Get a grip woman!

Karmacat

Wow! Amazing and the thing is, you retired at an age when you could, didn't you, and not through ill health? All the energy that you used to do your job, you can spend it on yourself now and thats what you're doing. Hurray

Suffolk_lass

Oh dear.

DH got to the point where raking out weeds on the patio stopped doing it for him so he got the brush-cutter out to edge the lawn. Unfortunately he apparently picked up something hard in the process and it hit the new back door. The outer skin has completely shattered. I have to find the installation email from the window and door company now... Poor Dh was almost in tears as he heard it go. Not sure if it will be an insurance claim yet.

In slightly more upbeat news, our neighbour came round and alerted us to a swarm of honey bees in his garden. We were able to go and collect them at about 6pm and a newly placed hive now has residents. I shall go and check on them shortly.

Yet more weeding from me, and we used the remaining weed-proof membrane to restore one of the paths, but inevitable ran out of both membrane and gravel before all was in place (where does gravel go?) - 3 more paving slabs and it is clear that more work will be needed to fend off the creeping tendrils of both hypericum (St John's Wort) and periwinkle (Vinca). At least I spent no money but the list of big things I need to sort out (that will cost lots) is growing.

Starmummy

I think I need to adopt you for a weekend Suffolk, we have no idea what to do with the lovely cottage garden we inherited when we bought the house. It is looking so wild despite our somewhat hopeless efforts

Suffolk_lass

Starmummy wrote: »

I think I need to adopt you for a weekend Suffolk, we have no idea what to do with the lovely cottage garden we inherited when we bought the house. It is looking so wild despite our somewhat hopeless efforts

haha - we are no experts but the best advice is a little and often - maybe an hour a week just removing weeds - if you have a cottage garden it is worth watching another one locally to see what they do when - (and what works well!) so things like reducing over-enthusiastic growers can be done just after they flower but reducing a clump is best when they are relatively dormant, in autumn or spring - then it is OK to dig them up, chop or pull apart and replant.

And know your thugs - mine are brambles, periwinkle and hypericum (over-vigorous border plants)but I also have weeds - bind-weed, nettles, wood sorrel, goose-grass and ground elder - no Japanese Knot-weed, Himalayan Balsam or Giant Hogweed but certainly more than my fair share of invasive weeds! - do ask if you think I might know - there are some good plant ID facebook groups that can help too!

beanielou

Sorry to hear about the door.
Accidents happen.

Suffolk_lass

Thanks beanie. DH was a lot happier after I got a price from the company fitting them. The new bees seem to be settling in too, now they have looked at their other options - a nice sunny afternoon here can only have helped

Karmacat

Good advice from you, SL - I'd no idea about plant ID groups on fb, I'll definitely give that a go. Hope your weeding is having a good effect, and you can see your garden more clearly.

Suffolk_lass

Sorry about the radio silence - all focus on the Open Gardens Event - I can't go into too much detail because it makes us too easy to ID in RL but it seems to have been a success - we may have raised over £2000 which is pretty impressive for a small Village! So much work though!

I am going to try and keep it going in the garden but I shall be shifting some focus to paperwork as we have so much to go through - I really need to give it more attention. While looking for DS's bank card I found old Debenhams cards and I am sure there was something on these forums about PPI on these. More later - got to get going

Suffolk_lass

Well, Open Gardens is out of the way - successful, albeit it rained for most of the afternoon. I had thirty people crammed under canopies and the awning, determinedly eating ploughman's lunches in the rain in the futile hope it would stop. They are a determined bunch, garden enthusiasts. It was financially successful but I think we under-priced the lunches as a meal-deal. It did mean there was not too much left!

Anyway, my focus is back on the regular stuff now. I made a consolidated Tilly-Tidy OP of the mortgage to bring the total in the savings account down to a nice round number. I am waiting for the confirmation letter from the BS that will tell me what the new interest rate is.

In the meantime the new door has been sorted at the back and the garden has exploded into action - colour everywhere. I am off out to the front today as the invasion of ground elder should be easier to clear after a wet couple of days and I want it dug before it seeds - there are buds on some of it.

The chair I ordered from JL was finally delivered after I phoned to enquire why it had taken three and a half months - I knew it was being made but that felt too long. They had had it in the depot for a month with a file note saying they could not contact me. A lie. They have email and two telephone numbers - all with message capability - all unused. Such a shame that one employee can trash the reputation of a favourite store in one selfish action. Anyway, I have it and I like it!

Back to the mortgage, I have done a little forward projection to see what will be left when DH's lump sum and the remaining four normal monthly payments of £500 have been made and we are under £8k. Shall I leave it to run its course or pay it off from other capital and free up the £500 a month? After talking to friends we visited in the NW last weekend I think I shall reduce it to a very small amount and then leave it as interest only to run its course - the fee for early redemption can be saved. The friends pay 42p a month...

Karmacat

You've done amazingly well on hte Open Gardens scheme, good for you! There's a few Open Farms round here during June, and maybe the NGS scheme is going again, though I haven't noticed the booklet around as it has been in previous years.


Apart from under-pricing the Open Garden meal, the finances sound great too - thats a very good idea to leave a tiny amount of the mortgage so as to save the redemption fee, I like it use their own system to your advantage.


I need to think about living room furniture now - a sofa (I think one from my local hospice shop, which has a continuous stream of practically new two seaters) plus a nice armchair tall enough that I can rest my head, will be perfect. Not this week though



Have a good day - I hope the ground elder gives up easily