I think my favourite thing about the new house is the garden. It’s so relaxing to be able to get out into it, do some weeding, turn over the compost (yes, really – I find it totally incredible how quickly stuff breaks down in this little ecosystem), water the plants, and see how everything is growing.
It definitely comes with some downsides – snails and slugs abound and HORRIFYINGLY it appears we have a rat living under our decking. Eugh.We had some plumbers round recently sorting out our boiler, and they (and Peter) spotted it. Fingers crossed the council are coming soon to get rid of it. Discovering that was definitely our low point since moving in. There was a whole piece on Springwatch this week about how we should love rats and how cute they are, but they still make my skin crawl and I’m just so worried it’s going to come into the house. 🙁
But it’s not all bad… Here’s a picture of some flowers to help you forget all about that…
Ignoring that little horror (pretending it isn’t there is the same as it not being there, right?), it’s so nice having some outside space! We have hanging strawberries, the beetroot is getting so big, the broccoli is bedding in, the herbs have already been used loads… once the rat is gone and we have some chairs, it’s going to be a perfect little space to spend the summer.
The veg plot: Still mostly brown, but everything’s getting bigger.
Look at how big the beetroot has become in just a couple of weeks!
Are you growing anything this summer? We decided NOT to grow tomatoes as they’re too needy, but I’m kind of missing having them this year – Peter and I have grown them every summer since we got together – competitively at first, when we lived separately, and then when we moved in together. Still, we have quite a lot to keep the garden busy!