Tuesday 19 June 2012

The Heatwave Cometh...

It's official - the weather has really hotted up - the heatwave has come.  It is warm and sticky at night and hot and sticky during the day but having seen the weather in the UK we should be grateful that, in the middle of June, we are not dressed in jumpers and with a fire lit - that was the situation at the Hazzell's house when we skyped the other evening!

We are having a day at home today and with it being so hot it is a bit hard to get motivated to do some of those outstanding jobs from the TODO list but with our friend Debra arriving on 1st July there are one or two essentials that need to be crossed off!

The outside space is where I want to concentrate.  The marigolds self seeded from last year so they are definitely something that I will grow again.  I have been collecting seeds from the Californian poppies as they begin to go over and am hopeful that if I scatter them around they too will self seed and colonise.   I have also taken some cuttings from the lantana bushes that are growing in Gregoris's garden and they look like they have taken.  I cant believe that we dug out all our lantana bushes and now I want to put some back - only trouble was that they were all planted in the wrong place!  They survive with no help or water whatsoever and encourage all the butterflies so are a good plant to have - only trouble is that they have quite a pungent smell and not one that I am particularly fond of!  So anyone wanting to bring me something or send me something small could do worse than send me a packet of seeds!

John suddenly decided that even though it was mega hot he wanted to start doing the decking in the front garden - mad man!


Secretly I am very pleased because this is the worst part of the garden to keep tidy - not enough shingle to keep the weeds down.  In the winter we get the best of the sunshine here and so we bought a table and chairs and temporarily put some slabs down.  We did what we could manage until it got just too hot to manage and then plunged into the swimming pool for a cool down.


The evenings are lovely now and we get the last of the sun coming into the gazebo.  As a reward for our hard work we treated ourselves to a little cider - this was a pre-footie tipple as England were playing Sweden in the Euros later this evening.  I can't say I was particularly bothered but John was going to watch.


I am looking after Marian's hibiscus plants in her absence - I might kill them with kindness but today just one day into my care they have rewarded me with some beautiful blooms.  I am filling the conservatory with plants - it will drive John nuts!!!

So the footie game tonight was delayed due to horrendous weather in the Ukraine.  I decided that I couldn't stand the excitement and took myself off to bed.  I couldn't sleep though as I heard John shouting his way through the whole of the match - who would be an England supporter through choice?  I understand they managed a lucky win and now we have to go through it all again on Tuesday to see if they go through to the next round.

1 comment:

  1. Can hear John shouting from here - England on at the moment - feeling the strain but whats new! It will be a miracle if we win tonight if the first half is anything to go by!

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