The new month began with rain and wind which enabled us to catch up on boring paperwork and a vague attempt to clean the house and try to get rid of some plaster dust.
I thought I'd start with a quick catch up on the kitchen saga: plaster dried, walls and ceilings painted and lights and sockets fitted, floor sanded, oh it almost felt like a room again.
We had decided to stain the wooden floor in the kitchen a dark brown as a contrast to any other woodwork as we didn't think we'd be able to match it. Despite pushing the workmen to finish the floor it was down to M to put 2 layers of stain and 2 layers of varnish on. We just never thought the kitchen would be finished if we didn't chivvy them along. Delays continued through April, sometimes I think it's just us being unlucky again with builders, but promises of work being completed dragged through the days and weeks. We spent the majority of April waiting for workmen to appear just to have no shows or an excuse of "I can't do that until ... is completed first". I have to admit that my patience ran out and I had to leave M to deal with them in case I said something I might regret. Eventually the actual kitchen fit began on the 7th, it'll only take 3 days they said... more next month.
Anyway, aside from the kitchen lots was going on. One of the things I loved about this time of year was the start of plants, flowers and seedlings emerging and the promises held therein. I think I was most pleased with my tiny oak trees as they started to grow from the acorns I planted last year. In anticipation of my greenhouse being built I (avoiding the builders) spent a lot of time cleaning and painting my old potting benches and my wooden greenhouse staging.
However, the best thing to happen during April was the realisation of the greenhouse from a grass field to a little growing micro-environment. I just couldn't wait to fill it up. M even made me a ramp for the greenhouse, painted green as there was a lot of that paint left!
It probably seemed a little silly but I was so chuffed with the first fruits of our labour and the radishes flourished under the cloches with the first picked in mid April. One of the spare baths (near the greenhouse) had been planted with cuttings of willow at the end of last year and by now they were all sprouting, oh how it warms the soul to see these growing. We also planted out the seed potatoes under the plastic to try to give them an extra couple of weeks of warmth before exposure to the elements. We had 3 huge patches of snowdrops in the woods which had become so overgrown that they needed to be lifted and divided. I didn't realise it would be such a massive job but with a wheelbarrow full of bulbs we transplanted them across a large area of the woods. Hopefully they will manage to survive to next year.
One thing I had always wanted was a quad and after convincing M that we really didn't need to get a tractor (it's not really a big smallholding) we began our research and my dream came true.
While I was busy sowing seeds, pricking out and potting up flowers, fruit and veg M had been pottering in his barn. From a selection of pallets and old telegraph poles (given to us by the electricity company) he had produced his first bench. Thankfully we had the quad and trailer to take it out to the woods where we positioned it facing south to capture the best of the sunlight.
The month ended with a lovely visit from relatives which meant a thorough clean of the guest room (above), it was incredible how much dust and grime had accumulated. Although the kitchen wasn't finished it was usable and so we sent the workmen away for week of peace. It was lovely to get out of the house exploring new towns and villages and continuing our quest for the perfect jam and cream scone, despite the freak snow showers.
May 2016
Where April ended like winter, May began like summer and we were able to get outside and enjoy the outdoor jobs while the workmen continued with the kitchen.
A final few words on the kitchen!!
After yet more delays the project was finally finished on 25th May, the day before the carpet was to be fitted in the 'den' side and 2 days before our visitors arrived.
It was with great joy we celebrated the final farewell to Billy the builder (although to be honest he never did say goodbye to me) and the next day we had carpet - yay!! We loved the kitchen and were really pleased with how it all turned out in the end. So to summarise, the 3 week project last 13 weeks, we definitely learnt a lot and in the future hoped to do most of the rest of the house ourselves and in our own time. Now we could really get on with all the fun stuff.
M had a tidy in the byre and managed to clear 3 stalls for me to put all my gardening stuff, although it was a bit of a mess it was great to have everything together and to be able to find things again.
The woods were coming to life again and the buds were starting to open to reveal the leaves which we hoped to identify. We already knew we had lots of Conifer, Willow and Ash and a couple of Horse Chestnuts but now we could start to put names to some of the others. In addition to those already identified we spotted Birch, Beech, Larch, Rowan, Alder, Oak, Sycamore, Lime, Hazel and a few more apple trees. The sun in the afternoon fell on the orange bench and was a lovely secluded little place for a rest. The greenhouse had filled up and we had erected the netting ready for when the runner beans were big enough to go out.
In the middle of May we were excited to spot a duck and 7 ducklings swimming in the midden, they were so cute and were sharing their days between our midden and the neighbouring farm's. Unfortunately everyday we saw them there appeared to be one less duckling until the mummy was left alone. She did stay for a few weeks on her own but hopefully I managed to persuade M to build a duck house for them next year.
The new fruit trees were all doing well and although we didn't expected any fruit for a few years we were pleasantly surprised to see some blossom appearing.
I have always liked to be frugal when it comes to planting, I got a lot of plants from the hospital corners in garden centres and saved seeds and bulbs and took cuttings to increase our stock of flower plants. Our motto with planting was often 'it'll live or die', we laughed that Monty Don would have been horrified by some of our gardening skills and techniques. I viewed this time as a learning curve, we tried lots of different plants and methods and hoped to discover what worked for us and the climate. There were many successes and a few failures but thankfully we were able to fill all our pots and baskets with flowers and had lots of fruit and veg on the go.
Along with our newly acquired rhododendron we purchased 2 other cheap ones from a local supermarket. We were both amused and frustrated to find that the 'expensive' one did not have a single flower while the cheapy ones were beautiful.
The month ended with long, bright sunny days, lots of grass cutting and a house full of relatives - bliss.
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