Shopping

We popped to our favourite garden centre for a walk about, I was surprised to see so much Christmas stock left in their sale, I have been looking for lights which are timed, stay on for 6 hours and off for 18, all four packs have this feature and were half price, so £10.50 for 4 sets. I love lights at Christmas time, but hate having to go around and turn them off, these are for inside my tealight holders.

 

Our cats are digging, as they do, in our long side flower bed and often flicking soil onto the slabs, this edging should stop the soil and look good, can't put it out yet, the ground is hard. It's plastic, but we preferred this design, the metal ones were straight tops. 

We did look at plants, 2 lupins and an Alcea, which is a hollyhock, 3 for £10, these are in the greenhouse to allow the plants to grow, it's not worth trying to put small lupins into the ground the slugs love the young growth, so all three will hopefully be double the size before I plant them. The primula fell into my basket, just because it was so pretty. 

I got a small plastic greenhouse for inside my big greenhouse, I want to start seeds as early as I can without heating the greenhouse, so I hope to be able to warm the inside and use it for propagation. I hope to heat the inside with a candle and a clay pot, and taking any warmth from when the sun shines, I will firstly pop the container of soil in there. I had these type of greenhouse years ago, if cared for they can last for years, and I will have a few more shelves in the greenhouse. 

I have finished my socks, a nice easy project for the dark evenings, I am enjoying knitting in 3ply, the socks are small so even with the extra stitches, it's still a quick project. I do have to search online for 3ply, I can't get any colours locally, I do have a couple more 3ply yarns, but I really don't need anymore socks. I do love the colours in this pair, very different for me, and no colour matching, plus only two strands to sew in on each sock. 

I did not spend my birthday money, I would like to get get something special with it rather than plants, all the spend has been added to my stash spend list, I am keeping it going, it's interesting for me to look back on. I have been looking at when things were purchased or done in the garden and have started a list, so we can judge if something is working and good value. 

It's very cold here for us, Tuesday it was -9° when we got up, the days are bright sunshine, I have been outside most days, not for long, just pottering and watching, working with our new layout. My rhubarb is shooting, which is pleasing the plant has settled in well, can't harvest any this first year, but something to look forward to next year. The broad beans are tall and holding well through this cold spell, I have propped the bigger stems, we are looking forward to a small harvest. 

There was alot of discussion on our local news regarding our overnight weather, there was a low coming along the English Channel, would it come north enough to find land, if so where it came in contact with the colder air from the north, we could wake up to snow, well this morning we are all clear, just really cold, a mere -4°.