Fun In The Garden Part Two: Re-Building The Garden Fence

Hi Honeys,
Another beautiful day and I spent part of it doing laundry as usual 😊 Carrying on from yesterday's post where I tried to make a start on making our garden a little more bee (and fairy) friendly, I thought I'd share our biggest garden project for a while although, weather permitting, we have a couple of other large projects we'd like to have done outside, such as painting and possibly setting up a new seating area on the patio. 

This was all Hubby's work bless him (great work sweetheart x) my contribution was to bring him lots of cups of tea and things to eat... and every now and again get in his way with my camera 😊  I can't wait to share what he achieved honeys because the difference to our little garden is like day and night.  I keep going outside just to look at it 😊

There are lots of photos in this post so it might be best to fetch a cuppa and maybe a cookie or two, meet you back here in a couple of minutes dear ones...
Welcome back honeys 😊 I'm so excited!! I know I'm being beyond daft because it's only a fence but it's very difficult to love your home as much as you'd like to when parts of it look like this...

Isn't it awful honeys?  You might remember a while ago Hubby began re-building the garden fence in the back garden.  He spent almost a week on it and managed to take apart, re-build and paint the whole of the back part of the fence.  You can see some photos of it here.

We were then hit by the Scottish weather which rained, then rained, then rained some more.  Then to add to the misery of our fencing we've had two dreadful, damaging, lasting for too long snowstorms this year too.  What a terrible state this fencing was in, it was just woeful. 

It's not enough that we each only have four weeks off each year to get things done around our home, but the likelihood that our rare days off will actually coincide with weather clement enough to allow outside activities is..... well let's say it doesn't happen all that often. Even during what passes for summer here.  The joys of living on the west coast of Scotland where most days are rainy 😊

The impossible has happened though honeys!  We've so far been blessed with almost three weeks of gorgeous sunny weather.  Naturally in the run up to our week off last week we assumed it would rain on day one of our holiday but... horray!!! So without wanting to lose a precious day, Hubby got cracking on taking the side garden fence down, a section at a time, and re-built and painted it all.  Now that sorry, woeful section of fencing looks like this..... 
  

Other than the rubble waiting to be binned on the grass (already done, but sadly not before I snapped photos) it looks amazing!! this has been such a change in that garden fence.  I'm actually smiling while typing here honeys because it looks so much better.  Who knew you could feel so happy about a garden fence 😊 

The section of the fence, in the photo below, which joins to the fencing that runs across the length of the back of the garden, was not only too high, leaving it at risk of damage from the awful, high winds we have each winter, but it was also covered in a sort of climbing ivy....   

I know many people like climbing ivy but it's a particular pet hate for Hubby, causing damage through dampness and mildew as it can to the wood, so he set about removing it before taking apart that section of the fence to work on....

Soon the new fencing started to go up, one section at a time and as he'd done with the fence at the back of the garden, Hubby left a small gap between each panel of the fence to allow those winter winds to blow through...

After almost five days of very hard work the fence running along the side of the garden, from the side gate, where I've been busily building my little fairy garden, all the way up to the far corner where it meets the start of the back fence, was complete...
   

Doesn't it look marvellous honeys?  I'm so proud of Hubby, he did this all on his own! My only contribution was to keep bringing him cups of tea and snacks 😊 

As you can see in the photo below honeys, Hubby has reduced the height of the posts as well as the fencing panels but has left one post unaltered....

I asked him to do this for me because I'm hoping to place a butterfly hotel there, nestled among the branches of the mulberry bush and the nearby sycamore tree, any butterflies who decide to take up residence there should hopefully be safe and happy.

Since the back fence had previously been re-built and was still in very good condition, Hubby set about re-painting it.  This will protect the wood for another year or two from the moody Scottish weather...
 

Did you notice in the photo above there is a small green house now in position on the fence behind the blueberry shrub?  This is the larger of the two bee hotels we bought during last week.  I originally set it inside the blueberry shrub but after reading the instructions again, decided it would be better placed onto the fence itself. 

Today I actually saw a little bee seemingly happily buzzing around the bee hotel so who knows honeys, it might be a hit 😊  I do hope so!  The world's bees are in trouble honeys, they desperately need our help.  Just imagine how much we could help reverse the dreadful decline in their population if we all helped? 

You don't even need a garden. A window box or a terrace would do just as well. Just by helping them by planting flowers or herbs, by providing a tiny habitat for them, by making a tiny part of your space bee friendly, imagine what a difference you could make?

The best thing is that by helping our buzzy friends, we're also helping ourselves too!  If you'd like to help our bee friends there are some links in this post honeys, thank you🐝

I'm so, so proud of Hubby for all of his hard work.  The side fence now looks as wonderful (I think) as the fence along the back of the garden does.
  

Looking at the "before" images in these photos is actually quite horrifying honeys...

Now we won't have to dread (hopefully) opening the curtains after one of the inevitable winter storms this year because the fences are now far more resistant to the heavy winds and (again hopefully) will stay standing 😊

What do you think honeys?  Are you working on your garden?  Have you thought about trying to help our bee friends, or other wildlife, by building mini habitats? 

Links:

You'll find all kinds of interesting information by following these links:

Thompson & Morgan have a great page full of information on how to create habitats for lots of different species of birds, insects and other little creatures in your garden here.   

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a fabulous page here too with lots of information.

The RSPB also has a wonderful page setting out lots of activities to have fun & also help your garden's wildlife.

Discover Wildlife Magazine shares lots of useful information on their website here too.

Till next time dear ones, I hope you're having a wonderful week full of hugs and smiles 😊  Huggles always xx