Daydream fund challenge part 4

greenbee

I think it's probably worth a try with everything Fay (although other people may well be more knowledgeable!). Even if not everything survives, enough of it should to get your new garden started.

Davesnave

I've mostly kept off the page this week, because it hasn't been a great one.:(

I'm afraid our builder has been steadily losing it since the project on the other side of the world began occupying more of his mind, and it's begun to cost us both in money and frayed nerves. Last week he was grumpy, although it was me who had the worst job, and this week a mistake was made which was almost laid at our door, even though we'd nothing to do with it. :A

Now I think a fundamentally bad, rushed decision was made, rectifying that mistake .......Aaarrrggghhh!:mad:

He isn't well enough to do any more at present, having injured his back, so we have some temporary breathing space. I think it's just dawning, what a massive task he's taken-on elsewhere at an age when most of us drop down a gear. (Yeah, I know, I can talk! ) We couldn't have done this place without him, and I'm sure we'll part friends, but I'm looking forward to the end now, as he is.

The mower is back in service, thanks to our local garage, who take on anything with an engine. We'll see how it goes, or whether it's heading for the Bay. Speaking of that, I tried to give away a friend's sofa for her on Freegle with no response, so I stuck it on eBay and made £20! :rotfl:

Sambucus take any old nonsense, Fay. I just poke bits in the ground here and forget them. They usually grow. Viburnums are also tough, as are Hydrangeas. Just keep well-watered and shaded. Try one of each first to see how easy.

Verbena b. is coming up well here too, as it should after a mild winter. We actually have the flower garden under some sort of control now that DW is able to dig and weed. The rest.....under scrutiny for a re-think.

greenbee

I'm torn between building from scratch next time or buying somewhere finished...

Builder is driving me nuts by failing to understand the way I want him to set out the quote. He keeps quoting by room, rather than by the phases in which the work will be done. I think it's time to start getting other quotes... and in the meantime I need to get him to come over and FINISH the odds and ends left over from previous jobs. This is the problem with ongoing work - they seem to think that they can deal with it 'next time'.

I am at least making progress in the garden (or the landscaper is...). I need to get out there and weed... and work out what to put in at the back to follow on from the hellebores/narcissi/tulips in amongst the roses and clematis. I need some kind of ground cover for the summer.

pink_poppy

Still no choille??


Dave, I bet you're counting the days until your building work is finished. And the conservatory... Glad your DW is doing better.


Faye, you sound like you're doing well, organised and busy.


I keep wanting to post but my internet connection seems to be really dodgy on this laptop (mine gave up the ghost a few weeks ago so I'm using DH's) so I'm typing really fast!!


Hope everyone is okay. I'm still dreaming

Davesnave

pink_poppy wrote: »

Still no choille??

Dave, I bet you're counting the days until your building work is finished. And the conservatory... Glad your DW is doing better.

Choille was viewing on here 3 days ago. Not sure if she's just on the subs bench or permanently banned, but if the latter, there are ways to becoming a born-again MSE-er.....;) I hope she returns soon.

Building work here is almost done. I have to get one more drain in, but it's a straight-ish run and only one inspection chamber involved as the other one's already there. Then there's a bathroom to be connected to that, which is just a bare room at present, but it's not urgent, so we can take our time on it.

The biggest challenge will be hard landscaping outdoors, but that's sort-of fun, because planting will go hand-in-hand with it.

Went to Horse Woman's funeral yesterday and there was a very good turn-out. She came from a educated, landed family and probably had quite an idyllic early life, but like all of us, had a few trials to cope with along the way. In her later years, her animals meant most to her and she lived for them really.

I recently bought DW a s/h Dell laptop from Microdream, a Devon company that refurbishes mostly business-sourced machines. The one we received looks new, has a very good spec, and the battery even holds 5.5 hours of charge. For £230 it was a steal, compared with flimsy things one might get new at that price point. Of course we only have the one experience to go on, but the company is well reviewed on the internet.

Market day today....Time to shift the tomatoes. A bit of rain has done wonders outdoors, so people will feel more like planting, hopefully! :beer:

pink_poppy

Thanks for the info, Dave, I'll look into that.


We've been doing some landscaping in part of our garden & I've created some raised beds using sleepers. Looks ok, but the soil is appalling, full of stones and bricks. I was going to plant some herbs but I've ended up just putting some cheap plants in (with plenty of compost and Growmore) to see if they survive first.


Nice that HW had a good send-off.


Off to do a rain dance now, we haven't had any for weeks and we could do with a really good downpour.

Davesnave

pink_poppy wrote: »

Off to do a rain dance now, we haven't had any for weeks and we could do with a really good downpour.

That dance worked for us! :rotfl:

Before the rain, we had a good market, then someone who always buys my toms came around afterwards and took most of what I had left. I think I've now covered the cost of repairing the mower......:)

The Market has a kitchen cafe running all morning and that brings in as many locals as the stalls; they just pop in for a bacon & egg breakfast. The trouble is, some don't bother to even look at the stalls, which is a shame. I think we may have just lost the fishmonger we had, who'd come up from Brixham, as it probably wasn't worth his time.:(

Yesterday afternoon DW insisted we cut back the 8' wide and 7' high euphorbia pasteurii, my pride and joy.:eek: I could see her point, as it was pushing across the path and killing other plants. So down it came, taking great care because of the sap. We needed ratchet loppers in the middle. Four dumpy bags!

It'll re-grow. probably. We'll keep it in check next time and also put another one or two out front, where they can just run riot. :cool:

pink_poppy

It worked for us too We had rain overnight, but then a lovely sunny day today so we're probably back to square one.

alfie_1

hi all
ive read all the posts but bit like a goldfish I cant remember all of it !! so sorry if I don't mention / comment on a vital bit of info ....


mum is doing well , reckon she will be back to her flat within a few weeks .


we had rain, but not a lot, enough to freshen things up but not much more !
ive just taken possession of a collection of orchids !! some apparently quite rare / expensive.. need TLC but should be ok . chap doesn't have the time now to care for them properly [ he still has lots tho !] all he wanted was a donation to the air ambulance so happy to do that.. just have to repot, trim and feed them all back into the land of the living !!
seems strange to not go and feed JIM JAM every evening .. he did look good when he went off tho..


ive almost finished planting all my random plants.. run out of space now tho...


glad HW had a good send off [I know already said] but sounds like she has enjoyed her mad animal days in the latter days ... think that's how im going to be !


re moving plants ... I dug up allsorts when I moved house, even a largeish wisteria [now growing by the porch and flowering.] my reasoning was if I don't try I wont know ! and I was devastated to see a bulldozer ripping through what I did leave .... I would say 80% of what I shifted , took.


I looked after another one of dollys pups this weekend... RIO a gorgeous black lump of fluffy hair !! my dogs looked on with distain when he lolloped around but accepted him by Saturday evening..


worked on the "railway" today... [oo guage for newbies...] had to restore all the stone around and along the tracks... took 4 hours to do half of it !! owner is away till the 23rd and has a charity event beginning of june so its me that will be doing the bulk of the work till he gets back.. its hard work but very therapeutic in a strange way !


I do hope choille gets out on parole ! miss her...

Chesapeake

Evening all. I haven't been on here much as I haven't been up to much. The allotment is very behind now, the timber for the raised beds etc only turned up this week, I bought 4.8m lengths which were delivered to work and I'm having to cut it all into 6ft lengths to fit in the back of my Golf!

The allotment is deteriating with the recent gales and storms, the polytunnel ends with doors have both collapsed, the repair I did to the "shed" roof has blown off and weeds are pushing up the ground control fabric we laid.

On a plus note the kiwi tree has shot back up after being chopped to a stub and the two unknown fruit trees are doing well and in full blossom after heavy pruning. Just a few more months and we will know what they are!

I'm in rain-soaked Scotland on a week break to see my fianc!'s family and looking at farmland at 1/6 of what it costs in Cornwall