Wednesday - and the garden

 Good morning, everyone!

I had a gentle start to yesterday.  With a swim booked for ten and wanting to not get dressed and then have to get re-dressed (they like you to turn up with swimwear on underneath at the moment), I stayed in bed clothes for a while.
Leaving the house just before nine gave me a bit of shop trawling time but, in the end, I didn't go to Matalan, I went to HomeSense instead.  I always love looking round there; they have ethnic stuff, lots of basket work, clever kitchen gadgets, etc.  I was sorely tempted by some olive wood salad servers (which I would never use!) but, in the end, went for two smaller sized dinner plates and a small, single person water jug.  I've been looking for smaller dinner plates as it's a great way to reduce portion size without feeling deprived and these were just perfect.  I could have spent a fortune so I think I did rather well really.

Then it was into the gym where I did spend a fortune on the fees for the year before going into the changing room and on into the pool.  
And it was lovely!  The water was perfect, everyone had a great big soppy smile on their face as we all trundled up and back, up and back, there were enough people to make it sociable but not crowded and, best of all, the bubble spa pool was open again (it was closed last summer and autumn) with certain restrictions, the two main ones being only two people in at a time and no longer than fifteen minutes.  It's such a great way to finish off a swim.

More things are back to normal than I realised.  The cossie spinner machine was working again and there were hair dryers out.  I had planned to shower and hair wash at home so that's what I did but now I know, I will take the necessary with me.

The funniest thing was I couldn't find my swimming bag anywhere.  I looked high and low first thing in the morning, finally deciding to get a shopping bag out of the car.  And, lo and behold, there, smirking smugly at me from right under the driver's seat was guess what!!
I'm glad.  I like that bag.

I spend some time in the garden.  The courgettes are now potted on, but I made a right mess of the cucumbers, snapping the stem off the best grown one - I won't quote what I said!  I thought I'd need to plant some more but there were only two seeds left in the packet.  I planted them anyway but I expect I will need to look for some bedding plants as the few that have grown really don't look that healthy.
I also planted the sunflower and gerbera seeds that Rachel gave me so fingers crossed.

The mint is now sorted out and I was pleased to see this in another pot. 

It's lily of the valley.  I call it Mum's lily of the valley because Mum gave me the roots quite a while ago now.  A few years ago I had it all out of the pot, divided it into three, put two in the front and replanted the rest in the same pot.  Last year it didn't do much at all but there's little spikes showing in the pot and also in the soil round the front.
I'm thankful.  I'd hate to have killed it.  Lily of the valley is one of my favourites and there's the sentimental connection too.

I potted on the black bamboo into this fairly heavy pot and clipped off some dead stems.  I hope it will do well and I think it will look so nice as time goes by and it develops some height and hair - I mean leaves.

Once I know it is established and growing, I may very well cover the soil in the pot with chippings or even some nice pebbles

The older raspberry canes are coming on a treat.  These have yellow berries and look beautiful in the autumn sunshine.  The plant my lovely next door neighbour gave me and the one left over from the allotment (now in a pot) are red fruit so there's some variety there.  Nice.

I had just put everything away when there was a ring at the door and it was the fountain bamboo I ordered before the weekend.  Impressively fast.
I just popped the pots into the container they will go in.  It's plastic but I'm going to weigh it down with bricks inside so it should be pretty stable, especially as the canes curve out rather than growing up and being too top heavy.  Once they all fill out a bit, that should look nice, I think.

I'll get them planted properly today or tomorrow.

Another thing I need to sort out is the ballerina apple.  The pot I though would do is just too small so I need to go the the garden centre for something bigger.  That won't happen today and probably not tomorrow so we're looking at Friday really.  I'm sure it will survive!

The chat with Dad was lovely, catching up on how he is and talking about various family stuffs.  By then I was feeling pretty weary so I had a nice, lazy rest of day.

Today start off with an allotment trip to get the broad beans planted out.  I must, they are outgrowing the pots and flopping over.  I also want to get that fleece off, weather forecast permitting.
Then it is personal training with Lindsey.  Where has the week gone?  It seems only a few days since the last one.
And then, weather permitting, I'm driving over to Val's for tea/coffee in her garden.  If it's not nice, we will have an online chat instead.
So it's another busy day.  Things have really hotted up this week.  At least I should sleep well.   :-)

Take care, be safe and have an enjoyable day.  xx