Anticipating wind this weekend

A week or so ago I unboxed a new garden tool from Stihl, which I'm fully expecting to help us tame the leaves in our garden.  Our garden is full of trees and they're all pretty much bare right now. As you know all those leaves have to go somewhere and I can tell you it's not up, it's most definitely down and along some. We've leaves covering the flower beds, in the slate (much to MOH's disdain) and quite a few have sought solace together in random sheltered spots around the garden. You know the places that you'll twist and turn to get into and then struggle to turn and twist to get out of without dropping the clutch of leaves you've gathered. 

Yes exactly.  Collecting leaves by hand is often a futile task, and one that kills your back, even more than digging I think. 

But leaves are good. Well rotted down leaves are good, so in a year or two's time, the leaves that are creating quiet chaos in our garden will be the stars of the show, providing valuable leaf mould. We've a leaf mould compost bin over on the allotment as well as a smaller bin in our garden, as we gather sack fulls of leaves. And as we'll use most of the leaf mould on the plot, it made sense to "make" leaf mould there, of course the challenge is to get the sacks of leaves over there in the first place, but that's a small logistics matter...

Did you know that the simple black sack is your friend when it comes to leaf mould?  

Making leaf mould is one of the few things I use black sacks for, and I buy the cheapest ones I can get hold of. Before I fill it with leaves I take great joy in laying the sacks out on the grass and stabbing them with my garden fork. The leaves need some air, and I tell MOH that it's good for his grass too...

If your leaves are wet then simply fill your sacks and tie the top and leave in a quiet corner of your garden until you find them about the same time next year, when you can give them a look and see how they're doing. Depending on what kind of leaves you have, they may take longer to do their thing, but it won't be long before you've got some fabulous homemade goodness to use in your garden.

But back to my new garden tool

You'll know I'm an advocate of STIHL, the company and its products and am already the proud owner of a compact grass trimmer which now I regularly "wrestle" MOH for. It's his favourite too, but don't worry I do pull rank and claim it back as my own, most of the time... Sometimes it's just as well to let him get on with it, while he's happy.

The new tool I've unboxed is a compact cordless blower, hence the prediction for more wind to come at the weekend.  Once again it features a 36V Lithium-ion battery and Stihl's quiet technology, which they say on their website means you don't need to wear ear protection. Remembering my visit to their Competence Centre in Kufstein and the work and testing they undertake on their products, I'm looking forward to hearing - or rather not hearing - what they've achieved with this model.

Like the grass trimmer before it, this is easy to manage and designed to be easy to use.  There's a couple of other features which I'll be testing out at the weekend, these include the length-adjustable blower tube which can be adjusted for whoever's using it to ensure that the blowing force (now get me) remains at the optimum level to make short work of those leaves and twigs.

The blurb says that everything you need to operate the blower control functions and the safety locking lever are incorporated easily into the handle, which has been designed so it's easy to use for both right or left-handers. I'm sure that for many lefties, that's music to their ears. 

So let's hope the weather is as nice as it was last weekend (sadly I don't think I'm going to be that lucky), or at least let's hope the only wind around is the self-made sort courtesy of my new leaf blower! I'll let you know how I get on, but in the meantime if you want the technical details they're readily available on the Stihl site.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views are my own.

A peek at some of Habitat's Spring-Summer 18 range

I've had the Indoor and Garden Spring and Summer lookbook from Habitat since the start of the year, and it's something I keep coming back to, so today I'm sharing some of the items that have caught my eye. I think you'll work out why without me telling you, but in case you don't colour plays a big part.

I am seriously tempted by this Jambi occasional chair, although I daren't mention it to MOH yet - the key word there is yet!  I think if I did I'd be permanently banned from looking, as I said earlier in the week we've agreed a date for our conservatory work and are still working out how and where to store the furniture we already have, let alone finding space for more. And yes, I know it's a garden chair so could go outside, but it's way too nice to get rained on, isn't it?

WEAVE: JAMBI OCCASIONAL CHAIR

We've already got a grey two-seater outdoor sofa (yes that's indoors too) earmarked for the space and our dresser will go back into the space, but once I've got rid of the freezer then I'm sure there'll be space for something new.  And if I'm having colour, then I might as well have some colour...

BOLD AND BRIGHT: LEON WINDOW BOX

These planters will be just the thing, and I'd need them both. Not because I actually need them both, but because I don't think I could choose between them - I love the colour combinations. I told you about my orange and red outfit from the weekend, so orange and bright pink isn't too far away is it, I'm not sure though about wearing green and yellow (but never say never!) 

I'm also keen on this dinner service. We need new plates. We should buy plates that match our Denby set, because that's sensible. But I love these plates. I think I'm quite keen on not being sensible. I think we'll be having a visit to Habitat to check them out for ourselves. I think it's important to actually feel your crockery before deciding, don't you?

SWEET LA GLAMOUR : DENNIS DINNER SERVICE

The final shot I've chosen to share from the look book is this gorgeous table shot. The table is gorgeous, you'll know how much I love a wooden table, but for me it's the mix-and-match-but-still-together vases and eucalyptus.  It's a look I'd love to emulate, but I've a feeling that my attempts wouldn't look anywhere near as classy. 

NATURAL: FELIZ TABLE

There's also a high chance that my clumsy self would be knocking some of these over too, but I'll gloss over that and pretend that my life - and table - is as together as this. It isn't - or rarely is - but a girl can dream can't she?

You can find more of what's new at Habitat on their website - this isn't a sponsored post - I'm sharing these because they really are things I love and would happily have - and buy - for my home.

Photo-credit: All images courtesy of Habitat

Celebrating two years of the Loo Series

Now isn't this an odd thing. No, not my obsession with a good loo - surely you're used to that by now, but I've randomly been sharing those good loos here for two years. I know, hasn't it gone quickly.

The odd thing is that my first post almost two years ago to the day, was of the loos at the new Flat Iron in Covent Garden and without any planning at all, two years on I'm sharing the loos at the Flat Iron in Denmark Street.

I'd love to say that was planned, but it wasn't. It's clear though that Flat Iron do have some very good loos!  Although when I saw this sign in the Denmark Street restaurant I wasn't quite sure what I'd find...

It wasn't anywhere near as bad as my expectations, but I did opt for the door with the ladies loo sign on, just in case.  It was the wall art though that really made this small loo, it's pretty unique isn't it?

It was only afterwards that I realised the centre cow (bull?) had a bell, and I can't help but wonder if anyone ever rings it, and why!

In fact at the time I was much more amused by the choice of handwash.

What else?! 

I'll finish this post with a picture from the restaurant, mainly to prove that I do take other pictures in restaurants, and because it really is a rather gorgeous light.

The food too was good, but I must remember to order a medium rare steak for this cut of meat, MOH's tasted so much better than my rare one. But that could always be because it was on his plate...