Tag: garden

Oh ye, oh ye, oh ye!  Time for a final update on gardening the Flylady way before the blog closes for the summer!   And – yes, yes – I know I normally write my gardening posts on Mondays, but – again, again – Denmark has had a long holiday weekend.  This time for Whit Monday.:)

Last week (I hope) you saw how flamingly well I was doing attacking the dandelions on our lawn.   It all went swimmingly over the weekend and then, of course, I crashed and burned.   Now, in my head I knew that this is a major job and – like painting the Forth Road Bridge – one that never ends.   But I spent the first couple of days doing nothing.   Nada.   Gah!   So the only way forward (like with the house) is babysteps.   I decided to cut myself some slack and start small.   To make a commitment to take out 10 dandelions a day.   Every day.   Ten dandelions isn’t exactly many.   But, let’s face it, anything is better than zero.   And Flybabies will understand that, once you get started, it’s never that bad and you want to keep going!  ;o)   So I’m back on track and enjoying chipping away at the project.

I’m also proud to announce that I’m finished weeding all the paths/patio areas in the garden – woo hoo!  So now I just need to keep them looking that way…  How about a Before and After pic to celebrate?  Here’s how our barbecue area looked on Saturday morning…

Weeds galore – eek!

And here it is again, spruced up and ready to grrrrrrrill!

Fighting weeds the Flylady way…15 minutes at a time!

As the weather is so fabulous right now, I’ve resolved to do the ‘lawnmothering’ every 5 days (or as near as…) and have written it in my diary, just to make sure I get it done.   If it’s in the diary, it will happen, right?!

The rain finally arrived this morning – which is just as well, really, because the grass is parched!

So all in all the garden is looking blooming lovely (go me!) and given the blooms on the cherry tree, it looks like we’re set for a bumper crop…

As I said, this is my last garden post before the summer holidays.  But don’t think I won’t be out in the garden every day (or at least every other day) with my essential tools – ‘Flylady purple’ gardening gloves, dandelion remover, brush, weedkiller and trusty folding headphones! 🙂

Hope you had a marvelous Monday and wishing you a terrific Tuesday! 🙂

It’s Monday! Which means it’s time for an update on
gardening the Flylady way =
gardening in babysteps and using a timer.  We’ve just had a lovely long
holiday weekend with lots of time spent in the garden.  ======   Um, isn’t that what I wrote two weeks ago?!  Yes, Denmark was closed yet again on Thursday for Asencion.  And the schools and some workplaces were also shut on Friday.  So we’ve been spending rather a lot of time in the garden.  And finally enjoying dinner out on the deck…

A glass of white wine and some tomato and basil bruschetta – yum! 🙂

Thanks to my Flylady routines (‘lawnmothering’ at least once a week, weeding the flower beds every other week, sweeping the paths regularly etc), our garden is looking pretty good.  Hooray!  But now that we’ve got sun + a bit of heat, a bitter enemy has reared its ugly head…dandelions!  Gah!!!

Not too many dandelions in this particular patch…

Well, they didn’t get here in a day.  (If I’m truthful, we haven’t done anything about the ones in the lawn since DD10 was born…)  And they’re not going to disappear after a weekend’s hard graft.  I started off by doing a Flylady ’27 Dandelion Fling Boogie’ but kept losing count and the will to live.  So now I’m concentrating on one area at a time and attacking them 15 minutes at a time.  Going only after the obvious ones where there are yellow heads, because I like to see them disappearing – and I need a sense of achievement! ;o)

I can’t remember how many bucketfulls of dandelions I’ve squashed down into the garden refuse containers this weekend.  But if I say 20 bucketfulls, I wouldn’t be far wrong…

I had a bit of a perfectionist moment this morning when I went out to do the ‘lawnmothering’.  “I can’t possibly mow the lawn because there are still yellow heads peeking up!  I need to remove the dandelions first…”  Then I slapped myself on the head and said “No, lawnmowing is a weekly routine.  Do that as usual.  And then – and only then – can you go ahead and declutter the dandelions.”  So that’s what I did.  Didn’t hyperfocus.  Got my routine work done.  Because the dandelions aren’t going anywhere fast are they?

(Most of the) Dandelions are gone and the ‘lawnnothering’ is done – hooray! 🙂

The lawn looks fairly good again and I feel a sense of achievement.  Time to get my purple gardening gloves on and keep chipping away at the dandelions.  Check back next week to find out if I’m winning the war…

The rhododendrons are popping open before our very eyes 🙂

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

It’s Monday!  Which means it’s time for an update on gardening the Flylady way = gardening in babysteps and using a timer.

We’ve just had a lovely long weekend with lots of time spent in the garden.  If you saw my post on DailyDenmark (where I blog about ‘those crazy Danes’ every Wednesday), you’ll know Denmark was closed on Friday because of ‘Big Prayer Day’.

DD10 was desperate to try her hand at ‘lawnmothering’.  I was all ready to tell her that she was too young/not strong enough/it was too dangerous.  But I didn’t want to quash her enthusiasm – so bit my tongue and let her have a shot…

She got off to a great start!  But found it pretty tough.  And gave up after about two minutes! ;o)  But I praised her for her efforts and she’s going to try again soon…

Aside from the ‘lawnmothering’, this week I’ve also worked on the following -15 minutes at a time:

• trimmed all the lawn edges
• weeded the flower and stone borders (this was just upkeep, as I weeded them ‘thoroughly’ a couple of weeks back)
• cut down some very large tree branches that were beginning to get out of hand
• did more weeding of the garden paths – a looooong job
• deadheaded some plants

And – most important of all – generally enjoyed looking at the fruits of my efforts!  Whenever I finish a task I like to ‘reward’ myself.  Usually by cutting a small posy of flowers to display in the hall or living room –  a constant reminder that life sure is good 🙂

The white plant has a lovely honeysuckle scent. And my nailvarnish needed redoing after all that hard work ;o)

And my plans for next week?  To keep going, not get overwhelmed and hopefully, if the temperatures heat up, have another chance to eat dinner on the deck.

Hope you have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

Oh my word, how things are shooting up in the garden and, thankfully, I’m not just talking about the weeds, tee hee!

As you may remember, I’ve been doing my gardening the Flylady way for the past couple of years.  Doing little stints of 15 minutes in order to avoid getting overwhelmed.  (I started a few weeks back and you can see what I’ve been up to right here.)

This week I had only a few goals.  To maintain the lawn.  “Lawnmothering” is done – check!  Boy, it was hot – in fact it was the first (genuinely) hot spring day we’ve had.  So it took me a while but I got it done.  In babysteps.  Here’s a tiny part of the front lawn to show you.  Don’t we all love Before and After shots?!

Before shot – complete with dandelions – eek! (By the way, the ‘hole’ is where we pulled out a bush and have resown the grass)

And 10 minutes later…  Ta da – instant gratification!

I also wanted to do some work on the garden paths now that I’ve got the flower borders pretty much under control (famous last words…).  I’ve been chipping away at them – listening to three songs on my telephone at each sitting – and it seems to be paying off because they’re beginning to look quite good!

Before – hmm, too much green between the cracks!

After – much better! 🙂

My tasks for the week ahead are to keep going with weeding the paths.  And to clean up the barbecue – as we’ve got a holiday weekend coming up and there are sunny skies ahead.  Yay!

Hope you have a marvelous Monday! 🙂 

Just in case you haven’t seen my Monday posts, I should explain that – just like last year – I’m tackling my garden the same way I tackle the rest of my life.  The Flylady way!  Basic weekly routines.  Using my timer
for 15 minute sessions of concentrated work.  (Or listening to four/five songs on my phone.)  And
moving on to different areas of the garden or taking a break at the end of each
segment.  And it’s working 🙂

I made sure to get the ‘lawnmothering’ done early yesterday morning…

Because – just as the Danish weathermen predicted – it started chucking it down at lunchtime.  And apparently we’re in for one whole week of rain.  Oh pook!

Oh well.  At least the rain will be good for the plants.  We’ve plenty of buds ready to burst, we just need a bit more heat and sunshine…

I’ve also managed to do a bit of weeding in the flower beds this week.  I’m not too perfectionist about the tiny weeds (I just turn over the earth and cut them up a bit) but I do take time to remove dandelions and their neverending roots.  My next job (if the rain stops…) is to start work on weeding the paths and paving.  And I’m excited because this year I’ve got a new trick up my sleeve – a little secret I got from the lady at the ironmongers.  See this?  The liquid that collects in the bottom of dehumidifier boxes (we use them a couple of places around the house where we had problems with mould).  Don’t just pour it down the toilet.  It’s a potent weed killer!  Just remember to keep the liquid away from little kids and pets as it’s – obviously – toxic… ;o)

Pesky grass in the paving…begone!

Okay, it’s time for a break.  I’m off to have a cuppa.  Hope you have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

Oh my word, what a lot has happened in the garden since I posted two weeks ago!  You’ll remember that I’ve been doing the gardening in chunks – the Flylady way.  Using my timer for 15 minute sessions.  Or listening to four or five songs on my phone.  And moving on to different areas of the garden or taking a break at the end of each segment.

It took me just 15 minutes to weed/prune back/tidy up the front border – hooray! 🙂

Though I have to admit that it took a tad longer to remove the grass from the stone borders…

But I just did it in 15 minute stints, and ended up with several buckets of weeds…

Now it’s all done and dusted!  And it should make it a breeze to keep it looking that way for the rest of the season.  At least, that’s the theory… ;o)

In other news, I’ve resown grass on the areas of the lawn where we removed some unsightly bushes at the end of the autumn.  No, I didn’t do it perfectly.  I just raked the earth about a bit, took out the obvious weeds, sprinkled over the seeds, covered the seeds with a bit of earth and watered the whole shebang.  Five minutes later, the job was done and Mother Nature can get on and do her bit.  Here’s a ‘before’ shot – will be interesting to see how it looks after a few months…

Hmm, what else, what else?  Well, I also managed to get rid of (yet) another bag load of junk from the shed.  Isn’t it amazing how an impending refuse pickup combined with the impending arrival of family from Scotland can spur one into action?

And – the icing on the cake – I even managed to do some ‘lawmothering’!  Double hooray!

Inspired to get started?  Want to join the Garden Party?  Then check in every Monday and let’s keep things rosy in the garden…

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

[rubs eyes]  Snowflakes?  On the 2nd of April?!  Saints preserve us, the Danish weather gods are certainly having a good laugh at us…  Here we were, ready to pack away our gloves and instead we’re back to arctic temperatures and white specks in the sky!

Truth to tell, I haven’t been out in the garden much this week.  (You’ll remember that I’m gardening the Flylady way againthis year.)  Not just because of the chilly weather, but also because we’ve had two sets of Danish family visiting.  But instead of dwelling over the things that I didn’t do, I’m going to celebrate the things that I did.  (Ha!  Take that, bad conscience!)

Our very long fence/pavement was beginning to look very straggly with all the new spring growth.  (And if I let it stay like that for too long, it becomes a target for dog poo!)

So I got out my (Flylady purple) gardening gloves, a sharp instrument and a big broom.  I didn’t use my timer – I just put on my headphones and listened to four songs – then walked into the house, had a quick swig of water, and went back out again for another session.  Here we are, a few tunes later – all done!

I also stocked up on these things…gas canisters.  So I’m armed and dangerous, and ready to burn any weeds that come across my path!  [boom, boom!]

I won’t be posting next Monday (Easter Monday), but join me again in a fortnight when (I hope…) I’ll have plenty of gardening tales to share.

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

If you’ve been reading my Monday posts, you’ll know that I garden the Flylady way – in 15 minute chunks and using routines.  I set myself two goals for last week: to mow the lawn and clean the wooden deck.  (It motivates me to mention them here on the blog because then I can’t chicken out…)  So how did I get on?

Well, the Danish Weather Gods decided to smile down upon us on Friday.  No more frost (fingers crossed…) and hopefully higher temperatures for the rest of the spring.  So I was finally able to get out and do some ‘lawnmothering’.  A term I’ve coined for us mothers who don’t rely on our better halves for heavy horticultural assistance, but get out and get on with the job ourselves! ;o)

First session of 15 minutes on the timer and one third of the lawn is done – yay! 🙂

Spurred on by my success with the ‘lawnmothering’ – and after a 15 minute rest with a cuppa outside in the sunshine – I decided to move right on to cleaning the wooden deck.  Gosh, I had forgotten just how much fun it is to stand and hose things down!  I didn’t get all perfectionistic – I just scrubbed the green algæ and bird poo off with a brush and washed it (and all my troubles and cares) away.  Just remember to put on your welly boots before you start…

No more bird poo – hooray!

Chairs and tables got the same treatment.  So we are company ready for, not one but two, sets of Danish family visiting this week.

And my goals for the coming week?  My main task is to weed the stone borders around the house.  The snowdrops, tulips and daffodil clumps can stay.  But the grass weeds – which are shimmying their way over from the lawn – need to take a hike.  First I’ll pull out what I can, then burn the rest with my gasburner…yeargh! ;o)

I’m also going to weed the pavement (we have a very long fence), to ‘mother the lawn’ once again and – most important of all – just keep things in check and ticking over.  So I’m in control – not overwhelmed…

Meet you outside in the garden?

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

If you saw last Monday’s post, you’ll know that – just like I did last year -I’m working on my garden the Flylady way, fifteen minutes at a time.  Here’s how I got on during my first week outdoors this spring…

First of all I took a walk around the garden and looked for anything that I could throw away.  It felt gooooood to get rid of some waveboards, old garden toys that the children have outgrown and, of course, plain old junk like broken plant pots and defective garden tools…

More clutter going out the door, or should I say garden? 🙂

Next I got out the broom and swept all the paths.  (A great way to warm up and get your heart rate going…)  Then spent another five minutes working on the steps down to our basement which seems to be a black hole for leaves – gah!

Hmm, what next?  Oh yes, I found the rake and got to work on the leaves and twigs that were all tangled up in the flower beds…

It didn’t take more than 15 minutes and, hey presto, a couple of days later the spring flowers were already shooting up 🙂

On Friday morning I was out running errands and decided to give myself a ‘reward’ for my efforts.  I spent Danish kr. 50 (UK £6 or US $9 ) and got a bag full of cheery wee plants to brighten up our outdoor pots and front door…

Happiness in a bag 🙂

And my tasks for this week?  Well…

a) I’m hoping finally to be able to mow the lawn (we’ve still got frost during the night, so up until now DH has advised against it)

b) clean up the wooden decks and wooden furniture (so we’re ready to sit in the sun with a cup of coffee when the temperatures decide to be nice to us).

Check back next week to see how things are blooming!

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂

I woke up this morning with a start.  It was light outside and I thought we had slept in.  But, no, I had woken up – surprisingly well rested – just before the alarm went off at 6.20am.  What a gorgeous sunny spring morning!  I love, love, love this time of year.  And therefore feel a desperate need to get started working on our garden! 🙂

First sign of spring….skinny snowdrops in our garden

At the end of March last year I did a little series here on the blog where I pimped my garden the Flylady way = 15 minutes at a time.  (Otherwise I get overwhelmed just thinking of all the tasks involved…mowing the lawn, sweeping paths, weeding borders, cleaning garden furniture, planting, pruning, bla, bla, bla.)

More signs of spring in our garden…chubby snowdrops!

Breaking it up into babysteps and a weekly routine worked rather well.  So that, dear readers, is what I’m doing again this year.  Want to join in the fun?  No need to do exactly as I do – just make a list of what needs doing and pace yourself.  One job per day or one job per week – it will all add up and your garden will soon be looking blooming lovely! ;D

Here’s my list:

• tidy out the shed and make a trip to the dump with any junk
• weed the stone borders around the house (before the weeds have a chance to multiply)
• scrub the wooden deck and wooden table and chairs
• sweep the paths
• make a start on weeding the paths
• buy a few bulbs and seeds
• weed the pavement in front of our house and put Danish flags in any dog poo I find
• mow the lawn (DH says we have to wait until the frost has gone)
• buy more gas cartridges for my weed burner
• repeat above as necessary

More heralds of spring…Danish ‘erantis‘

So, shall we get those (purple) gardening gloves on and dig in?

Have a marvelous Monday! 🙂