Some Paving Work.

 We have my 94 year old mum staying with us for a few weeks so to keep an eye on her and at the same time get some work done I decided to take down the Tomatoes from the greenhouse as it's opposite the conservatory so she could sit in and watch me. After this job was completed I set to and laid a few of the paving slabs that I have collected for the floor. This sort of work is not something I'm good at and I'm sure I should probably be using cement or something but I don't have any so I'm just laying them straight on to the gravel. I've got them level and they don't wobble around or anything so that's good. When I get a chance I will buy some sand and brush into the cracks and then keep my fingers crossed they stay where they are. Another problem has been that the slabs are not all the same size so the gaps between the paving are bigger in some places.

Elite Titan K800 Greenhouse Assembly.

 At the weekend Fallon and I were busy erecting the new Elite Titan K800 leanto greenhouse from Gardensite. It arrived a few weeks ago but has been in storage while we waited to have a base laid professionally, also the garage wall where the leanto is to be sited needed some work doing to it to square it up. So as it's important to have everything square and true I thought it best to get it done properly.

Everything went pretty much as expected, it was a bit like doing a jigsaw without much of a picture so the hard part was to identify the parts, once this was done it was quite easy to figure out where they went. I have had some experience of erecting greenhouses in the past so some of the bits and terms used were familiar to me. Daughter Fallon was in charge of instructions and she did a good job, especially as they weren't all that clear sometimes.

Below is a picture of the front with the opening for the double doors.

Here we have the front and ends assembled and joined together ready to be fastened to the wall and the base after the roof parts have been added. Timothy - Michael is taking a break after sorting out the roof spars.

This is how far we got to on the first day of assembly, this picture being taken the next morning before starting on finishing the glazing. The glazing was easy enough to do, there was a good glazing plan to work from and even though some of the sheets of glass on the roof were something like eight feet long we managed it with ease and so got on well until the third pane from the end which is when disaster struck. We picked up the five foot sheet of glass the same as we had done with all the others before it, took two steps and the whole thing just fell to pieces on the garage floor.

You can see from the picture below how far we got. The sheets of glass had been leaning up against the bags of compost and had been put there by the delivery guy. It was toughened glass which is why it broke the way it did. As to why it broke is a mystery to us.

No More Football.

Today head gardener Timothy-Michael has had to go back to the vets as there is little or no improvement with his leg so he had to go and get kncked out so the vet could give a proper examination. He doesn't take kindly to vets, they only have to look at him and he growls at them, not a good patient at all. Anyway they have found that he has torn some ligaments in the knee of one of his hind legs which is quite serious and could need an expensive operation if it doesn't mend by itself. He has to have six months rest and is most likely the end of his footballing career. Knowing Timothy-Michael niether of which will be something he would wish for.

Also today I put in an order for my retirement greenhouse. We have a big outbuilding with a pretty boring wall so I've decided to go with a leanto style greenhouse to go against the wall. I also figured that when I no longer require it as a working greenhouse someone can make use of it as a sunroom type building should they choose. The diamensions are 16 feet by 8 feet so a reasonable size although not as big as the one I've been used to at work but my new garden isn't anywhere as big as the one at work so I think it will be okay.

The picture below is of the leanto from the website. Mine will be plain aluminium with white glazing bars. Done in colour the cost would be a great deal more so I chose to have a larger size than a pretty colour.