Update from “the greenhouse”

October 29th, 2006

Long time for me with no blog too.  Over the summer I’ve been very busy with work on the house, the garden - oh yeah, and I’ve even done some work on the PhD now and again, too.  The good news is that I’ve also acquired a boyfriend, who as well as being generally lovely has added much-appreciated brain- and muscle-power meaning that work in the garden particularly has proceeded at least twice as fast.

I’m going to give a very quick run-down of the story so far, then plan to go into more detail on some of these areas when time permits!

The garden’s now looking more civilised, and has 8 raised beds for vegetables, allowing a 4-way rotation, and a herb garden.  Bird feeders are up but currently being ignored.  Plans are afoot for a pond and planting of lots of flowers that insects etc. will like.  And it’s now much easier to get the bike out of the shed too!

Inside, one of the first things I did was to remove the carpets upstairs and sand the floors, then treat with Nutshell’s floor and furniture wax.  I’m really pleased with the result, particularly as I’m prone to walking around with no shoes or socks on!  I also fitted a shower downstairs although unfortunately I was unable to source a low-flow shower head or tap aerators.  I did put some 0.5l water bottles in the toilet cistern though, to help reduce the volume of water per flush.  The whole house is now fitted with energy efficient light-bulbs.

I haven’t yet done much painting so haven’t had much chance to try out natural paints.  I am considering painting the bathroom however, so this may move up on the agenda.  More about this later, and also about my attempts to reduce the potentially hazardous chemicals used in the house (recently kiboshed, of course, when I had to have a damp proof course installed.  Still got the headache to prove it too…)

Entry Filed under: The Green House