My tidy space

It's taken many days, my greenhouse is now set out how I wanted it, these shelves have loads of cuttings, seeds and plants growing here on the top 2 shelves. The lower shelf is now storage. 

My cucumber plants are growing fast, I can almost watch them grow, this space is perfect for them to spread out. The table in the back corner my sister gifted me, it has 2 stools, one is being used else where, so the empty space has all my seed trays on.

In the middle back is my potting table, it's perfect here, plenty of space, and my tray is now empty, before it has always been full of plants, below is all my clay pots, everything to hand.

In this corner I have an Aeonium plant on the 2nd stool and a nastie pot in front, this is a good way to fill this small corner. 

I ordered 3 of these shelving units from Ikea, all galvanized and perfect for use in the greenhouse. I have popped a water membrane on the top level, this is to stop the glare from the sun. At under £10 each, not too expensive, I have room to add to my collection of nasties.   

We booked a man to collect all our garden waste, bags of soil, some of the frame from the raised bed, it's nice to see this area clear, but already I have a bag of spent compost from my 2 long pots, they have been reworked. My 2 tomato plants will now live here, they always do well, the sun bounces off the glass and helps ripen the fruits. The gooseberry bush has gone, I have put the 2nd tomato plant in the huge pot. 

I have also worked in my shed, loads of things have gone into the greenhouse, and all my ornaments are in the garden. I have a new folding chair hanging, which is for use at this bottom end of the garden. 

Suddenly I have loads of room in the greenhouse, loads of clear floor space and loads of bench space. My potting table is now ready for use, I have never wanted it in the shed, it's just too small in there. 

I cleaned the outside glass of the greenhouse, it looks like new, and is still in great condition. 

Next spring I will have room for loads of trays of bedding plants, this year I struggled, I do have my camping 2 level table I can put up if I need it, I can get 4 seed trays on it. 

I am exhausted but really happy, now I promise I have no big jobs left in the garden, I do have 1 small job for the autumn, hubby agrees it will be an improvement.  

Whilst I have been busy in my area, hubby has sanded one of our wooden garden chairs and stained making it look as good as new, it took 2 days but the chair does look nice. He has another chair, bench and table to do, we are not sure how old the set is, but it's well over 15 years. 

Things to make me smile

My sewing machine, I have owned a sewing machine since I was 12, my 1st was a second hand Singer, with a big wheel to turn in order to sew. I did consider a couple years ago of purchasing a machine which did loads of embroidery, it took me ages to decide against it, my love of sewing is putting fabrics together and creating items, so this simple machine performs all my requirements. 

Finally I got cucumber seeds to grow, I could not get plants locally, I found this potato sack in the back of my shed, perfect here with plenty of space for the plants to grow. I love this time of year, so many things growing, a promise of harvests, I love to have a seed and soil, and put them together and watch as things grow.

I am a bookworm, always have been, so it's no surprise I love a shelf of books, I have 5 here to read, the rest I've kept one book from authors I have enjoyed reading, I'm using Kindle more, not my favorite, I do like to hold a book, but needs must. 

This is my craft basket next to my chair, it is never empty, and normally I have a couple of projects in here. I very rarely I sit and watch TV, I have to be doing something, I have my blanket and a pair of socks on the go. I have enough in my stash to keep me going for ages, crafting is in my bones. 

The waterfront looking over to Portsmouth on the left, Gosport on the right and the sailing channel to The Solent in the middle, on a sunny day with the tide in, perfection. And only 15 minutes walk from our house, as good as any holiday location, we are so lucky to live here, and have big spaces to walk, made even better as it's really only a place locals go. 

Our cats, I have been lucky to share our home with cats since I was 19, over they years we have had 7 different furry friends, Grace is 15 and Purdy is 10, so neither is young, but every cat we have in our lives has enhanced us. They follow us into the garden, always sitting close to us, Grace is my lap cat every evening. 

Everything above has been important in the last couple months, home life has always been good, but lack of family visits mean long periods to fill. April to June is all about the garden, outside as much as I can, this year it has been perfect weather for the garden, with reading or crafting time in the evenings. To be happy you need a balanced life, hubby and I do enjoy time together, we bounce off each other, it helps he is a book worm as well, we hardly turn on TV these days, not even to watch the 5pm doom as Trish calls it. 

Windy weekend

I enjoyed this 2nd book, I liked the underlying thread in the story, each book is stand alone, but they do follow on as well, just the 3rd book to read. 

I loved this book, it was a slow start and at one point I did wonder if I really wanted to read this, but I glad I stayed with it, tangled lives always start slow, book 33 of the year.

I am loving this table more after we moved the big alpine dish.

Kirk is doing well, like the rest of us, his hair is growing longer.

I am happy with my herb bed and under the Magnolia tree, for a small garden there is plenty of space here, I have chamomile seedlings growing in the greenhouse, which will be popped on the big pot. 

1st flowers showing from one of my chimneys, this stays here throughout the winter months, and always flowers early in this sunny spot. I have begonias in my 2 other chimney pots, they have leaves showing, so soon more flowers. 

French marigolds in front and white cosmos behind in these long tubs, hubby loves the marigolds and I love white flowers, should fill this space with colour. 

This is as close as we will get to rain, Saturday morning.

Friday we pottered in the garden, hubby has been sorting his garage, changing things around, I played for ages in my greenhouse, I have so much space inside, the last time I was this excited with this space was 6 years ago when it was new.  

Saturday it was another breezy day, sunny and loads of black clouds, so not much time outside in our own garden, we caught the tail end of 2 storms, only a few spots of the wet stuff, not enough to call rain. We did walk along the water front, but only managed 1 walk. Our order from Asda arrived, only one questionable replacement item, we won't require another delivery now for a month, any fresh items we will get from our local Co-op. 

Sunday was housework in the morning, the place was very dusty, and both bathrooms needed a clean, hubby did the ironing. It was lovely in the garden after lunch, the temperature was much higher, and the lighter breeze was cooling, I did some more cutting back of shrubs, it's a regular job as we don't like to let anything get to huge in the garden. My jasmine fought back, as always, last time I badly twisted my back, this time I caught my hand. We did have a long walk along the waterfront, the tide was in again, it's a big space, we passed loads of people, all keeping their distance, we did not stop or touch anything, which is our normal routine. 

Monday, starts another warm dry day, I have the last of my bedding plants to pop in the ground, and I may make a few more mask, I don't have elastic, so I will be leaving up to family and neighbours to find their own elastic. 

It's Bank Holiday here in UK, but with so many people not working, I don't think it will make much difference to many households, we never go anywhere on a Bank Holidays on normal years, so no plans today, it's a stay at home garden day, I'm sure we will find plenty to do and enjoy another walk. 

Getting there

My hanging pot with string of pearls from the greenhouse is inside, I don't want to risk damaging this lovely plant, I will hang it back in the greenhouse, once I have completed all my work. I am hoping some of the green returns to this plant, the sunlight does fade it. 

My poor bonsai acer is still not showing signs of growth, a bloody squirrel dug it out of the pot, last week I changed the compost in hope I can get it to grow, the wood is not dry, so I think it's still alive. 

I spent a wonderful hour going back in time, I often get my blog book out to check a date on something, if it's gardening related it's quicker than trying to look back on my blog. Once I have my answer, as always I get sidelined by all the wonderful photo's full of memories. On average these books cost £60 each, but I love every one of them. 

This is a comment from my last post, which is my online diary, not an english project, Unknown, I can't spell for toffee's, spell check catches most of my mistakes, I am British and will try harder. 

Most of this week has been outside working in my now very hot greenhouse, plenty of drinks, mainly water, hubby helped me on Wednesday, we managed to dig out all the soil and remove the raised bed frame, most of the decking planks used were still good, so they have been cleaned and stored. 

I emptied all the contents, and cleaned inside, I also cleaned my tables and shelves. The vine weed roots were everywhere, we pulled all we can, the back corner of the greenhouse is on earth, so it was coming in there. If it comes back again we will use a good weed killer, hubby used it outside the greenhouse in that corner and the weeds are dying back, the cats and our visiting hedgehog can't get to the area, so it's used carefully. 

I am now waiting for an order from Ikea, for shelving and a folding chair, we do have folding chairs, but I wanted one I can leave down this end, once I have these in place I will have plenty of room to show all my nasties, leaving my potting table empty and clean. I also moved a few things from my shed to the greenhouse, so I now have more space in there, I can't wait until it's been completed, everything is due next week. Plus on Tuesday a licensed guy will come and clear the rubbish, our tip has cars waiting for 3 hours or more, and we still have to pay to dump soil and garden waste.

I have planted my 3 pots by the side of the house, should have loads of colour there, my eucalyptus in the 2 pots by the front door are looking good, I pinched out the top as I want low bushes. I have sorted my long pots, infront of the raspberries, I had the plants, and finally I will plant our side bed, it should all be finished by the weekend.

I am watering most days, my blueberries, raspberries and blackcurrant bushes are full of fruits, we could do with rain, but it's the same most years, we are in a dry area of UK. It's dull this morning and the air feels damp, but not expecting any amounts of rain. unless we get a thunderstorm, there is no rain fore caste for weeks.

We have no plans for the weekend, our Asda order will arrive on Saturday, we have BBQ food coming, so we plan to be outside as much as we can. A few days resting will be good for both of us, I have promised to keep busy so I don't get anymore ideas, which result in loads of hard work. We are both enjoying this wonderful hot weather, lucky to have our garden.