For goodness sake!

 Tomorrow will be the first day of June and we are still having to have the occasional blast of central heating!

My outdoor tomatoes got so big they had to go out. Can’t do much to protect them from the wind but at least they have a top cover against the rain. However, it is at its full height now and they are getting squashed.

Come this weekend, they will have to be uncovered and take their chances. We were going to begin to paint the back bedroom/craft/office but it is just too gloomy to see properly. 

It's that time of year again

 Chimney cleaning! This time DB did it, with Ruby supervising:

 

As per usual, not too much rubbish. Better safe than sorry!

Carpets

 DB took two days to clean the lounge carpet, followed by the one in the hall. Certainly smells better now. Seems to be the downside to having a dog. She doesn’t smell but we think it is the oils in her fur.

We have been out to two garden centres today looking for certain kinds of plants, no joy. Have you noticed how expensive plants are now, let alone the compost.

This is an expensive month for us, two decent sized purchases as well as making the final large payment on the car. It was all planned and saved for, but savings are greatly depleted now and we will start again in earnest.

Beavering away!

 DB has steam cleaned the bathroom to remove bits of mould from the grout, pipes and on the surface of some of the tiles. It is done annually and looks so much better. Wouldn’t mind but the bathroom window is opened for several hours after bathing to air it.

I have been busy potting on peppers and tomatoes, putting the more robust summer bedding in their containers. DB cleaned out our liquid weed feed bin and I have half filled it with nettles, comfrey and dandelion leaves. A quick light watering, a few more top ups and it works by itself to produce ‘tea’ for plant food.

Still awake at 04:15:(

 Dreadful night. Was trying to get to sleep around 10:30 pm, when the loud boom of a firework display reverberated around the room and it lit up like a Christmas tree!

Stood at the open window to watch it, may as well. It was beautiful but loud, massive things.

Decided to read and watch YouTube, still not sleepy. Repeated at 02:30 then again nearly 2 hours later. The dawn chorus started just as I lay down.

No northern lights here either, kept checking but didn’t see any on Saturday night although I only checked once.

Darn it, still not seen them.

Thinking of cancelling

 Amazon Prime. We have been members for a few years and used it to get ‘free postage’ on our orders. It was also handy to watch tennis on. However, they have lost that to Sky Sport and we aren’t willing to pay their extravagant prices for a sports channel when we only want to watch one sport!

Like other streamers, they are also going to increase advertising, which if you are willing to fork out yet more cash for ad free, which we aren’t, will signal the end for us I am afraid.

We shall see how it goes. The ads aren’t too intrusive yet, usually a 30 second bit at the beginning. Hey ho!

Pickled eggs and bees!

We have been married nearly 43 years and I thought it about time, I did some pickled eggs for DB, who says he loves them:

We shall be able to try them the end of May. No idea whether I have chosen a good recipe.

May is the time when the non hive bees like to lay their eggs. We have been lucky in that they use our south facing wall. Our bee logs have increased over the years. The bottom one is new for 2024 and they are not too keen on it yet, preferring older logs:

The one above has hatched last years brood and new eggs are being laid.

The entrances are mainly sealed with mud but occasionally, we get ones sealed with rose leaves, as seen on our roses with holes missing!

The bee house below, was bought too late last year but they are beginning to find it. I am determined to help all bees as much as I can and usually plant as many flowers as possible both in the front and back gardens:

Vegetables growing nicely!

The potatoes have now gone into their final tubs and I have been topping them up. Just one more time should do it. Ruby managed to get in the picture:

Potatoes on the left and fresh mint plants on the right. DB likes mint tea so these will be harvested throughout the year, dehydrated and stored for later use:

Temporarily on the patio table are the first batch of dwarf French beans, 3 different varieties. I shall repeat sow these in a few days for a later crop:

In the green house are the tomatoes, Shirley, Ailsa Craig and Gardeners Delight. Some of these and a few peppers plus the aubergines will grow in the soil in the greenhouse. The rest will be outdoors:

Some are still small but I think that is because they are a smaller tomato variety. Finally, a few chilli peppers and aubergine:

 Hopefully we won't get snow or hailstones in the next few weeks, anything is possible!

 

Two nice days…

 On the trot, how wonderful is that! Also, after a couple of wet days early next week, we are due, hopefully, another few dry and sunny days.

The front garden is blooming now with a few more plants waiting in the wings. The tomatoes, peppers and two aubergine plants are growing well in their pots in the greenhouse. A few more weeks and some of them will go outside. Hopefully then, we won’t revert to cold wet weather.

Don’t you just love this time of year?

Foxley Wood

 We drove for a while to reach the above location this week. Unfortunately the bluebells were nearly over bar one or two stunning small patches. They have a guided walk there next week but methinks the bluebells will have finished by then.

There are normally one or two very muddy areas to negotiate but several whole paths were extremely muddy and difficult to navigate without slipping. A result no doubt of all the heavy rain recently. Also, one of the car parking areas was closed off, which made it very difficult to find a space.

We weren’t unduly disappointed though, the sun was out, the bluebells still scented the air and all in all, a lovely walk.