Sashybo - Back Again

sashybo

Hi all, thanks for dropping in. My mum's dog was nearly 15, she got him when he was around 3 or 4 so she did have him for a long time. He was an odd little creature, he hated cars and would go nuts trying to chase them so she had to walk him away from main roads. He also hated white vans & cyclists - he would sit at her bay window and bark his head off if a white van or bike went past. 😂 

DS did ask where he was when we were at my mum's so I just told him again that the dog had to go to doggy heaven because he was old, not convinced he understands but he seemed to accept it.

It has been lovely and sunny during the day here but going down to minus 1 or 2 most nights. 🥶 I have been covering up my seedlings in the greenhouse and they seem to be surviving so far but hopefully the frost will go away soon. I really need to buy some proper horticultural fleece, I've been using old tea towels!

Half of my seedlings are still on the bathroom windowsill, so they're ok. So far I have tomato, cucumber, giant sunflowers, red sunflowers, petunias, lobelia, sweet peas and some more flowers (memory is rubbish). I have sown a few courgette seeds today (Orelia, Romanesco & Clarion) and repotted the sunflowers and cucumbers.

My bathroom windowsill is very crowded now but can't really move the rest of the seedlings out into the greenhouse until after the frost has passed. Once that happens I will plant the sweet peas out in the front garden and repot the flower seedlings - I might move some into hanging baskets but will see. 

My mum has asked me to pick her up a bag of compost as she doesn't drive and some more plug plants so I might check if Mr M's have any more of their £3 violas & pansies left.

The kids are going to stay overnight with my mum tomorrow so that DH & I can do a bit of painting in the kitchen. It will be good to get it done (after 3 and a half years of staring at the unpainted section of wall left by the built in cupboard being removed). 

beanielou

Happy painting 

janb5

Am I allowed to admit to greenhouse envy!

This is something I`m unlikely to have as I have a small garden and there isn`t enough room...*sulk*
Well done with all your gardening and planting- it`ll be lovely x

Willowtree222

Hopefully you get all the painting done when the kids are at your mums. Hopefully you can have a nice evening together as well as I am sure they are quite rare being child free. x

Honeysucklelou2

Well done on all the sowing. My bedroom window sill is similar to your bathroom window sill. Waiting for the colder nights to stop so that I can get the more tender seedlings into a greenhouse!

sashybo

Hi all. 😊 

Thanks Beanie, I fully expect to be a bit achey after painting - it's all the stretching and reaching. But glad to be finally getting it done!

Jan I must admit having the greenhouse does make growing things a bit easier! We're lucky to have a decent sized garden so when we moved in we had a new path and patio added at the top part of the garden (where the sun stays for most of the day) and bought a greenhouse to sit up there too. Our house was a new build so the garden was just grass, we have also added some borders and every time we dig we find more junk from the builders. 😖 

Thanks Nicnak, it's not a huge wall so shouldn't take too long but we might end up doing the other walls if we have the time and enough paint. Yes it's not often we're child free so we can have a nice dinner and relax.

Thanks Honeysuckle, I think you do a lot more sowing than me so can imagine your windowsill is very crowded! I've tried to only sow a few of each vegetable/fruit this year so that I don't feel overwhelmed and will have the time to do all the repotting and actually look after my plants properly. We didn't harvest our runner beans properly last year as we just didn't have the time and it was such a waste. I was very annoyed after looking after them for so long.

Today has been another frosty start but then lovely in the sun. I have two washings out on the line and have soaked DS's white nursery polo shorts in the Ace white laundry bleach and have them washing now so they can go out on the line as well. I had to buy him more polo shirts as he needs age 5-6 ones now despite only being a few months off turning 4. He's gotten very tall over the last few months and looks older than he actually is now.

I went out and bought my mum some plants, they still had a small amount of the 20 plug plant violas and pansies for £3 so I got 2 packs for her. Mr M's didn't have any compost though which was annoying - they seem to either have loads or none at my nearest one. 🤷‍♀️ 

sashybo

Oh I forgot to add that I have been keeping up with my bedtime yoga and am feeling a bit better for it. Once I have got into the habit of at least 15 minutes of yoga a day I can build on it and do a bit more and maybe something else as well.

I was talking to my chiropractor last week about not getting any exercise done (which I should be doing to help my back) and she said just to think about how to add small amounts in, as anything is better than nothing. She was saying you don't need to go from 0 to 10, just think about how to get from 0 to 1 to start with. She's right and it did give me the push to start with the 15 min bedtime yoga videos. 

beanielou

Great tip on the even wee bits of exercise.
This is were I fall down.Sigh.

sashybo

Beanie, me too, I find it hard to keep exercising regularly. I've managed 6 days in a row of the 15 mins of bedtime yoga but I'm back at work for 2 late shifts from today so will really have to force myself to do it when I get home tonight. My hips have been quite achey from the stretching so hopefully it's doing some good, I know I tend to have tight hip flexors and that can affect my back and knees so it's good to stretch them.

Yesterday DH did the painting and didn't want my help so I managed to hoover the whole house and clean all the bathrooms. I also hung out DD's washing then had to run back out to take it in again after an hour or two as it started raining.

I also managed to apply my nematodes in the garden so hopefully that will stop the slugs appearing and eating everything. Everything I got done would have taken me about 3 days with the kids about so it was good to get it done all at once.

The kids had a good time at my mum's and were playing with her neighbour's grandson. I think my mum was exhausted when we took them home. 😂 

sashybo

I have been managing to keep up with the 15 mins of bedtime yoga, today was day 13. I feel like it's helping and hopefully I can start doing a bit more soon but at least I'm doing 15 mins every day and that's better than nothing.

I was checking my seedlings today and all are coming on well, I have 3 courgette seedlings appearing now as well, I was just thinking they weren't going to do anything. My bathroom windowsill is very crowded now so I won't be able to sow anything else until I can get everything out into the greenhouse.

DH was talking about buying some kind of raised bedding for our courgettes this year but we just can't afford it. I suggested we just use some of the bamboo canes we have or get some kind of frame like we use for our runner beans to stop the courgette plants sprawling over the ground. The problems with growing in pots! DH's parents were adamant at first that you couldn't grow courgettes in pots. 🙄 

I managed to cash some survey money out so paid £20 off one of our loans and £20 off the smaller 0% BT CC. I also paid a small amount into the VSP for my Christmas fund.

DS has been exhausted as he started back at nursery yesterday, I don't know how he will cope with full days when he gets this tired after 3 hours. He won't get his full hours until August though so not something I need to worry about yet.

I have managed to use survey vouchers to pay for the majority of the balance for a new retractable washing line (the bottom part that you wrap the line around to keep it taut snapped on the one we've had longest, it's just plastic so must have gotten brittle), some new bath toys, fleece for my seedlings in the greenhouse and a big potting tray to keep it tidy in there as my staging is slatted and the compost has been going everywhere when I'm potting. 

I'm hoping to save my survey vouchers now towards a garden bench with storage (I'm looking at a plastic one so there is no real upkeep) which would cost around £100 and also a water flosser for DH & I as we are really awful for not flossing, the one I'm looking at is around £70 so would definitely need to be heavily subsidised with survey vouchers!

One of my car tyres has low pressure 😩 the car gave me a big warning when I started it and it did look a bit flat compared to the other tyres. 😱 I went to the garage and filled it with air and it looks better but I'm now worried I have a slow puncture. 😭 If it goes down again all I can do is hope it can be repaired rather than needing a new tyre. Blinking cars have cost us a fortune. 😔