out and about and back on the acreage

well its all growing now
some stuff is growing well and others have died a death

generally all is well and the garden is looking better for it

the weather has started to improve and we are able to spend more time in the garden so we are having to put the effort in to make it a nice place to spend time






if you look carefully you can see the veg is starting to make an appearance - fingers crossed

the lettuce in the mini green house is no more as the ants have eaten it all -any ideas on that ??-

i have planted some more in the summer house and am going to grow it in there in growbags on the stageing and see if that works










lots going on in the summer house and things are getting big enough to move to bigger pots or even go outside and in to the garden


under the stageing you can see a box full of pots - we got these from a garage sale we went to - i asked the price and they said if i wanted them i could just take them as they were being thrown out - result !!

they are good pots and after i cleaned them up i am putting them to good use

- next time i am looking for planters and mini trellis - heres hopeing !!






been out and about with the kids and looked about at a few car boots and garage sales so on the way back we called in at the local school fun day and they had a go on the go karts

they both seemed to enjoy that so job well done me thinks !!

ok gotta go back to work again its sunday again no rest for the wicked etc.

i will try and be quicker with the blogging if i get time so dont hold your breath but you never know.........

todays flower and other growing stuff

do you remmember that blue flower i was on about the other week - well this is what it turns into when grown
no idea what it is or what it is called but it grows every year and looks good so we keep it

please feel free to click on it to blow it up as it looks really good in detail

that advice goes for all my pictures this week as they all contain some thing worth looking at - for a change

this is the back garden at the moment and as you can see things are really starting to come up now - the main thing of note is the much larger acreage this year with a wall around it and the stupid looking but very effective orange fence

why the fence ? - i had just transferred the seedlings from the green house into the acreage and planted them in nice neat rows when the daft dog decided it would have a dump in this nice area and then decided to re-dig it over for me

i didn't have the 12 bore to hand so have had to come up with an effective method of dog proofing it for now






here is what is growing in the green house

on the left these are sweetpeas and are only just starting

on the right is the spare broccoli and cauli just in case - the rest are in the acreage

as you can see the grow bags are in allready but not planted yet as the tomatoes and peppers etc are not ready yet












<- here are the tomatoes and pepper

they are getting there but not quite big enough to plant just yet











here it is the new and improved acreage

you will need to click on this one to blow it up and if you do you will see all that is there

there are peas,carrots,cabbage,potatoes,broccoli and cauliflower

if you look carefully at that soil you can see it is a good mixture this year as i have been lucky enough to find some good quality organic farmyard manure that is well rotted and almost dry to the touch

well heres to a good growing season and lets see what survives this year - i have planted more stuff than ever this year and there is more stuff still in packets ready to plant - i just don't have enough space to try all of it

too busy doing to write about it

work,work and more work

sorted garden planted loads of stuff

more work

planted more stuff , fixed some broken stuff

more work

planted more stuff , dug over other bits , added compost

more work

thats the last fortnight really

too busy to write about it

gonna try to get sleep now - two drops south coast tomorrow - early start and its late allready - nite nite !!!!!!!!!

back to the acreage

to start off with here is one of the photos i did manage to take on my holidays



you will probably have to blow it up to get the full effect but i only took it with my phone and its hard to get it all in










this is a new addition to the acreage - i got this off freecycle and after a little bit of sanding and staining it looks as good as new

if you look carefully you can see the seeds growing nicely in there - hopefully a bumper crop this year

i have re-done the top patio for the green house and have put stepping stones in and landscaped it with interesting river washed stones - it was our lasses idea and we think it looks good












once the seedlings are up some will be going into the cloche (new again) and some into the acreage which has been dug over ready

the daft dog wasnt much help but did try by sniffing every thing there was and i think he approved as he cocked his leg up at the end and put his mark on it - oh the joys!!

on holiday in north Wales

well we are back and have survived another holiday - we had a week in north Wales in probably the worst weather they have had in the last 20 years !!!!

I did not take any of these photo's as the weather was that bad - so all these are off the net just to give you the idea

our first day out was to Prestatyn where we had a good wander about through the local shops and had dinner in one of the smaller café's - I think it was called Gail's cafe and it was excellent - good food and good choice - the kids cleaned their plates - job done

later on we went to Ryhl and went in the shopping centre for the girls to look around the bigger shops - i hung around a bit and tried not to look bored

went back to the log cabin for tea and crashed out

the photo above is of the road that goes around the great orme which we drove around with the waves breaking over the sides of the road and over the roof of the car - the kids liked that - yes look at the picture again again and work it out - yes the weather was that bad !!

next we drove up onto the top and got on the great orme tramway and went down to the bottom of the hill and then straight back up again - I have never been so cold in all my life - there are no windows in them because the wind can be that strong up there it would blow them off the tracks - i am not surprised !! - I know it blew straight through me !!

we were the only people in it on the way down but some other idiots joined us on the way back up

was it worth it ? .... yes I think it was - you don't want a little bit of weather spoiling your holiday do you ?

here is a link to a video showing you what it is like on a normal day

http://www.greatormetramway.com/video.html

on another day out we had a wander about on Anglesey we went around Holyhead for a bit (I think it was shut) and on the way back called in at that welsh station with the ridiculously long name - it was good and we wandered around the gift shop and bought some tat

here is a link to a good site that explains the name , what it means and how to say it .... good luck

http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/

this is where we stayed

looks posh doesn't it ?

this picture is of the complex at the front on a nice summers day - not taken by me !!

we thought it was a nice place and we were staying in one the log cabins around the other side

they were comfortable and made a good base to tour about from - we always like to have a look about the local area just to see what is about

overall we had a good holiday - even with the bad weather -gale force winds , floods , rain , hail , snow - a holiday is always what you choose to make it , we had some good laughs and have taken away some good memories

would we go back ..............yes I think we would

race for life - cancer research

A more important blog than the normal drivel

she who must be obeyed is doing the race for life in aid of cancer research

this is a 5km run and as you will agree is for a very good course

she is doing this both for her own wellbeing and to raise money for a worthy cause

so being a worthy cause she needs to raise as much as possible

here is a link to her fundraising page

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/apriltraceykirkpatrick

if you can spare a little or a lot i ask that you give what you can as we all know at least a few people that have been struck with this problem and the more money that is raised the closer they will be to a cure

thankyou for taking the time to read this as it is important


normal drivel will continue on future blogs .....

spring is comming - better late than never

now here is a good photo to start a blog with ....

our lass had spotted this on e-bay and added it to the watch list just in case i wanted to do another project caravan for the summer ....

what do you think - does it have potential ?

no seriously back to spring

we are getting ready for it here and i have invested in a mini green house to put the seedlings in - so hopefully i can grow even more this year

i got the seed trays free from some of the big garden centres i deliver to

they get them in to grow seeds in and when they get bigger they put them in pots and the seed trays get thrown out to recycle

so if you are on a budget or tight like me it could make your gardening cheaper

this is part of the back garden and as you can see spring has sprung and the shoots are shooting

no idea what they are but they grow every year and are blue in colour

i didn't plant them but they are where one of the previous rabbits final resting place is

you know what its like with kids - a dead pet has to go with a full state funeral and lots of gifts are buried with them - i think one of the kids must have put some flowers in

this is the front garden and this is the first of the daffodils coming through

they will be closely followed by the tulips as they usually are so that will be the front sorted again for this year.

a bit of an announcement - its our gills birthday this next week (that british woman) and she will be really old of course so please pass by her blog and pass on your sympathy etc and if you have spare zimmer frames etc that you could pass on to her !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- i am so dead but i am the other side of the pond to her so she will have to wait a while to get me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILLIAN !!!!!!!!!!!

ps i should really tell you all all the embarrasing stories of our gills mispent youth so please e-mail in for a full book of cringeworthy tales !!!!!!