Domestic Stuff 23rd June 2020

I’m preparing to move house, my ‘new’ home is actually my old one. I spent my first 16 years living in it – it’s going to feel more than a bit odd moving back.

I’ve had to spend a huge amount of time and muscle tidying the garden, it had been VERY neglected in recent years – to describe it as an unkempt jungle wouldn’t be far off the mark. Whilst I lack the green fingers of my late father, it would be nice to be able to return it to at least some of it’s former glory. 

So (I hate sentences that begin with ‘so’) as well as clearing the house of junk, rubbish and general muckiness, the last few months have been spent working on the garden, digging out established weeds, trying to renovate the lawn, clearing the greenhouse of triffids, creating an earth system for my aerial system, and quite a lot more.

I should have taken ‘before and after photos’, but the enormity of the task ahead was such that it was the last thing on my mind.

Anyroadup. Most of the weeds and unwanted, old and unruly plants were chopped up in my garden shredder and are being composted. I picked up an old but serviceable compost tumbler bin thingy from Ebay – that’s proved invaluable, breaking down the garden horribleness into usable compost in a couple of months.

 That green thing is the compost tumbler

I should point out that my knowledge of gardening is minimal….probably less than that. T’interweb and a very knowledgeable friend have pointed me in the right direction and have helped me avoid any major disasters. So far.

Dad was justifiably very proud of his roses, unfortunately the most recent occupant of the house neglected just about every aspect of the property – including Dad’s roses. I think I’ve now rescued about 40% of the roses, the rest were sadly beyond redemption. 

The latest state of play is that I’m now growing a load of vegetables and some fruit.
Whilst I’m not going to be self-sufficient by any means I’m hoping to be enjoying organically produced fruit and veg well into the autumn.


Rhubarb (Timperley Early). From Primrose Cottage Nursery. It’s in a large tub and is growing like the clappers. Also another rhubarb (unknown variety, but rescued from a previous home in Timperley. Growing like billy-o in tubs.

Rhubarb in tubs and and potatoes in fabric bags

I'm growing strawberries from Primrose Cottage: growing well but no sign of fruit….yet.
Also Blackberries from Primrose Cottage: growing well and just starting to show signs of fruiting.

Raspberries (yellow) – from Primrose Cottage. Delicious! My dreams of making raspberry jam are unlikely to be realised….I keep eating the fruit. 

Tomatoes, from seed. Loads. Half came from a favourite tomato I buy from Aldi: ‘Regal’. The other half from seed. I can’t remember the variety.

Sweet peppers: from seeds from Aldi peppers.

Butternut squash, cucumber, and courgettes. All from seed. 

There’s a load of other stuff on the go too: lettuce, carrots beetroot, red onions, spring onions, sage, rosemary, mint, loads of potatoes... Oh, and there’s an unkempt apple tree.

One problem I’m facing, garden-wise, is the very intrusive and quite persistent Mare’s Tail. This ghastly waxy weed has made it’s way from the empty property next door.

 Next door's Mare's Tail problem...rapidly becoming my problem too

 I keep digging the stuff up as soon as it appears but it’s an ongoing battle to keep it at bay. I’m determined not to use weedkiller, I gather the waxy skin of the plant makes it very tolerant of chemicals that would see other plants off at a range of 100 metres. 

The good news is that I messaged my very knowledgeable friend earlier, after she’d stopped laughing at my predicament she promised to pay me a visit and suggest a battle plan. 

This very enjoyable project continues :-)


I spent some dosh at Styal’s very excellent Primrose Cottage Nursery. Caroline, who runs the show, really knows her stuff. If you’re local to South Manchester / North Cheshire, that’s the place to go. None of your coffee shop / craft shop nonsense, just plants. And knowledge.