The finished product

Well here it is.   Done at last. I woke this morning knowing that today was my last day to get this huge project complete.

Way back in the summer I bought the windows, and now, just before Christmas it’s time to take a tour.

From the outside it still looks like a yellow box.   Leslie says it reminds her of a Japanese tea house.   When the temperature warms up I will get the rest of the painting done.   But apparently it’s best not to try and put oil paint onto wood outdoors in temperatures of 10 celsius or less. Well, that’s my excuse for now.

Indoors things all have their place. And as I know that I’m a messy person, I have made a sort of skirt out of the left over wall insulating material on all the benches.   That way I can hide all sorts of things underneath (in boxes, well labelled of course) without ruining the lovely clean lines.

There is room to make more shelving or bench space; but for now there’s enough for my overwintering seedlings and the Filippi plants.   And assorted cuttings and potted up mint, and many things I can never even remember sowing, let alone pricking out.

At the far end of the studio is a set of very wide shelves that Manu sort of knocked up while I wasn’t looking. I’m not sure they will be sturdy enough for books.   But he was on a roll with the power drill, so I didn’t ask him to take them down.   They can do for more shelving for plants.   But I fear the colours of all the dust covers would fade tremendously in the summer.   But it’s a fantasy to have my comfy chair with a shelf of gardening books at hand.

On the opposite end of the studio at the double door entrance is space on either side for my tools. And a big blue barrel where I can up end all the odd stakes and tools that rarely get used but I can’t bring myself to give away. Who knows, maybe I will actually use the hoes this year to clear the weeds.   The potagers were quite neglected over the summer in the weeding department.

And my pride and joy is the potting bench. Here I can sow seeds, pot on seedlings, prick out, make cuttings and generally make a mess. It is covered in the last remnants of the lino from the guest house renovations.   And a perfect surface to make a mess and then clear away. The cat seems to find it rather fun too.   He is still much too shy to be relaxed when I walk in unannounced, but I have found him perched up here chasing the sunniest spots around the building.   He hasn’t worked out the specially installed cat flap yet. But he will in time.

The compost is stored in a big bin underneath the waist high bench.   So it’s a simple step to sweep all the bits of leftover compost into the bin.

In that far corner is the pot store.   I actually had to put lots of the excess pots into boxes and hide underneath the studio. But there are plenty here to get started in the spring.

By the end of the afternoon I was thrilled it was all over and orderly. But Artur seemed to want to stay and supervise my work.   So I had to sow some seeds just to stay in the studio.   He looked so comfortable on the chair.

I would give you the list of my first sowings; but I can’t find the piece of paper where I wrote them. Winter lettuce varieties, I seem to recall. And plenty of other things that may or may not germinate.   I have tucked all the plants up in two layers of fleece.   The overnight temperatures are dropping alarmingly at the moment. The water in the watering cans is frozen in the mornings.   But it’s cosy in the daytime.

Tomorrow I must go to town to buy paint and get Christmas groceries.   And maybe make time to do a wreath for the house.   I cut some willow branches from the sprouting stump up above the top vegetable bed.   I never notice it, but Leslie pointed it out to me; a clever solution to a christmassy display I think.   Well, at least it’s free. Christmas trees are incredibly expensive this year in the shops; and mine from last year is too bonsai’d to merit baubles. I must, must plant it out.