Category: Garden

Pic of the week 27/2/22

With no home matches this Saturday, I wasn’t needed to referee so finished the day a little earlier. It was a beautiful day and, as I arrived home, Becky – who had at last tested negative after two weeks of positive tests – was about to set of for a walk, so I joined her.  Parking at the Hood layby, we walked down into Compton Dundun, looped round the village and back to the car.  It was only a 40 minute romp, but it was lovely to get out in the sunshine and se definite signs of spring on its way. A real treat.

Today, after swimming (I pulled/tweaked my hamstring last Saturday, so haven’t run since – could possibly have run today, but decided to give it a bit longer to heal) I spent the rest of the morning in the garden – another beautiful day with blue skies and warm sun – when you were in it. I continued to tidy the area by the compost bins, and then gave the buddleia a significant chopping back, only stopping when the car could fit no more for a tip run.

And yet the dawning of spring is marred by conflict in Ukraine.  Earlier this week, Russia launched an invasion into its neighbour. It is bloody and brutal, full on shooting war in Europe. The only positive is is that it doesn’t appear to be going the way Putin planned it, the resolve of Ukraine has been steadfast, Russia has become a pariah state, the west is unifying around the need to support Ukraine and, I suspect, in the long term this will mark the end of Putin and weaken Russia as a global player – it has been shown that if you stand up to them,  they can be beaten. However, the price Ukrainians (and, to be fair, many of the Russian soldiers – mere conscripts who are not sure why they are there) will be high. I think we are living through an event as globally important as the fall of the Soviet Bloc in 1989, 9/11 and the Covid pandemic. The world will be different a year from now.

Pick of the week 16/1/22

Tomorrow is “Blue Monday” – the supposed most depressing day of the year. To be fair, I get it. This last week has been a bit of slog – I’ve been very busy (curriculum days, A level mock marking, L6 parents consultations), Becky has been recuperating from the illness (not Covid!) that knocked her for six – I did have to spend a lot of last week looking forward to today, a day that I knew would come, a day that would afford me a little bit of a rest and mark the end of a tough week.

And it dose seem surprising that we are now mid-way through January, the evenings are getting a little lighter, bulbs are popping up with the promise of better days to come.  And even better, yesterday we booked our accommodation for Naples which, although still many (12?) weeks away, is now something to look forward to.

I have enjoyed watching the Hyacinth bulbs begin to grow and flower (particularly the few that I rescued from abandoned pots outside) and to see the bulbs beginning to burst through in the lawn is great to see ( although I don’t think we’ll be getting as many as I had hopped for.  Must plant more for next year, including crocuses) And for weeks I’ve been looking, and getting increasingly despondent as I could see no sign of them, for any signs of the snowdrops I planted last year – 100 of them. I’ve spotted the first few poking their heads up – two small and distinct clumps and nowhere near the 100 I planted, but the first signs are there. The pic above is of my gardeners garters, with some alliums starting to grow through them, green shoots bringing hope in a bleak month!

I ran today – 10K, was tough (ish) but I felt strong and quite quick, tomorrow I swim.

PMA – positive mental attitude: that’s what will get me safely through blue Monday and the rest of January. Little victories: look for them, and embrace them.

Pic of the week 29/8/21

This year, I let the lawn grow “wild” and haven’t mowed it since April. I did mow a strip by the path, and a swirly path to the compost heap, but other than that it has been left to its own devices all summer.

I have been pleased with the results, particularly its “swishy-swashy-ness” in June. The ants have also enjoyed it, with a few ant hills becoming established, along with a few wild flowers and seed heads.

This week, I cut it back – quite some effort with an erratic strimmer – and have scarified it, the aim is to remove dead thatch to allow seeds to grow through. I have also dug a few holes and planted (daffodil) bulbs from last year’s pots and sowed a few packets of mixed wild flower seed – hopefully my hard work of this week will be a worthy investment, with the rewards to be reaped next spring and summer.

Pic of the week 16/5/21

A combination of poor weather (yesterday and today have been particularly wet) and being tired (the long term is starting is starting to bite, yet half term still seems a way away)result in little to report this week.

We seem to be on top of the mouse problem – no sightings nor captures for several days – and everything is looking green and verdant – verging on the overgrown as I can’t get out to do anything – which is nice: the sunflowers planted out last week are looking healthy, and the cosmos seeds have popped up. I would just like some nice warm weather so I can sit outside and enjoy the garden.
Yesterday, Becky & Sophie went to Cornwall for the day, and somehow dodged the rain. Sam wen to the dentist about his wisdom tooth and was pescribed some anti-biotics which seem to be doing the trick.

I spotted evidence of leakage from the shower – I have applied some tape over the sealant, hope that does the trick.

The week ahead looks set to be wet too, lets hope the sunshine is waiting in the wings for half term in two weeks time …

Pic of the week 4/4/21

This week I have built a new flower bed at the front of the house.

It’s not been easy – the fact that the ground slopes away quite significantly from right to left presented a challenge, but a challenge that I rose to! My big take away from the project was a reminder of having the right tools for the job. I begun with my old jigsaw and rusty old saw, neither of which was up to the magnitude of the task. Although I got a lot done with them, it wasn’t easy. So a trip to Screwfix and a new jigsaw and saw and suddenly it was doable again.

Still have to line it, and fill it with soil, and then plant it up. But it does look good.

And the pictures also give a hint of some of the lovely weather we have had this week. Mid-week, we had a couple of glorious days, during which I sat out back and read. It has stayed dry and sunny, but the temperature has fallen over the last few days, and tomorrow is set to be v cold.

In other news, football restarted this week and both yesterday and today I refereed games – good to be back in black.

Pic of the week 17/1/21

(I was going to call this post “Nice Tits” but figured that might get me into trouble)

So lockdown continues, remote teaching continues, and one needs to seek out alternative hobbies and interests in these alternate times. Becky has taken to feeding birds in the back garden, with her feeding stations set up to provide good photo opportunities.  I must admit, I too enjoy looking at the birds and have put a couple of feeders outside my window in the hope of attracting some feathered friends to watch whilst I teach.

One of my “new” hobbies is tinkering with the cars – well, more than just tinkering, fault finding and rectifying. The Micra has begun to make the most dreadful noise – a rattling shriek. Anyway, after some fault diagnosis today, my suspicions were confirmed and the problem is the alternator bearings. I think it will need a new alternator ( I don’t think it will be possible to replace the bearings). Not a difficult job in terms of complexity, but access will make it blummin’ difficult. More research needed.

Hummed and hah-ed about running today, but glad I did. Still slow – I can only manage 7K, and average about 5mins a K, but did feel so, so much better for it afterwards. And my back feels a lot better, to. I think that maybe now the aches and pains I am still getting in my back are from sitting at my computer for most of the day.