Saturday 3 May

Ah, May!  The sun was lovely today, I caught it a bit along the tops of my shoulders before Ian told me to go and put sun cream on.  I did so, and the sun vanished behind a cloud!  Luckily it returned :)

Here's the views from the garden today:

First of all, I am HUGELY relieved to have got rid of the final bit of grass-where-there-should-be-gravel.  This was next to the whirligig and the grass was growing through TWO layers of weedproof membrane, with gravel sandwiched between the layers and also on top of the top one.  It was really really heavy but the recent rain has softened it slightly.  I think it looks SO much better!

The "before" photo is pretty old (29th March) but that little patch hadn't changed at all:

That photo also showcases our other big achievement of the day; replacing the cord on the whirligig and making it useable.  The old cord was totally decayed and in bits, and the whole thing was filthy.  We had planned to remove it and replace it with the one we brought with us from the flat, but it's cemented in.  It looks like it has a tube that the whirligig fits into, but we just can't get it out and suspect they added some cement to the inside of the tube as well, so it was a case of giving it a good clean and a new length of line.  We had fun threading it through!

Beans and courgettes getting accustomed to being outside:

Enjoying the sun (a brief sit down!)

Ian cleared this patch and uncovered an electrical cable with a frayed end.  Interesting...

Still to clear:

SO MUCH still to clear:

Clematis #1 about to bloom:

Lilac:

Clematis #1 lovely new growth:

Beautiful passionflower: