Finishing Touches

 It’s still very dry here.
Too dry for the garden flowers which have had a much needed water in order to keep their blooms .
The alliums and aquilegia have filled the borders as usual and I’ve tried to use every container I have to showcase little bursts of colour about the cottage. An old cast iron piece of guttering is now a hanging basket or sorts with little yellow eschscholzia growing in it. 
The sea pinks (armeria martima) in an old French egg basket have bloomed again and the sweet peas have filled an old galvanised bucket by the garden arch ready to climb alongside the wisteria which had returned more robustly than it did last year.
Even the Rosemary I squeezed into a burnt 1930s saucepan last autumn has held its own






I’ve no real news today.
My second covid swab was clear so I will be covering a sick colleagues’ shift on Sunday.
The CBM is here today and tomorrow 
The finishing touches are taking an age! 


58 comments:

  1. Don't be impatient ... You want your new, updated bathroom to be finished off perfectly!
    Your flower garden (patch) is so very nice and when every thing is in bloom should be quite beautiful!!
    Glad to see you have tested negative!

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  2. Beautiful garden, John. You have a talent for choosing unusual and pretty containers. I'm glad you're better, but now it's back to work instead of doing fun stuff at home.

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    1. I know….but Sunday is a non day really as the estimated time of finishing the bathroom is now Monday afternoon 😪😬👎🏻😱

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  3. I like your aquilegia. It's different from the ones we have.

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    1. It’s quite tall , I think my sister must of hand sown some new varieties

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    2. Anonymous3:17 pm

      have

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  4. You have many lovely plantings and the color is outstanding. Everything looks very happy and gives you a wonderful garden to enjoy every day. Today's the big finish for the bathroom and you must be overjoyed. Excellent to freed of Covid!

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  5. Love the photos!
    I totally dig your garden. We are just getting hostas and the such popping up. Tulips and other bulbs are also out in force. Can't wait for the summer flowers...

    XOXO

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    1. The problem with hostas is that I have a dry stone walled garden that is a haunt for bloody slugs and snails

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    2. Traveller6:27 pm

      Try planting a hosta in something copper and keep it away from walls…ie don’t have it close to something that slugs can climb up and avoid the copper. ….or copper tape around the pot.

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    3. A good tip if I had any copper pots

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  6. Between you and Janet, you have created a beautiful garden. I love it when plants grown into and through other plants. Glad the lurgy has gone, although I'm sure you'd enjoy a few more days at home! Patience, John. The CBM is making sure everything is perfect for you. And it will be. xx

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    1. He’s now going to finish on Monday !
      Arrrrrrrrrhhhhhh

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    2. And breathe! Just focus on that first hot shower in your beautiful new bathroom. (But I know how you feel, I'm impatient too!) xx

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    3. In through the nose out through the mouth

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  7. Barbara Anne2:11 pm

    What a charming and welcoming garden you have around the cottage! Love the r fish among the greenery, too.
    Patience, dear John. Just a wee bit of time and all will be finished.
    Cheers for being negative!!

    Hugs!

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    Replies
    1. I know , I’m bored now, I want to play in my bathroom, and I want a shower

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    2. When it's sunny John just pop outside with a pail of soapy water and a stiff brush-and you shall be fresh as a daisy again x

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  8. Flowers are such a beautiful joy, aren't they!

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    Replies
    1. With the skill my sister has in planting I’m enjoying them more

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  9. Looks beautiful, John!

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  10. Always a work in progress
    Thank u

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  11. A lovely garden..how can it be so beautiful AND tidy?!!

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  12. John - all those containers are the marks of a good gardener.

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  13. veg artist3:48 pm

    One extra day can be a real 'time distortion' period. Now, it seems like a really long, extra, oh so impatient wait. Once it's gone, and you've taken possession of your bathroom, you won't remember it. So, breathe ....... .

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    1. I know! At least I’m working all Sunday

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  14. The details, in the garden, and in the bath, take time. And it shows over time.

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  15. Anonymous3:58 pm

    My bathroom remodeling experience (not doing the work, just waiting for it to be done) is that the finishing touches do take forever, but its great to get them done before allowing one's workers to depart to start another job - getting them back is super hard!!!!

    ceci

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    Replies
    1. Yes, my chap won’t leave until EVERYTHING is signed off

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  16. Your sister has created the most beautiful cottage garden, with your additional pots too
    Carol

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    Replies
    1. She will perhaps use some of these comments in her website

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  17. In the days I used to buy magazines-one of my monthly ones was Country Living- Your garden looks as good as ones featured-My grandma cooked in a saucepan such as your rosemary pot-and don't forget John"all good things come to those who wait"x

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    Replies
    1. I burnt mashed potatoes in it so badly I could only recycleit

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  18. The finishing touches always seem to take an age. The gardens must help.

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    Replies
    1. No….I’m busting a gut…and I’m smelling

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  19. Anonymous5:21 pm

    Beware of too many junk containers or it will look like Steptoe's yard

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  20. I am sure the bathroom will be worth the pain...eventually.

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  21. I've got one of those guttering thingys-paid £10 years ago -they are £40+ in a fancy reclamation yard x

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  22. That piece of guttering is perfect! I just love it.
    Ah- we all won't things done quickly and we all want things done well. It is unfortunate that those two rarely meet in real life.

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    Replies
    1. Yes I found it in the garden it makes a lovely planter

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  23. Lovely garden... I am envious all I have is kikuyu growing through my veg beds. Patience is a virtue not everyone has; it appears we are very alike in being impatient but it will all be over soon ... breathe!

    Jo in Auckland

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  24. Oh yes, but all those touches are what stops the black mould staining of grout and silicon sealer, John, and you will never regret smelling for another day! our bathroom is entirely white tiled and I hate it because it was done badly in the 90s and the amount of either putting up with it, or nasty chemicals it takes to get it white again are not good for the environment or my blood pressure. I am VERY sure CBM will do a much better job!

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  25. Anonymous12:26 am

    glad your testing is now negative and hope you are feeling in fine form! Your garden is a thing of beauty, I am envious. It is so dry here in California, my garden can never look like yours, sadly. All the hose water in the world cannot make up for lack of rainfall. I've tried, to no avail
    Susan M

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  26. The flowers are gorgeous and I am quite envious.

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  27. Your Rosemary is the epitome of 'Cottage'.

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  28. My own experience of tradesmen is that often they have to work on longer than the estimated date so I tend to assume that might happen now. Then I don't feel that weariness that I get when it runs over time and I have to keep struggling on longer with the house upside down. It will be wonderful when it is finished and you can relax and enjoy everything.

    I love your garden! Those aquilegas are simply beautiful.

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