Wyevale bargains and a chocolate prize

We had to pop to Worcester today so whilst we were there I decided to pop into Wyevale. A few weeks ago the packets of seeds were half price, so I was hoping it was now time for the annual 50p clearance. Yippee, it was!!

All of the vegetable and herb seed packets were 50p. I would never normally buy seed mats as a) they are more expensive than a 'normal' packet of seeds, and b) it's just lazy! But for 50p I couldn't resist a few. The colourful cauliflowers look amazing, imagine those on your plate. The cactus seeds were picked by Big Girl. Her room is full of cactus plants that she buys really cheaply from the car boot from a man who grows them as a hobby. They take years to grow, then he sells them for a few pounds, but he says it keeps him amused. So even though she gets them really cheap, Big Girl would like to have a go at growing them herself, and at 50p for a packet of 30 seeds it's worth a try. 

I also got a few Christmas presents for children in the family. The build your own mini greenhouse, with cress, coleus and sunflower seeds to grow was £12 before. I checked with someone before I put them in the trolley, as I couldn't believe they would be reduced so much, but they were 50p too. I also got them a Grow Your Own pizza topping (basil and tomato), and sunflowers. Each box has a mini board game to play too. So a great present for two children, worth £33 altogether cost just £2!

I couldn't resist adding up all the seeds, including the ones above. Total real cost £62.51 - cost me £7. Happy me!

I don't think I need any more courgette seeds any time soon. This is what I got from one plant yesterday...

I put the 50p there just to show how GiNoRmOuS these babies are. Luckily I've discovered a lovely recipe for courgette and cheddar quiche. I also grabbed some tomatoes whilst I was in the garden. This is just a few, there are loads more ready. 

You may have spotted some split ones in there, which usually happens due to infrequent watering. The plants dry out, then get a good watering and the tomatoes swell and split. I really want to install an automatic watering system. I've put one out the front for the window baskets and having the plants watered twice a day has made a huge difference. They look gorgeous. 

Back to bargains, I also got a huge chrysanthemum for just £2. It was a bit squashed on one side but looks great squeezed in next to the asters I grew from seed...

The reason for popping to Worcester was to pick up a prize that Little Boy won a few weeks ago. That chap is one lucky boy, he always seems to win stuff! When we were at St Peters garden centre a few weeks ago there was a competition running to celebrate National Honey Bee day. Little people had to find the honey bee images hidden around the garden centre, and write down the name of the plant they were by. As usual when you enter a competition you think you'll have a go but won't win, but I was pleasantly surprised when I had a phone call saying that Little Boy's name had been chosen and he'd won! I thought it was only a chocolate making kit, but when we got there it was wrapped up with some honeybee chocolates, a bag of flying saucer sweets, a biscuit dinosaur (not sure how those two link in with bees?) and the box of Make Your Own Chocolate bee lollipops. 

The only problem is he keeps winning everything. He has just entered a colouring competition to win £150 worth of Playmobil. I only posted it this morning, and he's just asked when we can go to the shop to get his toys. He has to learn unfortunately that you don't win everything. Maybe I should get him to pick some lottery numbers, seeing as he seems to be so lucky!

Speak soon

XxXx

Floral distraction

Do you ever get distracted in the garden? I went out after tea last night, to check on the seedlings growing in the greenhouse. As I stepped in I noticed the secateurs on the side, so decided whilst I was out there to cut some flowers for the house. About 45 minutes later, after picking and deadheading, I had this...

You have to excuse the awful photo quality, it was nearly 9pm and I took this in the utility. The vase on the right is full of amaranthus. I've called it the Sideshow Bob arrangement 😄 (if you've ever watched the Simpsons you'll get it). The vase of flowers at the back just has an assortment of flowers in it, including cosmos, crocosmia, rudbeckia, antirrhinum, and nicotiana. It just goes to show you don't need a huge garden to have a constant supply of fresh flowers for the house. It's not very clear in picture but there are a few bits of greenery sticking out of the top - they are actually bird seed which the birds have spilt when feeding, and I left it to grow! I knew it would come in useful one day. 

The two small arrangements were a last minute add on, one for Big Girl's room, one for Little Boy's room. 

And after all that, when I finally came in and sat down, I realised I had forgotten to do what I actually went out for - check on the seedlings! I must do that today, and maybe some weeding whilst I'm out there...

XxXx

Lounge ceiling down

A completely irrelevant photo to start off, but the rest aren't very pretty ones so I thought I'd include this! The sweet peas in the garden are going mad, we can't keep up with picking them. But I'm not complaining, as we get pots and pots of lovely flowers to dot around the house. 

Right, back to the subject of this post. The children went for a day out with my sister on Saturday, so how to make the most of a child free day? What should we do - a romantic day out? A relaxing day in? No, we knocked down the ceiling in the lounge!! Well it needed doing sometime soon, to put in new electrics upstairs, and to add some sound proof insulation between the lounge and the bedrooms. Far easier to do it without little people in the way. 

The room once emptied of stuff...

The sofa had to stay in with a dust sheet on as it was a nightmare to squeeze through the door when we got it. The brick fireplace and corner unit had to go, as I discovered a lovely tv corner unit on Pinterest to go in its place - I just need to persuade OH to make one for me. I've also spotted a gorgeous flame effect gas fire with a stone surround but it will be a very far in the future purchase as there are LOTS of other more important things to buy first. 

Big Girl wanted to keep the brick cabinet as she really likes it (but then she likes woodchip wallpaper and anaglypta too, I think she was born in the wrong era!) and she got her way for now, because as we lifted the wooden top off we discovered it must have been installed when the house was built as there are no floorboards underneath. It's a big hole straight down under the house! At some point soon  all the floorboards have to come up in here when we put in insulation, so when that's done we will add a floor in that bit and the bricks can come out. 

The view below is looking from the lounge, through the dining room and into the new garden room. The old patio doors that went out to the conservatory are still in, so we can use that room as a dust free place to store everything from the lounge. Once all the messy work is finished we can rip them out and it will be more free flowing and open. 

And here it is once the ceiling is down, certainly makes it a lot darker in there...

Work in progress...

As the bricks above the fireplace came down we realised that the plaster behind was loose so that all had to come down too. 

And this is what it is like when we'd finished. Rather rustic looking but at least all the visible dust and mess has gone. By the way it's Little Boy watching Paw Patrol on the tv, not me - honest!

Do you know what the best part of the day was? Having a shower! Don't you just love it when you get filthy dusty and dirty, and how lovely it feels when you wash it all off and put clean clothes on. Then we collapsed on the sofa with a pizza and chips, a beer for OH and a big cup of tea for me!

So it was a hard, dusty, dirty day but it's one more big job crossed off the to do list. 

Speak soon

XxXx