SPRING CLEANING 32

The weather was still cold enough to appreciate a little indoor warmth. Above you can see my pomegranate/damson candle, with multiple pieces of left over candles added. Just perfect for a relaxing at-home wintry weekend. Officially the last weekend of winter, if you go by the first of the month changes rather than the 20-something ones as I do.

Spring sprung and a couple of weeks into March I returned from my weekend away in France. You guessed it, one of my first chores was to turn out that pantry of mine again! I have also been giving a thorough clean over to a few areas of the house, although not yet a full spring clean.

Not long afterwards, I reordered the pantry again. This time, so that all similar items were together, with the closest BB date at front/up top. I also spring cleaned the stairs - but before I could take a photo to share of the wiped sides and vacced stairway - my son trod mud over the stair carpet again, so....

Well, what have I been up to since then? Um, I did it again - re-ordered the pantry! As the sun poured in the windows, the photo came out much better this time, and you may actually see the items I have in stock. Although, it may be difficult to tell which white powder is flour, which salt, which sodium bicarb....

This time, I also fiddled around with the drinks cupboard. I have actually begun on some proper work too, though. In the next shot, you can see that I have swept away the cobwebs that do not still have inhabitants, cleared away the cardboard, and otherwise prepared one step closer to being ready to clean, polyfill, and paint the rest of the upper hallway.

GARDEN GLIMPSES 16

It is now well and truly spring. Indeed, Easter Day was the day before I took this shot. I wanted to show you the front yard, with the pallid daffodils begining to fade and the tulips and grape hyacinths begining to bud and bloom. You can also see how the chopped brambles and weeds have died down to make a wildlife patch in the center.

The Pieris tree is surviving, the purple berry tree begining to sprout buds, the clematis and rose are begining to show signs of post-winter activation also, along with one fuchsia and the azalea. The camellia continues to flower. Dad used to say it flowered from Christmas thru Easter - but this season it began early December and is still going...

In the back yard, I have completed the first two veg plots of the year, and sown peas, borlotti beans, and yellow tomatoes to fill in the spaces. Alas, the photo does not show one veg plot, which runs along the overgrowth of hedgerow along the fence due to shadow...but you can see the patch in front the bird bath pretty well. So far, only radish have erupted.

Easter Monday I dug over, redug, and then planted the patch behind the pond, between the ornamental mini hedge (which is somewhat overgrown) and poly tunnel, in front of the apple tree and bluebells. Peas and red tomato have been planted there.

I additionally chopped ivy from the smaller apple tree and cut back some hedge and brambles.

A few days later, I reshaped the hedges out front. I trimmed the outgrowth that roamed beyond the property edge backwards in the corner on the privet, snipped the holly into submission, and attacked the shape and size of that horrid prickly bush that I will gradually do away with as other bushes grow to take its place. The result is that the holly needs to grow taller to fill that gap!