Lilly

 Hope you are finding a lovely shady spot to spend your day out of all the sunshine, I have plenty of small trees to rest under here, this one stays in the shade until mid afternoon, I can watch the whole garden. I can lay here in the front or hide behind the lobelia.

I still love a box or bag, here I was checking out her compost bags, she only popped them down for a few seconds, which is enough for me, she did pack them away when she saw me inside, apparently they are not safe for me.

The little people who played with me when I was a kitten came to play, I remember them, they are kind to me, so I came and played with them, we all had fun, afterwards I stayed and watched them play, this is another shady spot.

He got me this cool mat, it's a bit small he did not check the size before getting it, he had to rip the box to get it open, so he can't return it, as you can see I'm cool enough laying on the wooden floors, here by the open patio door. They have sent the mat for my mum to use, she lives with their daughter and only has carpets to lay on. 

They have stopped locking the cat flap, I can stay out as long as I like, which is good as I like to play outside later into the night. They got me a new covered litter tray for outside, which I did not like, so I am using the soil in her empty potato bag, she does like to pick up after me each day, she has strung nets all around her veg beds to keep me out, I am beginning to understand the rules of the house and garden.

She still shouts at me, now I like to chase butterflies, if I catch one she chases me away and the butterfly escapes, she also stops me chasing bee's, I don't like the big birds, woodpigeons scare me they are too big, the little birds are just too quick for me. I've stopped walking along the top of the fence, I did for a while enjoy the dogs in the nice ladies garden next door barking at me, knowing I was safe.

Right it time for my nap, just need to choose my spot.

Are you lucky!

 George loves football, here at home with his goal, playing with Molly. Mummy told me a heartwarming event at school on Friday, at playtime George ran over to some junior boys playing football, they stopped to ensure George was not hurt, then they played with him, passing the ball to him and letting him score a goal, this lasted for ages. It was witnessed by his 1to1 helper, she told their teacher, who told the head and each child was given a school award for their actions. George was so happy, as was all other adults, children have no preconceptions about anyone, kindness is their natural setting.

Another book finished, this author always has a gental storyline, full of did they? and a twist I did not see coming, she loves normal people being put into situations, her endings are not always all wrapped up and solved, which I love. Book 50 read this year.

After the rain, the garden is looking good, we had steady rain for hours on Saturday, perfect for the garden, the ground is now quite wet.

Friday was a bit of a lost day for me, I was tired all day, I had nothing much to do so I sat and read, I am trying to put my phone away, I have wasted loads of time scrolling. I did pop to daughters to help with bath and bed time, all three are really good at going to bed. Saturday hubby was out most of the day, I managed a quick clean of the house, just a dust and vacuum, it was muggy and cloudy most of the day, I did wonder outside but just for a look and pick my first runner beans. I should get some tomatoes soon. I am hoping we get more of the promised rain in the coming days, the ground still needs more water, we are away in Somerset early next week, so I can relax if we are having a few wet days.

I am cross with a friend who is put out because I can't do a day trip with her, I have a busy few weeks ahead, it was a last moment deal she could afford, normally on these trips I get to pick up bills for extras, coffee and lunch. She is not happy, I am going to Somerset next week, it's been planned for ages, in the past I have changed the dates but with Lilly in cattery it's not so simple now. Then being told I'm lucky I can afford more really grates, hubby and I both have extra pensions, which we paid into for years, we struggled and brought a house, so yes we do live rent free, we also ensured we had no debt once retired. But that's not luck it was hard choices, ones we planned and worked on to ensure we were not struggling now, and I know not everyone gets those choices, but moaning at anyone when they have worked hard for their lifestyle makes me so irrate. This friend had enough from her divorce to purchase a flat, instead she rented and spent the money, it ran out a few years ago.

Most people are not lucky they have been hard working all their lives, sadly I have heard far too many times we are 'lucky' This comes as we struggle to understand hubby's brother, his wife suddenly passed away a huge shock as she was the youngest of us all, brother told his siblings he had no money for a funeral, they had always lived a slightly lavish lifestyle so we assumed they had savings, the family decided to pay for a simple funeral, he took their money and has now planned a hugely expensive funeral, hubby's oldest sister has told him not to ask for more money, sadly he is not saying much to the family, again choices, maybe I am missing something, but still I am not lucky.

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.

Too hot

 I searched out some old plastic nets, they have not been used for a few years, a perfect solution for the greenhouse. I managed to clip them to the frame, in previous years our Magnolia tree shaded the greenhouse, we had it cut back last year, whilst it shades the veg beds in the mornings, it no longer reaches the back of the garden. It does not look too bad and the temperature inside has dropped.

I was surprised to receive a message on Wednesday, my new hotbin was out for delivery, so I swept the area behind the garage, it fitted into the space, I put all the bits from my two tubs and the bag of plant material which came with it inside. I will continue to fill the new bin to enable it to heat up and start working.

It's begonia time of year, I have 4 different plants plus bedding plants, I love these blooms which keep coming until the end of summer and beyond if it stays warm. These will return every year, which makes them a great plant to have, the bedding plants in the chimney will return if our winter is not to cold, they can survive in well drained pots. 

The garden is starting to suffer from all the heat, most flower beds get shade at some point in the day, the square garden is in the sunniest spot, with my trees either side and all the overgrown vegetation behind the fence, it's a very dry garden. Just a few flowers hanging in, still loads of colour about.

My newest plant is doing well, I love these tiny flowers, it's a gaura I now have two plants, this is the bigger plant, 

My hosta leaves have been munched, there are 5 flower stalks on this one, I love the pale shades, both plants flowered this summer, which is good as I transplanted them into this tub.

I have agapanthus in different spots in the garden all from the same original plant, these are looking good. I am very pleased with the ones in the corner beside the raspberries, they are in a pot and fill the space. 

Nothing much is happening here, watching tennis is the main theme, both hubby and I are enjoying the matches, the ladies draw is wide open, two very different semi finals. The men's draw is getting very interesting, I have everything crossed Sinner will dispatch Djokovic in the semi's, he is playing so very well. I would love Alcaraz to win, but I think Sinner will beat him in the final, Fritz is playing well, I can't see him in the final. 

The heat has brought us inside again, I am not reading much, I do have some sewing to start, hopefully next week I will have time to get it done. I am watering every day whilst we can, Southern water is already talking about a possible hosepipe ban, locally different originations are asking questions about the huge amount of water lost in leaks, Southern water is  as always ducking the questions.

I started to write about way we as a country are heading, GDP down again, doctors due to strike again and more, it's just too depressing, I will stay at home and ignore as much as I can. 

Getting things done

 My lovely astilbe was not doing well in the square bed, so I decided it was time to move a few plants, I dug out my red rose and put it in a pot, the astilbe I put in its place, it grew well in this bed before and will look good with all the fleabane daisies. I popped another shrub in the vacant hole in the square bed, it's got plenty of room to grow. After all the recent rain it's beginning to show signs of new growth.

 I have a composting issue, my hotbin is working, but since I have my veg beds, I have times more often when I have stuff waiting to go in. If it rains it all gets messy. I love my hotbin as it breaks everything down much quicker into compost with no smells or flies. I have ordered a second bin, expensive but useful, with all the issues with rats, it's a good option.

I've changed the small fences on my one of my raised veg bed, they are metal wrapped with plastic, they do look nice and should last longer, I really did not want to add more plastic in the garden, but prices dictated these were for me, I require 6 for each bed they do look good from our seating area. I have wrapped the bed in netting to stop our cat and others using the veg beds as a toilet. I will do the second bed in the coming days.

Apologies to anyone who has seen this post before, I published it in error on Monday, I often start a couple of post together on different subjects, I've never posted the wrong one before.

Molly helped me in the garden yesterday and was very helpful with my harvest, eating the raspberries and blueberries. I cut a cabbage and cauliflower for tea, and we dug out a potato bag, they were small as I expected, the other bag I will leave for a few more weeks, she was so happy telling me 'we are tato farmers'. I was overjoyed later to hear her tell her mum, 'did you know tatos grown in soil'.

I am working outside, doing all the messy jobs, I am in the right frame of mind to get stuck into them, keeps me from thinking too much, it's also nice to get things sorted before the coming heat wave, the recent rain has topped up all my waterbuts. My new composter is due later this week, so I will be able to place it and empty my tubs of green waste, the area behind the garage is always in shade so I can get it sorted quickly.

We recently went out to a show 'Go your own way', the music of Fleetwood Mac, at our local venue, it had been booked for ages, the first half was definitely not to our taste, focusing on Stevie Nicks, not my favourite band member, the final half focused on Christine McVie, much nicer. The night was billed as their legacy rather than a tribute band, which gave them more licence to play around with the music. 

Weekend

Molly's graduation photo, it was identical to Georges day last year, if it works best not to change it when working with young ones. Molly was almost the youngest one there, she is four this month and happy to be going to school. 

Playing in the garden on Sunday with new badminton set, huge rackets which helped them hit the shuttlecock a few more times, this was before the huge rain storm which made us all rush inside. 

Will never wants to be in photo's and I always respect his wishes, Sunday was very different, at Capel Military show with mummy and Grancha (hubby), Will is army mad and is always reading and watching items ref WW2 and the modern army, studying all the equipment used. He was very hands on through the whole show ground.

This was shown back in February wearing his 8th birthday gifts. 

Living so close to this lovely family brings joy to my heart, watching them grow and become little people is such an honour, daughter is a great mum, she allows them freedom to be themselves, they bring laughter to our home with every visit.

Molly starting school this September means we will see less of her, missing cake and drinks mornings, with a look at local shops, this past year we have seen less of George, he is still a nana's boy and will always come to me for cuddles and chatter. 

Family has always been everything to me, growing up with 8 siblings, we were all close and when anything happens we always close ranks together, it's the same with hubby's family as they go through these coming weeks. 

July already?

 I did finish The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling,  all 568 pages, what to say, the spiel on the back cover oversold it in my opinion,  1st book of hers which I didn't really enjoy. Book 47 read this year.

This is the second title by this author, I really enjoyed her first book, if was quirky and fun, very improbable and a great read. This title is as good as her first book, another improbable story which starts with 'I know I'm dead', I could not put it down, it's already been passed on to daughter. Book 48 read this year.

We had a lovely summer roast on Sunday, all the veg was home grown, with roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. It's the simple things which give me the greatest pleasure, they tasted good as well, better than any purchased veg, even the mint grown here in a pot.

The first of my zinnias have started flowering in the bags I have for cut flowers, it did feel very strange to cut all the blooms, normally I resist cutting anything from my garden, one lot of my sweet peas look as if they are going over, the second tub is now flowering. Only another small bunch, I'm so pleased to have flowers next to my inside chair. 

Just a couple of flower photos, we gave away the children's small bench which always sat by our patio doors, this pot is not new, it does look good here. The boots belonged to hubby, he wore them as part of his motorcycle gear, he was going to pass them on, I nicked them, planted them, each plant should tumble down over the boot.

Thank you for your comment about my ripped nail, I did put it in my last post a bit tongue in cheek, seams we are a group of danger gardeners, it's OK, just a bit tender at the rip point. 

Sunday afternoon we caught up with some Glastonbury, watching Lewis Capaldi and then Rod Stewart live, so pleased to see Lewis back on the stage, I was devastated to watch his breakdown last time he appeared, Rod, whist like so many is showing his age, his voice has changed, he looked tired to me, I found his set disappointing. I had hoped to watch Neil Young, but he restricted the BBC coverage, something he had done many times, I have loved his music since my brother shared his first album, back in the 70's, I had hoped when he changed his mind to appear, a deal was done to see him on TV.

Monday afternoon was spent watching the opening match at Wimbledon, which was not as I expected, neither player could hold on to their good game, it did have brilliant moments, but at times was very frustrating to watch. Tuesday was far too hot, I spend the daytime reading and watching tennis,  Djokovic annoyed me, he always does, I've never warmed to him. Wednesday we woke up to rain, enough to keep me happy, a dull grey morning. 

We had had some devastating family news, life can change so quickly.

Weeds

 Dave has been talking about weeds on his blog, Northsider, he has a lovely organic growing space, it's hard work, he grows all his veg and propagate plants to sell, it's somewhere I would love, it would be my hubby's nightmare. 

Dave asked me to show my fake grass paths around the raised beds, if you remember almost 2 years ago hubby made 2 raised beds, which we placed on our back section of our fake lawn, you can see the whole post here. After placing the beds, we cut away the grass and dug out back to the soil, 

They have been a huge success for me, I manage a small veg harvest, each bed is 200cm x 100cm, the size was decided on the space we had, taking the width of our lawn, less the width of 2 paths, roughly 2 meters, therefore making 2 x 1 meter beds.

There is never enough room, I have a raspberry bed, with my blueberries in a tub in the middle, in another bed I have a strawberry tower, with rhubarb and a gooseberry bush. I have loads of buckets and round bags, which allows more summer veg.

I am always on the lookout for weeds, with 6foot fences around our garden, they help keep weeds out, I try and grow as much as I can from self sown seeds, I have more weeds in my flower beds, I often purchase plants and weeds are arrive in those pots. I am outside every day, so as soon as I see a weed I pull it, I know birds drop seeds, I have found a couple flowering plants which I have not planted. 

With my green paths, I get very few weeds, nothing in the middle, only ever along the decking boards of the raised beds, I pull them whilst they are tiny before the roots get too huge, I don't add weeds to my compost bin, and if I purchase any compost I try and use good brands, I'm using Westlands at the moment.

We have lived here 16 years, it is a small space, easy to maintain, my different beds have been well looked after, the redesigned garden added 3 beds, 2 veg and 1 flower all at the back of our old lawn, hubby built them, I filled them with quality soil, again I'm in control.

I grew up in Somerset, one of 9 children, dad had a huge back garden all full of veg, I understand neat rows, the ability to hoe around the plants, always working to ensure everything grew well, my older brother Mel also loved the veg garden, sadly I don't have any photo's, I have asked my sister to send me copies, she has all mums photo albums, sadly she will ignore my request, I'm visiting soon, maybe she will let me look through them.

The one plant I have introduced is a creeping buttercup, only in the back fruit bed infront of the greenhouse, it was a mistake, I am pulling up runners in hope I can stop it spreading too much, I do love the tiny yellow flowers. The heat has stopped us doing much, so a bit boring here at mo.