New outlooks

 The new doors are on, the contractor was a local independent guy, who came recommended and did an outstanding job. The floor has been laid, we used gym floor tiles, deciding on grey rather than black, and purchased a bigger outside plastic rug for on top, which will arrive soon, both doors open outwards to keep the usable space inside.

The view looking out is much nicer, the old up and over garage door caused a huge shadow, I can still see flowers growing. For once I feel this is a proper patio.

Hubby popped up two shelves each side, allowing us to have a few bits out of the way. I got a few more silly signs, hubby knows how I like things to look finished. I've not had any input on his side, he got a small bathroom cabinet, I prefer my hamper, which has blankets in and the huge jar with a wooden tray as the table top. 

I hung my sunhat here as well, more convenient, handy should I want to wear it. I have suggested hubby hangs one of his in here on his side. My lovely trug is hanging here, it is beautiful, sadly I don't use it much, I have another I use, so often it has been in the way, here I can see it. The signs are hung straight, the angle of my photo makes them look off, most of these I have had for years.

The view from our seating area has improved so much, this left hand side of the garden is now truly part of the garden, removing the metal door makes the building look less like a workshop and more for leisure use. For now we are using my tubs for door stops, I did see some lovely wooden ones at £100 each, hubby has some nice wood, he will try and make them for me.

So now we have our sunroom, it faces to the sun most of the day, so on cooler sunny days this will be a perfect spot, on hot sunny days we can sit further back in the shade, on windy days we are completely sheltered. The first night it was finished we shared a bottle of Hawkstone cider and sat out until 8pm, it's been a perfect project for us both, it does feel good to have another space we can sit in, these days I prefer to be at home, and no matter what the weather is like we can be 'outside'.

I have promised hubby there is now NOTHING big left to do (fingers crossed) I truly have nothing I want to change, our garden is a perfect space for both of us. He has said he will paint the board just under the roof felt, the new doors make it look grubby.

The children's garden toys are all handy, hanging all the bats and balls up in the front corner works well, I have shown George we do not store the toys in the same place, hopefully he understands and will stay out of the back section, Molly already understands. 

Shades of green

The garden is looking good, I do like to see the structures in place in the veg beds, it all feels productive, In the flower beds I still have a few gaps after planting most of my young new plants, I am waiting to see what does come back, I have lupins growing which aren't ready yet, they are taking their time to grow. I do love all the different shades of green everywhere.

This raised bed is for lettuce and small salad bits, its easy to get at, I only cut leaves never the whole plant as they will keep growing. I have started a tub of mixed leaves as well. I have edged the sides with copper mesh to keep the snails away, the cover is rustic, it keeps out pigeons and Lilly. I cut the lower leaves which my neighbours chickens had as a treat.

My peanuts are doing well inside my greenhouse, I have very few plants left inside, even with the net curtain up for shade, the temperature inside has been baking. I did offer my spare 5 seedlings on marketplace, sadly no takers. I reset my thermometer inside the greenhouse on Sunday, the highest reading was 40.8° and the lowest 14.3°, I never shut the door in the warmer months.

A tale of love, obsession and beliefs, you meet the love of your life, she teaches you so much, she is a bit strange and then after 4 months together she disappears, what do you do, search for her even if her past is so secretive. A fanciful topic, a good story, I enjoyed the ending as it left you with questions. Book 35 read this year.

I have picked a couple of cucumbers, I'm not waiting until they are fully grown, I'm hopeful it will help the plant stay strong, we have tiny green tomatoes, all planted outside in a raised bed. We have been eating lettuce for a while and enjoyed our first new potatoes. I am going to pick broad beans soon. I did purchase 20 nice strong french marigolds from Tesco to add to veg beds, after a good soak they were planted later in the evening. 

I have watered the fruit and veg beds every night, as well as pots with flowers in, this heat is harsh on our plants, so many not used to dry weather, my water butt levels are dropping, not much I can do about it, I never refill with tap water, once they are empty, that's it. My latest small water butt is working well the water inside has liquid seaweed added, so much easier for me, just to pour some when needed, its tucked behind the garage so in the shade.

I have not been out much this week, I prefer to stay at home, I did pop to Lidl on Monday for a top-up shop, I've not walked to the village or the park, I get no joy being out in this heat. It got very muggy on Thursday afternoon, we had a few spots of rain, daughter was at a local beach and got soaked, we stayed dry.

Today we are back inside the garage the final bit of our refurb, we had the new doors fitted yesterday, it's all coming together.

I'm not going to say it...

 We are sitting out this heat wave, I do a bit of gardening first thing, I water later in the evenings, I have a lance on my hose, its a longer pole with spray at the end, allows me to water the base of plants without bending, this is when I am most grateful for a small garden. These roses are stunning, they change colour as they open, I cut it back last year so the flowers are lower. They hide the gap between the fence and garage, by the end of the summer they will reach the top of the fence.

I adore this bed, just 3 years old, these fleabane daisies are a froth of colour, the aquilegia behind are new this year, four plants, I'm happy if they propagate and I have loads more, my snowberry plants (2) are slowly growing and will fill out in time, my astilbe is in the middle and should shoot up soon.

I love pots you can give plants the correct environment to grow, Kirts grass hair is better than I imagined, I do like to have a few pots displayed together. Just a few of the pretty flowers here in our garden.

I will trim our olive tree, its full of blossom and getting bigger than we want, another tree we both love, we have had this tree since 2019, I feed it once a year and clip it often.

Another loved plant is my pomegranate, I started a seed way back in 2017, its been in this pot since 2022, it was moved to behind our seating last year, I've stopped clipping it and would like it to grow higher, its not a tree. I do have herbs in pots at both ends of the seating area.

I have been careful when purchasing new plants to remove weeds from pots before planting, I also prefer to grow from seed, which helps keep weeds at bay, so I don't have too bigger issue. I am pulling the buttercups from my back fruit bed, they are taking over, lesson learnt, they need space. In my side bed I have meadow rue, it's a pretty low green ground cover, all through the summer I am pulling it out, it spreads by root and can be a thug, I do like it around my big herb pot.

We did not see daughter and little ones on Tuesday, they stayed home, where they could play inside in the cool, George was going to have a sleepover, but he's not sleeping well, so we postponed it, whilst sad not to see them, we understand their welfare is always most important. I found sitting outside under the parasol with the slight breeze best, the morning temperature was 29°, as it got hotter we later went back inside.

Lack of

Energy, 

I've not done much sewing, the heat makes me tired in the evenings, that's when I make mistakes, I've not touched my knitting or read much, I find myself often sat watching wildlife, we are not sitting inside so much. I have been working on the left side, it's simple stitching, where I can see immediately if I have miscounted. 

I did manage to get into the kitchen and do some baking, cheese straws with tomato puree, bacon and cheese wraps using one pack of puff pastry, a no pastry quiche. I also made a few fruit scones, I had already purchased clotted cream. Hubby loves to bake so it's not often I get the chance, Will loves the cheese and bacon wraps, both daughter and I love my quiche, so everyone ate well, all savouries had cheese in so not for hubby, he got a couple of his favourite pasties.

We all love a freebie, these potatoes grew in my raised bed, I did not plant any this season, one must have been missed from last year, perfect in this hot weather. I still have 4 bags still growing, and some more sprouting potatoes to go in. 

Cute photos, scary how grown up George is now looking, Molly is not far behind.

Nothing much doing in the garden, I have planted my two tomato plants in a raised bed, along with my cucumber, my peas are soaked and in the ground. We are eating lettuce, our 1st cucumber and a strawberry, broad beans will be ready to pick soon. I have put a net up in the greenhouse, the shade does help with temperature inside.

Sunday was so very hot, the little ones spent most of their time playing on the sunroom floor ( I know it's a posh name for the garage space), they were very happy and out of the sunshine.  We vetoed a BBQ, just too hot, so the little ones had nibbles and we had salad with loads of sides, we will be eating leftovers for days to come. For us a perfect family day.

Monday daughter stayed home so children could play inside, hubby was out in afternoon, so I had a quiet day, mainly inside keeping cool. Tomorrow we are having daughter and little ones, they asked to come again, we won't do a BBQ, just too hot, we plan to have a main meal here so daughter does not need to cook later. Wednesday they are with Grandpa and Grandma, half term is a great week for them, both the little ones were tired so a restful week is perfect.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post, our new sunroom is being used and enjoyed daily.