I hope everybody is enjoying a good week? The weather here is treating us very well at the moment and that means that I have been Getting Things Done. A bit of sunshine seems to make the worst jobs more bearable doesn't it? (I must re-read that sentence when I'm next mopping up dog wee)
Anyhoo...the last few days have seen me planting lot's of seeds in the greenhouse as well as scattering some around the garden. I used to plant my tomatoes and courgettes in a heated propagator in February but even with 'hardening off' in the cold frame a lot of them used to succumb to shock when they had their first taste of the outside world so for a few years now, I've been planting at this time of year...just in a seed tray in the greenhouse and they seem fine. No big shocks to the system for them! I have to belt and braces everything at night though as the teeny tiny bunnies are around and will munch everything in sight and if it's not them, it's mice digging up the seeds just for the heck of it.
There's a path somewhere under all that disturbed soil...
...and here's the culprit. I let her have her fun until the gro-bags go in then I have to 'betty-proof' the door. Well, she has to have
somewhere to bathe!
My week didn't get off to a great start as I lost my watch and then the washing machine died. I did two loads of clothes with no problems.... so why did it choose not to work just as I put in the cat-sick soaked dog bed and the doormat full of dog wee? Ooooh, the glamour!
Things got slightly better when A found my watch while cleaning his car (it'd got wedged down the side of the seat...yay!) and I may not have to go to the expense of a new washing machine either as a chap is coming to look at it tomorrow. Actually, it doesn't owe me a penny as it is fifteen years old...fingers crossed it can be put right.
I've decided to give my little Summerhouse a makeover as it's long overdue. I always intended using it for just that purpose; to shelter from a cool breeze or the heat of the summer sun...book in hand, wireless playing away...maybe trying out all that watercolour painting stuff I invested in years ago but never used....ahh, sounds good doesn't it? In reality, of course, it became a depository for all the garden furniture etc.. we didn't have room to store elsewhere!
So I thought - no more! I've ordered a big shed (!) and hopefully that will give me all the storage space I need to enable me to claim my little sanctuary back.
Before I paint the inside I've been using it to finish off a couple of jobs like painting the table with the barley twist legs. My parents were getting rid of it and I knew I could give it a good home. I may put a brighter colour on top...I haven't decided yet.
Look, it's that chicken again...she's my little shadow whenever I'm outside.
Can you see the other table in the background with the metal legs? It's part of a set of garden furniture bought many years ago from the dreaded Swedish place whose name we no longer mention in this house. It involves a very long story that -surprise, surprise - is all about how rubbishy Ikea's customer service skills are. Actually, I've always found them to be non-existent.
The very short version is that we ended up with a natural coloured table and four blue chairs (don't ask) so they've never looked right together even though I gave the table a blue wash to try and make it match. So I decided the time was right for a paint job. What do you do when you need to do a lot of painting, fast? Break out the PBW! You can't go wrong (that's pure brilliant white to people without a painter and decorator for a dad)
Another thing I'm thinking about painting is the cast iron fireplace. I'm ashamed to say how long I've had it; bought it at a car boot sale when I had nowhere to fit it and it's just been in the way ever since. It was always rusty but we had it standing outside for a long time which didn't help. As it's only ever going to be for decoration I wouldn't feel so bad about titivating it whereas normally I would be restoring it...I kinda like the k*******d, rusty look it has though!
So, hopefully I'll get it all finished over Easter and be sitting inside it sipping something nicely chilled by Easter Monday afternoon! Well, it's a plan...maybe you'll join me for the big reveal? It may involve bunting and even union jacks...it's true! Although, if I'm honest I'll probably just get the painting done...you may have to wait for the 'pretty bits'.
I can't even nip to the shed without somebody being on my heels...she knows her food's in there!
Oh and if you happen to be in my neck of the woods and see a little red car whizzing by (I'm always whizzing, tut tut) with this on the side...give me a parp! It's magnetic and it came from
here. I think it's pretty snazzy and lets face it, great advertising!
Here's hoping we all enjoy a lovely, sunny happy Easter (and don't eat too many eggs)
Looking at other bloggers lovely garden pics this week reminded me that I hadn't updated my garden diary for a while. I don't know if I'm the only one to do this but I find it invaluable to keep a digital record, if you will, of the plants in my garden at certain times of the year. It's amazing to look back at the same bed or border this time last year or see where I've put the wrong colour plant and work out where it will blend in better.
So, I grabbed my camera and off I went for a stroll around my garden and oh, how I enjoyed it. So often, we just forget to stop and appreciate all the fruits of our labours don't we?
Perhaps you'd like to join me?
These pansies were half price outside Homebase and I had to have them...I've never seen these shades before.
More bargain pansies...a rougue yellow one has slipped in there somehow!
I do love my Lupins...
There are Blue Tits nesting in the box!
Lovely apple blossom this year and lot's of it...that means lot's of apples later on.
Even the Cow Parsley over my hedge is looking extra frothy this year...
And I've even got some floral beauty in the house as my Mum gave me these wonderful scented Stocks this week...although look where they ended up. I think they look rather lovely sat on my 20p embroidered cloth from the car boot sale! And this way, Flo doesn't get to chew on them...
Uploading these pictures last night I was kept company by the singing of my little Thrush friend. "He sounds very close tonight" I thought to myself. And so he was...sat right at the top of one of the conifers that's just a few feet away from my kitchen. The evening was drawing in so apologies for the darkness of the picture although if you enlarge it I think you can just about see his speckledy chest.
I'm off to the Car Boot Sale tomorrow...yippee! It had better be a good one as I can't go next week; haircut time - again! Where does six weeks go? Apparently we're all in for a 'scorcher' of a Bank Holiday. Oh, I do hope so, don't you? 
