Quite exhausted tonight

With the sun shining, it has been important to get out into the garden yesterday and today.  The veggie beds have been weeded in between the veg, the hayfield which was the back lawn has been reclaimed (and boy, that was really hard work!), the triffid tomato plants have been trimmed up so that we can see the fruit ripening on the stems, and some strawberry plants have been planted out at last - probably too late to be fruitful this year, but in situ for next year.

I have wielded a creosote brush this afternoon in order to prepare the outside of two chicken houses for rehabitation sometime in the autumn, and eventually, we put up the gazebo in the garden so that we had somewhere to sit and recover in the shade - it got in a bit of a muddle with the washing lines, though, where all the bedclothes were drying as I decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather and change the beds a day early.  Tonight I have sprayed weedkiller on an enormous clump of nettles in a less well-used area of the garden - I had to wait until it was getting dark as it is the other side of the beehive and so it is best to go that way when the bees have finished flying for the day.

We are also looking after a friend's chickens and vegetable garden and myriad potted things in her garden whilst she and her family enjoy two weeks in Cyprus, so we have had to have a marathon watering session there tonight as it has been so hot.  One of the chickens (she has three and a young chick) keeps getting out so we have to have a little chasing session around the garden some nights!

The inside of my house is an absolute tip, but the garden is beginning to look respectable at last!  A more restful day may be on the cards tomorrow, in some ways, as we have to pick up the EFG's friend for a sleepover, and get some passport photos taken of the EFG for her school bus pass, which have to accompany the application form, and has to be at the office by the end of the month.  We are then going to go to town to get some weed membrane and a new watering can, as ours has broken completely today.  Grocery-speaking, it will be another no-spend day, but money will be spent from the garden budget...