The weather today has been abslutely gorgeous. I've spent most of it working in the garden. It's been another perfect day for drying clothes outdoors and I'm making the most of every potential drying day. It'll save me a fortune on the electric bill.
We're back from garden club after picking up the seeds I'd ordered. I've sown half the packet of two different tomatoes and a mini aubergine. Hopefully they'll sprout within the next fortnight. I also bought ten 8ft garden canes. I intend to grow plenty of climbing beans this year. The GreenStalk planters have freed up so much space in the garden. We had planned to call into a garden centre to pick up some compost but we're leaving that till tomorrow or Thursday. It's warm and sunny today though the wind is a bit chilly.
How on earth can it be March 1st already? We're off to garden club soon to collect my seeds for the new growing season. Guess what I'll be doing this afternoon. We're nipping to the garden centre to pick up some compost for my little grow houses and having a drive over to the park to see if the otters are around. There was no sign of them last time we went but they had been seen so they're definitely still there.
Yesterday Tony bought two more of the grow houses for me so he's scored big brownie points. It'll be fun to get them filled up and growing. I intend to log everything they produce to see how long it takes to recoup the initial cost.
We had friends over for a meal last night so it was the perfect opportunity to use the pretty china. We had Salmon Wellington and steamed veggies followed by Tiramisu.
Tony and I have just popped into Aldi to buy some cream. Of course it just happens to be the gardening event so we walked along the middle aisle.. That was fatal of course because we were tempted by several things. I thought it might be interesting to share our shopping receipt to see how prices compare across the world
My cutting dies are now overflowing the magnetic sheets so I've ordered another little storage unit. Many years ago I ordered some lovely little die storage units but unfortunately no one seems to make them anymore. My new unit is due to arrive next Tuesday and there's 10 A4 pull out shelves. Here's a photo of the die storage sitting neatly under the craft desk. The new unit will fit nicely under there and will mean that I can sort out my dies into categories. It'll make it far easier when I'm crafting. I'll paint and decoupage the new unit to match the others.
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today so I've spent all day working through loads of wash loads. I stripped the bed and its all washed and dried. I've washed several of Tony's puffa coats. The laundry tub is completely empty now and the last load is on the line. In between wash loads I've pruned the grape vine, put up my bean pole system and given the garden a thoroughly good tidy up.
In my paper stash I have a block of really pretty papers. They're perfect for making plain white envelopes look a bit nicer. The pretty papers are simply layered onto the envelopes. Be careful of stripes. Mine are slightly skewed. I learned by my mistakes this morning.
I've just spent an hour pottering in the garden. I cleared the last pots of carrots and as soon as we eat the last of the celeriac I'll refresh that bed and get it ready for sowing or transplanting veg. Now it's time for a bit of crafting and I want to make some nice envelopes for yesterday's batch of cards. I've ordered some more cutting dies with a more male theme as I have very few suitable ones. They should be here by Thursday and I can spend the evening practicing with them.
I've spent a thoroughly lovely afternoon making cards today. We'd started our Sunday with a full English breakfast and a walk around the park. There was no sign of the otters but it was still nice to get out in the sunshine. It's been pleasantly warm out of the wind. Unfortunately the wind was blimmin cold so definitely not gardening weather. My intention is to make all the cards that I'll need for my friends and have them ready just to post when a birthday comes round. I'll share a couple of photos tomorrow as the light isn't good enough to take a decent photo.
For the past few years I've used our entrance porch as a heated greenhouse. We never use that entrance and if it had occurred to me before we had it built I'd have made it bigger. As it is it's perfect for growing veg indoors and this year I'm planning on growing through the winter months too. I've just ordered an ice blue GreenStalk for the porch and hopefully it'll arrive in April. That's the perfect time for me to plant it up with all manner of heat loving plants. Even on a bitterly cold day the porch heats up nicely as long as the sun is shining. Through the winter I'll grow cool weather crops like lettuce, spinach and radish.
This morning I've had a bit of a switch around to make room for my seedlings
