

I decided to repot it into compost and it is now living in the guest bedroom.  It's further from the window but still gets (rather more filtered) light and seems happier since being moved.

Having looked it up on the internet it would seem that these aren't bamboo at all, and are in fact a variety of Dracaena.  It will be interesting to see how it grows now that it's been planted in compost.

This plant also lives in the guest bedroom.  It was gifted to me soon after we moved up here.  It had been somewhat neglected and no one could tell me what it was!  I just repotted it back then, hoping that at some point I would find out what kind of plant it actually was.

Fast forward to a few weeks back, and I knew that the time really had come for the poor thing to be repotted again 😧  I took some photos and posted them on a gardening group I'm in on Facebook, hoping someone would be able to tell me what it was.

As I didn't want to put it into an even larger pot, I decided that drastic measure were called for.  I divided it into three pieces and gave the roots of all three quite a severe haircut 😉

Now I have three of these plants, which most folk in the gardening group seem to think is a spider plant.

This larger pot has gone back into the guest bedroom, where it was previously, and seems to be happy despite the rather brutal treatment it underwent.

The other two plants are still living in the greenhouse until I decide what to do with them.  I am considering plopping them in with my cheese plant when I sort it out.  I'll let you know in due course 😄

 There's such a lot of work in the garden that I really must try to get done before the winter weather sets in but I'm hoping that once it does arrive, I'll be able to get all my poor little houseplants sorted out as at least it will be dry and sheltered from the wind in the greenhouse🤞

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

Getting jungly!

image from Clipart Library

The Big Job I mentioned previously is still ongoing and to be frank, my lovelies, I'm feeling pretty knackered 😴 On Tuesday, Orkney Aggregates rather unexpectedly delivered the other three bags of stone chippings we were waiting for, or to be more accurate, they had them delivered by a haulage company so I presume they are still having issues with their crane lorry.

We finished laying them in the "utility" area later that day, and then yesterday got them down along the path behind the craft/store room.  It was a tad tricky along there as the wheelbarrow wouldn't fit past the drainpipe, and Adrian just didn't have the heart to dismantle it.  So he shovelled the chippings into a very sturdy old galvanised metal bucket (we've had it for years ~ I found it one day when I was walking the dogs!), wheeled said bucket round to the back garden, then walked along the path to tip them out!  It was a bit time-consuming, the midges were biting, and every so often we were "treated" to a little rain shower, but we got there in the end.  Plus we got the task finished just as it started to rain somewhat more seriously!

That's the more difficult areas done, thank goodness.  We're now having a little break from stone chippings to build some flat-packed wardrobes for our bedroom ~ oh what joy 😒  

In other garden-related news, I thought it was about time I showed you what was happening in the greenhouse.

I know that you wouldn't expect anything else from me, but I'm a teensy wee bit behind with these photos as per usual 😉  I'm not sure exactly when I took the previous greenhouse photos I shared with you, but I believe these were taken early in July.

All the greenhouse crops were very slow to get going, although they were all very much happier once I'd repotted them...

...and the cucumbers soon started to flower and develop cute little fruit.

Fast forward a few more weeks and I think the greenhouse could very aptly be described as decidedly "jungly"!

So much so that the tomatoes are making a bid for freedom 😄  The plants have lots of flowers and fruit are finally starting to appear. 

It's taken quite some time but flowers are starting to appear on the sweet pepper plants.

The cucumbers are also doing well, and are a fair bit bigger now than they were when I took this photo.

I try to remember to bend leaves down to rest the lower-growing cucumbers on, so that they don't touch the compost.

I find this helps to keep the fruit dry and stops it from rotting.

And just to prove that I am indeed behind with my photos, here are the first of this year's cucumber harvest that I picked yesterday 😊

Toing and froing

As I've mentioned previously this years Great Garden Tidy Up has me jumping between the front and back gardens, like some kind of demented kangaroo 😏

I managed to get this remaining area in the back garden tidied up before we made a start on yet another Big Job 😲  I did have three rhubarb plants in this bed at one time but only one variety, Fulton's Strawberry Surprise, survived.  After I'd tidied the bed, I moved this lone survivor into the kitchen garden.

Yes, I did indeed decide to move the escallonia 😄 I gave its roots a good dust with mycorrhizal fungi ~ why does the wind always seem to pick up when I use that stuff??? ~ and added a good sprinkling of chicken manure pellets to the soil when I planted it in it's new home.  Then it had a good watering, a light trim, and I finally topped it off with a layer of bark chippings.  Escallonia are pretty tough shrubs so I'm fairly optimistic about it's chances.  

I thought I'd give you a close-up of what has, thus far at least, been a very successful replanting story.  I've probably told you before, my lovelies, that I bought this bay tree a number of years ago from the potted herb range in Tesco's vegetable section.  It was in a largish pot in our old back garden, next to the garden shed, and I was pleasantly surprised that it lived and actually grew to be honest!  However it was starting to look rather unhappy in said pot, so I decided to take a chance and plant it here when we re-made this bed.  It had developed something of a "lean" when it was in the pot, hence the tree stake supporting it.  The bed is somewhat sheltered by the kitchen and the bay tree is obviously very settled and happy here.  It continues to put on new growth which is very pleasing to see, although I do keep it lightly trimmed as I don't want it to ever reach it's full potential of 8m ~ even if it is very slow-growing!  

As I said earlier, I moved the rhubarb into the kitchen garden.  It's now living in a designated "rhubarb bed", along with a couple of newly-bought companions: Goliath and Timperley Early.  No doubt I shall have to move one of them if they all thrive but I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it 😉

I'm pleased to report that there has been a teensy wee bit of improvement with the French beans in this bed since the last photos I took...

...likewise with the celery.  I was pleased to see the carrots have finally germinated, too ~ as have the bloody weeds 😒

Here's the Big Job referred to above, putting down more stone chippings in the "utility area" in the back garden.  Two of the four bags we'd ordered were delivered last Friday (the company had some issues with their crane lorry), and by the end of Sunday one bag had been completely emptied and the second was a good three-quarters empty.  We rather underestimated how much we would need, so Adrian phoned Orkney Aggregates yesterday to add an extra bag to the two we are still waiting for!  Adrian shovels the stones out of the bag and wheelbarrows them to where we need them, but even though I'm only raking the stones into place I must confess that I still find it pretty tiring ~ and my back doesn't like it much either!  Still, hopefully after the next three bags have been delivered, we won't have to do this again ~ fingers crossed 🤞