Khaki Lounge Room Colour

My Lounge Room: dull dirty cream walls below the picture rail and dirty white above, poor old 70s curtains all but falling apart under their own weight and ghastly cream carpet: sad, sad, sad.

Before

Tried the buttercup yellow from the hallway but didn't like it.

Dull, dull, dull.

 

Yuk

A new colour: what was thought to be a deep dull gold/yellow from the sample pot turned out to be a khaki that is gold in the morning and goes greener as the day progresses and the light falls on it in different ways.  It isn't exactly what I would have matched to the apple green kitchen and the buttercup yellow hallway but then again the green grey bathroom doesn't go with any of them either.

More dirty cream.

Dull and messy.

And cream curtains at the other end.

 I am happy with the colour and find that it illuminates my wall hangings and paintings very nicely. It is certainly and improvement on the dirty cream colour that was there originally. 

Khaki (Sandblast) Paint

Angel Supervising

Moved the wallhanging

Makes the French scene light up.

Almost the same gold in the painting.

Big Improvement

Khaki below the picutre rail and white above.

Clean and cheery.

Two colours for one depending on the time of the day: sometimes more.

A Touch of Red: Revamping Kitchen Chairs

Dull uninteresting kitchen chairs transformed into too bright red  with blowsy rose coverings.

Cover for Lounge Chair

I have one tired and scratched but much loved single lounge chair that never fails to put me and the cats to sleep.  The advent of visitors meant the making of a cover so that it was at least respectable while they were here. But what to use?  I had some upholstery fabric from a sale but not quite enough. Fortunately there was just enough matching but different upholstery fabric left over from curtain making.

Old Velvet Chair

Much Scratched Old Chair

Cover put on.

Recovered Chair

Recovered with just enough material to do the job.

Not enough material for the seat or trim.

Used left over curtain material for seat and trim.

Mmmmm think I will make a dark green seat cushion.

June in the Garden

Broad Beans

 My Winter broad beans are coming along steadily. The branches from my garden prunings are coming in handy as stakes. I haven't done any watering since the first time at sowing. I am attempting to not water at all throughout Winter as we do get good rainfall.   Not long after I took this photo the strawberry pot went topsy turvey  on its head.

Garlic

Further along in the strawbale bed, on bitumen (asphalt), the garlic is also showing green and strong. I have lots of garlic around the garden amongst the apple trees, roses and pretty much wherever I felt like putting them.

Celery & Snow Peas

The last third has some left over celery and snow peas: again the pruned branches come in handy as supports.

Spinach

Spinach is showing green in the smaller strawbale bed.

Shrubs into trees: prunings

Prunings

The shrubs along the side fence grew into trees and now cut off the Winter sun for the back deck. #3 son has been pruning them for me. It will give me wood for woodwork, firewood, kindling for a rocket stove and fire and leaves for mulch in the garden and for pathways. 

Coriander

 Coriander is growing beautifully in a small plastic grow box.  I must do more of this.

April Yard Work

Hi Aunty,

The yard has kept me busy these last few months.   There was harvesting of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins, the spreading of compost on beds, the putting up of some more straw bale beds, mulching of garden waste and the sowing of seeds in the small greenhouses for Autumn sowing.  Replacing the straw bales around those beds yielded the best compost and all without any tossing and turning. Sweet!

Large straw bale bed on bitumen. Broccoli & Garlic. All covered because of the birds.

Small Bale Bed for Spinach

New Bales on the Strawberry and Mixed Bed. Beautiful Compost!

Pumpkin Patch at an End

Transplanted Strawberry Runners

Small Plastic Greenhouses

Water Storage

Neighbours Garden Waste Awaiting Chopping up for Mulch & Wood

Mulching Post

My favourite seating spot under the deck is a prime spot to chop up garden waste. The green leaves and finest branches make excellent garden mulch  for beds and for covering the paths between beds.  The thicker branches make excellent kindling for a rocket stove and the thickest will dry out nicely for the fireplace or firepit.

Cucumber, Tomatoes, Potatoes and Bird Netting

 Hi Aunty,


Finally...the cucumbers and tomatoes are coming in and boy, are they tasty.

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

I cleared the raised potato bed. I harvested about 150 potatoes...mostly medium to large...with several small ones as seen above.  These ones were used in a stew and tasted great. I still have 4 pots worth and those in the lawn bed as well as assorted plants around the garden.

Bird Netting

I got so tired of the resident birds digging up and eating my seeds or at the least casting aside the seedlings I was trying to grow.  I finally remembered that I had some bird netting.... Dur!....cast it over the raised beds and relaxed. It worked!  What a relief!  The bees can get through the holes but the white butterfly and birds are kept out. I wonder if I will have enough sunny hot days left for the melons to grow and ripen. I was so happy with the success of the bird netting I have bought some more. WOW, I can grow broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts without worrying about the white butterfly and its young eating  my plants. I will definitely be using bird netting whenever I can from now on.

My Fall/Winter crops are in.  I have sown carrots, radish, broad beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach, cabbage and lettuce.