"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

My grass isn't the kind of nice tidy lawn that a robot could cope with ... in fact it's mostly 'wildflowers' (creeping buttercup) interspersed with mole hills, water vole runs and trees/shrubs I want to keep. With water on two boundaries. But I quite like mowing!

However, I do use robots for hoovering, which I don't like!

Baileys_Babe

I also don't mind mowing. My dd has currently decided she is doing the mowing, she is disappointed when the grass hasn't grown enough to need its next cut, I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon

greenbee

More done in the garden - all the roses and shrubs fed, more weeding done (there are lots of self-seeded things I need to move to fill the gaps), and the grass cuttings and weed from someone upstream who has been gardening and let stuff float downstream cleared. Sitting down with a glass of wine now, although I still have a few things left on my list - I haven't put the hose reel together or done the weedkilling. And I need to do the rest of the grass while we still have a garden waste collection. I don't like using chemicals in the garden, but there's so much creeping buttercup I can't see any option but to treat it. Once I've got rid of the post-treatment clippings I can use future grass cuttings to mulch the new bits of the hedge. 

My wildflower patch is doing well - bluebells are spreading, as well as the primroses and cowslips. Daffodils haven't really done well, but the alliums are happy. Erigeron, campanula, foxgloves, pulmonaria and helleobores are self seeding, and a few geraniums seem to have had babies, so I'm going to start moving them when they get big enough to fill in the gaps. It's taken a while to work out what likes the soil here and what doesn't. Anything that seems happy might as well be taken advantage of! I do regret not bringing some of the fabulous dark magenta peonies from my last house though. I've got some pale pink ones that were here when I moved in, and some single magenta ones that I rescued when my brother bought the house next door to him, but the double magenta ones I used to have were fabulous. The 'bowl of beauty' I bought last year don't seem to be doing much... 

One of my sweet peas has germinated, so I need to hurry up and get the garden ready for all the seedlings I'm growing!

juliejim

We haven't got a garden waste collection at the moment which is a bit of a pain! It probably won't start again until after lockdown.

greenbee

I'm surprised we still have one! I think most garden waste collections have been cancelled because the composting sites are closed. I suspect ours may just be going to the waste-to-power incinerators with everything else

I've just been out and done the last of the lawn treatment before it got dark. So another thing off the list for very little effort. 

Jessy103

Nice variety of flowers greenbee, I bet they look lovely

greenbee

Lovely sunny day today, but a biting wind. Luckily I'm indoors working, and someone else is doing the outside stuff! I've done a pilates class before work and have a yoga class planned for before bed.

Garden furniture is now out on the patio (the stuff I can't move on my own), which makes space in the garage. One new security camera is up, and another one has been moved. The ground has been levelled for my planters, so I can now start filling them. It's also been prepped for the raised bed (still missing one package), and the ground under the waterbutts has been levelled and paving stones put down so that they are secure - and the second one has been connected. The growhouse lid has been fixed (replaced!), and the small logstore roof has had the felt redone. The reel for the hose has been put together, and is currently having 50m of hosepipe tidied up onto it! 

I'm going to have to order some fenceposts, wire and tensioners, and hope that they and the rest of the raised bed soon, so that my helper can come back and sort those out. Then we can deal with the compost area, and possibly build another raised bed out of pallets to put the tomatoes in. Unless lockdown finishes soon and greenhouse manufacturers are back in business.... 

greenbee

The rest of the raised bed has arrived, so I must order the fenceposts and postcrete tomorrow! And pay for pilates, yoga and my last lot of oil as the bill has finally arrived.
Veg arrived today - large veg box and a cooks ingredients box. Yet more potatoes (I'm swapping some for a couple of chilli seedlings tomorrow) and carrots (but I can use them, and having made some soup the glut isn't so bad). Fridge is now FULL - I still have half a white cabbage, half a red cabbage and some kohlrabi, so need to make more coleslaw this week. I'm short on salad stuff (I have some 'winter salad mix', a couple of mini-cucumbers from last week, half a chicory, 2.5 avocados a bit of fennel and celery and some tomatoes) so it shouldn't be a problem to use cabbage. I have masses of fruit - this week added bananas (I'll try to remember to freeze the ripe ones tomorrow), pears, red grapefruit and nectarines. 

Lots of kale again, plenty of spinach, BNS, leeks and Alexanders. I also found some wild garlic when I went for a walk at lunchtime. I also had some dried herbs delivered, and the cooks box included ginger and coriander. Kefir, kombucha and butter were also in the delivery. I got eggs up the road yesterday, and if I'm lucky my attempt to add them to my monday milk order as a regular thing will have worked. So no issues with food now.

Replacement icemaker has arrived and been left to settle. I'll have to run several lots of water through it to make sure it is clean. Old one is in the garage with a toast and SC that need to go to the tip whenever it reopens. Lawn needs mowing, and seedlings need potting on, so I have plenty to keep me occupied while I try to do the thinking work need me to do. I had a decent walk today at lunchtime - I set a timer for 20 minutes when I remembered I needed to be back for a meeting, and did the 20 minutes and then turned round - about 50 minutes in total. I might get out again tomorrow as it'll probably be quieter than the weekend and I can get my exercise by mowing then instead, although I have two classes booked for Saturday morning so might need to rest!

I seem to be spending a lot of money - partly because I'm feeding myself/heating the house/using electricity, but also because while I'm here I'm getting stuff done despite the lockdown. I really do need to get on and get the kitchen design finalised and start working out what I need to do before it arrives - this means talking to the electrician and fitter!

Yoga first thing tomorrow, and then a fair amount that I would like to get done for work, so I guess I should head off to bed. 

greenbee

One tiny OP made last month when my salary came in and the previous month's surplus went into savings and the odd numbers at the end went to the mortgage. With savings rates so low, it seems pointless, but as you can see, I'm doing a lot of spending right now...

Kitchen design still isn't finalised! But I have managed to talk to the electrician who is coming up with the wiring plan and going to try to order what he needs now if the prices are ok as we think they'll be going up. Fence posts have arrived, but not the postcrete - I need to chase that on Monday. I've planted up both the herb planter and the other one (with strawberries and lettuce!) and ordered another planter. All the bits for the raised bed bar two bits of capping have now arrived - capping is out of stock, so I'll see what it looks like without it and may just accept a refund. I'm also in the process of choosing a greenhouse as I've confirmed that the friend doing all the outdoor work is happy to install one, which gives me a lot more options to choose from. 

Yoga and pilates is all going well, food supplies are becoming more reliable - I've even managed to get a Tesco slot for Monday, so need to finalise the order today and remind myself not to go OTT as I do actually still have plenty of food and haven't managed to empty the freezer yet! However, if all the veg I've ordered arrives I may well skip this week's big veg box. 

Today I need to make soup and clear the dining room table of all the rubbish that is accumulating there. And then sort out somewhere to put up my to-do lists, as having them on bits of paper doesn't work. My dad always had whiteboards in the kitchen and his workshop, and although they were ugly, they definitely worked! There are lots of small jobs that I could do with reminding myself about - like putting up the shelf in the kids' room and buying a lamp to go in there. It may be ages until I have visitors, but it will mean I can move some stuff back to where it should be. And on that note, I have just messaged someone to get details of a decorator as my windows need painting. It's an outside job, so hopefully it can be done regardless of lockdown (depending on the weather). 

Emailing the kitchen details/queries back to the company should also be on today's list, along with dropping a note to the fitter about whether his team are working (also asking about the roofer - another outside job that frankly could be done whether I'm here or not) and staking a rowan tree that is growing at an alarming angle. We've also got a family zoom call at 11am, so I need to look vaguely respectable by then. And getting the epilator out is also on the list - no one else can see my legs, but I know what they look like! Lots of laundry was done yesterday, and the towels and cleaning cloths will be done today. I could also do with stripping and remaking my bed - the sheets can then be washed when I know we're going to have a dry day. One of the bonuses of being home has been significantly reduced use of the TC and heated airer. 

I guess I'd better get on with doing some of this stuff!

South_coast

I'm exhausted just reading it 😂!