Wildlife Pond

 We popped to my favourite garden centre which has a good aquatic shop, I manage to purchase these 3 plants, hubby and I choose them together, these are bigger than I wanted, BUT, with me there is always a but, 2 of them I will separate into smaller pots, making 5 plants not 3. For now they fill the space.

The pond liner was not working, I'm not able to keep the water level to a decent depth, the plant pots are five inches and I would like them submerged, so change of plan, I had a nice tub which I had a spring display, but it kept waterlogged with all the rain. Humm I wonder would it fit, right size, not as wide as I wanted, the aquatic plants fit.

Hopefully I won't need to work on this anymore, I am very pleased, I have the depth I wanted and the top bowl runs into the lower pot, it's not as wide as I wanted, but still plenty of water. I added the grass from this tub to the back corner and piled loads of pebbles around and filled the gaps with pretty gravel.

 I'm not worried if the sides can be seen, this is the working end of my garden, hopefully the plants will grow and soften the edges, I would like some drift wood for a bug bridge, but for now it's done, the water should settle and clear.

This lovely plant I have had for years, it sits in a plastic bowl, no drainage holes as it loves to be water logged, it's a huge plant, the curled long leaves fascinate me. I have already popped a cutting into one of my ponds, I do love these plastic washing up bowls, being square with handles, this one is three years old, they are a perfect addition to our garden.  

Hubby is in the process of making me a huge bug house, which I want for the back section of the garden, he has cut 6 blocks and drilled different size holes, I can get one on top of the other on these shelves. The butterfly box fits in well, we are sorting other things to go in before adding a wire front. This is huge at my request, he has made a bird nesting box as well, he does love to make things, these with other bug areas should be fun with the younger grandchildren, as well as making our garden diverse. 

The pond is finished, it has cost me just under £40, for the liner (which was discarded) and the plants, I already had the containers, and stones which I had used in another part of the garden before we made our changes. It's been huge fun to put it together, looking around for things to use, I had 4 grasses, for someone who is not fond of grasses, I was surprised as I also have 3 in my butlers sink, two of the grasses had been split a couple of years ago, every gardener loves free plants. 

Later I will get floating weed to help keep the water clear, it's ready for anything to move in. I am hoping I have enough green cover outside the pond, it's nice to get a section completed, nothing much grew in this corner, not sure why, I have lost so many plants over the years. 

I'm not reading or crafting, all my time is outside, if it's raining, I have bits to do in the greenhouse and / or the garage. It feels good to growing things again. 

Another week

 If I was asked about tulips, I would have said, I'm not fond of them, they rot in our heavy clay soil, last year I got a few packs for different tubs and I have really enjoyed their colour this spring, these in my cider jar have still to open, I have forgot what colour they are, a nice surprise to come. So maybe later this year more will be purchased to add colour to the garden next spring. 

I adore the colours in this trio of acers, I trim them each year so they don't get huge, I love them in this big tub, it's a perfect spot in the garden for them. They can be seen from the house and add colour here at the back of the garden. My bird bath alpine plants have started to come back, tiny flowers soon. The azalea below is also about to bloom.

This is my success story, purchased as a twig many years ago for 99p, it sat in a pot where my trio live, when it outgrew the pot, we decided to give it a space in the garden, not an easy choice in a small garden. We love it here, again I am learning and I have trimmed it last year, it's nicer kept smaller. 

Spring is showing itself in the flowers in bloom, I love snakes-head fritillary, these in this pot will be placed in the ground soon, bluebells are just starting to flower and the lovely camassia, another blue flower, I do also have some white flowers, finally a bleeding heart, I forgot where I had planted it, it's beside the hellebore, it's doing OK, so I'm not going to move it. 

It's been a strange week, most days I've been to our local hospital, so daughter gets to have a lunch, do some shopping, even get a shower, the children's ward caters for their parents as well. I can see loads of improvement in George, his chest sounds much better, and hopefully the medication will sort the virus which he has as well as the chest infection. 

Thursday we had dentists, I needed a bit of work, we both booked hygienist and had to pay 50% up front, not a cheap morning, even with our NHS practice. I have some huge decisions to make, the damage to my gums caused by chemo back in 2010, when  all my teeth became loose, is now pressing me to decide the way forward, I'm pleased with myself as I was told in 2011 my teeth would not last, implants at over £7,000, is not an option not only the cost, but also my the gum damage, makes the option not viable, for now I can manage, but soon.

Friday George came home, he still has alot of healing to do, I had not planed to visit but daughter called, it was lovely to see Will and Molly, I did finally manage a good night's sleep, I had been worried for George and not sleeping. It was a dry and sunny day, I did get an hour outside in the garden, just sweeping and sorting, the seeds are not doing as well as I wanted in the greenhouse. 

No plans for the weekend, it's promised windy, dry and warm, no sun, I would be happy with dry, normally at this time of year I am starting to wear sandals, but no chance yet, still in warm clothes. I hate to wish the days away, but some warm dry sunny days would be super nice. 

Back outside

I purchased this white Jasmine from Asda for just £2, I thought it would fill a gap along the back fence, I picked a nice looking plant, plenty of new growth. Finding a spot to plant it I thought would be an issue, but I realised I could move this middle paver forward to match the one in front and have enough space for the roots, I have the temporary green little fence to protect it, this is a working area. I just hope it grows up the back fence now. 

Kirt has new plants for his hair, I used the grass in the pond section of the garden, it was getting too big for him, hubby chose these, they should be very colourful and very different, I'm not a person who likes to keep moving plants around, but it will be nice to see something different. 

I also got 2 alpine plants for this square pot, I have been looking for something different, I did not want anything which would grow too tall, I was looking for plants which stay green, these will have tiny white tinged with pink flowers, so a very different look.

I got this plant in Wales, I've never seen one before, I don't know if it's a bulb or plant, I love the tiny blue flowers. This year I will keep it in a pot, I will look it up on line for the care instructions.

It was nice to have some dry sunny days over the weekend, but with the return of the rain, the weather is keeping us inside, my fake grass walkways makes it easy to get outside as they drain well and not at all muddy. The broad beans are full of flowers, I'm watching for any sign of pods forming, I don't have anything else in the raised beds, hopefully I will get to plant more in the coming weeks.

My seeds in the greenhouse are mixed, some are further on that others, the tomatoes and cucumbers are all doing well, I have sown some different herbs, I am watching for my runner beans to sprout. The potatoes in two bags are doing well, as is my carrots being grown in tubs. 

Thank you for all your comments regarding George, he will always have a weakness in his chest, his oxygen levels drop at night, mummy (daughter) is very tired as she was waking through the night checking on him. Sadly he was back into hospital on Tuesday late afternoon, his oxygen levels fell again quickly, he has been on oxygen ever since, loads more test, which they can compare to his test results from Thursday, it's such a worry.  I am spending time with George,  which allows mummy to shower go for a meal and not worry about him, his is a nanas boy, I was lucky to be with him when the music lady visited his bed, he loved the instruments, and was happy to play along. Our local hospital is just brilliant, it's a shame A&E suffers from the same issues as every other HNS hospital. I'm back in visiting again today, daddy is looking after Will and Molly, George has improved today, so hopefullythey will allow him back home.

Easter

 Easter here is again with family, we had loads of fun on our egg hunt, in warm sunshine, we ate lunch inside and spent the rest of the day outside, the children having plenty of space to play. Molly and George share everything, so their eggs were placed together, one each.

Will was very happy with his haul a mixture of chocolate and fruit chews, he searched for his in the veg section of the garden, Molly and George had dairy free chocolate, so they hunted around the flower beds, all three enjoyed their hunts.

Hubby like myself enjoy having the children in our garden, here he is playing with Molly, both wearing rabbit ears, loads of laughter and fun.

We are extremely lucky as Grandma and Grandpa were away, so again we had daughter, SIL and the little ones here for a egg hunt and lunch. They are making a family day on Easter Monday, more fun for the little ones, and no cooking for mummy.

The long weekend started with George at the doctors, he has been a few times in the past weeks, he has a rash and cold, which simply won't go away. He came to ours on Thursday, and quickly his temperature rose and he was again not well, her doctors called for an ambulance to send him to local hospital, they would not allow daughter to drive him. After loads of test including meningitis hours on the children's ward, he had fluids and medication through a cannula,  he was a brave boy. Rather than keep him in, the decision was made to leave in the cannula and daughter to take him for the next 3 days for medications. He hated the cannula and the huge bandage on his hand and was upset, it's gone now, but he is still not well.

We had turkey and pork for lunch, best roast for ages, little ones did not eat much, too much chocolate before. They stayed until late afternoon, the younger two were both tired going home, time for a snack, bath and bed, both immediately fell asleep quickly. We had the evening together, watching a thunder storm and loads of rain, we were so lucky to have a perfect Sunday.

My brother Martin is down, he is spending a couple of days with his daughter, SIL and grandson, he will be back here later today for a couple more days, nothing planned, rest and relax.

Today is another sunny start, rain is promised later, the difference to waking up to blue sunny skies is wonderful, having two dry days is perfection, I shall pop out for an hour soon, one small job to finish.