Last week on #SixOnSaturday I had snowdrop envy and as mine are still not ready to photograph I have been hunting around the garden for some inspiration. We have been in our current house for two and a half years and it’s the first garden that we’ve had which is large enough to flex our gardening muscles in. Since Covid, our time in the garden has completely changed and my husband has been building things.
The first major project was to replace the original rotting garden shed. He used recycled wood from heavy duty pallets for much of the frame, only buying the wall feather board, timber for the corner uprights and roof felt. We were given the window and found the door in our loft. Eventually the door will be repainted.
Second project were wooden obelisks. I used these last summer for my tomatoes which I grew in the conservatory and later to hold up the dahlias in the autumn. He also made the bird box which is one of a pair. I am happy to say that the birds nested in both but the magpies were clever and sat on the roof of each box at fledgling time and we saw one being taken. So a plan to deter this is needed this year.
The third project was the replacement of the rotten dove cote which we inherited with the garden. He used recycled wood for this one too. It is now a fancy blue-tit des-res and they have been investigating it already. Each hole has its own apartment. I hope that they don’t mind high-rise flats!
Fourth project is my greenhouse. This was a surprise Christmas gift for me which my husband then realised he’d have to add to his building project list. It’s a budget clear Polycarbonate design bought from Amazon and something to start my greenhouse future with. I am aware that in greenhouse etiquette this may feature near the bottom, but it’s mine and I am very excited with it. The instructions said we could build it in three hours. I think it took two of us five days. Now I’m muttering about wanting a wheel barrow to trundle soil, manure and plants up and down to my greenhouse.
Project five is a recently finished cold frame. Again this is made from recycled wood and has a clear plastic lid. Our lawn is covered in Astroturf, which I am slowing removing with my projects, so I have put a double layer of Astroturf under the cold frame for extra warmth.
My sixth photo is from my own small projects. Some of my readers know that I’m a very keen reader, so last year I was inspired to have a go at painting bricks to look like much loved books. This year I got excited by some woodland folk (Becorns) that I saw on David M Birds’s Instagram and wanted to try something similar myself. Check out this post which shows his best from 2021.
Thank you for joining me for this #SixOnSaturday post. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you would like to know more about this hashtag, read founder Mr Propagator’s post here also find him on Twitter here.
Have a great gardening week,
Rosie.
As I struggled to build a robin box from scratch I’m rather in awe of you husband’s carpentry skills. The shed is fantastic. Those painted brick books you did are rather ingenious too and the greenhouse looks like it’s coming a long well with loads of space to grow things.
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Thank you, I am shortly off on a ‘manure run’ to fill my planting area in the greenhouse. My parents own a farm with plenty of manure.
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What lovely apartments for the small birds! So fun with a lot of projects, and great that you have the possibility to use recycled material.
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Thank you. Fingers crossed the birds will take up residence.
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What a wonderful husband, when you have finished with him I’ll have him! I’m hoping to get a proper greenhouse this year, and it won’t be a flashing one either. One day, when I win a million …….. Have a good week.
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Flashy not flashing!!!!!! ;D
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I will recycle him for you! Actually my greenhouse is flashing as I have some pretty solar lights set up on it for night-time.
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Ha! Thank you.
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Pingback: Some Garden Projects For This Week’s #SixOnSaturday Because My Snowdrops Are Still Not Out! @cavershamjj - Us Viral Trending
Loved, loved, loved this post Rosie. How fantastic and what wonderful projects you and your husband have created with love. How heartening! My husband has also put bird boxes and a chain of ‘restaurants’ for our feathered friends and last summer we gave our painted shed a real facelift and it now sits in readiness as my ‘editing’ den – planned for March. Cannot wait! XXX
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Lucky you! My greenhouse in my new den.
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How lovely to see ideas in the garden reach fruition. Everything looks very organised in the photos, well done.
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Thank you.
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I truly admire people who can garden, but I am a plant serial killer – I can’t keep anything alive, so a garden is wasted on me. Hell, I tried to put some herbs out on my balcony and killed them as well. I’m terrible.
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Oh well we can’t all be great gardeners – enjoy the pictures that others give.
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I’ve never had much of a hand for plants (no green fingers for me!) or for building things up, no matter what material I tried to use, so I’m in awe of both of you. Your garden looks fabulous. Do keep us posted on the changes, Rosie. And congratulate your husband on his skills as well.
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I will do Olga.
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Must be lovely to be doing this – I do love a project!
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I get keen about projects.
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Looking very nice with all the projects. I can see that you have a good space to work in so I look forward to seeing more garden updates. Have a fab weekend xx
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Thank you, yes, after years with a tiny garden we are lucky with what we have now.
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I love the multi-entrance blue tit house! This is going to be a real holiday villa! Nice job overall and full of promises to come with this gh.
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Thanks Fred, I hope that I will get some postcard worthy photos of the blue-tits.
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Your garden looks great. What next? A pond maybe? My husband has a lot of fun with ours.. Its oldest inhabitant, Clive, a ghost carp, is nearly twenty years old. He came to us measuring 2cms and is now 45cms!
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Harriet! That’s is my next plan – I just haven’t mentioned it to my husband yet! Apparently the garden used to have one, so it may not be too difficult to implement.
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These are great projects, Rosie. The pandemic has certainly brought out a lot of creativity with regards to painting, baking, and gardening. I love the books.
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Thank you Robbie, it is a positive outcome from the lockdowns.
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Yes, there have been some good things come out of it.
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Congratulations on your progress with garden projects. You have accomplished quite a lot, and I am impressed by your use of recycled materials! I especially like the modified dovecote.
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Thank you, I am hoping that the birds appreciate it too.
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I like what you’ve done with the quadrant of four beds in front of your shed, what will you be planting there? You’re lucky to have such a handy motivated husband! Re the magpies I do hope you find a solution!
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Thank you, that’s my veg plot: carrots, onions, sweetcorn, courgettes, peas and potatoes are planned.
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Lovely, it is wonderful to have a handy husband and I love your books!
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Thank you.
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I can’t wait to see how your garden develops.
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Thank you.
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I’m hoping my post gets to you this week. I have been putting off replying to any posts because last week I was very frustrated and cross with WordPress. Anyway, more importantly, your projects are amazing! I made a couple of fruit cages a couple of years ago and thought that was clever enough. 🙄 Did your obelisk work well with your tomatoes? What a good idea. I’m looking forward to next week’s post already. 😊
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You are coming through loud and clear this week! Sometimes I find it helps if you log out and then log back into wordpress. Anyway, the obelisks we built were about 1.5m tall, I would say that 2m would be better, but this was a first experiment with what we had. They were good for supporting the tomatoes until they outgrew them. But they were a good height for my dahlias.
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Wow these projects are truly impressive! Your husband is very clever! The dovecote is cute, I have always wanted one. The greenhouse will provide you with hours of pleasure and lots of tasty food! 🙂🦋💞🐦
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Thank you Sarah, I am looking forward to Spring.
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