Well a very good morning to you all! And what a day yesterday was. I never did get all my housework done, the call of the garden was too strong for me to resist, although I did try!

Hubby did rather well and has now built his raised bed, not too bad for his first attempt! He did quite well at tiling the living room floor when we moved in as well, and he had never done that before! He just needs to finish the top and then fill it with compost and whatever else takes his fancy! And here is the proof of his efforts!

He did buy the blocks from a certain garden centre but the rest of the stones are the ones he blagged on his way home from work a couple of weeks ago. We did buy a bag of cement for the base and a bag of mortar for the walled parts. And he did also use the adhesive/grout that he used on the living room tiles when he ran out of mortar! How's that for recycling!!

I was also a rather busy bunny and got loads of pots planted out. I know I'm rather late at getting the seeds planted but I'm hoping to get some crops that will spur us on for next year. And the weather up here in the North of Scotland is starting to get nice and warm so the heat may just help my little plants grow big and strong. And not to mention the special feeds they are getting from me.

My own little recipe for lovely plant food is ..... tea. Yes good old fashioned black tea. Hubby drinks loads of tea. I can get through 100 tea bags in a week and I don't like to waste anything so I follow something my grandmother. I just use hot water from the tap and steep the tea bags to get some nice strong "tea". I then put it in the watering can and water it down so it is nice and weak and use it at night to water all my plants. And the houseplants seem to be thriving on it, especially my money plant. It is from a cutting of my grandmother's big huge one and my mum gave it to me and it really is thriving on my kitchen windowsill with all the sunlight and food.

I also have a vase with 3 bamboos in it and these get fed with a small amount of tea mixed with the water and they are really growing some lovely shoots as well.

Right, I must really get my behind off to bed as I am shattered and have loads to do tomorrow. So goodnight to you all and I hope your gardens are taking shape just in time for the nice weather to come in! Take care all xxx

Can't Sleep

Well it is 5am in the morning and I can't sleep so I thought that I would come on the laptop and add a little update and another photo to my online diary as I have been rather lax at posting and I am feeling rather guilty!

My youngest daughter planted some tomato seeds the other week and I was concerned that they would not grow as it is a bit late for planting from seed and I have had these particular seeds for over a year! But on checking this morning, there are a couple of seedlings poking their little heads out of the soil! She is over the moon about this. She is only 4 and is such a fussy eater that we are hoping that she will eat the veggies that she has grown herself. If it works just watch me get her to plant all the veggies next year!!

My oldest is now not chuffed as her flowers have not grown at all yet! But try and explain to her that the seeds were free and they may not grow! But she is going to help me in the morning and do some more planting. The kids are off school on Monday for the bank holiday so should get some decent planting done if the weather keeps up!

Have also listed on Freecycle for some fence posts and fence panels so that hubby can get the garden fenced in and hopefully create a bit of a wind break as our garden is rather windy. I would rather get off Freecycle and know that I'm recycling something that someone else doesn't want anymore than pay a fortune at a garden centre when I might not have to. I was also a bit cheeky and advertised for slabs so that hubby can do a patio area and hopefully slab our driveway at the front. Then I topped it all off by asking for pots and stones/bricks for the raised beds. Hubby has also got into the recycling mode as he always stops and checks any skips that he sees now. So far he hasn't seen anything that he could use but you never know what's going to happen.

And I have finally opened and ISA to start saving for my dream ... a house with land!!! I have only so far paid the £1 to open it but will be adding to it as I get some spare cash. I think dream number one is to be debt free but the big dream is definitely a house where hubby needs a sit on mower! It's been a dream of ours since our youngest was born. Somewhere where we can keep chickens and ducks and geese and maybe a couple of piggies and possibly be a self-sufficient as possible but that's a dream for another day!

Right am now starting to get tired! Typical, just when its almost time for me to get up, that's when I get tired! Well I will heed my poor aching fingers and go off to bed and will post more later on! Take care all xxx