Saturday 17 May

Hot!  Much of today was cloudy but hot and muggy with some sunny spells, during which it was even hotter!

Loads of photos from today...

Mum and Dad popped round so we sat in the sun and drank tea, how British!  Here is the view from where we were sat:

Courgettes planted out into the big bed; the first time I've ever had two plants!  They suddenly look very small in the big, big, bed...!

Laying out the bean-planting plan:

Teeny tiny beetroot seedlings:

Planted out:

Gorgeous rose, which I'm pretty certain now (thanks to a friend from work) is Zephirine Drouhin - amazing scent, gorgeous flowers and no thorns!

Possible blackspot on a few leaves, though, which is worrying...

Ian got to work with the hedge-trimmers out the front of the house.  No "before" photos but it's looking a lot neater!

Every time I look at the front of the house I realise we reeeeally need a new garage door - the current one is peeling and dented...

We finally built the garden table!  We bought this set about two or three years ago but had only ever made the chairs...

Happiness:

First wild strawberry.  I know I said these grow like weeds in my garden, but I have left lots as I do love wild strawbs.

View from new garden table:

Ian surveys his land:

A neighbour brought round a bottle of wine for us as he had meant to do so ever since we moved in!  6pm crisps and rosé in the sun :)

Dinner al fresco for the first time this year:

And finally, a little comparison photo for you - the pic on the left was 22 February, and the one on the right was today.  I think it's important to look back every now and then and remind ourselves that it has changed a lot, even though it doesn't always feel that way...!

Monday 5 May

Today we visited B&Q for the third time in one bank holiday weekend... what a thrilling life we lead!

We also tackled the greenhouse.  I say we, in fairness Ian cleared it out and I then washed the glass etc.  I hate spiders and cobwebs and couldn't face the idea of turning something over and finding a spider's nest or something equally hideous.  There was one spider in the entire greenhouse in the end, so I looked like a right plonker!

Greenhouse before:

Greenhouse after:

It's a bit empty right now, but I plan to have tomatoes etc in grow bags at the end and perhaps a little on the right as well.  I also need a potting table.  I didn't manage to defeat the brambles entirely on the right hand side, the gap between greenhouse and fence is too small to get into, and the brambles grow into the joins between panes of glass...

And in other news, Ian got a new toy :D

Garden video tour: May 2014

A little tour around the garden today:

And the views from around the place today:

Planting up beans and courgettes, as they were getting a bit big for the seed trays:

Lovely neat edge to the lawn:

Tools:

Team Partridge :)

Saturday 3 May

Ah, May!  The sun was lovely today, I caught it a bit along the tops of my shoulders before Ian told me to go and put sun cream on.  I did so, and the sun vanished behind a cloud!  Luckily it returned :)

Here's the views from the garden today:

First of all, I am HUGELY relieved to have got rid of the final bit of grass-where-there-should-be-gravel.  This was next to the whirligig and the grass was growing through TWO layers of weedproof membrane, with gravel sandwiched between the layers and also on top of the top one.  It was really really heavy but the recent rain has softened it slightly.  I think it looks SO much better!

The "before" photo is pretty old (29th March) but that little patch hadn't changed at all:

That photo also showcases our other big achievement of the day; replacing the cord on the whirligig and making it useable.  The old cord was totally decayed and in bits, and the whole thing was filthy.  We had planned to remove it and replace it with the one we brought with us from the flat, but it's cemented in.  It looks like it has a tube that the whirligig fits into, but we just can't get it out and suspect they added some cement to the inside of the tube as well, so it was a case of giving it a good clean and a new length of line.  We had fun threading it through!

Beans and courgettes getting accustomed to being outside:

Enjoying the sun (a brief sit down!)

Ian cleared this patch and uncovered an electrical cable with a frayed end.  Interesting...

Still to clear:

SO MUCH still to clear:

Clematis #1 about to bloom:

Lilac:

Clematis #1 lovely new growth:

Beautiful passionflower: