Friday 17 May 2013

Garden makeover

The weather didn't look too promising this morning, a bit dull, but it brightened up and I was able to go and finish Helen's front garden. here are the before pics, it was very overgrown, not having been touched since last year when the previous owner passed away.
It is a three bedroomed semi, which needs re wiring, new kitchen, new bathroom, part re plastering, and decorating throughout. Helen is project manager and seeing to all of that. There is a big driveway to the front, parking for four cars, and a garage.
The grass was like a meadow, the bushes were woody and gangly with hardly any new growth from the bottom. and there was dandelions everywhere.
All neat and tidy now, though the grass looks a bit brown and dead, no matter, it will green up with a few days of rainfall. The rose bush on the left was covering the bird bath, so that had to go. The bush in the middle of the lawn was tidied up with a trim. 
I severely cut back the three bushes in front of the window, They have some new shoots visible so they should start bushing out lower down, which will be better than the shaggy mop look they had before. I trimmed the edges of the lawn and cut them back where they had grown over the top of the concrete paths.
I find garden maintenance a chore, but I don't mind doing it when I can see the difference between the before and after. Next week I shall be starting on the back garden. That will be a bit more challenging as it's a complete jungle. There will be quite a lot of bags of rubbish coming out of it. Should be fun.
I thought I would post this pic of tonights dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary, steamed veg and two Quorn sausages. Most people would splatter dollops of Mayo on the food, but not me. I dip my fork into the jar, scoop a bit out, then stab the veg and eat it. Saves getting the plate all messy, it's virtually clean when I have finished, easier to wash up. Could even just rinse it. By the way, I don't normally buy Hellmans Mayo, it's quite expensive, but it's on offer at the moment in Tesco at 99p, so nice for a treat.
I have one address to send out a shopping bag, I'm waiting for the other two winners to let me know where they live. I've sent Elaine and Jes an email, so as soon as they reply, I will get them all sent off. I noticed that some are having difficulty sending me an email using the address on the side bar. Sorry if anyone is confused, I did it like that to stop getting bombarded with spam emails. I've spaced it out so it might make more sense now, but you need to close the gaps if you use it. And you must replace dot and at with . and @ Good luck.
Toodle pip.

10 comments:

  1. You have my sympathy, having cleared a jungle here. You have so much energy Ilona, Helen is lucky to have you helping her, it's over whelming to have that amount of work to do on your own. Well done, the front garden will look very neat when it all greens up.

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  2. Dear Ilona, ooh, I am so lucky to win one of your bags! I've sent you an email with the name and address of a friend in Lincs. Could you send it to her as a surprise gift from both of us? A hundred happy thanks. Elaine near Philly

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  3. I've been making my own mayonnaise and really love it! Am blogging it this weekend, in fact :)
    That looks like a lot of gardening accomplished, Ilona. Pretty dramatic! Is Helen pleased?

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    1. Will read your Mayo making post, thanks. Yes, Helen is chuffed, one less job for her to do. The house will be let, the garden needs to be tidy, the tenants won't want to be bothered with anything which needs constant maintenance.

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  4. Hi Ilona, about the mayo, everytime you put the fork into the jar for more mayo you're transferring bacteria to the jar if the fork has been in your mouth. Not saying that your mouth is dirty ha ha!!
    Bacteria breeds and you could end up with food poisioning, especially if you leave some time before using the mayo again. Better to put a dollop on the plate with a clean spoon even if it does make the plate more messy.

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    1. Hi Chris, I appreciate your concern, but, Mayo is a fast mover in this house, it only lasts a matter of days before it's gone. I use the same method with other pots and tubs in the fridge. Big pots of yogurt, dips, houmous, honey, etc. I am strict with stock rotation, eat it before it goes manky. You won't find any deadly nasties lurking in my fridge.

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    2. Besides...they would be YOUR deadly nasties. You can't give yourself something you already have. And if you don't have it, you can't give it to yourself, either.

      That said, I prefer to use clean utensils. If I lived alone, though, no telling what I'd do. I'm sure a lot of my meals would be eaten by the light of the refrigerator door.

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  5. I don't necessarily like the work involved with cleaning up a garden, but I love the feeling of satisfaction when I am done. Good work, girl! I have been cleaning out and re-doing a border that never looked good to begin with, and was badly overgrown. I have a mini-rototiller and got my son to till it up today. I have about $21 worth of new plants and seeds to put in, and the rest will be divisions of perennial plants that I have growing elsewhere. I'd put off planting until tonight, when it would be cooler...and now it has started to rain!!

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  6. I could use your gardening help here! Looks like you did a great job for your friend. Wish I had a friend who could do that. I have a lot of work to do out in the garden and I'm not really a big fan of maintaining the garden. Of course I like the way it looks after everything is cleaned up and cut back. I thought that "art" show was kind of odd. Hope you have a nice time with your family.

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