It kind of seems like we’ve ditched Spring in favour of  an early Summer this year, doesn’t it? I don’t know about you, but we generally use Spring weekends to do a bit of pottering in the garden, slowly getting used to the rising temperatures, doing a few repairs and getting the garden ready for Summer.

Summer temperatures set in about a week ago, all of a sudden, and are expected to stay for the next few days at least. The garden was in a state and we were only at the vaguely-discussing-plans stage of getting ready for al fresco dining.  Much as I love sitting outside in the warmth, it does get on my nerves if the garden is a show. I can’t just sit and relax when the place is a state, sadly.

The hot weather has been a great motivator for getting the garden back on track. I even got my much-neglected potting table tidied and presentable (separate post on that soon). With a spend of €140 I have got a whole heap of jobs done, plants bought and garden furniture updated. And all in the space of a week.  I am thrilled with it.

So here’s a run through it all. The colour scheme choice of blue was brought on by seeing these fabulous industrial-chic metal stools on Ebay. Reduced to €70 for a set of four, I could not hold back. They look as good in real life as they did online and are ideal for when we have guests, increasing our garden seating from 8 to 12 seats. When not in use, they can be stacked neatly and take up very little room. Our youngest has discovered that you can play these stool kettle-drum style with a small trowel. The neighbours might not be too happy about that. Time will tell.

While I was waiting on the delivery of the stools, I was at Aldi  doing the grocery shop and spotted outdoor lighting in the exact shade of blue for €8.99. Strung over our patio, they brighten up the garden by day, adding an extra splash of colour. Switched on at night, they give a lovely holiday-ish feel to the garden.

Also at Aldi I picked up a pot of paint for giving our old bench a new, fresh look. That is my plan for this afternoon. Keep an eye on my Instagram for an update on that.

Seating-wise I have finally realised a long-held dream and bought a hammock swing seat for the garden. I put my eye on it in Butlers the other day and thought I might order it online. Well, it turned out there was 12% off garden furniture that very day and there was only one seat left. So I grabbed it and wandered round town with a hammock swing seat draped around me till I was finished my jobs. The Bavarian hung it in the garden this morning and that is where I will be found for most of the Summer.

The lack of flowers in the garden was getting to me once I had added colour, lights and furniture. So off I popped to the garden centre and spent €25 on blue flowers – a tray of lobelia, some forget-me-knots and hydrangeas  – as well as a pretty pink daisy reduced to 49 cent. Back home I potted them all up and arranged them with some salvaged paraphernalia along the steps to the door.

All in all I am pretty pleased with how the garden looks now. With very little effort and not a huge spend,  the garden is a lot more pulled together in look and function. Now to test out that hammock swing.