Saturday, 26 August 2023

The Last Bank Holiday Weekend Before Christmas!

 Sorry about that title, but it's the frightening truth!

It's the weekend when they have the flower festival in the little church at Crowfield - I think I've been most years since finding out about it, not because of the flowers but because they have a rather good amount of second hand books for sale. Discovered Crowfield hasn't been "done" as a proper church visit although it gets mentioned every year. Must rectify that.

The Athletics World Championships have been good to watch on TV this week although I puzzled at the decision of the GB Athletics Association to only take people who had could get into a final. It meant there were several events with no representative from here which seemed a shame.  

Haven't had flowers for a while but spotted these for sale for £2 on a roadside stall near where we have the Keep Moving group. Gorgeous colours.


After my shelf shifting there's no room now for much of a seasonal display on the smaller shelves in the living room. But the room seems to be looking bigger without the other big pine shelf unit which is what I was hoping for. The books that are not used so often, which were on the bigger shelves, are now in my bedroom waiting to see if they are really needed any more.
That Roberts Radio was a charity shop bargain while we were on holiday in Somerset many, many, years ago - £4 I think because it had no electric lead but we had one at home and it can use batteries too which is useful in a power cut. Come to think of it everything there is second-hand except the flowers and the plate stand! 

More garden clearing this week including one Huge courgette plant which had finished - I'm still eating courgettes several times a week and thought it was nearly the end but after removing the one plant I discovered the second plant has put out new growth and there are still babies appearing - more fritters/courgette pesto pasta/courgette crumble next week I think. I've had 2 handfuls of Runner Beans so far and I'm hoping for more, the plants have gone up to the top of the canes and are now coming down again with more flowers than they had before. 
My garden waste bin had settled a bit so I managed to shove everything in and it will be emptied next week ready for me to fill up again when I cut back the Buddleia that's smothering the sweetcorn plants. I'm trying to think of a way to squeeze in another compost bin of my own, I have two - one to fill - which is full-  and one rotting down. The rotting down one could be emptied onto the garden now but there's not a spare patch of soil to empty it onto......I'll puzzle it out somehow.


Have a good weekend.
I'll be back Monday or Tuesday
Sue




30 comments:

  1. We too are waiting for the garden bin to be emptied. So much to clear this time of year isn’t there?

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    1. I can't take stuff to the tip as it involves climbing up steep metal staircase to put things in and have limited space for bins here so I'm glad of the council bin

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  2. Our Garden bin is chock full. With next door neighbour's stuff. He's not been around for weeks and his tenancy is up on August 31. His teenage son spent all Friday cutting back shrubs and mowing the Very Long grass. Poor lad had nowhere to put it all, and our bin was empty so... I am hoping the next tenants don't let everything run out of control as last one did.

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    1. How odd that that the tenants son was trying to clear up. Perhaps that was the only way to get a deposit back but Landlords usually have someone to do clearing for them

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  3. What pretty flowers and a bargain at just £2. I have what I laughingly call a compost heap getting bigger by the day, at the bottom of the orchard paddock. I used to throw the woody trimmings over the fence down into out steeply sloping woodland, but it's not easy to get to at the end of summer due to head height Rosebay Willowherb! I'm gradually dealing with that anyway.

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    1. Sadly the flowers didn't last long, they must have been on the roadside stand a couple of days.

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  4. Gorgeous flowers and a lovely little display. Catriona

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    1. I've got Autumn things that I won't have room for now so will have to rotate or get rid

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  5. Beautiful flowers, I like the contrast in colours. I must live in a bubble these days as I didn't know it was a Bank holiday.

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  6. I have one small compost bin and 2 big black dustbins, I make leaf mulch in the dustbins, hubby shreds the bigger leaves to help them break down. The space the bins take up is balanced as they always look good, last week I tipped the contents of one bin into the other, I'm not ready to pop it on my beds yet, hubby has already started filling the emptied bin. All I did with the dustbins was bore hole along the side near the bottom, and pop an old cheap greenhouse wire shelf in the bottom. This way I have opted out of paying for the council scheme, and within 2 years, after recouping the cost of the bins, saving money.

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    1. I have leaves in a wire cage which doesn't work - I like your dustbin idea. What I quite fancy is a compost bin that comes on a turn-over frame - but they are a silly price!

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  7. At this time of year we could do with the garden waste bins being emptied every week. Everything grows so fast!

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    1. Mine will be a struggle to haul out the front next week - it's very heavy

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  8. The year is definitely flying by too quickly! Your flowers are so pretty!

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    1. Sadly the flowers didn't last long - I won't buy from there again

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  9. I second Ellen D. I also envy your compost. Well done. I have got to figure a way to compost that does not attract the bears!

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    1. I can safely say that bears are not a problem here!!

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  10. You are making good progress cutting back the garden. I've not started so have lots ahead of me. That is a lovely colorful bouquet next to your seasonal plate. My late uncle used to call compost, "gardener's gold" and he topped up all the garden spaces before Winter.

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    1. I still have so much to cut back and tidy through the Autumn and it's not even a big garden. This years rain and sun has made everything grow well

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  11. The flowers are lovely always a nice pick me up. We have a few holidays yet before Christmas in the US But Christmas is coming pretty fast that's for sure.
    Cathy

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    1. You are luckier than us for holidays although being retired it doesn't matter so much

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  12. I love your "cottage" and also that lovely plate. It's beautifully done.

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    1. Just a small August/summer display - soon will need changing

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  13. I think we are all looking to empty our gardens. Hope to get a few things put away this week.

    The flowers are beautiful. Such a tasteful display.

    God bless.

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    1. I've got leeks and purple broccoli for winter eating but everything else will need clearing soon

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  14. I like the flowers you bought and are by a little British house. I have Lilliput houses. My husband went and sprayed all the dandelions with roundup spray. No lawn mowing as we have no grass growing as we've got hardly any rain. We do water the lawns to keep one a week as it's been dry lately except for some rain. Looks like rain will be here this week. I wanted to buy flowers when I was shopping yesterday as they have nice ones but I have to save money for a few days. Have a good day!

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  15. Very pretty flowers and that jug is just perfect for them, I think. xx

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  16. I was thinking similar re compost bins! I’ve inherited two and they are obviously situated in the right place under the right conditions as I’ve been amazed at the compost that has come out of them during the last year! I hope that your weekend is going well and that you manage to achieve your garden clearing! 😁

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  17. The flowers are beautiful, it's a shame they didn't last very long. Still you have the photo of them. :-)

    I'm tidying the garden bit by bit and adding things to the compost bin. It just feels as though Summer is well and truly over and it never really came back after that hot spell did it.

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