Mr Men and a shed revamp

The car boot season has finally rolled around again, and we are enjoying our weekly Saturday morning rummage. Little Boy is into Mr Men at the moment, and we grabbed a bargain this weekend amongst a box of toys - Mr Men and Little Miss soft toys! Even more exciting was when he discovered that some of them make a noise when you shake them - couldn't ask for more, especially as they only cost 5p each!!!!

Great fun was had matching up the right toy with the corresponding book. Shame we couldn't get anymore. I looked on Ebay for some - you can get a whole set for about £40 - think I'll give it a miss (excuse the pun, get it - 'Miss'!)

He even took them all outside, sat on his blanket and read them all to himself whilst I did a bit of weeding. He loves his new swing set and we are chuffed to bits with it too. We acquired it from a couple who had it in their garden for their grandkids but no longer need it. They were asking the grand sum of £20! It's in such good condition, and the swings are strong enough even for adults (yes, we've all had a go on it 😀).

I treated myself too, well at only 5p how could I not? I got an Orinoco Womble, who now keeps me company in the kitchen. I checked them out on eBay too, and found one for £5, so I think I did well! I guess I'm showing my age, liking Wombles. Unlike some characters who have made a reappearance (Noddy, the Clangers to name a few), the Wombles are no more. I do have a few old Womble books, that Big Girl and I read together. 

A few weeks ago I went to a great garden centre with OH's mum and sister. It's not a conventional one, the majority of the plants are small plug plants in trays. So you need to be the sort of person who likes the effort of splitting and potting on, plus have the room to store them all until it's warm enough to put them outside. The upside of all this effort is you get great quality plants at a really low price. This is some of what I came home with. Might not look too much, but that tray in the top left is lobelia and has sixty cells in it (each with about three plants in, but these are too tiny to split) - all for only £3.50!! Others I got included 16 trailing geraniums for £3.50 and 16 strawberry plants for £3.

Remember when I showed you the garden last week and you had a glimpse of the conservatory piled full of boxes? Well I had a sort out and it is now my temporary greenhouse, with a comfy space for potting on. I had a good idea to stack one table on top of another so I could increase the shelving. Luckily the one on top has quite long legs, so the underneath plants still get plenty of light...

There's a LOT of plants and I had to make use of every available space, including packing boxes...

I was quickly running out of room, wondering where the heck I was going to put the final few trays, when I had a lightbulb moment - I used the upturned spare dining chairs stacked in the corner as tiered shelving!

The garden this year should be fit to bursting with a riot of colourful blooms! So with all that colour I decided the shed needed a makeover.  The photo below was taken on a soggy, cold Christmas Eve (sorry it's pants quality as it was raining and getting dark). We had to work through the rain to get it up in time, as our house contents were arriving just after Christmas and we needed a shed to store any overflow boxes. So this is the 'before' photo of the shed  in its boring brown shade...

Now it looks much more handsome. OH says it looks like a seaside beach hut, I think that's a compliment! I love being in the kitchen now, as I can stand and look at it out of the window 😀. I got a bargain on the paint; its Ronseal 'Willow' and it just so happened that when I decided I liked that colour B&Q had that make on special - £20 a tin or two for only £24. I needed just over a tin to do it, so I'm going to paint the bench the same colour. I can just picture it now, with a homemade crochet throw draped over it and some squishy cushions!

I was pleased with the colour of the shed but thought it needed pimping up just a bit more. I had some bunting that I'd had up on the verandah in New Zealand that had got a bit faded in the sun. It was too nice to throw away, but just a bit too faded to have up in the house. The finishing touch was to add my new bug box on the front. Overall I'm pleased as punch with it. So to make the garden even more glorious I just have a few plants to put in....

Xxx