Friday 28 August 2015

Light at the End of the Tunnel


Possibly the most boring photo I've started a blog post with, but we are so relieved to finally have the roof of the garage/workshop complete I had to show it.  The floor was poured yesterday and up to now the only 'person' to walk on it has been Suky .... it's a good job she lost that weight recently!!

The workman worked unbelievably slowly on the roof, if they worked for my company they would be warned about their work ethic.  Knocking off early on lovely sunny days when the forecast the next day was dire, long breaks, long lunches, long telephone conversations etc etc, they drove me mad. 


But, looking on the bright side, it's done now AND the windows  have been installed in the workshop, with only one after-fitting call needed to fix one of them that wouldn't close.  You'd think they would have checked that before they left wouldn't you.

I'll stop whinging now I'm reminding myself of Victor Meldrew!!


The walls up the driveway and the gateposts are all finished.  We picked up the stones that sit on the top the other day direct from the quarry in Trefor, they look brilliant and we can't wait to sit our little ornamental tops in place, there is just one more coat of black paint needed on them before they will have pride of place at the entrance to make us and our guests smile on arrival.

As you can see from the bottom right of this photo our new front bed behind the wall is almost ready for planting, hopefully we will be able to crack on with that tomorrow.  We are moving some of the shrubs over from the other bed at the front of the house as i is all getting a bit overcrowded in there.  We will also use all the potted plants that have been sitting on the patio in the new bed to make the patio area less cluttered for over Winter and save us having to buy any more plants.

So at last there is light at the end of the tunnel with all the building work, we still have to paint the inside of the building, clad the outside of it in wood, as agreed on the planning permission, and get the solar panels installed.  This is the one company that have really let us down.  Work was supposed to start on fitting the solar system last week, but it will be at least another four weeks before they have all the component parts of the system in stock let alone installed.

Oooh .... I was almost whinging again ;-)


On a happier note, and you have to be happy with the colours of these lovely cherry tomatoes don't you, the tomato plants are still providing us with lots of lovely fruit.  This little lot are going to be turned into a big batch of Tomato, Chilli and Courgette soup, destined for one meal at lunchtime tomorrow and then the remainder will be popped into the freezer.  

Everything I make at the moment has courgettes (or mini marrows) in ..... I will make full use of all of them, I will, I will  :-)


Also frozen yesterday were these lovely little chillies.


First open frozen, and then bagged and put back into the freezer.  I used a big bag because the plant has lots more that will be ripening over the next few days and I can add to the bag as and when I cut them off.

The net tunnel now has doors on it and the beds are almost full of a soil, 6 Ex and compost mix which means I can spring into action and get some overwintering crops planted in there,  and once pruned and re-potted the Blueberry bushes will move into there too.

Sue xx

11 comments:

  1. I love reading about all your activities ~ thank you ☺

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha, at first glance I thought "what a nice colour work bench"! Looking great, shame about the solar panels.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dont freeze cherry tomatoes, they go to water and hot peppers are much hotter after being frozen...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your building projects have been really fun to watch on your blog. And those garden products are amazing. You will so enjoy them this winter!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sue, what are you planning to over-winter? I'm debating whether to try some things in my unheated allotment greenhouse this year but am not sure what to grow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mostly Garlic, Onions, Greens, Leeks etc. The idea is to get them in by mid-September so they can establish themselves before any really cold weather. Then hopefully they will grow slowly until the first frosts and then go dormant until early in the new tear when they will have a head start on other plants. Well that's the plan, we'll have to see if it works here :-)

      With the Polytunnel I should be able to keep some things slowly growing, Greens, Perpetual Spinach etc it would be worth a go in your greenhouse. You could cover things with gardeners fleece, that's what I think I will do.

      Delete
  6. Its disappointing but it will all be worth it in the end. I was amazed that the two commodities that are abundant in Florida is rain and sun and they don't appear to utilise either. No solar panels no rain butts!! I would love a small holding like yours.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh I am jealous but in a good way. I love the rock wall. I will definitely be back to see your progress! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. You're steaming ahead now and it all looks top quality work. We're growing marrows too at the moment, we can't eat the courgettes quick enough.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm learning so much from your lovely blog; it's my first year with a greenhouse and I was wondering how best to deal with the excess produce from it - and now I know! Thank you. x

    ReplyDelete
  10. How exciting for you, nearly at the finishing post! It's looking great, can't wait to see it all finished. And with workmen like that I think you are entitled to a moan! Xx

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now turned off for this old blog of mine. Thank you for reading the posts, I hope you enjoyed them. xx

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.