MORE WORK ON FRONT GARDEN

FRONT GARDEN

For the last three weeks Sweet William has been working everyday in the garden.
With all the stones that he has dug out from various parts of the garden we are recycling them into a nice garden wall.
Work is progressing well

Here is some photos of work in progress.

SWEET WILLIAM HAS HAD A BRAINWAVE

Well as i posted earlier that billy had to build a retaining wall to hold up the top of the garden.
Well I dident want just any old retaining wall did I,oh no I wanted a nice one as it also has to hold a little path also.
So Sweet William got some inspiration and said how would you like a red brick wall with an arch ,did he even have to ask YES I said the very thing.
Now I think he wonders has he asked the right question as there is another adjoining wall that holds up the other side, its so ugly.
Picture breezeblock painted white yuch .
So it is now going to be pulled down lets just hope when he is swinging the old sledge hammer at it dosent swing my way lol.
So we are now going to have two nice walls and a little brick courtyard bliss.
And i want it all done by Easter hee hee 
Better keep out of the way for a while and not ask him to do housework then hopefully it will be done.
So much for the sun shining here yesterday it is now flipping snowing grrr.

IN THE GARDEN AT LAST

I thought i would never get a day in the garden as it has been so cold,but today the sun was shining and no wind .
So glad as i was happy to get out today.
Our new fence has been put up and needed stained so i got one coat of stain on that and a really good brush and tidy up,also the little wheelbarrow,
Sweet William made me up last year got a coat also
Sweet William has finished the new steps up to the top of the garden and is now levelling out the piece of garden beside them so we have a much larger flat piece of ground at the back of the house.
He has to build a retaining wall to hold up the top of the garden first and then a walkway across to get to the other side ,I do not envy him his task it will be hard work but so worth it when it will be finished.
So all in all a very productive day and very much enjoyed and needed felt cooped up too long it has been a long cold winter

MY NEW HUNTER WELLINGTONS WITH WELLY SOCKS

PROGRESS FROM A WHEELBARROW TO A SHED

SWEET WILLIAM HAS NOW TAKEN EARLY RETIREMENT AND WITH TIME ON HIS HANDS TO FILL

HE HAS BEEN MAKING GOOD USE OF THAT TIME.

HE MADE A SHED FROM SCRATCH AND A VERY GOOD JOB TOO

IT STILL HAS TO BE STAINED OF COURSE

WHEEL BARROW

I got Sweet William to make me a little wheelbarrow from scrap wood that we had lying around the garden.   I was quite pleased with the results i just have to stain or paint it not sure which i will choose to do,but i now have a nice pink geranium planted in it .

I also got him to lead the windows in the shed i think it looks quite nice,and have started to plant a little border up ,i have plans now for him to build me a fire pit and a cob oven if he can ,its as well he is easy going as i have him tortured lol                                                                                  

CLEARING THE SHED

I wish i had never started this job i was at it from 11 am until 4pm non stop.
When i moved here everything was threw in the shed in boxes and two years later i am only sorting it out.
Although it really was too hot a day to be up and down from top of garden to bottom to bring it all in and get the stuff washed,but so glad it is all done as i found things i had been looking for for ages.
And finally you can now move in the shed ,i can now just put my hand on fish food slug pellets etc without having to climb over everything .
So i have a nice rocking chair and a big crochet blanket and shelves to put in and make it a bit girly.
Poor Sweet William it was once his potting shed but i have to have it ,he can get another one lol.

WE ARE COMING ON WELL WITH THE POND

Well what a beautiful day it was today,we worked really hard in the garden and never stopped all day until six o clock.

Sweet William carried on with the pond work and laying out where we are going to put steps up to it,

I weeded borders and cleaned guttering and brushed all the front driveway,i am so tired i will definitely sleep well tonight .

We now have to go out shopping and see what we are going to buy for to edge all round the pond and its surrounding area,we will maybe go to the garden centre tomorrow and have a look and see what they have got,and while we are there we will treat ourselves to a well deserved coffee and a big cream bun.

POND UPDATE

Sweet William is getting on well with the pond.
I have a little statue to go at the side of it the Mannequin Pis,we had seen him in Brussels and had to have a little replica one in the garden.
It is only made of resin but i cant wait to get him up and running although Petite Poi thinks he is very rude.
I suppose he is as he is peeing but i don't care he is still going outside lol.

DIGGING A POND

I wanted a pond out our front where we had cleared all the trees away sp Sweet William has started one for me.

I wanted it long and thin and then get Sweet William to make a little bridge thing over it.

So i asked him after he had been outside for a few hours how he was getting on ,his reply I feel like i am digging a grave .

It has to be dug a bit deeper than this and we are just going to put a few water Lillie's in it .Awh i would be lost without Sweet William in the garden as he gets stuck in to whatever you say you would like done.

GARDEN SHED

Well i have been very busy in the garden staining the garden shed and the little decking path leading to and away from it.
It was a lovely summer day when i got all this done and had been in the garden from 8am until 4 30pm.
I went in and out all the gaps of the decking scraping it all out and then brushed iit all down and then stained i,t two coats went on the shed also.
There is still a bit of work to do at the top of the garden but it is so nice to sit and have a coffee and look out over the farmers field(on a nice day of course) .
The fish are now up in the pond and we divided all the water lilies so i am really hoping they will come back,i sometimes worry when you disturb plants that they might die off, so fingers crossed and legs and toes if i could lol.

WHERE DID THE GLIMMER OF SUNSHINE GO

I was hoping that the weather had finally picked up after the lovely weekend we had a few weeks ago.
I haven't got my windowsills fully finished it always seems to be raining ,i hate looking at unfinished jobs.
Sweet William has broken the pot at the front door which Petite Pois bought him for his birthday last year so we will have to replace it before Petite Pois returns from university for the Easter break.
There is always jobs to be done,of course Sweet William said the pot had just broke but he forgot i was in house when he was bringing in a bag of coal and i heard him break it.
He is a chancer ,he said i could hear the grass grow lol .

FIRST PART OF WALL KNOCKED DOWN

While i was sanding cleaning an painting the windows and door down Sweet Wiliam started clearing where the washing line was .

It is very hard work along with so many trips to the dump with all the soil but the photo shows how far he has got on.

PAINT BRUSH AND TOOTHBRUSH

I have been working out the back today sanding down the kitchen windowsill.Sweet William painted it about two years ago but did not undercoat or sand before he painted and now its all peeling.
Men eh want a job done well i think us women have to do it ourselves.
I didn't like it white anyway so i have sanded ,undercoated and am now painting it black,i was going well until the rain came on but Friday is supposed to be a dry day so hopefully i will get final coat on then.
The back door is to the left hand side and i washed down all the PVC .even went as far as getting a toothbrush to clean in all the grooves and the windowsill is all sanded and undercoated ready for painting too.
I am trying to get it all cleaned up as the back door will be inside the conservatory when we get it we wont be able to attach conservatory directly to the house so Sweet William has to make a little piece of extra roofing first as the flue from the wood burner in the kitchen is also going to have to be taken into consideration.
Little old me thought it was all going to be so easy but its not ,i wont complain though i cant wait to get it

STARTED GARDENING AGAIN

Well today the weather was very mild and we went out into the garden.
Our garden at the back is elevated with steep steps going up and not that much room at the bottom on the flat piece,we are planning on getting a small conservatory for the flat piece which means the door of it would open out at the start of the steps.
So Sweet William has started to level the back area and we are going to build a retaining wall and have the steps going up the side of the garage instead of the centre of the garden,at the minute we could go up both sides but i think one set of steps is more than enough.
We plan to stay in this house so we are thinking ahead to when we are pensioners and doing all the hard work now then when we are much older we will have it easy,well that's the plan anyway.
This photo was where the washing line and the elevated right hand side started so when the line broke it urged us on to start plus the fact that i am now going to have room for a table to eat our Christmas dinner at .
Each Christmas i have had to set up a table in the front room for dinner and i have now insisted that i am not doing it this year ,threw a tantrum girls and said if this isn't done i will be going out Christmas day and it will cost him a pretty penny.
So talking of penny's as they say THE PENNY HAS FINALLY DROPPED LOL

Where you can see the beginning of the breeze block wall is where the garden will be levelled to,our pond at the top is just behind the breeze block wall which then pours down into the bottom pond so we will have to rethink that as to whether to not have a little waterfall.
I would much prefer to do without it as i want flat surfaces only.
I really enjoyed being back out in the garden today and also it certainly stops me spending money so all in all i have killed two birds with one stone.

CHANGE OF NAME

I decided to change the blog name and give us all garden names.
I will be going back and forth over the older posts to try and cheer it all up a bit.
I felt it was looking sad and as this was my first ever blog I wasn't really sure how to get it right.
But I have now got a little more experience with blogging and hopefully this will look more pleasing to the eye.
Sweet William,Sweet Pea ,Petite Pois x

SLIPPY DECKING AND BROKEN WASHING LINE

The washing line in our garden sits on top of decking,in the bad weather the decking gets very slippy,i have fallen three times on it and have hurt myself each time.
So of course i have ranted and raved to my partner saying its dangerous could you get it lifted,but my rants fell upon deaf ears until yesterday.
Well yesterday I noticed the washing line had broken in the bad weather so I asked Sweet William to take it down for me and to put it in the trailer ready for the dump.
Out he goes ,over an hour later I wondered what was keeping him and I couldn't believe my eyes he was lifting afore mentioned decking.
I said why are you doing that ,he said he had just fallen and hurt his back and shoulder and it was dangerous so he decided he would lift it.
SO TYPICAL OF MEN YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THEY HURT THEMSELVES BEFORE ANYTHING IS DONE GRRR
Sweet William,SweetPea,Petite Pois x

I CANT WAIT UNTIL THE SUMMER

Roll on the summer its a bad day here in Northern Ireland the wind is blowing a gale across the farmers field.
I Keep thinking there is someone knocking the door as the wind is whipping up the knocker on the door .
We are a bit high up here so you always think the weathers worse than it is then when you get to the bottom of the road its not as bad as you think.
I have so many ideas in my head I cant wait to get started ,we have bought a wood burner for the garage so we are going to turn that into a little garden room .
So round the auctions and charity shops Ill be going to get bits and pieces for it.
Sweet William,Sweet Pea, Petite Pois x

A DAY OFF WORK

I WORKED SO HARD IN THE GARDEN YESTERDAY THAT I COULDENT GET UP FOR WORK THIS MORNING.

I MUST HAVE CAUGHT A COLD I WAS UP MOST OF THE NIGHT WITH A REALLY SORE HEAD,AND WAS STILL AWAKE AT QUARTER TO FIVE.

I FINALLY GOT OVER TO SLEEP AND SLET UNTIL QUARTR TO ONE THIS AFTERNOON.

BUT I WENT OUT AND TOOK A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PART OF THE WALL I CLEARED YESTERDAY.

SWEET WILLIAM,SWEET PEA PETITE POIS X

DECEMBER AND STILL GARDENING !!!!!

I cant believe I have been out in the garden working in December.
I was out for four hours today clearing the dry stone Wall. I have done one foot of it only another 147 feet to go.
Flip me Ill be at it until next December I think.
My Primroses are in bloom and my Camellia has started to bud they don't usually come out until March or April I was amazed.
My camera had broke so I went tonight and got a new one and then it was too dark to take a photo of the bit I cleared.
I was so pleased with it although im sure my neighbours think im mad being out in the cold ,I was sorry it got dark I could have stayed out all day.
Ill have to get myself a hat with a lamp on it lol.
Sweet William,Sweet Pea,Petite Pois x

STILL CLEARING THE DRYSTONE WALL

well we are still clearing the stone wall area ,its hard work but we are getting there.
we have put down a covering on the area we have cleared to stop the weeds coming up .
the farmer doesn't seem to cut up to the edge of the field so well have to go out and buy a strimmer to cut the grass ourselves as it just keeps growing over the wall and makes it look so untidy .

CLEARING THE SIDE

We are doing quite well with the clearance work out the front ,we have taken all the trees out and the wall looks much better .
Its not as bad as i thought it was going to be ,we are still clearing and then we will decide what we are going to do.

TRYING TO HIDE THE UGLY OIL TANK

I have been trying to hide the ugly oil tank it is so big and ugly just until next year until we move it.
I have put in soil around it and painted the side of the garage wall to clean it up and then i will get some passion flower to grow over it .
We also have a wall built out of breeze block which also has to stay until next year so ill paint that white too to clean it up.
We potted up all our window boxes and put in some sunflower seeds so hopefully they all do well.
My partner also dug out another two tree stumps up by the dry stone wall so that is clearing up nicely i hope we get it all done this summer ,i cant wait to start arranging the garden with nice things.

FISH AND TABLE AND CHAIRS

The pond is starting to clear and the fish are now up it is really nice to see them again as each year you do wonder if they survived the winter.

I went to Ikea and bought a small table and chairs for my front garden so that my daughter an i can have our coffee there when the sun comes round in the afternoon,they are just the right size for us to sit on .
I hope the nice weather keeps up as we are of to France on friday for four days we have a little house over there so more gardening to be done ,

A GOOD TIDY UP

As soon as i came home from work i went out into the garden and i done a really good tidy up ,we went to garden centre and bought red geraniums to plant at top of garden in front of the bit of the dry stone wall that i have cleared.
It really was a beautiful day and i dident want to waste a moment of the sunshine.
I have just noticed you can see the shadow of me taking the photo on the decking weird.
I brushed and scrubbed the decking and have started to linssed the table and chairs ,a very boring job but worth the effort ,i am nowgoing back out to do a wee bit more work .

SWEET WILLIAMS BIRTHDAY PRESENT

I was pleased with Peite Pois birthday present to Sweet William.
Well I got the pot Iwas looking for and its all planted up ,I was within budget of £15.00 exactly.

Thank you Petite Pois x missing you on your birthday today so if you read this many happy returns it wont be long until your home for reading week xxxxx

We got a good bit of the dry stone wall cleared today and it really spurs you on when you see the result of your hard work, beside the piece that we cleared you couldent even see the wall it was covered in brambles and bushes ,so we also started that area .

As you can see there is a big tree root to come out first then hopefully you will be able to see the wall.

We worked really hard today tidying up borders and moving some plants around ,between us there was 13hours of work today,here is some tidy up photos.I have taken a photo of our clematis Montana its doing really well Ilove it.

The Hosta that Idivided a few weeks back is really coming on.

Sweet William also got the pond filter working again so hopefully the water will start to clear and of course a trailer load to dump AGAIN and filled up yet once AGAIN is it ever ending .

Sweet William,Sweet Pea and Petite Pois x

A VISIT TO THE GARDEN CENTRE

Its Petite Pois birthday on Saturday as well as Sweet Williams birthday and as Petite Pois is in her first year of university in Aberdeen she wont be home, ill really miss her this year,but she asked me to go to one of the local garden centres to pick something for Sweet Williams birthday present for the garden from her.
So off I went to get him a clematis, I couldn't believe the prices £10.99 and as she wanted me to get him a pot for it as well I didn't think the budget of £20.00 was going to go very far.
I also had seen a pot in the local diy store which was £1o.oo so I went to the market this morning and got a clematis less than half the price of the garden centre ,it was only £5.00 so I very pleased with myself ,I thought I would get everything within budget so off i went to buy the £10.00 pot.
Well it wasn't £10.00 anymore it had doubled in price to £20.00, no way was I going to buy it after that price hike so hopefully a trip to Ikea will get me something.
We had an Arrum Lilly in the border for years but we seem to have lost it this year so we bought a new one not I hasten to add in the overpriced garden centre but in a little nursery not far from here only £4.00 a bargain I will plant it tomorrow.
Sweet William,Sweet Pea and Petite Pois x

moving stones and burning rubbish

I went out into the garden when i came home from work at two o'clock this afternoon ,i was still out there at nine o'clock it was a lovely day the wind had died down, i couldn't wait to get home from work.
I moved more stones so there is now two piles on the go i raked all the rubbish from the hedge cutting and once again was burning it all,i weeded borders and moved pots round to the front of the house to make it more cheerful looking.
I brushed all the decking out the back and watered all the plants with the hose .
All in all a really good days work, I'm sure ill sleep well tonight i just hope I'm not sore in the morning.
We also went to the dump and have once again filled up the trailer, i cant believe there has been that much clearing to do.

cutting down hedges

We went out today and worked for fours each, my partner got out the chainsaw and cut down five big hedges ,we now have to dig the roots out but at least we can see more of the farmers field .

He also drilled holes in my bin and lid so i can burn some of the rubbish ,it s much easier than trying to get it all in to plastic bags as they fall apart when you move them .

We done three runs to the dump to get rid of the hedging and the trailer is filled up again

Here is a photo of my bin turned into an incinerator and also of the cleared area of hedging, I'm pretty pleased with the results,the pile of stones in front of bin is what i have moved from in between the hedging there must have been 100 stones at least.

some of the stones have to go back on to the wall and the others we will use for a rockery somewhere.