WORK IN PROGRESS

Walls have ears.  Okay, I know they don’t really because if they had they’d look pretty stupid right?  I mean who in their right mind would want a garden wall that looked like a jug head?  Please don’t answer that as there may be someone out there who actually has a Dumbo wall in their garden. 

Stormy weather has rocked Chichester these past few days but amazingly, our new wall remains standing and is getting closer to being finished.  It’s so exciting!

 

Dark clouds are gathering overhead

Only the coping stones to be cemented in

Good progress has been made on the back garden too.  I’ve almost finished painting the fence panels – all 22 of them.  Only 1 and a bit remain untreated as they’re currently covered in a blossoming passionflower making it difficult to reach the wood.  (Add to the autumn To Do list).

 

Lovely passion flower

Finished fence panels at the back

The scruffy hydrangea at the back of the garden responded well to its earlier lockdown prune and is now covered in beautiful pink flowers.

 

Blooming well after a good prune

Buried beneath a gigantic clump of prickly thistles along the back wall, I’ve unearthed a potted azalea and a couple of fuchsia plants which I hope to transplant to other parts of the garden as the space will need clearing in readiness for the new extension.

Look what I found under the thistles

Thistle weeds all chopped down

I’m also hoping to move the cordyline and a couple of super-sized white agapanthus plants but will need to wait until autumn when the plants go to sleep before attempting to do this.  Would you like to be dug up and moved elsewhere when you are all cosy?  No, neither do plants.  Online research suggests that often moving established shrubs is not successful but you’ll never know until you try it.  Fingers crossed.

 

Hoping to move all these plants in the autumn

Less progress is being made indoors.  Carpenter cancelled due to Covid so the new oak doors remain cluttering up the downstairs corridor and painting the woodwork has been deferred until the weather is a bit cooler.  Nothing like clumpy paint to mess up your woodwork and you all know how fussy I am about these things.

 

Still waiting to be hung

Let’s wish him a speedy recovery then I can crack on with finishing the corridors once and for all.