We’ve cleared a load of rubbish today, and uncovered the dead rats who’ve eaten the poison laid by the guy we’ve hired to eradicate them. It’s a quick result to have gotten rid of so many so quickly. The professional poison is a quick-acting kind. We needed to clear out a whole load of things and this has escalated our task and we have Love Your Junk coming on Tuesday, so we could be taking down the shed sooner or later, and starting on the building of two new sheds!

There was a lot of stuff that needed clearing. I’ve tried to sell it at several garage sales, but it was just taking up space as it was obviously not what folk were looking to buy, and I am not going to become a car-boot seller anytime soon. I’d much rather be weeding!

Speaking of which, my endeavours in the garden have to include creating another raised bed using the soil we’ve been moving and riddling from the site of the new shed I am getting for my gardening stuff. The new raised bed will be in front of our bedroom. I don’t know what I’ll be planting but it might need to be drought friendly and take inspiration from my trip to Beth Chatto, and look at including some hard landscaping. There’s so much I could include…

And Sunday was spent in Essex clearing brambles, bindweed and ivy among other of my favourite weeds from my mother-in-law’s garden in Essex. We filled about four rubbish bags so not inconsiderable and cleared Virginia Creeper from the patio, and excavated the steps from high grass. I have sore hands now but feel tired in an exhausted from hard work kind of way.

I think we’ll be back to burn it all next week. But we have made sure that it’s a bit more useable than when we arrived.

Grandma has been in hospital so it was important to tidy the areas she can see from the house and ensure trailing brambles don’t snag her if she does venture out. Think we’ll be back to do some burning of the piles next week. I haven’t thought about rats all day! Good diversion!