Starting this blog has really helped me get enthusiastic about things but I’m finding it hard to fit more into the day. JubJub will play independently for awhile but she has a certain breaking point, after which her half hearted cried and yells can pretty much be translated to “I’m Booorreeed, plaaaaayyy with meeeee”. After a couple of days of this I came to the realisation that there is no point trying to do all these extra things if you end up ignoring your child in the process so I’ve begun reclaiming my evenings instead. JubJub sleeps through from 6pm, so now instead of watching TV after dinner I DO SOMETHING.
Tonight I raised it to a new level; I don’t know what passers by must have been thinking when the saw me gardening in the dark! We have a small raised garden bed by our front door which has been bugging me for ages; it’s planted with succulents which are quite hardy, but after a very hot summer and no attention or water it was looking much worse for wear.
Here is the before shot. Any garden looks ok from a distance, so there are some close ups to show just how nasty it really was.
I took everything out and snapped off the dead and snail damaged leaves. Then I replaced half of the soil with fresh potting mix, water crystals and low release fertiliser and replanted everything. There are a few plants that still need to go back in, but they were so leggy and yuck looking that I just took cuttings from the healthy tops and got rid of the rest. I’ve left them out on the patio so that the cuts dry and callus over, they will be planted in a couple of days time. As long as I keep the water up everything should bounce back and fill in the spaces fairly quickly.
And just because I’m learning how to use Nase’s fancy Camera here is an arty shot;
So there it is; my porch is looking respectable again.