Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

~FlowerPot~

Wow that's an amazing job.
We had a chipper too. Until 2 weeks ago when it broke, over use I think!! DH inherited it from his dad, but it has been so useful we will be replacing it. 

debtfreewannabe321

~FlowerPot~ said:

Wow that's an amazing job.
We had a chipper too. Until 2 weeks ago when it broke, over use I think!! DH inherited it from his dad, but it has been so useful we will be replacing it. 

Oh no! I would definitely replace too now I've seen how good they are. My sister gave me one a couple of gardens ago and it was utterly rubbish and didn't work and kept burning out. So I'm glad I did a bit more research than just going with the first one we saw. It should be a good investment. especially considering the skip was £200 and we wouldn't have got the use out of the wood waste. 

Garden is looking very empty at the moment because leaves have fallen and we've cut a lot back and taken some out. Hoping we didn't get too carried away and it will bush out and fill the space more when spring arrives. 
We have places for raised beds dug out (can probably see them in the pictures) and measured out for a greenhouse with some wood. 

We made another two compost bins earlier too as our first one is filled to the top almost. I decided to choose a spot that looked bare from stones and weed membrane. Pah. No such luck...we began to clear the area and as we raked it we found inches of stones there too. 🙈  I will be weeding out stones forever in the garden it feels like. Anyway we have two new compost bins now ....aaaaand another pile of stones 🤣. 

We have now used up most of the pallets 👏🏼 and the summer house is looking emptier and emptier with each clearing of pallets we do. 

Work tomorrow. Will make some lunch this evening so I don't need to spend anything. I get paid next Friday I think so I will hopefully get two weeks worth of wages...but it could be less depending on cut off points so will have to wait and see.
Not really achieved much else this weekend but it's been nice to get out in the garden and it's also meant I've not been spending money too, so win win. 

The money for the chipper was taken from the EF. I need to make plans to pay that back again now. I was so close to £3k too. 😒 But it was worth the expense so I don't mind too much. 

skint_spice

Well done, that’s a big area you got cleared!

greenbee

It's definitely worth the effort doing this stuff now. While I would have loved to have a 'pretty' garden over the last 15 months, I know I'm investing in the long term. And the cosmos and nicotiana have been very pretty at the end of summer (still going strong, but suspect they won't last beyond the end of this week). 

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks @skint_spice and @greenbee. 
I've not noticed any actual flowers and were were here a fair few times on viewings in spring and early summer and I looked out for them but saw none. And Haven't seen any since we moved in sadly ....it's mostly trees and shrubs/ hedges in the garden. Hence why I've cut a tonne back to make space for flowers and fruit/ veg 😁

I'm really pleased with our efforts this weekend we've achieved lots. It's no wonder we're both tired now.

greenbee

There were no flowers here. At least, they weren't visible. And the trees and shrubs had been flailed into hedges, so couldn't be pruned. Thankfully a magnolia, some camellias, some hydrangeas, and a single rose survived. And a few things have popped up now the shrubs have been removed and they have light and space and rain. 

redofromstart

That's some impressive clearance - not surprised you are tired. 

KajiKita

I agree with @greenbee, what you are doing now is a hard slog but it will give you a clean plot to sow seeds in, plant things you grow from seed or buy from the garden centre / get given by friends and family 😊 Unlike me, who often has to hack out a tiny patch of clean earth at these times! 😉

I hope you don’t mind me posting this on your diary, but I think you said that your garden is quite shady? If so begonias in pots might be helpful in some awkward comers, something like this:



This is one begonia tuber and a couple of lobelia plugs. They just need water and a bit of feed after about six weeks of being planted up as the soil in the pot gets exhausted. The tubers appear in garden centres in early spring. Look for nice solid, not squishy, tubers with pink buds on the dimpled side - that’s the top. They come in colours on the white, orange, pink, yellow spectrum and various sizes of flowers - some huge (I find they flop a lot) and some teeny tiny. The one here is a bit unusual in leaf form but I quite like that in its own right. 

KK

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,
Thanks redo my glutes are screaming at me today from all the hard work 🤣 don't need a gym membership with a garden that's for sure!
KK I have screenshot the helpful advice thank you, we have an entire section at the back that is in shade so will look out for those. The mid section of the garden was very shady but we've taken out one tree and cut back three others to allow light through so i don't think they'll be as bad as they were before. 
Greenbee you've reminded me I did have a flower- but in the front garden! It was a rose I managed to save from bindweed and we have the most enormous fuschia (not sure if I have spelled that right?) it is around 6 ft high and 4 ft wide! I've never seen such a big one before. So those were saved 

debtfreewannabe321

Oops I pressed send too quickly.
So I made it work with one minute to spare after leaving too late. My fault. I got a workout though running half an hours walk in 15 mins 🤣😰🥵 only to find I don't need to start until 10. Pah. 
I could have finished training on the computer in the office but chose to go see I T as I'm having issues with signing in on my phone to my work email. Seems my phone is too old. I've come to the staffroom and sat with a cuppa instead of going back to the office and finishing training. 
Today will be a better day. I know who I'm working with and it's a lovely group. 🙏🏼😁

Our new headboard is arriving today DP will get the phone call about delivery slots. 
And I have a v1nted parcel to collect later a brand new top (r0man) with tags for a fiver. Looking forward to that one. 
Dinner is out the freezer - bean burgers and will make wedges later. 

Feeling very organised today and much happier than I did on Friday that's for sure. Payday on Fri too so can't wait!