Sunday 28 June 2020

An Enjoyable and Productive Sunday

 
 
Having spent all day Saturday cleaning the downstairs of our house before I go back to work, I decided that on Sunday, I wasn't going to do any more cleaning, despite the fact that the upstairs still needs doing.  Instead, I thought I'd do a few little last minute jobs that I've been putting off or haven't been able to do before now.
 
To start with, I completed a couple of DIY home projects that I'll be posting about separately.  This took about an hour, then after taking the dog for a walk, I sat down and took a look at the jobs left to do on my list.
 
The first job was to call our local Charity Shop and see if I could drop off some donations.  I'd seen a sign on the door the previous week, stating that they would be taking donations this Sunday, so I rang ahead to make sure. I'd missed the morning drop off time, but they did tell me that they would be taking donations between 4pm and 6pm in the afternoon. As a consequence, I reorganised the two boxes of books and vinyl that had been taking up space in the hall for the past two months, into reusable bags that I no longer needed and along with a couple more boxes and bags from the sewing room, I put them all in the car ready to take.
 
The next thing on my list, was to spend the garden centre voucher we'd been awarded for our allotment. It was only for £10, but £10 on plants is £10 well spent in my eyes and I was happy to spend a bit more anyway, as I needed some shade loving plants for the garden and had some money left at the end of the month to treat myself.
 
I waited until OH got back from his cycle ride and had sufficiently recovered and then we headed out together to the Garden Centre. As we approached, I could see a queue of 5 or 6 people.  I wouldn't normally bother to get into it, especially as it had just started raining, but on this occasion I was so keen to spend my voucher and buy some plants that I did. I was fortunate that just as I entered the queue, 2 or 3 people were let in and then the guy managing the queue offered me an umbrella, just as the heavens opened. It couldn't have been better timing, and what great customer service.
 
Anyway, I wasn't in the queue long and passed the time looking through the fence at the plants.  When I got in I spotted what I was looking for straight away.  Along one wall were a whole row of shade loving plants which made my visit very quick and easy.  I picked up a couple of ferns and a couple of alchemilla mollis that were in coir pots and I was straight to the till and out of there. I'm really pleased with the plants.  I just need to plant them at the bottom of the garden around the paving that OH laid out earlier in lockdown.  They'll make the area look a lot better.
 
Here are the plants I bought:
 
 
 
 
 
On our way home from the Garden Center, we dropped off the donations at the Charity Shop. I was expecting a queue, but we were the only ones dropping off, which was great.  I had a short chat to the Manager of the shop, about their set up on re-opening. It was really interesting to see what they were doing. It should help me when I go back to work on Wednesday.
 
When we got home, buoyed by ticking off a couple of tasks on the list, I continued to work my way throught a few more. First, I trimmed the ivy that grows over our front garden wall and cleared the front path of leaves. I then moved to the back garden and trimmed the honeysuckle before sweeping the decking down the side return.
 
Luckily, due to the fact that it had rained, there were no bees on the honeysuckle. I've been scared to tackle it because of the bees, after getting stung the other week due to getting in a panic when a bee landed on me.  It was painful and the poor bee was done for.  I felt really sad about it.  Anyway, here's the result:
 
 
It looks a lot tidier now, despite the fact that more leaves have dropped, as it was quite windy. I went on to chop back a few other plants in the garden and harvested the rest of the blackcurrants on the bush. All jobs that won't get done once I get back to work.
 
In all, it was a very productive day.  There aren't many things left on the list, which is just as well. I'm going to do the ironing tonight, now the weather is cooler, which will tick off another one. The rest I'll have to do tomorrow.
 
I hope you had a lovely Sunday.
 
 

4 comments:

  1. Our list is empty, but I still find things to do. Must feel great to have so much done before going back to work.

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  2. Good luck on your return to work - I hope you can make things work there so you all keep safe. I am amazed at how much you have been doing during lockdown - I have become far too lazy now and need to step up a gear as my list is growing longer. I have more Alchemilla than I know what to do with - I planted up loads of little self seeded plants I found in the borders - shame we don't live closer! They are great plants though - good for cutting too.

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  3. Great plants for around the paving, alchemilla is excellent value for money, you'll have so much of it eventually. I love plants like that.

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  4. Ahrgh, there's loads of things I should have done in Lockdown but due to maintaining my school hours every day (and more) doing online learning, I seem not to have achieved so much. Wishing, in retrospect, I'd been a bit more lazy about it all!
    New plants are always exciting! Wish I'd bought a Nectarine tree when they had them in the garden centre! We bought a tiny plum which has done bugger all and it's annoying! Loved all the other plants though!

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