Sunday, July 04, 2021

Weekending in July

 Hello my lovely friends! Gosh, it's been a while! June was just ridiculously busy. I work in residential property and with the end of the stamp duty holiday on the 30th of June, work-life has been relentless. I usually work a 4 day week and had to work those days to try to keep up with what was going on. 


I mentioned in my last post that I was going to put in my resignation, well when I did I was offered a move to a different area of law (YAY) and able to cut my hours down to a 3 day week! It's perfect as it gives me time to build up my yarn business with no financial pressure. My replacement was appointed on Friday so I hoping to be in my new 3-day position from mid-July-ish.

With the relentless work situation, I have not had much time to dye up yarn although I did manage one dye day and I was very pleased with the results, the new colourways will definitely be staying for a while.

This is "Village Fete", it's so pretty and I have to confess to keeping a skein for myself. I've been furiously knitting away on 2 sock projects so that I can cast on with village fete as soon as possible.

In the garden... well it's mid-summer and everything is exploding as it does in countries that have short summers. Summer seems to take an age to arrive and then all of a sudden you are living in a jungle. It never fails to amaze me.




The Jasmine has just about swamped the little garden tool shed. DH wanted to take the hedge trimmer to it but there is no way I'm allowing that until it's finished flowering. Don't you think that the fallen jasmine flowers look gorgeous...even DH who likes his lawn looking pristine felt that they should be left as they are for now.


I have to show you the latest project that DH has just completed! I'm so happy with the job he has done and of course, I think he is very clever!

You see the deck which is straight off our kitchen and dining room was just awful, to say the least. It must have been about 20 years old and was tatty, bouncy, and very slippery not to mention completely uneven. The previous owner had installed it himself and let's just say I don't think he is blessed with the best DIY talents!

DH has to prepare a base for the studio which is arriving at the end of July so we decided that the wood from the deck should be recycled for this purpose which meant that we had to install a fresh new deck. DH has re-done the entire frame making sure it is level and stable. Below is a picture of the deck halfway through, can you see how unlevel the last deck was as compared to the new one?


Crazy isn't it! You literally did feel as though you were tipping forward on the old deck. The new deck is a thing of beauty! I love it and it makes such a difference to the overall feel of the garden.


I know the colours look a bit different here but that's because he had only just finished that last little part after a rainstorm. The difference between wet and dry decking!


We also decided not to put a railing up, instead, DH is building these window boxes which will run along the outside of the deck interspersed with other pots. This allows us to have year-round seasonal planting and colour.



For the summer I have decided to use these boxes for vegetables. I have beetroot, mangetout, spring onions, and salad leaves growing on the deck. I love that I can just step out of the kitchen door and pick my homegrown produce. I've made a few salads already and have used the herbs from the herb pot on numerous occasions.

Autumn will see the deck full of Chrysanthemums, Cyclamens, and Solanum's and hopefully a pumpkin or two from the pumpkin vine we are growing in the garden. If that fails then we will go picking pumpkins at the nearby pick-your-own farm. 

For winter I'm thinking of a few conifer trees which I have from last year that are doing exceptionally well at the moment. I may have to put twinkly lights on those, ornamental cabbages, heathers, and maybe some gaultheria procumbens for their red berries. 


Spring of course is all about spring bulbs so daffodils, tulips, etc. By the way, when my pots reach the end of their lives I usually plant the plants straight into the garden and hope for the best. Last year's Chrysanthemums survived the winter and are now in the garden. I will dig them up after they have flowered this year and pop them back into pots so that I can place them under the branches of a big shrub I have in the garden as it protects them against the winter frosts.

The point is that nothing goes to waste. Everything is given another chance to thrive in out in the garden after their pot life has passed and most do. It's an economical way to fill up your garden beds too!

Anyhoo my lovely friends, thank you for dropping by. I hope that you have a great start to your week and I'll see you back here very soon!

4 comments:

  1. So glad to hear from you and thrilled that you have been able to change your job and hours. The new yearn looks amazing, so pretty. Your DH has made a great job of the decking, I love the boxes and pots.

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    1. Thank you :) - it will be so good to have the extra time! I just have to wait for my replacement to start!

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  2. You are so blessed to have a handy husband!

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