Planted these from seed a few months back and they seem to be a dwarf sunflower. It’s only about 18 inches tall and it’s in full flower. Needs support though as the stalk is about half the circumference of my little finger. Looks lovely though.
Now there’s an attention grabbing blog title if ever I saw one. Please don’t turn away nothing unsavoury to see, and I don’t normally take any pictures whilst in the Gents urinal area. Believe me this is a one off and will never again be repeated.
Unless I see better looking set of urinals than these:
I walked in this toilet and was instantly hit by the wow factor. Yes these beautiful sculptured ceramic flowers are in fact gentleman’s urinals. Apparently according to my wife all the hand sinks in the ladies are just as well sculpted.
I have never stood in front of a urinal before and thought, “Am I going to get told off for peeing in this” it was a conundrum that lasted two seconds as I was busting to go. I did not get in trouble, but what a charming way to equip, probably the most unappealing section of any business. well done to the design team here.
We visited the massive “Gates garden centre” in Cold Overton between Melton Mowbray and Oakham in Leicestershire. A family Member had brought us an afternoon tea for two, and as we had some time spare, what better way to spend a nice relaxing afternoon?
It was a lovely afternoon some fantastic food, and there was so much cake, that we had to take a box home that we’ve passed on to my brother in law and his wife who live nearby. I love my cake, but believe me I was already getting a sugar rush with what I’d already eaten. It made sense to pass this on and not to waste it.
I love days like this, making memories. It’s all that matters.
Have a superb day, thanks for passing by.
Hi there. It’s been a few days since I posted about the clock being the heartbeat of the home, my wife and I have finally arrived back into the East Midlands after she has had the break away with her friend, in West London.
I’ve gone back to work and have been doing the early morning stint, I’m currently on the second of two rest-days before I’m back on early shift again starting Tomorrow.
I have a lot to thank my wife’s friend for especially in arousing an interest in gardening that I have been trying to nurture for many years. Our current garden has taken almost 8 years of planning, planting and correcting mistakes to reach the maturity it displays today. A garden is a form of art, it’s not produced in a matter of days as numerous gardening programs would have you believe, it really takes years and needs a big commitment. When I went to collect my wife from London it had become apparent that she and her friend had pretty much visited about every garden centre in West London. The beautiful specimens of plants that greeted me on my arrival were testament to that. My wife had chosen all the plants and she was now genuinely interested in making the garden even more attractive.
There was a very slight caveat though….
In her time away and after having discussions with her friend she has made up her mind that we want to move to a new property a bit further away from the city. We had our current house valued before she went away, and we were sitting on that information that we were going to discuss on her return. This is when she broke it to me that she’d love to help me develop the “New Garden” and that is when I knew she had made her mind up.
I was ready to get things in motion, but being the cautious person that i am, I’ve asked her to look at a few options prior to putting the boards up, and we are currently going through these options. We need to get away from the city centre on health grounds, and it would certainly help to move away. Part one is a visit to the developer, and that is going to occur later today…after the new washing machine has arrived. Yep the trusty servant of the last nine years has seen its last load. Time for a new one.
It’s been a busy week for me as I’ve taken advantage of the gorgeous weather we have had for the last few days. Today we are back to the normal gloom and grey backdrop, so here I am putting pen to paper or is it finger to keyboard? You know what I mean.
I’ve given the garden a lot of attention, thinning out areas to allow sun into the slower growing plants as the bigger, quicker growers have been stealing all the sun. I’ve rescued a Rhododendron that had been engulfed by a Californian lilac bush, and repotted it into a large pot that now has a sunnier outlook at the front of the house. All bushes and hedges have now been trimmed and grasses cut and manicured.
I’ve finally got around to finishing off the stone surround to the garden room, a large bag of stone had been residing in the garden for at least 18 months and has now been disposed of, it opens up so much more room in the garden. On top of that I have rejigged the Hedgehog highways around the garden to allow them a better more secluded access and they are making full use of it at the moment if the noise at the food tray last night is anything to go by.
So today we begin the journey of looking at new homes. Not one I particularly enjoy as we have got this home and garden into a nice condition that I am both proud of and content with. And now there is the possibility of starting it all over again with a blank canvas that is both scary, and exciting in equal doses.
But fickle as the property business is, we may still be here in months or years to come so there is no point in getting carried away with it all, we need to still pour all our love and attention into this little home, and keep it comfortable as it has always been. We could still be here for ever more. And that’s no bad thing.
Have a blessed day.
Currently I’m in the west of London in the Sunbury on Thames area. I’ve brought my wife down to spend ten days with her friend as I’m about to embark on a long stint of night shifts. It will allow them to spend good time together. I shall be heading back to the East Midlands later today on my own.
Anyone who reads my posts will know that last year we spent a lot of time down here as her friend went through quite a bad episode of poor mental health. My wife assisted her through that, and helped put her on a care plan and arranged for her to have visits, so she could be checked on regularly to ensure she was receiving the necessary care and attention that she required.
I’m pleased to say all that worked out well, her friend has recovered and is back to her old self, confident and strong willed, you’d have thought nothing had happened. She has been weaned off her medications by the doctor, the welfare visits have ceased and it is so wonderful to see her back to her old self. We all need a little care and attention at times, and it certainly helps. And it’s good to have such a friend as my wife.
And the above picture from her garden sums it all up for me. Last year there was none of this, the garden, though well kept lacked colour. This year it is so different and is ablaze with colour. This is what she is capable of, producing things of beauty just like this fantastic Azalea plant.
I’m lucky if my Azaleas get just a few flowers each year. She is so talented when it comes to gardening.
As I’ve always stated, never show envy, always turn that into appreciation and that’s what I have done here, she has such a talent, she is so capable and knowledgeable and I can only appreciate that I will be a better person, a better gardener by listening to the wisdom of those such as her.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
I’ll always attempt anything, but when it comes to plumbing or high voltage electricity, that’s when I get the professionals involved.
In my current home the most ambitious DIY has probably been landscaping the garden. We purchased a rickety old house that’s been a constant project since it was brought, back in 2018. So really that could be the most ambitious couldn’t it?
Anyway, the one I’ve enjoyed most is landscaping the garden, not concreted over with no concerns for wildlife, my garden was designed around the needs of the Hedgehogs and birdlife we have that visit throughout the year. They have easy access to the whole garden, a part that is wilded for them to forage in and plenty of food and water stations as well.
We also have a feral cat “Tabs” who has lived in our garden longer than we have, she gets on with us, we feed her and she has plenty of weather protection in and around the garden, and she tolerates the hedgehogs, so that’s harmonious.
The garden has been a big project taking about 6 years to reach a maturity with flowers, shrubs and trees all planted to create a little bit of the country side in a city urban environment. I am so proud of my garden come spring time when all the new buds are breaking through, and it is a riot of colours come summertime. And it took a lot of planning as it’s a north facing garden.
The gardens the place i’d rather be, it’s like producing art, art that changes on a weekly basis.
Have a super day.
You may have heard me going on about the Hedgehog visitors to my garden. I’ve kind of built the garden around them with wilder areas and Hedgehog highways and ramps all over the place.
Tonight I was upstairs in the bathroom and I could hear a hell of a racket out the window, a really loud crunching sound. I sneaked on the security lights and grabbed a quick photo out of the bathroom.
There wasn’t one but two. I suspect they are from the same family as they are not known to comfortably share their dinner with another. I loved this it’s really made my day, as it shows just by making a few changes to your garden, leaving out a suitable food and fresh water, you can keep these rare animals safe and give them a foot up.
The fact we are bordering a large city with busy roads all around is another problem.
I’m just so glad I’m doing my little bit to try and preserve them. They are gorgeous 🦔
To many it probably looks a mess. To me it’s a place of happiness, it’s an art work being constantly touched up, it’s a labour of love. Six years after I started this garden it’s now finally starting to take shape and today I even had the wife’s seal of approval. And that crowns it for me.
People watch these shows on tv and instantly expect a beautiful renovated instant garden. This simply doesn’t happen.
My garden has been a massive experiment over the years. I’ve lost count of the amount of different plants I’ve placed only for each of them to fail after one season, then you have to ask the reasons why.
Our front garden is Sth facing so I have sun on that most of the day and plants like Lavender and lilac always display spectacularly, baskets and salvias love the front garden, but the front is not as advanced as my back garden, and I’m going to give it attention towards the end of this summer. I’m currently adding plants one at a time. The aim here is a typical country garden in the middle of a city. It’s a challenge.
However my back garden naturally is North facing, with only a glimmer of sunshine, so I have to plant here accordingly. Because of my neighbours, all who love concrete, and who have no green space, my garden naturally suffers from excess water run off from their properties.
I have introduced Hornbeam hedging only a few months ago that again will take time to mature, I have planted a number of ornamental trees to assist with drainage and things are looking positive. The plants I have in place are all bee friendly. We have loads of them as well as butterflies, lady birds and other insect life. I also have a small section near a small rockery area that I have left wilded, the flowers here blend in beautifully. I have a lot of wildlife in this garden, I have some small birds such as wrens going through the bushes that we have never seen here before, we have blackbirds, Robins, blue tits, finches and the pigeons and the magpies who are the antisocial members of the bird family. We also have the occasional Red Kite soar overhead, it’s amazing how the Pigeons and Magpies disappear when they are around. And naturally being the county of the Fox, they are also regular visitors.
And my garden is small, it’s only about 50ft square, and about a mile or so from the city centre.
I have a feral cat who has been a resident here long before we were, and she even chases the foxes who also enter the garden. Just take a look of her protecting the garden from a fox in this small video below:
The crowning glory is that we have regular hedgehog visitors. We leave nibbles and water out for them at night, we have introduced a highway through the garden with access from our property to others. We have ramps in place alongside the steps to help them about the property. Seeing we are right in the city we are probably one of only a few places of peace and serenity for them in this mad crazy town.
I really feel for those that don’t have access to a garden, it really is a place where you can lose yourself. It’s your own constantly developing work of art. I love having visitors to the garden, I love showing them what we have done and what we have planned, and I love helping people transform and achieve their little works of art. My garden has been a life saver for me, and allowed me to maintain my sanity when it all starts getting a bit too much.
Gardens should be compulsory, but unfortunately in this super high speed world, people just want everything low maintenance and that’s a shame.
Don’t even mention imitation grass to me – it should be banned.
The wife said, “You were right, you said it would take time, it looks lovely.” And that meant the world to me.
Thanks for passing by.
Do you have any collections?
Me and my wife both collect. She loves a certain brand of handbag, me, I collect cameras, photo postcards, radios, models, garden plants and ornaments and empty boxes.
Together we both collectively collect dust as we’d both rather be out making memories than doing boring household chores.
Memories…yes we collect a lot of them.
Have a wonderful day.
I purchased a pack of 5 of these cheap old garden lights from a local garden centre. I know if you buy cheap you pay twice but these did look quite reasonable. I know that most people only expect a season out of these lights however I try to look after mine, bringing them in during winter months when the garden isn’t being used and sunlight is non cooperative.
These were so full of promise, worked lovely for a few days and then two of them just didn’t work at all.
I took them apart and decided to test the batteries, both were showing 0.6v so i suspected the charge circuit was not working. When I put in a fully charged AA battery the lights came on but when exposed to light they remained on, so in a way I am right but it might be slightly more complicated. The battery isn’t charging, also the switch off is not occurring when exposed to light.
I’ve done a few tests using the multimeter, the solar panel is ok and giving a reasonable voltage under sunlight of 2.4v.
The circuit board only consists of three components and two out of the three test ok. The issue seems to be with the YX8018 controller, the small four legged component in the pictures below.
YX8018 is a high-performance solar lawn
lamp boost control chip, which is suitable for a solar lawn lamp powered by a 1.2V rechargeable
battery in series.The main functions include charging control, boost drive, optical control, etc.
The solar lawn lamp mainly uses the energy of
the solar cell to work. When the sunlight shines on the solar cell during the day, the light energy is transformed into electric energy and stored in the battery, and then the battery provides power for the LED (light emitting diode) of the lawn lamp at night.It has the advantages of safety, energy saving,
convenience and environmental protection.It is
applicable to solar products powered by one 1.2V
rechargeable battery.Conrad electronic SE
This appears to be the culprit after some basic tests have been carried out, there is about a 16% failure rate in these components so I don’t hold out a great deal of hope for the two that I’ve ordered. I shall eventually order a stack of them from China but for now I wanted some a bit quicker so I have ordered locally.
Well, the two components I ordered have arrived today. But now I need three, as in the week another one has suffered the same issue. On top of that I have dropped one of the units and the solar panel has parted company. I’m now sourcing some liquid solder that may assist with getting this problem sorted. As is normal with me this little project has escalated due to my utter clumsiness. I must do better in the future. (Sounds just like one of my old school reports.)
I dismantled the two units I previously mentioned and followed pretty much the same process with each. Desolder, remove component, wick solder, put new component in place and then put a semi charged battery back in.
I left the lights in the sun for a couple of hours and the charge has lifted from 0.8 to just over 1.1 volts so I’m happy that the charge circuit is now working.
The final test was to turn on and see what happens. Good news, nothing seen until I covered the solar panel and then the lights came on. Excellent, job done and more items saved from landfill. I must say I was really happy with my soldering on this job, it appears to be getting better.
I just need another component for that other one I broke in the week. However I won’t bother you with that one 😂
I’m referring you back to this blog entry I wrote on the 10th March The best laid plans and all that…
Here I was complaining about the weather due to a garden project I was undertaking and the time frame my wife has kindly put on it.
It was being severely hampered by the weather and on the odd occasional day I was able to do bits but the time scale was moving ever closer.
Well I finally managed to get the digging complete with a couple of inches more of mud removed and made as level as possible before more rain moved in.
Then I had an 800kg bag of MOT type one sub base layer delivered and this went down in a few hours and I was then able to hire a wacker plate to get it down nice and solid and even all over. I’ve put a wooden edge in as well that will eventually have some bare root Hornbeam hedging put in alongside it to form a softer border.
But it rained again for days 🤷♂️
In the meantime myself and the wife went to a local garden centre and got an absolute bargain with the pavers, these were delivered the next day and I was able to place them roughly where I wanted them to be before cementing. Then guess what? Yes you are right it has rained pretty much from the 28th March right up to a few days ago the 11th April.
We’ve had some sun the last couple of days and the surface of the garden has dried off a bit. The patio area has dried off quite considerably so on the 14th April I was finally able to get all the pavers cemented into position, I was able to do a first rough cut of the grass and generally have a little tidy up. There was an awkward period when the works supervisor (Alfie, our dog and head of security) intervened and decided to sit on a paver I was cementing, but talks took place and strike action was avoided when a chewy treat was supplied.
I’ve ordered an 800kg bag of pea shingle to finish the job so I’m hopeful the time scale will be met. it was a good day.
This morning the 15th we have had torrential rain, hailstones and a thunderstorm, woo am I pleased I got that cementing done yesterday, you bet I am. I just hope it had time to cure to a state where the down pour hasn’t affected it too much. I’ll check it out later, and I’ll just have to refrain from using the pavers for another 48hrs or so.
Note: I’ve just checked and the cement has set nicely, I’ll leave it another day and it should be all good 👍 we now await the pea shingles arrival.
Fast forward to the 17th after yet more rain has fallen and I now have 800kg bag of pea shingle occupying part of my driveway. I have ordered far too much, however it means I will be able to prioritise a couple of other garden projects that I have recently put on the back burner.
Guess what? More rain but I’m not giving up until these stones are in place.
A couple of hours later I’ve put the shingle in place, first a layer that I’ve then stamped down and then another layer on top to bring it all up to level across all the pavers. I must admit it has come up quite well.
I’ve finished it off with a small circular paver for the wife’s stone toadstool that has been a feature in any garden we have occupied since we first met, as well as some decorative fencing and lighting with 15 newly planted Hornbeam hedgerow plants. I have a vision of having a nice hedgerow line down here within the next couple of years as well as being a natural source of drainage for the this part of the garden, that naturally gets very wet due to neighbouring gardens being concrete wastelands.
I’m very pleased with the result, it’s on time and the wife is now off my back, and she’s very happy, phew 😥
Thanks for following this little project, stay safe and stay happy.
Foxes Den 
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