Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

Sun_Addict

Hope you have a lovely day with your niece and nephew today x

Seasidegal58

Enjoy Dartmoor today with your family. 

milann

Enjoy Dartmoor. 

Putting the bushes in pots sounds like a solution to your problem. Check if they need acid/alkaline compost. I have azaleas I’ve rescued from the ground one put in pots with correct compost that are doing well now.

Sunshine_girl2

How are you, busy walking I expect .

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil said:

Your garden sounds great!  Hopefully the rhododendrons will survive - it is particularly hot at the moment!

Have a lovely day on Dartmoor today.

Nicnak said:

Hope you had a lovely walk around Dartmoor. It has been very humid and I had to sit in the shade at the beach because it felt like I was burning.
Your garden must be looking fab now. Enjoy a lovely week x

Bubblesmum said:

Morning your posts sound like your balancing jobs and have vsummer holiday fun well.

if it was me.... and I have made plenty of gardening mistakes and got patient oH to dig up... the rhodondenrums And either put them in pots in the shade or in the back garden....   

Our next door neighbours dug up some beautiful bushes between us, leaving us with a big empty border ( after putting a fence up) we left it clear and neat for quite a while before we tackled planting it 
better to learn now than when they have died ! 

Have a good week .......

Thanks all of you . I decided to dig up the rhododendrons again and have put them in pots in the back garden. Lesson learnt!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

Hope you have a lovely day with your niece and nephew today x

Seasidegal58 said:

Enjoy Dartmoor today with your family. 

milann said:

Enjoy Dartmoor. 

Putting the bushes in pots sounds like a solution to your problem. Check if they need acid/alkaline compost. I have azaleas I’ve rescued from the ground one put in pots with correct compost that are doing well now.

Sunshine_girl2 said:

How are you, busy walking I expect .

Thanks everyone . I had a great time on the walk.
I did have to buy some special compost for the rhododendrons Milann so more money spent 🙈.

HairyHandofDartmoor

On Monday I really enjoyed the walk with my niece and nephew on Dartmoor 🙂. Aunt and uncle and my cousin came too and it was really good to see them all. It rained in the morning so we skipped the picnic and met after lunch but then it got really hot and sunny! Luckily the walk was mostly under trees 🌳🌲.

On Tuesday after lunch the office was so hot ☀️🔥 despite two fans that DH suggested going to the tip, so we took the five roots, a broken printer, a broken garden fork and our bag of garden waste (they're still not collecting it here). It was a very hot activity but good to get rid of all that rubbish. Apart from that I did housework as it was too hot for gardening. Although I did quickly dig up one of the rhododendrons from the front garden as the leaves were turning brown in the sun 😑. I felt quite tired after the walk yesterday and did 19,000 steps over the whole day! I spoke to DS3 on Skype for over an hour which was lovely 🙂.

On Wednesday it was again to hot for DH to concentrate at lunchtime so we dropped off fourteen bags of books and an unwanted chair at the charity shop. This is from the clear out I had during lockdown. Again it felt good to get rid of it all and clear some space on the landing 🙂. We also went to the garden centre and bought two shrubs for the front garden. This time we asked the advice of the garden centre staff and bought two small evergreen shrubs that love full sun, a Choisya ternata (also known as Mexican Orange Blossom) and a Convolvulus Cneorum (also known as shrubby bindweed 😂). They both have white flowers in spring. We also bought some special compost for the rhododendrons so my mistake is beginning to feel expensive 🙄. After we got home I took everything out from the bench running along our side passage, which has plants on it and swept underneath it. I found a bottle of slug pellets and a blackfly spray I didn't know we had. Also a lot of soil had gathered under there from watering the plants. It looks much tidier now. Our side passage is in the shade but I still got very hot!

Yesterday I started earlyish as I wanted to sort out the front garden. I dug up the second rhododendron, which was also starting to turn brown 😑, and planted the two new sun loving shrubs. Then I weeded the front garden and swept the path. I was boiling hot by then and had to come indoors and drink cold water in front of the fan ☀️🔥. Once I'd recovered I planted the two poor rhododendrons into pots with their special compost and put them somewhere where they should be in semi shade. They do look nice but we need to stop spending money on the garden. My gardening took most of the day but all the big jobs are done now, so future gardening should be a matter of light pruning or weeding and replacing annuals when they die off.

Last night we had a massive thunderstorm 🌩🌩🌩 according to DS1 but DH and I were too tired to even notice it apparantly. Today I need to start thinking about our holiday as we go the day after tomorrow 😳. We need to renew our breakdown insurance and book some holiday insurance. Apart from that I want to wash and iron clothes ready to take. I also need to collect some prescriptions from the chemist and make a phone call for DS1. So a busy day but not gardening at least. It still feels warm but it's grey and misty so feels quite humid. 

I hope everyone has been having a good week 🙂.

teafor2

Hi HHD You've certainly been busy and even though you feel you've spent enough money (and probably energy) in the garden, when you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour it'll all be worth it. We've slept through a couple of thunderstorms as well which surprises me as I always think of myself as a light sleeper. 

Washing and ironing before and after holidays is the worst part for me, but the actual holiday always makes it worthwhile  

Is your DS's uni on track to open again as normal or hasn't he heard anything? DD's hasn't decided what they'll be doing yet and I suppose there's no point worrying about it as things do seem to change overnight. Have a lovely day. Hope you get all your jobs done. xx

Sun_Addict

What a busy week, out and about, decluttering and gardening, no wonder you slept through the storm. I'm convinced we haven't had any thunderstorms here, I've not heard anything, we haven't had any rain either.

Bubblesmum

Heres hoping the  rhododendron, enjoy plant life, they will look fab. I love Choisya's..... 

Happy Holiday's