Growing

I am growing very little from seed, the lupins were half price and half dead from B&Q, I love bringing them back to life. The dahlia seedlings were gifted to me, cosmos were raised from seed, but just a few.

 My French Marigolds, are raised from seed, sown into these baskets, I am hoping for a tower of orange again this summer. I have not planted the top basket, just too tiny. I will thin out the top basket.

 I am hardening off this geranium, it will go into the center of my new raised bed.

 I have loads of different bulbs in here and a few bedding plants, the cages are to stop cats digging it all out. I also have a couple of rooted cuttings from last years coleus plants to pop in here.

 My peony has 9 buds again this year, I know I show this every year, but this plant is very special to me. There is still sawdust on the garden.

 Outside my greenhouse, this is a cutting from my peony left in a pot to gain size, it is destined for my brothers garden, behind is a pot of lilies, hubby does not like their smell, so I grow them at my end of the garden.

 I have just one more plant for in here, it's a Japanese blood grass, I got 2 plants via Suttons postal service, very expensive for small plants, they are together in one pot in my greenhouse. The heuchera, palace purple were chosen to blend with my acer. I can't wait for these plants in my Butlers sink to grow. 

 My 50p tomato plant from B&Q is a great size, so I have planted it in it's final position, just infront of the greenhouse, the glass reflects heat and light into the plant. 

 I purchased 2 cucumber plants, they will stay in the greenhouse, I don't grow from seeds anymore, it's better value to buy plants, I'm the same with tomato plants. 

The plants are doing well, I love to see plants coming back to life as well as seeds germinating and growing.
I still ache from the hard work of the last week, but can't wait for warm days to return so we can enjoy our garden. My hands are sore and my wrist aches, so I am trying to rest.
My only worry is the lack of rain again, we did have 3 storms, very light and only lasting 10 minutes at the most, not enough to wet the ground, my water butts are empty, not the best way to begin the spring/summer period. The garden has had a good soak, but all the water came from my hose pipe.

We've been decked

Hubby spent a Monday lifting the old decking in front of our patio doors, this is a huge area. My 1st photo shows the area where our big heavy fruit pots sit, the decking was marked and the frame was rotten, so we decided we will make this top shaped end into a gravel garden. You can see how the old decking looked in this post here.
Tuesday he spent the day renewing all the rotted frame, ensuring everything is level, there is very little I can do with this job, I normally help pack away tools and sweep all the sawdust, and of course make the tea.
Wednesday hubby was out all day, so no work was done, I was pleased he had a restful day.
Thursday afternoon, he started replacing the long panels and I put the gravel into the top area for my fruit pots to sit on, this is the base for the slate, it's much cheaper than filling the whole area with slate. It will match my herb garden and hopefully look as if it's always been there.
Friday hubby finished the decking, a quick trip out to get the finishing items, slate for the fruit section, and a bedding plants for raised bed.
Moving the fruit pots have given us more seating space with our wooden table, we have extra chairs for this table, so it's now in a much better spot. The white metal table is back in the same spot, this will be hubbies next project, to clean and spray paint white.
I am loving the uncluttered look, my metal birds look good in their new home, all I have is a few items near the back door.
I have put all the bulbs from my pots into the raised bed by the back door, I have added a few bedding plants, but I'm waiting a couple more weeks before I fully plant it. We spent about £700, but got real value for money by doing all the work, I have not added any of the cost to my stash list, this was all done under our garden project spend.
We have just 3 full planks left, which we will keep, all the off cuts will be used in our wood burner on cool nights.
I just have a couple of pots to place, but nothing on the decking, my greenhouse is full, but it's OK, I can wait, even if my fingers are itching like mad to get things out.
PS, any time outside today, I'm keeping my clothes on, it is world naked gardening day, but it's far too cold to even take off my jumper!!!

Stash

Sock yarn for hubby

 Sock yarn for me

 Christmas socks for both of us. 

 Chunky yarn for a small jacket.

I loved this book, I needed to read a light novel.

Tuesday I went out for coffee with the sign class ladies, it was Shelia's birthday, so we decided to skip class and enjoy a social time.
Wednesday, hubby was out all day, so I decided to sort my yarn stash, see what I have and plan my knitting. I have yarn for another 5 pairs for him, plus 5 pairs for me, and a matching pair of Christmas socks for both of us. Plus leftover yarn to make scrap socks and some more granny squares.
I had started knitting a pair of socks for hubby, but everything looked wrong, and on checking I was using 3ply on my 4ply pattern, so it's unpicked and packed away, I started my 1st Christmas socks.
The only full size garment I have yarn for is a Aran weight jacket, for use at home when the winter comes back ( I have everything crossed it's really now spring).
I should look at my material stash, but it's alot larger than my yarn, that's for another day.
After a bit of housework, I was able to spend time reading, this book was fun to read, I have to find my next book, I still have a pile of unread books.
Thursday, hubby was out in the morning, so I went outside in garden, we had a delivery of gravel, so I carried it to the new fruit bed, making the base for the huge pots to stand on. Hubby worked on the decking in the afternoon, finishing most of the work, photo's next time.
This morning we are out and about for a few items to finish the garden, and a quick visit to Asda, in the hope we will avoid all shops over the longer weekend.
Needless to say, all the rain yesterday missed us, we had dark skies last night but the rain fell elsewhere.

Another finish

I started with a bag of left over yarn from my big ripple blanket, now all I have left is the black and white yarn.

It's a good size for a lap blanket, and was fun to make, and cost me not a extra penny, I used every bit of my coloured yarns, using each to the last few inches, when you look close up, you can see I changed colour mid way through a round, I wanted this to be messy, random, it's a scrap blanket. The only design I decided from the beginning was to use most of the white for a bigger boarder, and one complete black round to finish, therefore I could use all the yarn, even the smaller lengths, I felt really rewarding not to have any waste. I made an oblong center, which still does not look right, but for my 1st attempt, I'm happy, it makes a good sized blanket.
My final photo, shows my scrap blanket on top of the ripple blanket on my spare bed, I love the shades, they are all from the 4ply Stylecraft range, 100% Acrylic.
My only worry is too much crochet in my home, if any of you watch Gogglebox on Friday evenings, there is one house which has every type of crochet in all colours in their busy sitting room.
I am going to make a pink ripple cot blanket soon, it will be nice to use pink, my hairdresser has just found out she is having a girl.