Category: Garden

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A busy, brilliant, half-term week

A hot (very hot) half term week draws to a close and it has been a busy and brilliant eight days, the highlight of which must have been seeing Take That in Southampton on Friday evening.

It was an incredible show, excellent music, but more than that, a real visual feast of drama and circus. It was wonderful

It has been incredibly hot this week – record breakingly so, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees on the first few days of the week. We took advantage of the long hot evenings and took ourselves of for a walk after tea each day, with Combe Hill woods being a particular favourite on a couple of occasions.

We even persuaded Sophie to come with one evening, although that was a shorter “round the block” walk

I’d collected Sophie from Bristol airport on Wednesday on her return from her holiday in Majorca, which ended in upset when her suitcase didn’t make it back from Palma airport. Anyway, much stress, a few tears, a form and a couple of phone calls later, the suitcase was returned to us on mid-morning on Thursday, having been found the previous evening still in Majorca.

Another mini-disaster was when I went upstairs and found the cheese plant on the floor of Sam’s room. With all the hot weather we’ve been having windows wide open (when not in the sun) to create a through flow of air. This must have been enough to blow it off the chest of drawers onto the floor …

It was also a week of practical matters – on Tuesday the Ka passed it’s MOT, I had my hygienist appointment, and an eyes test; my eyesight has improved a little over the last two years! I ran once, less than I planned, in part as my back hurt on my return, and swam once which was good – felt like I was stretching out my bad back and also engaging a few other unused muscles. Sam started his job and is enjoying it, which is great news.

I planted up the rest of my geraniums, and planted out the sunflower and pumpkin seedlings. The “lawn” is looking magnificent with the love in a mist in full flower …

(and because I’m a vain bugger, he is a pick of me reading out “my” names at last week’s Summer Celebration)

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And relax …

Half term has arrived. The term has passed quite swiftly – only 5 weeks and the summer term always has a different (easier!) vibe to it: Volleyball not Football buys me a lot of time, plus a couple of exam classes mean preparing lessons and marking is reduced, and with the better weather everyone’s mood is improved. But I still enjoyed a little afternoon snooze outside on Saturday once it was all over (Summer Celebration in the morning ’til 1pm ish)

The week’s weather has been extreme. It started perishingly cold (and wet, but annoying not volleyball cancelling wet) on Monday and Tuesday, but by the end of the school week it was warming up, and Sunday was scorchio!. (I’m writing this in the garden on Monday morning as I didn’t have time (!) yesterday)

Sam and Sophie both came home on Thursday, Sophie to get ready to go on holiday with Lucy to Majorca on Saturday, Sam to collect the last of his stuff for his new flat. (He starts his new job tomorrow, Tuesday)

But by Saturday afternoon we were home alone again. We have decided to make the most of the weather and go for a walk after tea each evening. On Saturday we parked in the YHA and walked to the windmill and back, beautiful vistas across the levels in the evening sunshine.

and last night we walked to the weir and then followed the water to the road and the river Brue. It was still very warm, and very, very picturesque.

We’d spent the morning having a good cut back and tidy up in the garden – with our many absences due to travel, only one day weekends, and some wet weather of late, the garden has been a bit neglected and there is still much cutting back to do, but it looks neater, and provides a pretty background to enjoy reading, eating (and occasionally snoozing) in the glorious sunshine.

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Geraniums, seeds, and my Christmas cactus

Its been a dry Spring, and at times, quite sunny and warm (although today has been disappointingly cold and windy) and today I planted up the front trugg with geraniums. As we are going away for such a long time (5 weeks) in the summer, we’ve decided not to plant sunflowers out front as we won’t be around for the necessary maintenance, instead just plumping for drought tolerant geraniums that will hopefully thrive and look good with little care.

Today I have also planted up some seeds – 6 pumpkins and 24 sunflowers. If these germinate, they are destined for the back garden, near the rear deck, the deck on which we ate tea last night as it turned into a wonderful warm evening. (See what I did there to segue from my geranium pic into this pic?!)

The alliums that have come are looking good, but given how many I planted, they are a little disappointing – not the massed forest of purple headed stems I’ve had in the past.

Indoors, I’m delighted that my Christmas Cactus is flowering – not sure if its seven months early or five months late, but I won’t worry about that, I’m just happy to see some pretty red tips to the leaves (not sure if they are supposed to open like actual flowers)

And I continue to enjoy seeing what I can capture on my outdoor camera. We’ve had quite a bit of sparrow activity in the garden, here’s a pic of one happy little chap hoping about.

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Phone repairs

Yesterday, I repaired my phone by replacing the camera lens that had become unclear – it wasn’t scratched, it just looked dirty, but wasn’t. Delaminating perhaps? Anyway, it was a fairly simple task, took about twenty minutes to remove the old lens, and then just popped the new one (about £3 for two from Ali-express – I couldn’t source them in the UK – and the job was done, and my pictures are now fog free again! (example below)

Sam has got himself organised and rented a flat, he moves in in two weeks time, so that feels like a significant milestone, and I refereed my last match of the season today, another milestone.

I do feel a bit behind with the garden, but today I did get a little ahead of the game by digging up all the bulbs from the front trugg. A little earlier than previous years, but we’ve had a run of dry weather, that is set to end next week, and experience has taught me it is much easier to dig them up from dry soil, rather than wet. Plus I have all the geraniums waiting to go in, and I’m keen to get them planted in.

And the garden continues to be a haven for wildlife. Becky snapped this baby blackbird in our Apple tree, and on Friday Sam spotted a slow worm by the back gate …

(and Becky reports seeing a tiny, tiny baby slow worm in the shade of the fig tree, but no photographic evidence)

And a couple of shots of a hedgehog by the side passage captured on the trail cam

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Disaster!

This morning I was officiating (lino) at a Bridgwater & District League cup final, being played at Bridgwater Town FC. On my arrival, I was a little confused as to where to park and went into what I thought was an overflow car park, decided not to park in there, so turned round to head out and I must have caught the side of my trusty Micra on a big metal gate. It made a horrible noise and, having parked up, heart in mouth I tentatively stepped out to survey the damage.

I had scraped the passenger side of the car, leaving some nasty scratches, scuff marks, and a dent, Its not a car killer, and a rub with a rag once I got home and it already looks better; have some touch up paint on order, but I can’t help but feel annoyed with myself.

We’ve been back at school a week already, and the weather has been kind – blue skies and sunny, although the start of the week was chilly, it has warmed up wonderfully for the latter part of the week. Have bought about 72 geraniums from Lidl – £4.99 for a pack of six – and have begun planting them up.

Perhaps its because we were away for so long in the Easter holidays, I don’t think we are as far through the season as we actually are, I think I may be a little bit behind schedule in the garden.

I gathered together all the geraniums I have successfully managed to over-winter:

… not all made it!

The picture at the top of the post is my room one evening, bathed in the glow of Spring sunshine, these long evenings and blue skies make such a difference.

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Tulip time

On Monday we returned home from eleven wonderful days in Italy, visioning the Amalfi coast – staying in Salerno as a base – and then taking in Capri and Sorrento before finishing with a few days in Napoli …

… living la dolce vita, and a full record of our time away can be found starting here, on our Hap-pea travellers blog: https://hap-pea-travels.co.uk/italy/la-dolce-vita-day-one/

Since our return, I’ve not done a lot – pottered around, making some attempts to chop back and tidy up the garden. The tulips are in bloom and looking good, both back …

and front…

I also cleaned the windows on the outside, and then gave them a clean inside, as you can see below

I did an oil change on the Micra, and have bought two new Kindles to replace mine and Becky’s from 2011 which are going to cease being supported. Weather has been a mix of rain and sunshine (typical for April), at times cold, but yesterday was lovely and I spent much of the afternoon sat outside reading (and snoozing!) Have run a couple of times since our return – my first runs since February, and my legs let me know for the rest of the day. and refereed today – so much more enjoyable on a warm spring morning.

Back to school tomorrow, but the summer term is always the best!

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And the sun shone

It has been a lovely week, weather wise, particulraly from about Wednesday on, when the sun has shone and temperatures have been warm, in the mid-teens. Everything is beginning to bust into life, trees are greening up and the front trugg is looking good,

No refereeing for me today, and I had planned on running, but I still felt a little tired when I woke up, so I didn’t run. Instead, I had a full morning in the garden, planting up an Abelia Grandiflora that will hopefully grow over the years to fill the hole left by the blighted box bush that I cut down last year.

It looks small at the moment, but hoping it doesn’t take too long to grow.

And in the back I tackled some of the ivy from the back wall, largely at the behest of Becky in her battle against her nemesis …

To be fair, the ivy is significantly above the top of the wall, so over the course of this spring and summer I intend to cut it down quite significantly

Sam has an interview on Thursday – for a trainee manager post with Enterprise rent-a-car in Bristol, having had a successful phone interview, and then a video interview. So we’ve been trying to kit him out in “business attire” for Thursday: I remembered I had some suits that I no longer wear as they are too big for me under the eves. Fished them out and they fit the boy! (Have since washed and ironed them so he won’t look so crumpled …)

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Four games in five days

Today is Mothers’ Day and Sophie and Becky have travelled up to Birmingham to see Benson Boone. Sophie came home on Thursday and its been nice to have her around for a few days (she plans to return early Tuesday morning) and so this morning we we all home together, which was nice. Sam has now gone to work, and I went to Bridgwater to referee a football match.

It was my fourth game in five days (and my third in three) and I am really starting to enjoy it again. It helps that the weather is warmer, and dry – Wednesday and Saturday were both beautiful days, Friday and today less so. March is oscillating from sunny blue skies to cold windy days, with the odd rain shower (which fortunately I have missed) Being on quality pitches – Pitch one twice, SGE once and BCA astro today, helps, both with the quality of the football, and the ease of running around.

I was a little worried on Wednesday as my left calf felt as though it had a tight ball in it – not a pull, but running wasn’t as fluid as it should have been. So I invested in a massage gun (£20) and it has been brilliant. Working the back of the calf, a spot, say 4 cm diameter, was painful, but by repeated use the pain has gone away, as if the problem has been “broken up”, and refereeing back to back games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday has been no problems, with no more than a “normal” post-exercise slight ache across all leg muscles.

With the light and lengthening says, colour is returning to our world: greens are vibrant with new growth, bulbs continue to flourish and blossom brightens many a tree. The forsythia on the way to school is a blanket of yellow

and the bulbs in the lawn and borders bring me joy, with grape hyacinths and the odd tulip joining the yellow see of daffodils.

But is the backdrop of blue sky that is the best.

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Wildlife

I’ve moved my wildlife camera to a corner of the main deck and have begun to have some success – seeing sparrows hoping around during the day, and at night I’ve captured footage of a cute little mouse scurrying along its length. But the most exciting discovery was that we have a hedgehog!

I’ve captured footage of it rootling around on more than one occasion, a welcome member of the garden.

Hopefully you can see the video above. My camera captures video in AVI format, but this is quite an old and memory expensive format, but I’ve discovered they can be changed into the more useful MP4 format using (for example) https://cloudconvert.com/ which means I can post the videos here, and share them on Instagram. This camera was £35 well spent!

The garden and surrounding landscape is also greening up nicely, with lots of bulbs pushing through and bringing colour back into our world. Weather wise, after a beautiful start to the week, from Thursday it has gotten cold, grey and a little damp (drizzle, not the dreadful downpours of earlier in the year), but the vivid green foliage, and blues, yellows and whites of the flowers lifts one mood enormously.

Alliums (always later to flower) pushing through

This year (well, for this year, it was last autumn they were planted) I planted a lot more grape hyacinths and I’m enjoying their splash of blue amongst the vibrant yellow of the daffodils.

And whilst I always think they are a bit of a one-hit wonder – blink and you’ll miss them – the magnolias, like this in a neighbours back garden, or our white one in the front garden, do look good right now.

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Farewell to February

To be honest, I could have titled this post ” F$%k off February” – I must confess that I am glad to see the back of it. Although its not seemed too long, it’s been wet and grey, and I seem to have been either tired or full of cold, or both!

But the good news is is that these week has signalled a real change – the weather is improving: some rain still causing misery, but in between we are getting to see some blue skies, and feel a bit of warmth. And added to that, plants are beginning to come back to life. The back garden is awash with daffodils, and in the front wooden trug we now have some colour.

I do love the little daffodils, but I am regretting my decision to not plant some normal sized daffodils in there too – a planter of this size probably needs the height for impact. Noted for next year!

And its not just the daffodils that are brightening our days. Bird life is returning and bushes and trees are beginning to green up.

This morning I answered the call to referee a game on the Bridgwater & District league – glad I did, the game was good, the weather was pleasant and it was nice to be out and about on an early spring like day. I saw Keith, and he was encouraging me give him the next six Sundays, don’t think I’ll do that, but my head has probably been turned …

Last week I had my prostate PSA test, on Monday I got the results: in the green I’m pleased to say, with a recommendation to be retested in two years, Fen ’28.