Preparing for Summer

Organising Craft items into boxes and up out of the way in my wardrobe.

 Hope having the craft items out of the way will help not have the children make a mess anytime. But have to ask if they can. Helps me to know when there is going to be a craft mess then have a surprise mess on the floor. The colourful boxes are the kids boxes for school reports, certificates etc.

Vac packing the winter sheets away.

 Now is the time to get summer sheets on the beds. I vac pack the winter sheets and blankets as I find they store better and save on space. Have also been making sure I have one bag to go to clothing bin or rubbish bin each day. When the bag is full out it goes. Feel like making progress with having the house more clean and organised for the coming Summer Holidays.

Had to share my little $3 find. Have it over my veggie garden. As the veggies are a blessing to us.

See how well they are growing. With some more to plant out soon. Will be moving the chicken run one more time on this veggie garden. Then they will go to our other raised garden bed, and prepare that for more plants.

 Our dear neighbour gave us lots of tomato plants I have a couple in big pots, and some waiting to go into the rest of our veggie garden. Looking at the price of tomatoes, I'm so thankful for growing our own. Same with courgettes, we can't afford to buy them in the shops.

Look how well my green courgette plant is growing. I grew this one from seed. See how big the leaves are. This one leaf is 38cm across. Some of the courgettes are going to be ready soon to pick. Can't wait :)

Better go and get another load on in the washing machine :)

Progress in the Vegetable Garden

Moved the chickens along and now starting to plant seedlings into the 3rd stage.

1st Stage of vegetable garden

2nd Stage of vegetable garden

And now at 3rd Stage of vegetable garden. Loving this garden

Our vegetable guard - But really our cat Mischief caught before causing mischief.

We are able to grow a range of different vegetables, and growing at different paces. At the moment we have

• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Squash
• Eggplant
• Lettuce
• Radish
• Basil
• Sunflowers
• Celery
• Carrots
• Spring Onions
• Zucchini
• Beetroot

We also have potatoes and swiss chard growing in other areas. So yummy salads and BBQ dinners to look forward to this summer.

Looking Out My Lounge Window

I have something pretty to look at now, as I sit on my couch in the lounge. Some we made as a couple, DH and me. Something that will last longer then a bunch of flowers. It also gives me HOPE and JOY that we can change this garden bit by bit together.

All planted and ready to grow.

Next I have more of the fence to paint, before adding some hanging planters for strawberry plants. And a plant to re-pot beside this planter. Busy, busy but very happy to be outside.

Painted the Planter

Planter before

Planter now, can wait to fill and plant with pretty flowers.

I had to add a photo of our veggie garden. Awesome progress. Have started to have mini salads for lunch.

Too Many Clothes

Thought it was about time to got through DD11 clothes. She has just turned 11 year old, and it's  good time to declutter. Boy was I in for a shock.

This is just a small pile of my daughters clothes.

Her drawers were packed with clothes, as well as her washing bag. And I also found more in her wardrobe. Since last years declutter my daughter clothes have multiplied. Maybe they have bred in those drawers. So the decluttering begins. With empty drawers, and a black bag for the clothing bin, the sorting began. Some were easy to sort, some needed to be washed first, and some needed my daughters opinion. But by the afternoon I have almost filled a bag ready for the clothing bin.
How freeing it is.
Now DD11 has more space in her room again.
Another thing that I'm happy about, we don't need to buy her any clothes.

Our Free Planter

I think my DH did a pretty good job on making this planter.

 We had left over wood and nails from making our raised vegetable garden. And leftover trellis from rebuilding the deck. Also a space that needed a better view then our garden shed. So DH built me this planter in one morning. So I'm slowly filling it with soil. Will also paint it, and plant some pretty flower plants. Will give us a far better view.

A little trial project, homemade SEED SHAKER.

 One of the ideas I wanted to try this year was planting helpful flowers in our veggie garden. Ones that we can eat and help other plants. As well as more radishes and lettuce planted at different times. And the idea of the seed shaker came to mind. This one is made out of an old herb container for cooking. It has a lid with holes for shaking. Painted it black to keep the seeds in the dark. And have added lettuce, marigold, radish seeds and others. Then I sprinkle on bare patches in the garden. Hope this idea works.

Organising Craft Items

Another project has been to organise my craft items, so they can be stored out of the way. But also easy for me to see if I already have what I need before buying. Looking at the glue box, I have done that abit. Also hopefully will help to have these in one place, not all over the house.
But I better get back to work making Poorman's Meal for our youth group dinner.

Office and Garden

More like an office now.

The office is becoming a more useful space, and more peaceful. Have a light coming to make the place brighter. Also need to work on the door so have a handle on the other side and even better would be to put a lock on. The seat is very comfortable, but I can't spend all day in  there. We had a moment of fine weather and moved the chicken coop along to the 3 stage of the vegetable garden.

1st stage garden growing well, 2nd stage has soil ready for planting seedlings

Chickens are enjoying some free range time in our garden as we prepare their coop for them. We are pretty happy with how the plants are growing in our veggie garden. Will be having radish's soon and lettuce. Yay salad time :) bring on some more good weather.