dear diary ~ a productive week at last

The weather is just how I like it ….for gardening, dry and sunny but not too hot and if I could order a little rain for late evening or overnight to avoid having to water then all the better. In fact it did rain overnight on Thursday and nicely refreshed the garden.

By last Wednesday, we had already stocked the pantry with fresh fruit and veg and the freezer with more home baked quiches so there was little food shopping we needed to do but we did have a few errands to attend to out of town. So mid morning, when there was still no sign of the ‘new arrival’ coming, we decided to pack a flask and sandwiches as we knew we would be out for about 4 hours and wanted to be on our way home before the school rush at coming out time. We began by going up nearly to Emley Moor (where the famous TV mast is) to the garden centre which is now Dobbies. I had a £5.50 voucher and knew what I might buy with it. We also took up a pile of empty compost bags and a few plastic plant pots for their recycling bins. It was good to have another job off the list and gain more space in the shed. The voucher part paid for a little hand rake – the small one that Kent and Stowe do that helps you manoeuvre between the plants in a border.

I was astounded to find a display of lupins all at £25 per pot….really…..they were established and in flower and quite beautiful but they are just a perennial and easy to grow from seed. I used to grow a lot but for some reason they attract the green and black fly and get eaten to the ground in the hot summers so I gave up on them.

Although Dobbies have a cafe it can be noisy and expensive and we need to save money where we can so we lunched in their carpark with our picnic where, if you park in the right place, you have the same wonderful view way across the valley looking towards Upper and Lower Cumberworth as in the cafe.

Our next port of call was near to town at B&Q. I dislike going here – so many products that are potential future waste and landfill. We needed a piece of wood. We often need a piece of wood even though we have many odd pieces in the garage….guess what …..it is never the right size/ weight /shape or kind for the project of the moment. DH is going to put up some more tool hooks in the shed for me to hang the metal cloche hoops and for this he first need to put a strip of wood in place to screw the hooks to. That will be one of his jobs today.

We found said piece of wood in correct size, weight and shape and luckily it fit inside the car (as DH had not packed his saw just in case) then moved on to one of the local hospice charity shops to deposit the four bags of daughters clothes from her recent house clear out. She had some beautiful items but sadly only two of them fit me (and they are now in my wardrobe for summer) as she was size 8-10 until her recent pregnancies.

We then called in at another garden centre where we get our bags of compost. I noticed that what was previously offered at 3 for £xxx are now only 2 for £xxx no doubt due to all this inflation. We bought our two bags and a new hand trowel so we don’t squabble over the only one we have and finally made our way home.

Thursday we spent in the garden – there is always plenty to do and we concentrated on pruning back the berberis in the front border….quite dramatically – it looks a shadow of its former self but will recover and be a better shape. Plenty of snacks were needed and I have recently had a bit of a craving for these toasted teacakes spread with melting butter (whilst we can still just about afford butter!).

On Friday we had Master Freddie for the day again to relieve a very heavily pregnant mum. So all I managed was a few little jobs around the house. Once he had gone home at 6 o’clock I dashed around the house with a duster and the vac whilst DH made a pasta bake for our tea. We then collapsed in front of the TV and watched Astrid: Murders in Paris (the last in this series) and went to bed at 10pm.

A number of small improvements were made over the week

• bought car seat for grandchildren to use
• washed a pile of plantpots and trays for reuse
• got rid of the pile of logs and old compost bags which freed up some space
• with the help of DH I completed the huge ironing pile and put everything away
• bought the piece of wood to put up more hooks which will create more floor space and better circulation area in the shed
• took the bags of charity clothes creating more space in our spare room
• scanned on some waiting paperwork to file on computer and shredded papers

and I was quite satisfied with our productivity – each little task has gained us valuable space in the house or shed or, like the car seat, will be such a help when the grandchildren come giving us more flexibility.

Update: Since preparing this post I am now able to announce the birth on Sunday 21st May of another grandson – a little brother for Master Freddie and as yet baby no-name! I am relieved both mum and baby are doing well – Freddie is now fast asleep (I hope) in our spare bed and DH and I hope to see our new little cherub very soon. It has been an even bigger productive week than I thought!

Have a good week everyone.x