House: Progress update
Sep. 19th, 2011 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzOn Saturday we arrived right at noon, as planned, in Tilburg. NoKey nearly insisted I finish planting the last plants we still had standing around, so I dove into the garden for an hour.
I cut back the hydrangea some more, both left and right wings, so there would be room for the buddleja and our apple tree (Malus Domesticus) and found yet another thornbush/blackberry tracer. I also ran into some ivy (hedera helix, klimop), which once covered the entire eastern wall but had been removed. I pulled at the ivy and managed to rip most of it out as well, lucky for having a loosy topsoil here.
The last corner of the garden, where the east wall meets the shed, still held some surprises and some work in store: thorny brambles and more ivy. I was so glad I had gloves! After pulling out much of the thorns, I started digging because the ivy was coming from a big branch, which turned out to be a two-thumb thick root, that had grown under the shed. I dug out as much as I could, taking care to also remove a plastic bucket that once might have held a plant but was now empty except for soil, and cut the root off as close to the shed concrete as I could. It would need to really grow back 15 cm before finding back the sunlight. I hope it will take a few years.
I planted the apple tree near the wall, and dug the raspberry a nice hole in front of it. The buddleja found a spot on the other side of the hydrangea, next to a really lovely blue potato bush (Solanum rantonnettii) I also cut back marginally. These two will match their purple flowers quite nicely.
And that concludes our gardening update! As far as I'm concerned, the garden is finished. I even found a rogue rose bush again, and I'll have to work some more on the pink rose next to the terrace, but for now I've got everything I could find planted and ready for winter.
When![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
laiv and wannabe_bitch dropped in, we had some lunch and then set to work. NoKey worked alongside Laiv and Kat and I went out to get some more supplies, ending up with a detour in Berkel-Enschot to find some more pans, and finally returned around four. Right in time to do some work on the walls in the main bedroom to prepare them for a coat of paint before dinner.
I cooked cauliflower and fish fingers and baked potatoes in batches (the stove is rather small for three large pans!) and we nommed happily. The livingroom ceiling was slowly being sanded ready for the latex, and the garden was done! Progress indeed.
After dinner we toted upstairs for the first layers of "It's a Boy!" for the soon-to-be-known as the "Quite Blue Bedroom". We're only allowed to paint light colours and the light blue we chose was so sky-blue Laiv was tempted to paint fluffy white clouds on it.
Excellent progress was made, and by the time Kat and Laiv left at nine, the first of hopefully just two layers was done on the bedroom.
NoKey and I took a shower (he had hung a new shower rail in the shower while we painted) and we found out the shower cabin is just big enough for two. We watched an episode of Stargate in the bed with the laptop in my lap, and slept in the house for the first time.
The house is feeling much more like a true home, and every time I put my key in the door I feel like I'm coming home again. I guess right now I have two homes.
If I'm correct, next time we can do a final layer in the main bedroom and that room is, except for some cleaning, completely done. That means that there's just a living room to tackle and some shelves needing to be put up in the bathroom and we're ready for the move!
I cut back the hydrangea some more, both left and right wings, so there would be room for the buddleja and our apple tree (Malus Domesticus) and found yet another thornbush/blackberry tracer. I also ran into some ivy (hedera helix, klimop), which once covered the entire eastern wall but had been removed. I pulled at the ivy and managed to rip most of it out as well, lucky for having a loosy topsoil here.
The last corner of the garden, where the east wall meets the shed, still held some surprises and some work in store: thorny brambles and more ivy. I was so glad I had gloves! After pulling out much of the thorns, I started digging because the ivy was coming from a big branch, which turned out to be a two-thumb thick root, that had grown under the shed. I dug out as much as I could, taking care to also remove a plastic bucket that once might have held a plant but was now empty except for soil, and cut the root off as close to the shed concrete as I could. It would need to really grow back 15 cm before finding back the sunlight. I hope it will take a few years.
I planted the apple tree near the wall, and dug the raspberry a nice hole in front of it. The buddleja found a spot on the other side of the hydrangea, next to a really lovely blue potato bush (Solanum rantonnettii) I also cut back marginally. These two will match their purple flowers quite nicely.
And that concludes our gardening update! As far as I'm concerned, the garden is finished. I even found a rogue rose bush again, and I'll have to work some more on the pink rose next to the terrace, but for now I've got everything I could find planted and ready for winter.
When
laiv and wannabe_bitch dropped in, we had some lunch and then set to work. NoKey worked alongside Laiv and Kat and I went out to get some more supplies, ending up with a detour in Berkel-Enschot to find some more pans, and finally returned around four. Right in time to do some work on the walls in the main bedroom to prepare them for a coat of paint before dinner.I cooked cauliflower and fish fingers and baked potatoes in batches (the stove is rather small for three large pans!) and we nommed happily. The livingroom ceiling was slowly being sanded ready for the latex, and the garden was done! Progress indeed.
After dinner we toted upstairs for the first layers of "It's a Boy!" for the soon-to-be-known as the "Quite Blue Bedroom". We're only allowed to paint light colours and the light blue we chose was so sky-blue Laiv was tempted to paint fluffy white clouds on it.
Excellent progress was made, and by the time Kat and Laiv left at nine, the first of hopefully just two layers was done on the bedroom.
NoKey and I took a shower (he had hung a new shower rail in the shower while we painted) and we found out the shower cabin is just big enough for two. We watched an episode of Stargate in the bed with the laptop in my lap, and slept in the house for the first time.
The house is feeling much more like a true home, and every time I put my key in the door I feel like I'm coming home again. I guess right now I have two homes.
If I'm correct, next time we can do a final layer in the main bedroom and that room is, except for some cleaning, completely done. That means that there's just a living room to tackle and some shelves needing to be put up in the bathroom and we're ready for the move!
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 10:01 am (UTC)Ik vind het heel jammer dat ik niet kan komen helpen, ik had het graag gedaan.
Maar dit weekend moest ik concluderen dat ook oktober al weer vol is...
Waarom moet een mens werken?! Ik heb er helemaal geen tijd voor!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 02:53 pm (UTC)Ik ben jaloers op de snelheid waarmee je je tuin op orde hebt. Wij moeten nog een hoop. We hebben tot nu toe alleen een struik en een forse boomstronk weggehaald voor een stukje extra terras (wat nog betegeld moet worden...) en we moeten nog een hoop snoeien en verplaatsen en de tuin kat-dicht maken zodat de poezels eindelijk naar buiten kunnen.
Wij hebben nu al ruim 4 maanden de sleutel maar de boel is nog steeds niet af. ;-)
Heel veel succes nog met het klussen!
~Brenda~
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 02:58 pm (UTC)Ik vond 6 weken klussen al erg lang, maar wij kunnen alleen in de weekenden en een aantal waren er al tussenuit gevallen omdat we evenementen/andere dingen hadden.
Mijn tuin was door mijn moeder al grondig leeggehaald, gelukkig veel makkelijk eruit te trekken onkruid. Met de bramen heb ik zelf maar een korte oorlog gemaakt, maar die waren nog niet compleet woekerend. Het grootste karwei was nog steeds die vuurdoorn in kleine stukjes verknippen...
Jullie ook succes!