What we have been doing this month!

My husband has been hatching a plan for several months to create a gate between the house and the garden wall.  

Using left over timber (plus a small supplement of sarking) and copper damp course from the original house and a lot of coppered clout nails (we had to buy more, if anyone would like some) the following has appeared, hopefully it will be hung tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to show you the pics.

sarking being fitted to the frame

the space where the gate will go

sarking complete

wood preservative drying

copper strips laid out, having been bashed flat by my husband

the first few layers secured - will we have enough???

Yes, just, with a few patches in places

close up before paint stripped

and after

almost ready to hang..........

August is here already!

Have been sorting the raised beds out, ready for autumn planting - cavolo nero for a start, and of course parsley, and other things too, but I am not sure I have sorted all the seeds out - oh yes - winter spinach.

Here are a few pics of produce and the prepared bed.

onions and garlic strung and ready for hanging - using old tights!!!

some now hanging in the shed

bed where strawberries and onions and garlic were, ready for the rotation

random picture of the fig - no sign of figs yet, but considering it was just a stick earlier this year I think it's not doing too bad

beans running - hope we get some for the Olympics

almost ready to eat - it will be on table on Saturday night.

At last - a name and number

The house sign and the number that I made, oh it must be two years ago now, have been painted and put up.  Didn't want them to be rusty, (a) as the sign on the wall at the end of the drive wouldn't be seen, and (b) I didn't want rust marks on the white wall of the house.  So the number stands out, and the house sign is beautifully painted a light dark blue.  It stands proud of the wall and will throw a shadow on to the wall later in the day when the sun hits it, and when the street lights are on.  (We suffer from severe light pollution from the school and carpark next to the house - must see if we can get something done about it - orange sodium lights flooding the garden and house all night, even in summer, plus security lighting from a business at the end of the street and just off the main road.  Apparently the police have said they need it, but I have tried to get them to angle it downwards, to no avail.  At least they don't switch on and off all night long like intruder lights do when a cat walks beneath them, I think that would drive me mad.)

OOOh that was a bit of a complain, wasn't it.

Anyway here are the pictures of the lovely signs:

It actually says "School House" if you can't read it.

What a difference a few weeks makes

It's the garden again and we are enjoying lettuce, chard and kale - which is amazing when it is picked fresh and eaten within the hour of picking. Looking forward to onions, broad beans and garlic, when that is eventually ready for picking.

The flowering parts of the gardens are coming on, it takes a while to fill the spaces, and some things are doing better than others.

Here are a few pictures:

alliums and grasses

front beds filling up

broad beans, nearly ready to eat, need a bit more sunshine for everything

Garlic, onions, and somewhere some strawberries

Japanese onions???

spicy lettuce

Chard and kale

We have pleached the leylandii hedge, which gives more space and you can see the herb bed 

Can't believe how long since I last posted, but here is a little bit about the garden

We have been so busy living in the house, and the weather has mostly been appallingly cold and wet, that it has been difficult to do anything outside. However some dryer days saw Mark creating a fence above the wall to the side of the house, to give us a bit of privacy, reusing fences that were around the house when we bought it.  He has now finished it and we are in the process of putting in climbing plants to cover it.  However, the last two hole digging work revealed, under the slabs and a little earth, more concrete - we will have to investigate more, to see what this concrete is covering!!!!!

We have been purchasing more plants for the planned black and white garden to the side of the front path, and a few plants for the other side, where the grasses are.  Not sure how some of the grasses are doing, the black ones might go back to the black and white garden.

The plants purchased yesterday have been put into position (after I took these photos), but it is too wet (again) to plant them without solidifying the bed they go into.

So, here are a few pictures of the fence, and the gardens:

view from kitchen window

What, a little sunshine

winter flowers by the front door

you can just make out the fencing.....

and here it has some ivy pulled over, a honeysuckle and some new ivies with pretty leaves

Chair finished

Well, with Christmas coming and presents to make or finish off the photo of the chair has been delayed.  Here it is, and mighty comfortable it is.

Here are a few of the deconstruction pictures!

Well, happy new year everyone, don't know if I will add more to the blog or not as we seem to be finished now.

Just to add a note to the 'anonymous' responders.  Please don't, your responses just go to spam and are deleted.......