Garden update

I certainly made the most of the amazing weather over the weekend, weeding the front garden and along the side of the decking. This kept me busy for a few hours and renewed my love of our garden. I am truly hoping that we get this garden into a beautiful state - well as beautiful as two non gardeners can do! (My lovely husband mowed the lawn on Friday after work, even though he was feeling unwell. By Saturday morning, he was confined to bed with aching muscles and flu like symptoms. He only went back to work today and has been feeling rotten over the last few days. Unfortunately F and I both woke up with sore throats and feeling bunged up so I am hoping we will not get the full blown version.)

 The above photo is of a rhododendron (I think) in the back garden, near the side of the garage and on the end of my new fruit border. This long straight border gets full sunshine pretty much all day and was once covered with ivy and shaded by a large and completely overgrown laurel bush. You may remember that it got chopped down last year on the spur of the moment by my husband whilst I was out! That sure was a surprise when I got home, I can tell you, but it looks so much better without the laurel.

Here's a very blurry photo of the gooseberries. They are about half size at the moment and me and F are currently trying to get rid of all the saw fly caterpillars that stripped the bushes of leaves last year. I am plucking them off and F is stamping on them. Believe me, she is very enthusiastic about her new role in the garden and runs out whenever I tell her it's time to go stamping. I have to remember to tell her to take her shoes off straight away when she comes back in!  She has also been enjoying some time on her own on the swing, sometimes singing, sometimes making up new games, always with a smile on her face.

Another shot of the fruit border. Last year when I was starting to clear the old veg patch, I found a lone strawberry plant which I potted up and hoped that a few strawberries might grow. I bought another strawberry plant on a whim to keep it company. Over the winter I noticed that some runners had grown and made a mental note to dig them up and replant them in the fruit border where they would get plenty of sun. Well, I did this at the weekend and found six runners from the two original plants. I have no idea whether I will get any fruit from the runners this year (have just googled it and it looks like I have done everything wrong, never mind!) but apparently I have got to pick the flowers off the runners this year if they get any so the plants have a chance to establish themselves.

The tayberries are growing nicely after being hacked back (again, probably at completely the wrong time of year) so not sure what's going to happen. But considering they were hiding behind lots of weeds up until last year, I am sure they will survive.

So that's the current situation in the garden, still lots more weeding and tidying up to do but I am on a roll so hopefully with the good weather forecast for the rest of this week, I will be able to put a few more hours of gardening in. We are also trying to source a cantilever parasol that tilts and is within our budget. On the very few days of sunshine and warmth last Summer, we really struggled to stay shaded as our decking is in full sunshine pretty much all day. Hopefully we will find one that is perfect for our needs and that we will actually have some sunshine this year to make it worthwhile buying.

I went on a charity shop run yesterday to see if I could get some more Harry Potter books for F. She started reading the first one this week after having such a great time at the Harry Potter studio tour. She is over half way through the book already so I thought I had better start buying the rest. I didn't find any but did get some books for E and this cat basket for Gerard. He doesn't really need a cat basket as he usually sleeps on the sofa or F's bed but I thought it would be nice to have in the kitchen. He hasn't sat in it yet and keeps eyeing it suspiciously. I get the feeling I may have wasted my money. It still looks cute though and I am very tempted to make a round crochet blanket to go in it.

So that's all for today but I am really excited to show you photos of my new crochet project. I am loving making it and it has grown considerably over the last few days. I will be working on this new project alongside the hexagon blanket as I really don't want to shelve that blanket and then forget about it. Hope you are having a great week. Take care. x