Garden – Page 11 – About Stuff

March 8, 2020

Lawn, swimming and Corvid-19

Pic of the week 8/3/20

We live in unsettling times.

But the weather is trying to improve and we’ve had a couple of spring like days this week, days to lift the soul and lighten one’s load, although they have been the juicy filling between the limp, stale white bread that is the sandwich of the current weather. Still too much rain, still to chilly (not crisp cold, just a cold dampness that permeates to ones bones.) But today, there where bright spells and I even managed to give the lawn a mow, the first of the season.

It was needed. The lawn is not currently in a healthy state, it seems to be as much moss as grass. And (I think) nesting blackbirds are busy plucking the moss to make their nests, leaving, well, just mud. Anyway, having mowed and raked, hopefully the grass can begin to out-compete the moss and we’ll be rewarded with a beautiful sward come those long summer days …

This morning was a first for me, my first swim in the school pool. I was taking part in a sponsored swim organised by the Lions and my team of 4 had 25 minutes in the pool to swim as much as possible. I must confess I was a little disappointed to find that the pool was split in half – we would be swimming 25m lengths rather than the full 50m, but I’m pleased with the 50 lengths (= 1.25 Km) I managed in the allotted 25 mins.

Becky went to see Sophie in Reading yesterday (hence the pic), Sam continues with his new found work ethic. I head off to Milton Keynes tomorrow to watch the 1st XI in the ISFA Final.

But we live under the question mark of Corvid 19, or the Corona virus. At the moment, nothing tangible has happened – these are teh figures as I write (8 March 20) from the Government’s website:

As of 9am on 8 March 2020, 23,513 people have been tested in the UK, of which 23,240 were confirmed negative and 273 were confirmed as positive. Two patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

So, not sure where and how this is going to end. Will we end up in lock down – or even just more “minor” restrictions such as school closures, or will this all just be yesterday’s news in a few weeks time? I don’t know. I suspect we (the UK) will ride it out for a few weeks and then life will continue as normal.

But I’ve been known to be wrong before …

July 7, 2019July 7, 2019

Stripping

Pic of the week 7/7/19

Its been a busy week – no sitting with my feet up in the first week of the hols!

Fed up with the “Steptoe-esque” state of the top landing, I took it upon myself to strip and paint the top landing, stairs and ceiling. The initial stripping wasn’t too bad, but its all the fiddly bits that frustrate. Anyway, at time of writing, I have now applied 3 coats and its beginning to look like the finished article – another couple of coats tomorrow and I could be done (to then begin the downstairs hall and landing. And then there’s the tilly room to be done …)

The weather has been good, plenty of sunshine and blue skies to enjoy when I have ventured outside in between my stripping. The garden is looking good, first sweet pea flowers just blooming, daisies look magnificent, lawn holding up. I do like the swishy swashy grasses in the front, they help to break up the sea of brick that is the extension. Some pics:

Sam decided to update his computer – which was a little fraught when it didn’t go quite as planned, and wouldn’t boot up. But calmly revisiting the situation the next day, and some good troubleshooting and fault diagnosis on Sam’s part had it all working as planned the next day.

On Thursday I caught up with Marck Radford in Shepton, and then Becky, Sophie and I went to the cinema to see “Yesterday”, which was a good film.

And then on Friday we all went to Cardiff for the day, an open day to see if Sam was/is interested in going to Uni. He was inspired by the Chemistry labs and he definitely wants to continue with Chemistry post sixth form, its just where and how. Will be looking into Chemistry degree apprenticeships this holiday.

And in amongst all this busy-ness I’ve still run, spun and swum. No wonder I’ve had to multi-task whilst having my evening snooze …

April 15, 2019

Project Scorched Earth

Project Scorched Earth

One of the many beauties of our new (still call it new, despite having been here nearly four years) is the ample parking we have. It may not look beautiful, but it is certainly practical and I reckon we could park up to six cars on our gravel driveways.

Last summer I graveled one side in new gravel and it looks much better, maybe I’ll do the other side this summer?

However, my one concern with gravel is the preponderance of weeds to pop up.

So I’m trying a new scorched earth policy. I’ve bought myself a 5 litre pump sprayer from Amazon (£9.99) and filled it with a mix of vinegar (39p for 1/2 a litre from Tescos), salt and a dash of washing up liquid and have sprayed the gravel. I focused on the weeds, but also sprayed the whole area, the idea being to create an area so hostile to growth that not even the hardiest of weed will survive.

We’ll see how it goes.

April 14, 2019

Easter hols

Pic of the week 14/9/19

And so the Easter hols roll on. The weather could be better, but it could be worse.

On the whole it has been dry and we’ve seen some sun, but sometimes, like today, it has been cold. Still, in weather forecaster parlance, there has been some usable weather that has seen me potter in the garden for a bit, sit in the garden for a bit, snooze in the garden a bit …

On Friday, Sam and I went for a walk along the Poldens, but this time we went West instead of East, parking at the YHA car park and then walking along the ridge to the windmill and back. A walk of about an hour or so, with some good views back across Street and to the Tor (above) or looking South across the levels.

On Thursday I tackled the hedge giving it a good trim and getting it back into shape.

It was all going so well until I cut through the cable of the strimmer. No drama, no disaster, no loud bang – it just stopped working. Am a bit annoyed with myself as I am normally quite H&S conscious. Not this time.

Anyway, 30 minutes of repairs later and I was back in action.

Becky & Sophie have been to Cornwall for the weekend for Auntie Avril’s 80th birthday – photo montage below. Looks cold & blowy, but the sea a perfect greeney blue, it would have been nice to see the sea.

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy refereeing this week – line on Monday (Floodlight U18 ), middles Thursday (Y&DL), Saturday (JPL U15) and Sunday (Bridgwater League) including a red on Thursday (dissent x 2) – my first non-school cherry.

January 13, 2019

A new normal

Pic of the week 13/1/19

The new normal.

Sophie has returned to uni, Sam is at work (& when he’s not, he’s out with his pals or hidden away in his room.)

As a family, we have transitioned into a new normal, a new phase of all of our lives.

Not necessarily good, not necessarily bad, just different – one has the definite sense that a milestone, a marker, has been passed.

Perhaps symbolic of this new phase, I spent 20 mins outside today, tidying away the geraniums that have finally succumbed to the frosts of late, and getting the daff pots from the bottom of the garden and back into prominence ready for the Spring that is, hopefully, not now too far away.

Green shoots – the knowledge that warmer, brighter times are ahead, both in the garden and metaphorically.

November 18, 2018

Lawn

Pic of the week 18/11/18

Becky met Sophie in London yesterday, they both had a lovely day.

It was a beautiful day yesterday – its getting “November” cold, but it was a bright sunny afternoon, and today has been much the same, but with a brisker wind to chill the bones further. The temperature is set to plummet in the coming weeks so, …

… today I mowed the lawn for hopefully the last time this side of spring. It has recovered well from it’s summer difficulties and I think it is growing better now than at any time since we’ve lived here.

The moss has pretty much all gone, and I think the hard scarifying I did in September took out all the old, dead thatch, giving the grass light and air to grow. Although things looked bad a couple of months ago, it seems to have paid off.

Time to batten down the hatches, winter is coming!

November 4, 2018

Birthday Girl

Pic of the week 4/11/18

Today is Sophie’s (19th) birthday, her first away from home. But the wonders of FaceTime (still a pipe dream when she was born a mere nineteen years ago) meant that we were able to join her as she opened her pressies at uni.

In other news, half term has drawn to its inevitable conclusion. Its been a good week and half; seems a long time since we went to visit Sophie last week, and not done too much since then, but that’s always nice. Have slept a lot, read, ref-ed a couple of times, run, swum … so perhaps I did do quite a bit!

Friday morning was sunny and warm (up till then it had been sunny but cold, since then its been grey & damp, but warm) so spent some time in the garden, putting it to bed for the winter. Pulled up the runner beans and self seeded tomatoes, the sweet peas had definetly flowered their last, so they came out too, all going on the “new” compost heap – have decided that the time is right to leave the other one to cook over winter ready for the new season. The geraniums (or more correctly, perlagoniums ) survived the light frosts of last week and are still flowering, so left them untouched.

Back to work tomorrow – it seems like a dangerously short five weeks, but I’m sure in a couple of weeks time the half term just gone will seem a distant memory yet the Christmas holidays still a long way away!

September 9, 2018

Lawn Care

Pic of the week 9/9/18

The lawn wasn’t in a good state in Spring. And then the long hot summer happened. It got worse.

We’ve had sporadic rain of late, enough to see the lawn begin to green up – I’ve been mowing it for the last few weeks, but there were still some bare patches, particularly along the edge furthest from the house, where it had been moss, which has died ( a good thing) leaving baked hard earth ( a bad thing.)

So I figured I need to do some lawn maintenance.

I mowed the lawn today, then scarified it – raking out a whole pink trug of dead grass and thatch. I then applied a top dressing, of my own concoction: roughly 3 parts top soil to 1 part sharp sand. (I used two 35 litre bags of top soil and one “large” bag of sharp sand.)

Inevitably, it looks worse now than when I began, but hopefully it’ll help in the long term, and I have some grass seed arriving tomorrow or Tuesday and I’ll over seed the lawn. Hopefully the weather (& soil) will remain warm enough for fertilisation to take place – and I’m sure we’ll have enough rain to keep it moist, even if it needs the odd refreshing from the hose pipe.

Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be posting pictures of a glorious green sward ….

In other news, Sam started work today at Millfield Prep School as a general kitchen assistant: hope it went well, of to collect him in a mo.

September 2, 2018

Farewell to Summer

Pic of the week 2/9/18

So farewell to summer – its been great.

Its been the best I can remember, so much done, so much to enjoy.

Its been hot, perhaps the hottest and driest since ’76. Whilst the lawn and plants may have suffered, the weather has been brilliant.

The hols began on a high note with the World Cup …

… England making it to the semi-finals and making us believe again,

… and a day out with Sam to Yeovilton Air show (but coming back in the afternoon to watch England beat Sweeden 2-0 in the World Cup Quarter final)

We had a few days in Cornwall, and the sun continued to shine …

… and then of to Majorca for the main event. A fantastic week in Pouerto Pollensa …

Each and every day was brilliant, it would be hard to pick out a highlight. Me and Sam climbing Puig de Maria was great, Formentor was stunningly beautiful (although overcrowded), pool time, evening meals, catching up with “Tappers” (for 10 years we lived less than 10 miles from each other but never met up, but put us on an island in the med and we’ll make the effort!), but perhaps the highlight was …

We come home to rain, but only for a day or so, and then the sun came back out.

Sam turned 16 …

… and they both got the grades they needed and deserved in GCSE and A level …

I did plenty of exercise, regularly running 10K (as well as spinning, swimming and refereeing) …

See front run, Puerto Pollensa, July ’18

… and amongst all that, I also found time to tidy up the front drive, and add a bit of gravel …

And so tomorrow, its back to school and work. It really has been a great summer holiday. Thanks for the memories!

August 12, 2018

Lawn

Pic of the week 12/8/18

I lie.

The above photo was taken on 13th July, but I’ve been very remiss in posting of late – largely because the summer has been so wonderful, weather wise: wall to wall sunshine.

Alas, after rain today and yesterday, it seems that the heatwave is over, although their are hints that the long hot summer is not quite done yet and good weather – even if not as hot – may return.

The pic above shows the lawn as a brown and dusty barren patch. What it doesn’t show is all the dead branches and leaves in the smoke tree. That can be seen in the pic below (taken today)

We’ll have to wait ’till next year to see how it turns out.

It’s been a wonderful summer, lets hope theirs still more to come.