Nice things

 I had another special delivery of fresh hens eggs, our neighbour brought them up and invited us to visit her now finished back garden, George was here so he took 2 home, mummy made him a omelette for his tea, we had ours as poached eggs on toast. 

I wanted a gift to take to neighbours house, this stunning red begonia fits the bill, the Osteospermum is for a gap in the side bed, and the Snow blizzard a cheeky extra, they were three for £12, it would have been rude not to.

As a member of my favourite garden centre, I took advantage of their half price seed selection this month and got these packs below, no veg as I already have loads from my recent subscription, and will get more in the coming year. I now have more than enough seeds to keep me happy. 

Another author I like and a good story, as with all good thrillers it starts with a murder scene, loads of people with reason to 'do it', she weaves a good plot, lovely twist just in the right place, I had guesses who done it, but she was clever and keep me guessing until almost the end, brilliant read. Book 49 read this year.

The rain on Tuesday was brilliant for the garden, we had 3 good showers, we popped to our favourite garden centre and was stuck in our car for ages due to a heavy passing storm. Daughter met us with Molly and George, so we had a drink, cake and a chat, George as usual won the heart of all the older ladies having their drinks in the café, he is a grandma/nana magnet, they love him. They went home with a dinosaur head hand puppet, loads of roars as they got into their car seats, daughter called later to ask, when could she hide them. 

Southern Water is starting a hosepipe ban on Monday, not too far away is a huge leak gallons gushing away, so many people not happy. My hubby just said the most wonderful words to me, our Southern Water bill is for waste, our water comes from Portsmouth water and they have not issued a hosepipe ban,  I'm over the moon, I thought it was the other way round.

Wednesday was a day at home, I've had a poorly tummy, bugs from George we think, he does like to share. Nothing much to do, the house is clean, other than deadheading the garden is tidy, I did sit in the shade for a couple of hours doing my New York Times puzzles. 

Today daughter and I are off to Ikea in Southampton, just for a look, neither of us needs anything big for our homes.

Mulch

 What to do on a hot sunny day, I checked my mulch bins, this is free brown goodness, all we do is shred our huge magnolia leaves and dump them in black dustbins, I have two, then forget about them. Each bin starts full and shrinks down, other than the initial cost of the bins, rest is a bit of work. I did get heavy duty black bins, hubby drilled holes about 2" from base, I put all wire rack in the bottom, much cleaner than black bin liners.

I spread about half of the bin on the bare patches in my square bed, protecting the transplanted plant in the middle , I did the same to my poorly Astilbe, it does not look well, I've not given up hope yet, it's been fed and I water daily. Gladiolas are beginning to bloom, I've got more than last year, but not as many as I planted.

I am not to bothered in getting the temperature on my hotbin composters up into the green section, my older bin hovers just below the premium range and still make great compost quickly.

When our local council stopped collecting our garden waste bags back in 2021 and proposed to charge us for collections from a wheelie bin, which we would need to purchase. We decided we did not want a third bin, so we purchased my first hotbin, a shredder and the two black dustbins, the money we saved covered the cost of the items in just over two years, and with the cost of my second hotbin, we have still made savings and I get brilliant compost and leaf mulch, I still need to buy more but I do like using my own. 

It's the way my dad ran his garden, the only thing he ever added was farmyard manure from our local farmer, he would deliver a load to the fence at the top of our garden, still in his field, dad and my brother brought it all into the garden, dad had a huge composting bays as well, nothing was wasted all reused back into the soil.

I have lovely memories of long neat rows of veg, living in the country gave us a huge garden, it was all veg beds, feeding us all was a huge job, seeing rows of peas, runnerbeans, carrots, potatoes and loads of other things, dad and my brother Mel were always working outside, Mel started to grow different veg to dad, bringing in modern things. They grew enough for mum to freeze or bottle loads to last through the winter months. 

I do feel blessed with so many happy childhood memories, it's not the case for everyone, we were neither rich or poor, my parents both in their own way gave us a happy childhood, rural Somerset was a wonderful place to grow up, so much freedom back then. It's my mums birthday today, she passed 20 years ago and is still missed.

We had twenty minutes of heavy rain at 6am this morning, I'm sure as I lay in bed I heard the collective sigh of local gardeners, knowing they could stay in bed and rest longer as the gardens were getting their drink naturally, we have had a second sharp short storm since, I'm pleased, water buts will be full.

How are you doing?

Let's start with the good, tomato plant outside is doing well, no ripe ones yet, I gave away few tomato plants to my neighbour, when I told her mine weren't red yet, she brought a bowl over, her plants are doing very well. My butternut squash has loads of flowers, I have already removed some. Runner beans in pot will soon give us our first harvest, the plants in my veg beds are full of flowers.

My beetroot will be pulled this week, the red leaf lettuce was purchased from the supermarket, I planted its root and it regrew, in my raised bed, I have another plant to go in here as well. My lettuce plants I cut are still giving, as is my cut leaf salad, I have radish and spring onions as well. My last bag of potatoes are going over, I will dig them for next weekend.

Inside the greenhouse my pepper plant is doing well, it's a bit behind, I was gifted it from a nice neighbour, my two basil plants in one pot are loving the heat. My tomato plants are really not doing well, I got a couple branded tomato grow bags, I have used these buckets with the grow bag inside for years, sadly this year they are struggling, I water everyday, I don't think it's the heat, maybe a compost failure.

Hubby helped me make a permanent solution to hanging my greenhouse nets, just a simple curtain wire, we had to cobble a hook at both ends as there was nowhere to place the required hook, these nets have made a huge improvement in lowering the temperature inside. I only need them on the one side which makes life much easier,  they also let the light through.

Almost everything is later than normal, which is not an issue for us, I'm not growing to feed us everyday, just not enough room, our harvests are more a nice treat a couple times a week. The fruits are doing well, we are picking blueberries, our raspberries and blackberries have loads of fruits forming. I am trying to root a blackberry runner, I would like for some to grow on the back fence, it's is a thornless one, the sun shines on our fence so most of runners and berries should stay on our side, the area behind our fence is a bit of waste garden behind our neighbours pub shed, he cuts it back once a year, so it should not be an issue in his garden.

Tennis is finished, the men's final was a good match with Sinner winning this time, he and Alcaraz will have loads of finals together in the coming years, they have between them won all 4 grand slams last year and the 3 so far this year, the last US grand slam is later this year. 

So now I have my afternoons and evenings back and I have plans, this week to make cushions, I have everything to hand, I do need to practice buttonholes on my machine, I really don't want to do any unpicking. I am trying to encourage daughter to go back to archery, she stopped going last year, she is unsure because it would mean me being at her house every Wednesday for bath and bedtime for the children, which I do enjoy.

Good random stuff

 I have the book I created for my older brother, I will visit him in his new placement later this month with my brother Martin, so far Martin has been unable to find many photo's in Derek's house, his wedding album has disappeared, family have sent me copies of photos to use. Derek has settled in better than we hoped, it is a secure place, but within the grounds there is plenty of freedom. He still wants to go home which is impossible for him, he is much stronger now he is eating better meals and taking his medication. 

Molly had her 4th birthday on Wednesday, hubby and I collected her from pre school, which she loved, back at her house, she opened our gift, it was dressing up as Elsa from Frozen, one of her favourite films, and birthday cake for everyone. Daughter always makes a collage of birthday photos. She is sharing a birthday venue on Sunday, her pre school friend's birthday was the same week, so a joint party.

We are not drinking enough water in the day, by the evening we start to drink more, which leads to nightly visits to the loo. Our water bottles are years old and needed replacing, daughter recommended these metal bottles, she purchases the same brand, George chews all his straws in his bottles, this brand sell the tops of their bottles separately. I am now filling ours each morning and we drink the contents, almost a litre by mid afternoon, the metal bodies keep the drink cold, a perfect solution. 

I had a surprise parcel arrive this week, hubby chose the design and made it to look like me (I wish), it's always lovely to get a surprise, I just have to decide where to hang it. 

Daughter sent us a copy of George's end of year school report we have often spoken on how he has grown in confidence, speaking more and showing determination, so to get a report mirroring our thoughts is wonderful. He loves going to school, most mornings rushing out of the house to see his friends. Daughter is extremely proud of him, he may have a disability, but it's not going to hold him back for long.

The tennis has been top quality games, we watched both men's semi finals on Friday and ladies final on Saturday, sadly a very one sided match, later today we will watch Sinner and Alcaraz battle it out. 

We were up early on Friday, went to Lidl before 9am, laundry on line by 10am, I cleaned our bedroom and shower room on Thursday evening, it was still too hot, but it's done. Saturday we had Will, George and Molly here, daughter sat and relaxed whilst they all played. Hubby and Will did boys/army things outside and Molly and I crafted inside, I got her a new stencil where she could sketch clothes and colour them in, George decided he wanted to dance, later I babysat whilst mummy had a night out, I watched the Live aid concert from 1985,  still wonderful to watch 40 years on.