Category Archives: Garden Project

Some success to announce :-)

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This is the centre-spread of my Junk Journal, (half way there now!) on the left hand page are just some of my doodles and on the right hand side a lovely quote by Kathy Kinney an American actress and comedian and co-host of https://queenofyourownlife.com/. I love the quote.

I know you must be getting bored with the length of time it is taking me to complete my garden project (I am!), BUT progress has finally been made. I’ve done all the heavy building work now, it was exhausting! Although the new greenhouse is the same size as the one that was removed i.e 6ft x 6ft, the base is slightly smaller than the original. So in order to get it to fit without destroying the whole thing I had to dig it all out and line the inside of the box with more blocks and then I put some PVC board on the top of the wall to stop the rain getting in and to secure the greenhouse in place. I have now tidied up a bit and I have constructed the new greenhouse. The instructions said it was a ‘2 man’ job but I managed to complete it, with a little bit of help from Claudine, by myself. The instructions, which consisted of only diagrams, were very difficult to decipher. I got a few things wrong and had to go back and redo them. T was unwell for for much of the time I spent on this work, so I was not able to do it as fast as I would have liked, nevertheless I’ve done what I was able to at my own pace and now the construction is complete.

The truth is I am far too old to be doing this kind of stuff and I have had to take lots of breaks. I think I have done things in the right way. Let’s hope so anyway. During the build it all looked a bit fragile, but now the roof is on it’s all held in place and actually feels quite sturdy.



After the incredible heatwaves we have had this summer the forecast for winter it lots of wind, rain and storms so I am hoping the greenhouse survives long enough for us to grow some food next year.

There is actually still quite a lot to do before the spring. I need to seal it with external quality silicone, repair and replace some of the mosaic work, sort out the central walkway and then deconstruct and rebuild the steps to make it easier for T to get in and out. But, apart from the silicone sealing which I hope to get done this weekend, everything else will have to wait until I return from my trip to France in September.

I am so excited about my French adventure and having some quality ‘me time’. I will be away from home for a total of 12 days, 4 days of which will be at the art retreat and a few days with my brother and his wife Mu in Paris. I am really hoping that this whole adventure will re-spark my creativity, because I’ve been missing it for a long time now.

For the next two weeks I will be in ‘packing chaos’! Just how much stuff to I actually need for a 12 day trip? Inevitably I am bound to take more than is necessary (I always do), but I need to remember I’m the one who will have to carry it all on my own.

There is no other news from this end apart from the fact that we are still having very hot weather atm. I’ve never known it to be so consistently hot and sunny for so long. Sitting out on the decking in the evenings feels very tropical at the moment. I can’t remember the last time it rained. The garden is looking very thirsty right now and on top of that we have a hose pipe ban in our area! We can use watering cans, but they are heavy to carry around the garden so the plants are only getting minimal water. I’ve just checked the forecast and there ‘might’ be a little bit of rain next week.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer, look after yourselves.
Big love from me AJ

Feeling lighter and more motivated now – hope it lasts!

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This is the 4th spread of my Junk Journal, I have turned this image into a 2 part slideshow so that you can see both sides of the smaller ‘apple flap’ in the centre (that’s how we spell it in the UK) of the page and also read what is written on both pages.

I’ve been having a bit of a rest since we got home from our visit up north. I still need to sort out the base for the new greenhouse and then construct the greenhouse, but the weather has been a bit colder again since we got home, and I don’t want to spend too much time outside when it’s cold. T keeps asking me when the greenhouse might be up and usable, but to be honest I’ve no idea. I suspect it will take a while to sort out the base as I’ve got to make sure it’s level. I think the weather will warm up soon and when it does I will get back to it, so the job should be finished by the time I go to the south west of France at the end of August.

In the meantime I have been sorting out and booking my travel arrangements and accommodation to get to the art retreat. I am going up to London and staying one night in a hotel on Friday 28. Next morning I will get the EuroStar to Paris Gare du Nord, arriving at about 1pm. Then travel across the city to Paris Montparnasse to get my next train at 4pm from there to Angouleme in SW France. My brother (Mike) who lives in Paris is going to come and meet me from the Eurostar and make sure I get to Paris Montparnasse in time for my train to Angouleme. I will stay Saturday night in Angouleme and have a wander around that town for most of the day on Sunday. A taxi has been booked to collect me from that accommodation to get me to the location of the Art Retreat in time for check in at 5pm.

Then 4 days of enjoying the Art Retreat in a lovely location with a fabulous artist, David Shillinglaw and the other participants. We get 4 days of tuition, core materials, 5 nights accommodation, breakfast, lunch and evening meals. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I was intending to take T with me, but it all got a bit complicated and it was causing both of us stress, so I’ve decided to go alone. It will be an adventure for me, especially as I don’t speak any French, but I am really looking forward to it. Once I get to the Art Retreat I will be amongst English speakers – David (the artist) is English, Jen and Nick who own and run the venue where the Retreat is are also English and if the other participants are not English they will at least speak English.

On Friday 4th September the retreat finishes in the morning and I will get another taxi collect me at about 10am to take me back to Angouleme station in time for the 11:30 am train back to Paris. Once I get to Paris Montparnasse station my bother will come and pick me up again and take me back to his home in Paris where I will spend a couple of days with him and his lovely wife. Murial is French and they have lived in Paris for many years, but I’ve never visited them before, so it will be lovely to spend time with them. Finally on Tuesday 8 September I will get the Eurostar back to London and from there make my way back to the Isle of Wight and home to see my three boys (T and the 2 cats).

Well the weather has now warmed up (hooray!) but now it’s far too hot to be working outside with no shade. So I am trying to put up a temporary awning to protect me from the blazing sun while I work.

It’s the next day now. I have rigged up a tarpaulin to provide me with some shade while I work.

Several days later and I can report that I am making progress with my project but it’s slow. We are still a long way off getting the new greenhouse put up, but at least we have a small temporary greenhouse where T is growing the usual greenhouse crops. So the pressure is off me to complete the project immediately. The weather was very hot for a few days but it’s now cooling down again, I expect at some point there will be rain and that will definitely slow down the job even more, but all I can do is work at my own speed and as I’ve just had my 71st birthday that means I’m very slow. Hopefully it will be OK once I’ve finished it.

That’s all my news for now.
Take good care of yourselves and I hope to see you again soon.
Big love from me
AJ

One huge job completed in the garden and another spread in my Junk Journal

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Here is the 2nd spread of my completed Junk Journal. If you click on the image you can view it larger. The content is just some scraps of paper, a list of things, names and symbols I wanted to remember and a some more quotes.

I am pleased to say that I feel my muse is coming back, I am beginning to feel like a really want to be creative again.

The first BIG garden job is finished! It took me much longer than I anticipated it would, but there is just a bit of tidying up to do now and maybe a couple of trips to the tip. I had to rebuild almost all of the middle raised bed because the wood was so rotten. Unfortunately I ran out of wood and money so one end is still the old (rotten) wood, but I’ve painted it with wood preserver and lined all the walls with pond liner to give it more protection. It’s not a professional job but I worked hard on it and it’s good enough for me. If that rotten end does fall apart I now have a pallet I can take apart and use that wood to repair it.

I have handed the repaired bed over to ‘the Head Gardener’ (aka T) to sort out the planting. The bed nearest the street wall has already been planted, it has onions, beans, carrots and courgettes (I think). The bed I’ve just repaired needs topping up with more soil and compost atm before anything can be planted and the 3rd bed has leeks and beetroot planted at the moment taking up about the third of the bed. There are potatoes growing in bags at the front of the 3rd bed and the green thing behind it is a temporary greenhouse we bought to use while our old greenhouse is replaced.

That (the replacement greenhouse) is my next (and hopefully my last) big garden job (ever)! The old greenhouse, which was falling apart, has been taken away to be disposed of. We’ve bought a new one to replace it, but I need to do some adjustments to the existing base before it can be erected and put in place. The temporary one is doing OK at the moment. I can’t start working on the base for a couple of weeks now as we are visiting some family next weekend. When I do start the work I anticipate it will take me weeks to get it finished as it is more hard physical labour.

The three raised beds with temp greenhouse at back
Small area of garden near the back door salad veg planted here
Potatoes and beans growing by the garden wall
I just love this giant tree that grows by the pond.

That’s all my news for now. I’ll be back again soon and in the meantime take good care of yourselves.

Big Love AJ xxxxx