Turning our Little Garden into something special 🌿✨ (New Buys + Progress)

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome back to my little house in London. Today I've got some lovely new garden purchases to share, a big garden update and a real mix of everyday life in between. Firstly, I want to introduce you to my new garden parasol. Isn't she just so pretty? I just love garden parasols, and I think this one is so striking, and I'm really, really pleased with it. Look at that fringe. Isn't that just so lovely? It's currently about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and we are in the garden ready for a busy busy day. Another thing I absolutely love in my garden is solar lanterns. I picked up a set of four in really really pretty pastel colors.

[00:00:39]We've got the blue, the pink, there's a peach, and then a lovely green as well.

[00:00:44]They come as a set of four, and I'll link them in the description. Really pleased with them. I also got some new festune lights. I've got a set of um three of these and I've got some up the back and they have lasted me years and they also shine all winter as well. The best festunes I've ever found and I will link them in the description too. Now it was time to start some of the heavy graft in the garden. As you can see, Alex is up the pets there chasing each other. As you can see, Alex has got the sleepers in down one side and also we had them in down the other, but he just needs to take them out now and lay all the stones underneath so that they've got something to sit on. So, first of all, it was packing up the end of the garden so that we've got a bit bit of space in the rest of the garden to get to work today. Now, I just want to say thank you for all the love on my last video diary. you absolutely loved my garden furniture and I'm really really grateful for all the love on my pink bench, my purple chairs and my little lilac table. So, thank you so much for that. They're now going up the back to be protected with the cover so that we can get on with the rest of the garden.

[00:01:51]I am so excited about the fact Look at Missy rolling. Um I am so excited about the fact that we are returfing this lawn. I can't even tell you. We're going to have stepping stones up through the middle as well. So, it's all very, very exciting. And I was just feeling so wonderful this day because I just thought we're really getting on with everything and making progress. But obviously, it was time for a tea break.

[00:02:15]I'm sure you can all relate to how many cups of tea and coffee have been drank during the um sessions of a DIY couple.

[00:02:22]Um we haven't had any DIY divorces yet.

[00:02:25]And um the pets have been there keeping us company. They just turned up for their treats, for their little morning treats. My cats will come from miles away if I shake the Dreamies packet.

[00:02:36]They absolutely love Dreamys. And obviously Bee can't be left out. So I do give her the odd dreamy as well, which I'm sure that she's probably not supposed to have, but she seems to love them. And um no problem so far. In the middle of all this chaos, my Accardo shopping delivery arrived. So there was lots of barking from Be and I had to go in and put that away, which took me a good 20 minutes. Um, but I just thought I'd show you the reality of everything arriving right in the middle of when I was trying to get stuck into another job and getting it all away, getting in the fridge and making sure I had wiped the fridge out first. And yeah, so I did that, got everything away, and my daughter then turned up from Pilates. I don't know about you, but I just love having the fridge stocked freshly at the weekend, ready for the week ahead. I always do my shopping on a Friday or a Saturday, and that means that we've got nice fresh stuff for the weekend. And then just throughout the week, sort of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I will go and buy some fresh vegetables just to keep everything nice and fresh and um the fact that we've then got lots of nice food in to keep us nice and healthy. So once Ava had come back from Pilates, then Lord Rocky decided to turn up as well. So he was obviously had heard the dream. He's being shaken and thought he would come from wherever he was. He does wander a little bit. He he visits all my neighbors up the street as well. Um, but he turned up for his dreamies and also I wanted to give him a brush because he is molting as the weather is getting warmer. So he had a much needed brush and a stroke. And of course I had to give him a huge great big cuddle because he is the most sppy soft loving boy that you'll ever know.

[00:04:18]He really is lovely. And um yeah, him and Bee they kind of get on as you can see. He's very wary of her. But then because the cats have been up on the table and we were planning to eat our lunch out here, I gave the table a very big scrub with all the antibacterial um spray that I could find and made sure it was all nice and clean so that we could eat our lunch out here, which actually was really really lovely. And I forgot to film it, but we actually had a cream tea. Ava made some scon, which was really, really lovely. So I set about getting my lanterns out um ready and set up for the evening. And in next week's video, I will actually show you them on.

[00:04:56]They are so, so pretty. I didn't capture any footage because we were so exhausted on Saturday evening of them lip. But they really, really are so pretty and I'm really really pleased with them.

[00:05:07]They've got a little switch inside where you can switch them on or off. I have decided to bring them in when it rains.

[00:05:13]Um, I think they are waterproof and they would be okay, but and they do have little drainage holes in the bottom, but I might as well bring them in because I'm going to try and make them last for as many years as possible. So, I will be bringing them in when it rains. I'll probably forget sometimes, but generally, I'm going to try and make them last for as long as they as long as they can. I also wanted to say thank you for all the love on my painted pots. And in my painted pots, a few of you noticed that I have these little picss. I'm not sure what they're called. They're just sweet little ornaments on sticks and I've got them from a place called Sustrian Green and they are just so sweet. But I've looked online and I can't find the link to them, but I do believe they still have them in store at Sustrian Green. And they've just really brightened up my days and when I come out there, there they are just looking at me. I think I got two butterflies and a dragonfly, one for each pot. So, they're very sweet and um I just love little things like that around the garden. So, they really have been warming my heart. Look how cute they are in my lovely new pots. I am really excited about all the flowers that are going to bloom in our garden this year and the prospect of going to the garden center and buying lots of flowers. And when I do go, I would definitely take you with me cuz it's one of my most favorite things to do. Here, I want to show you what we did have as a border before. It was this log roll and it lasted a few years, but it just rots and it was time to replace it. So, we wanted to go with something a little bit more um firmer and something that would last with a bit more longevity. So, we've gone for these railway sleepers. And I did get a comment from someone saying, "But aren't they just going to rot to Well, yes, eventually in time, I guess they would rot, but they are guaranteed if they're treated to last between, it says anywhere between 10 and 20 years.

[00:07:01]So, we already have one up the back there, which we're going to clean up that goes all the way across the back.

[00:07:06]And that one has been sat there for about I think 7 years and my husband uncovered where the earth was and it's still doing really really well. So I think we've made a really good choice.

[00:07:16]We really like the soft organic look of them. I think it's really nice to get some natural materials back in the garden as we used a composite deck which actually is of recycled materials but we just thought it would be really nice to get some wood um back in the garden. And look how lovely it looks against the trunk of the tree. Oh, and here's something I wanted to show you. These are our chili plants. So, these are going to grow really big. We grow chilies every year and we have real success with them. So, these are our four chili plants and we've actually got four different types. So, I will take you along with me through the summer and show you show you some updates on those.

[00:07:49]We really do love gardening and plants.

[00:07:51]And here are some of my plants that I keep on my shelves in the kitchen. A few of you noticed them and asked about them. I've got an orchid on the shelf there. I have got I think it's called a paos um which is the one that trails along. And then I've got this one that go uh goes down here which is called a string of hearts which seems to absolutely love it here. And this one I'm not sure what it is. It isn't a string of pearls. It's something different. It's a succulent and it absolutely loves it. Look at all those new little buds on the end. So yeah, it's they just seem to love it in this kitchen. And I always put it down to the fact that, you know, there's lots of steam and moisture and they thrive. And this orchid has flowered about four times, I think. And there we look out onto the garden. I don't think my husband quite realized how much work it was to lay these sleepers. Um he didn't lay the one that's up the back there. We got someone to do our patio and that, but he really wanted to do it this time and he wanted to use the materials that we had available. So we had these sleepers sent and then we decided rather than put cement underneath them, which is recommended, um you can do, we didn't want to put a load of cement in our garden. So we had all these stones um some that we've been siving out. um and raking out of the existing lawn. Some that we've got some Cotswwell stones that we're going to actually replace with slate um that go over some of the areas on the side of our garden. So, we've been taking those up and use them and it's worked really well. So, he puts a brick in between each seam and then we lay those stones in and then he places them on and then he has been screwing them together with some hardcore brackets which I'm going to show you in a minute. And obviously Bee has helped in every stage. Someone commented last time that how would we cope without bee helping? And the answer is I don't know.

[00:09:36]She is the most wonderful helper. She's there at every stage watching what we do. And actually she spent the day chasing bees. Oh, look. There's me helping getting some of the stones in.

[00:09:47]And we thought it would be really good drainage as well. And if the stones are sitting against the wood, then it's not going to get so soggy because it'll be good drainage. So yeah, I got down on my hands and knees and I actually got right into that border and I um weeded it all and we just it was so therapeutic to get properly into the garden and get my hands dirty and yeah, spend some time together really. It was actually a really lovely way to spend time together. So I'm quite looking forward to one day when we're retired and we can just do things like this every day. Won't that be lovely? So, here is Alex um screwing in one of the brackets that holds them together. Um the sleepers are actually 1.2 uh in length. Um 1.2 m each, so they do need to be screwed together, but he's found it easier for them to be shorter to obviously lift them around. He can do that on his own. Um and yeah, here he is uh screwing it into place. And that just keeps it all firm. And then all of them are are linked all the way down. The make of our drill is Ryobi. and we really do recommend this range. We've actually got the sander as well. Oh, there's Alex do some gardening and um we we really do rate that brand. So yeah, that's another thing that I will uh I would put my name to. Really really like that brand. Both of us had such sore achy knees by the end of the weekend. We worked so hard, but it felt so rewarding. Um so over here is where our composter is. Now a few people asked what's going to be happening up this end. So basically the bench, that pink bench is going to go back in this space and it's also storage for the barbecue and we will have some pots with some plants as well. So at the moment it's kind of uh yeah, we're going to have another sleeper going up there and then we are Yep. Um all the way along we will I can't remember why I did that pointy finger. I was going to tell you something, but I think I just wanted to show you around the garden and how it all kind of flowed and how they all went together. Uh, this is Alex's little workstation with all his tools. Um, and his hat and everything. And there we are. There's the garden. Honestly, it was just such a It was a lovely day as well. Not too hot. Um, not too windy, just really nice. Um, perfect weather really. So, although Alex did slightly burn his arm, so I was a bit in trouble for that because I was put in charge of sun creams and I then just forgot. So, that was a bit naughty of me. So, I'll make sure that for this weekend that I've got some. And um yeah, I just found it I found it really, as I said, rewarding. And also, I learned quite a lot as well. So, I'm hoping to be using a drill more this year and hoping to put some shelves up and things like that.

[00:12:27]So, he's going to teach me and I think that would be really nice. There are my lanterns. They're solar lanterns as well up in in the Magnolia tree. I have them on and they look really nice when they come on at night. As you can tell, I do love anything to do with anything fairy lights. Now, it was Sunday and here we go. Lord Rocky had the right idea. It was Sunday. He decided he was sunbathing out on the decking and wasn't getting involved in any way with any manual labor. And I don't blame him. There's some ders there. There's my first flower on my clatus. And here is the rose.

[00:13:01]We've now got rose buds. So, I'm really excited about that. I planted it last year. And there's Alex out here very very early with bee getting ready. Oh, and there's a gerbra on the table that came back from last year. We had it in the little greenhouse. And there I am supervising obviously always supervising. Um, and there he is down on his hands and knees. And he's got that almost he's got the border going off at 90° there, which is really good. And he's going to have them going down the back. So, and here's Rocky coming to try out the new sleepers, which the cats now use as a little runway, which we absolutely love. We think it's so cute that they do it. So, um, if my daughter was younger, she would be doing the same. She would completely be using it as a beam. In fact, I've yet to believe that she probably will as well this year. Now, I haven't added music to this video. Usually I do a little bit of mix of music and me talking because obviously it's quite a lot of talking, me talking for 15 or however many minutes it is. But this time I decided I would talk all the way through because I get so many lovely comments about my voice. But please tell me in the comments if you would rather us um go back to having the music and then me speaking or maybe you just would rather music. Although that would be quite difficult for me to tell you about all things. Oh, there we are. Look at the pets. Um they they loved it that we were outside with them all day and be just absolutely loves being outside. So um yeah, that was nice. I wanted to show you our tomatoes. A little update there on our seedlings that we grew from seeds. So um and I think they're cosmos at the end there. The side of the house there is a complete tip. But that is going to be my next job. In fact, I think I'm going to get out there uh the week the bank holiday weekend, sort out my truck and have a big sort out. We've got a spare fence panel. We've got the rest of the trellis that's going to go up the side of the house. Got another lantern going on there. So, I really do need to get out here and um sort it out.

[00:15:01]There's me now helping to rake out some stones. It was quite a laborious job, but basically we are going to rotate the whole of that lawn. So, we're going to lift up the existing turf that just never really took. This time, we're going to buy a specialist shady lawn turf and see how that goes. There he is putting in his last bit of the ste sleeper on that side. Always really satisfying when he's cut it and it and it fits. And then I wanted to show you the side of the border that I'd worked on all day. I'd even taken all of those stones out which are stones that we collected from all around the world and brought home with us from different little beaches and and different places just being one rot little you know pebble every time. I got in here I top dressed all the soil. I've put that round slab in there ready for a nice big plant to cut try and disguise the composter and I worked really really hard and I felt so proud and here I am just to see the fact that he is I think now the stones have gone in underneath so it's actually going in and it will stay there and he all he needs to do now is screw the brackets in and I think that was pretty much where we kind of almost decided we were going to finish for the for the weekend. Um, and here's my pride and joy, my new woodland border, uh, with all my lovely top dress soil and my little rocks there. And if you can just see where the mud is, that's where we're going to have the new slates. We've got a little bit down there just to see what it's going to look like. There he is drilling in the brackets. Um, ready to come in and have some dinner. Uh, on the Sunday, I actually did lamb shanks, which were really, really lovely. It was just, you know, the ones that you buy from the box and it was a really easy meal. And we had a lovely roast dinner and we sat there and marveled at all the hard work we've done. And there he is with the corner bracket. So that does really hold all of that in place. And I will be getting out there again this weekend.

[00:17:00]I'll be recording lots more on the bank holiday and showing you how we get on.

[00:17:03]And I'll also try to record some stuff in the house. In fact, tomorrow I'm thinking I might even try and record the upstairs house tour. But don't hold me to that because it's been so busy and it does mean I have to tidy up lots of things. Um, and that's the progress that we made um today. That's looking from the other end obviously and um we were really really proud of everything we did and I think all it takes now is for me to pop up and give you a wave and say thank you for joining me once again. And please like and subscribe and follow and maybe recommend this to a friend. Um because we love making them. And yeah, we'll see you again soon. Thank you.

[00:17:45]Bye.