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April's second week gave me lovely weather and the opportunity to progress in the yards. One of the tasks I have been working with is to clear the patio of stuff I do not want, and to fill it with things that I do. This meant the removal of the broken mini greenhouse and much debris and the sorting out of pots and tubs.

In the above photo you can see the tubs I have chosen to retain. There are two more stonewear beige items and two other large plastic containers I will fill shortly. They are currently being filled with rose cuttings, bulbs, and bird seed. I have also been removing the weeds and the dead whatevers that were already in them.

As you can see my tomato & eggplant seedlings are not quite ready to be transferred into the veg plot. I have 4 leafy sprouts and 4 shooting things, with some brown blobs at the moment. Maybe by the close of the month, I can start planting them out.

Meanwhile, I have been repotting my geraniums, as you can see from the photo below. The pots were too tiny for them and also the soil inadequate, so I gave them a refreshing treat. I also topped up the two hanging geraniums that dad originally planted which now occupy the kitchen and read n relax room wall hangers.

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In the meantime, while waiting on the purchase of the tub of mortar, I used polyfilla. I did not want any more rain getting into the wall cavity. There is not supposed to be any cavity, as it is supposedly filled with insulation that I do not want, but... No, it does not 'look' good to have huge white splodges on the wall, but...

I have also spent some time sorting out more stuff in the spare room ~ and cleared another pathway towards the recliner/powerpoint. During the first and second weeks of April, I also cut brambles in the front yard, planned in my head what to do with the front and back yards and patio, and awaited a tip~trip.

As April progressed, I managed to slip in my favorite chore yet again, by persuading myself I needed to clear and clean the floor space. The pantry is now, once again, very organized and also easy to operate. I can find things that I need to eat by a certain date laying in order.

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Here is why I left the pond maintenance for a day or two. I was about to pull out some of the excess plants along the edge when I spotted a little someone sitting in them. A couple of days after, I was able to go back and scoop out some rotting leaves and other smelly muck and replace it with several cans of fresh water.

I was soon back to painting work. I continued along the hallway with the trim as you can see. The next painting task is to second coat the frame and water box seen in the shot and then surround the front door and work my way up the stairs. The lower hall is almost finished.

The next task that cropped up was to investigate what was causing the damp moldy patches to spread in the corner of the spare room. I soon found out the cause. I know now what was causing the room to be so cold despite Dad having the heater on high 24/24, and also the whistling sound on windy days.

My first thought was to buy the tiniest bag of cement I could find, although to my knowledge they do not sell them in 250/500g bags. I asked about and was told I could get a small tub of premixed. Plans were to buy such a tub early April...

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Here you can see that the roses which I pruned back severely are still alive and starting to regrow themselves. Hopefully by this time next year, they will have reached the top of the framework and be able to either bend over and grow down or grow up above the arch.

Yes, time to tidy the patio. I have since placed the stove or chimney pipe and what was once a vacuum cleaner then a plant pot (Dad, whatever were you thinking of!!) to the side alley ready to go to the tip. I chopped the grass and swept up the leaves and soil and debris. I have also moved the plastic tubs that once held manure.

The flowering onions that I removed from my 2nd veg plot and placed in front of the rose arch along with some lemon balm a friend gave me are doing well. I began to dismantle the mini greenhouse by removing the plastic covering. If it had not been ripped when falling in a storm last Spring, I could have sold it or even used it. The great big holes did not make it very protective though.

As you can see from this view, I have been busy digging over my veg plots. I already have several crops planted ~ but as yet only weeds have surfaced. Next, I decided to do some pond maintenance...

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I have now done the next section of painting, top coating the spare room door and first coating the framework that had not yet been done. As you can see from the second photo, the hallway is looking good. I have next to paint around the entry door and up the stairs, as well as top coating the framework.

Pictured above is a kids toy from the late 1960's that I am about to sell on Ebay and get out of the house, hopefully. Neddy, as it was named by me, arrived one Christmas when I was 3 years of age. Alas, I did not encounter Neddy directly, as I had a serious bout of flu at the time and it was 1 or 2 days after Christmas that I felt well enough to celebrate and open my gifts. Neddy had much use during my childhood, but is still in good shape ~ despite my having rode him once when 13 years old just to 'be different' and because I wanted to!

This is the view from the read and relax room, looking out over the patio and back yard. You can see that there is still much tidying up to be done in the yard as well as clearing up the patio.

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March continued, and although some lovely sunny dry weather occurred, other than the yard not much got done. I was about to do another round of hall & stairway painting, but then we had a few days of showers and stronger breezes. I contented myself with writing projects, study courses, being lazy, taking walks, reading, online sales, and general chores.

As you can see, I have finally managed to do another hour of painting. Here is the outside door surface to the spare room, now covered in an undercoat of Tibetan Gold. I am hoping to continue with the door surround and top coats during this last week of March.

 

Here you can see the 2 completed veg plots that have been occupying me outdoors. The stretch on the right now contains raspberry canes, strawberry plants, lemongrass, garlic, radish, carrot, spring onion, lettuce, french beans, broad beans and peas. There is also a small space for 6 seedlings to be transplanted from the sill. The area next to the polytunnel has had one dig over and the out of sight area to the lft of the second photo near the smaller apple tree has been dug over and showered in mixed flower seeds.

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From the above three shots, you can see how the finished rose arch looked. I have not done too much to it since, although I did take out a few bramble plants this morning along with some bindweed roots. I only needed to tie one piece of rose bush into place, the rest all fitted neatly for me. I then brought the minidaffs inside.

As you can see from this shot, I was still working on the outside rather than inside of the house. My veg plots were getting ready for the eggplant and tomato seedlings that are on the windowsill in the read n relax room and have finally begun to sprout leaves. One area which still needs attention, and hopefully will get it very soon is the patio. I plan to clear the dirty plastic chairs, broken mini green house, and old cabinet away and leave it free of everything currently there, except for the duck and a few plant pots. I then aim to add plastic stools ~ 2 for seats and one as a table.

Looking indoors, one of the upcoming major tasks will be the bathroom. I want to rip out those plastic green tiles for a start. I plan to find some large real tiles that will go behind the basin, but this will need to wait until I have swatted up how to apply tiles to a wall...