the good life

When we moved to this house 4 years, we compromised a bit with things we wanted. Actually we compromised a lot! So we have no garage, no big garden and have had to have 2 separate
lots of building work to make it big enough!! But when I saw the fireplaces and sash windows, nothing else would do...

I have spent the last 2 years moaning about the small garden, and this year decided to embrace it. Okay so I can't have an orchard, or chickens, or a kitchen garden but I can do things on a smaller scale!!

So I set lovely husband the task of digging up the concrete path (only put in when we did the kitchen 3 years ago - not thinking about my carbon footprint for that one!!) and building me 2 raised beds - one for flowers and one for veg.

So thats the garden ticked off the to do list...until next door have rebuilt the wall you can see on the pics...imminent apparantly!!!

I'm definately not green fingered but I'm pleased with how things are looking.... We are never going to be self sufficient lol, but we will be able to grow enough to show the little boys that food doesn't always come from Tesco!

I planted a cherry tree and an apple tree, the apple tree and has no fruit on it, and this little red cherry was eaten by a bird! (this was taken a week ago and now nearly all the cherries are red so I am going to net the tree so the greedy birds don't get them all!)Again a week ago, this was what my little veggie bed looked like...a week on and you can't see the soil any longer. (you can see the sorry looking new apple tree on the left!)

We left it too late for planting so its all a bit random so next year I will start earlier and follow a guide I think. I have this Delia book that shows you how to plant a square foot garden - which maximises the space.

The tomatoes are doing well.... (not bothered if they don't all go red, I'll just make green tomato chutney!)

And......patience is a virtue obviously!! My pathetic strawberries are now looking like this .........well a week ago they were!! They went in the Pimms at the weekend :)

hello x

Hello!

I'm still playing around so may take me a while to get into swing of things.

I plan to blog about my 2 fave things - my home and breastfeeding, however you'll probably get long rambles about the other triviality that is my life!!

Monday seems a good day to start - the weekend is over and I am fresh and raring to get going on my half finished projects and ideas.

We spent an hour or 3 out in our garden yesterday - its a work in progress like everything else around here!! Planted some pots and made a trellis to eventually disguise my wheelie bins. I bought a plant trough in a charity shop last wk - for £1 -

its had a couple of coats of antique grey paint and is now patiently waiting for the plants to grow in it.

I never get true thrifting bargains - most, well all, of the charity shops in my town are overpriced and full of tat, and the big car boot is full of traders and people coming back week after week selling the same stuff! So I had almost given up looking - but i went into a smaller non - big name charity shop, and got lucky - so I know where I will be going in future!

Many thanks to the girls over on the shabby chic forum who helped me with my pictures - much appreciated x

Be back soon :)