July roundup

Nothing on craft, I'm still not doing much, and very little on gardening, mainly rose and tomato feeds, the latter in the B&M garden sale. It would be foolish to plant too much new stuff in this heatwave, I'm struggling to keep what I already have. 

8 Books read this month.

I took the car out on Sunday, suddenly it was making a loud noise, I was sure it was the exhaust, drove straight home, hubby confirmed my thoughts, its fixed now, new back exhaust, not too expensive. Two new chairs for the sunroom and some softer mats, so another expensive month, hubby wanted it all finished, he does not like doing a half job.

We have very little food waste, most goes into the compost bins, the small remaining bits go into the council waste bin, we are shopping for fresh bits little and often, rather than bigger amounts, ensuring things get used up. Sadly not much harvest from the garden, this drought is killing our growing season.

Here in our spot along the south coast, we have had no rain in July, I know locally a few gardener friends have had rain, and nothing due in the coming week.

Overshoot day

 Earth overshoot day is today 30th July, it's the day when humans have used all the renewable resources produced in a year, everything else we use won't be naturally replaced, many countries are working to rectify this, many are not. 

The UK's overshoot day was May 14th,

 we are using resources twice as fast as they are produced.

I post this every year, it's something to be very mindful of, our world is changing, so many wild fires here in UK and across Europe, there is one burning to the north of Valencia, very close to the scientific parks, a place we have visited many times, our Spanish friends and their families are all safe. With little rain and high temperatures due this week, it's a huge worry for everyone, I can not imagine the hell for all the firefighters works so hard.

Climate change is a real issue, we all know it, we can try to ensure we live a cleaner life, support local farmers, we try and eat seasonal foods, stop purchasing 'fresh' fruit and veg shipped around the world. Our throw away world is unsustainable, most of you already know this, we don't follow trends and the 'latest must have', here things are repaired and used again.  

I'm not an eco-warrior, just a mum and nana who would love a clean world for her daughters and grandchildren to grow up in., and whilst so many governments are not doing enough, we can and should each do our bit.  

Just another week

 Yet another great plot, after a split with his wife, he leaves his life in London for his home town, with his young son, his life improves to a new high. Around him people are scared, there's a serial killer locally. Book 50 read this year.

What do you do when you find your husband dead, she already has had enough of his affairs and lies, this tale is a woman escaping from his clutches, a nice twist helps, not my normal read, still enjoyable. Book 51 read this year.

This book started good, a clever plot, spread over hours not days, it held up well, sadly the end came suddenly, plausible, unexpected, almost as if the author could not decide on a better ending, I did enjoy most of it. Book 52 read this year.

This is an end of a era, we still use some cash in the village, we get so few coins to save, so we decided to stop using our two main containers, the cow always had £2 coins in, plus any notes given to us as gifts, the german beer bottle held every other coin, we have used it for over 25 years. I emptied the bottle and bagged the coins, the children can use them in the arcades when we are on holiday next month. 

I popped online and found these plants supports, they are very sturdy, I got them from B&Q, on their home delivery, 2 are a perfect size for my agapanthus, 2 more will require the height reduced for my peony and the hydrangea, I will have one spare,  I'm thinking I could grow french beans next year and use it as a support. I am still having a low spend month, which could change if we popped to our favourite garden centre. 

I have not done any cross stitch, it's just too hot to concentrate and it's so easy to be just one stitch out, I have been finding a few things for Molly and myself to do on visits, she does love to craft, I recently gave Will a craft knife and cutting board, he is interested on making his own models and buildings. 

With so little to do in the garden, and no desire to go out in this relentless heat, I am reading loads, I have watched a couple videos on machine patchwork, I have an idea forming, there are so many different types of patchwork, I have loads of cotton fabrics and old pairs of jeans in my stash.

Friday I had a back massage with a well recomended lady, it was great, my left shoulder which always gives me issues now feels so much better, I have ongoing nerve damage and mobility issues, it's nice to have more movement. All my medical results have come back normal, so I don't have underling issues, but I still have issues, I have tablets I am to take every day, I don't, I take them only on days I eat known food triggers, it's helping, it's the best solution for me, allowing me to eat a wider range of foods, at some point I will have to take them daily, just not yet. 

Saturday as the day progressed it became windy, I closed the garden down early, Sunday morning was cloudy and really windy, by lunch time the blue skies were back, the wind stayed most of the day, no rain.

Thirsty

 The heat and sunshine has fried my veg section, these runner beans are so weak, they have started to climb the poles, I'm not expecting any harvest unless there is a huge change in the weather. 

My potatoes grown in bags have done well up to now, these last couple of bags look ropey, again I'm not expecting much.

My decision to grow cucumbers and tomatoes outside was a good one, we have had a few cucumbers, the plant is looking weak, the tomatoes are behind and not many fruits.

I do water and feed the fruit and veg gardens, this relentless heatwave is just killing off most things, even my fleabane daisies are looking a bit sad, my greenhouse is empty. I am using grey water from the house and being very careful with mains water use. My water buts are almost empty, I'm saving what small amount I have for plants which need rainwater.

We have asked a tree surgeon who we used before to pop in and hopefully remove loads of new growth from the Magnolia tree, and cut back the acer, we don't want to lose either.

My raspberries are growing, not as high as other years, we are picking blackberries, they are small and not very sweet, I have not had a second wave of strawberries. The grapevine is the only plant growing and enjoying the hot sunny days.

The last time we had rain was 10th June, the thunderstorms missed us in late June, the weather front due this weekend will fizzle out before it reaches the south coast, our fresh water supplier is Portsmouth Water, luckily for us, most of Hampshire is supplied by the terrible Southern Water (they remove our waste water) and are on a hosepipe ban. We again are due 30° plus temperatures in the coming week.

Normally I do enjoy watering the garden, it's nice to take time to check on plants, now when I do water I am watching the demise of so many plants, most should return next year. I am watching my collection of hellebores, they hate the heat, my hostas are all in the very shady spots. The main issues are how quickly the blooms are going over, the gladioli blooms just lasted a couple of days. It's  not a good year for the garden, I am deadheading the roses, they are still blooming.