Category: Home & Garden

DIY, decorating and de-cluttering; home improvements and recipes: anything vaguely home or garden related gets chucked in here.

Turf Wars

In August last year, we bought 21 rolls of turf on a whim to replace a large patch of gravel out the back without a) measuring the garden or b) making preparations beforehand. It took 3 days to de-gravel, de-concrete and then lay the turf which, having been sat outside a local Homebase, was already […]

Glorious sunshine

What a weekend. 20 degrees in March, fantastic. Predictably spent most of it in the garden (and have the pink toasty shoulders to show for it – oops) Tidied up the front garden a bit (although forgot to water flowers – south-facing daffodils are looking very scorched) and bought a big plastic compost bin from […]

Green Fingers

Well, actually mostly brown from the mud, but ‘brown fingers’ has disgusting connotations so… Anyway, back in the garden this weekend to make the most of soaring temperatures (well, 15 degrees ish). We have removed the stupid random fence panel and gate that enclosed the little patio area directly behind the house, which means I […]

Rain, rain go away

The British weather (I know, it’s March and therefore quite normal) is dampening my gardening spirits. Har har har (get it … rain, dampening? Groan.) Wanted to get out in the garden over the weekend but could only manage short bursts because of the downpours. We have given the poor, neglected turf a bit of […]

The Good Life pt2

After our visitors left yesterday (Amelie, Ben & Thingy) we spent some time pottering around nearby gardening/DIY shops and then started back on the garden. This is exciting news because we’ve a) bought a greenhouse now – one of those slightly wobbly click together w/plastic cover things and b) we’ve decided what we’re going to […]

The Good Life

Yes, my weekend was like a scene from The Good Life. Plotting, digging, planting, re-potting, etc. We have Grand Plans to turn the garden (right; not to scale) into something both beautiful and practical over the coming year. Fruit, veg, and flowers for the bees and butterflies. Our back garden is north-facing, which is fairly […]

A little bit more meat

(Because the alternative is telling you all about the fact that Isabel specifically requested my presence in the bathroom yesterday to show off her “BIIIIIIIIG poo!” … oh.) As per previous post, I had my Well Hung Meat meatbox on Friday, complete with a shoulder of lamb thingy. Lamb being my favourite meat of all […]

Not Impressed by The Well Hung Meat Company

This post has several follow-ups: Going Back to Well Hung Meat A little bit more meat My cheaty leftover-lamb curry I am also now a regular customer of Well Hung Meat. Minds out of the gutter, please. I’m referring to Well Hung Meat the organic meat box delivery company, nothing more sinister. I don’t think […]

Sat in the car…

…next to Izz, who’s fast asleep in her car seat. Typing feels weird, because the skin on my fingers has been shredded from shovelling gravel and lifting concrete. We went out to try and buy Isabel a slide yesterday, and while we couldn’t find one (end of season, all shops seem to be swapping garden […]

The House, The Move, The DIY

I’ll break this down a bit for those not interested in the minutiae of the past few days; you can skip to which bits interest you the most… Friday: Exchange and Complete The contracts were officially exchanged on the house Friday morning, we completed at the same time and had the keys for 11am. A […]