When I get sidetracked I don’t mess about! - bit long

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Friday: I’d almost finished repotting my plants – half a dozen big ‘uns still to do, and the indoor Spider plants. Then I went to the corner shop, and noticed that someone else in the block was refurbishing their kitchen, so when I came back, it was out with my trolley and …

Took four trips to get it all home – should have been a fifth … they’d also chucked a small bathroom hand-basin, no damage to it that I could see: I thought, block the drain and there’s a pond! But I had to have a rest after lugging the rest back, and when I got back out, the basin had already gone. Can’t really complain, got enough freebies, but still, sigh …

Put all the wood outside except for cupboards and worktop (no room) – scrubbed them inside and out as they’d have to stay indoors overnight. Scrubbed the rest on Sunday – took Saturday off, and needed to! I used the time to try to work out what to put where, as it’d be a tight fit and I didn’t want to have to lug stuff around more than necessary.

I did think about taking the work table apart and using the cupboards instead, but, to be honest, I couldn’t face that much extra work. Besides, I’ve already got more than enough room for junk under that table – and one reason I wanted to change the worktop to a narrower one was so that I wouldn’t have to stretch on tiptoe to reach the tools on the fence. And the bookcases that I’m using now are flimsier than the cupboards – they’ll take some weight for a while, dunno about a lot of weight all the time, as I’d need for a display table.

Had to get rid of one of the shopping trolleys, simply not enough room for it. Decided to ditch the bigger one: the smaller one is shallower, better depth for plants (even if it has locking wheels which won’t go more than a few inches before seizing up).

Despite the pre-planning, I had to reshuffle a couple of times – I’d been thinking about putting the old worktop back on the work table – the one I replaced it with was wider, but the laminate at the front had started cracking because there was no support for it. To clear the old worktop, I had to move the pond and plants round it, and in front of it so I could get at it. Then clear the old worktop, change over and leave the spare one leaning against the fence in the only place I could reach.

Moved all pots from the large table to the end tables, cramming them on; the rest went on the worktable or the remaining trolley. Move the table down as far as possible.

Then lug the cupboards out (not easy, they were heavy and the doorway isn’t that wide), then pin plastic to the backs to help protect them – cut a binbag along the long sides, had a bit left over, so covered the top as well, leaving a bit hanging over in the hope that this would help protect the drawers and stop them getting soggy.

Had to shuffle them back and forth a few times while I tried to get the ground a bit level to lay wood on for them to stand on. There’s a very large wooden block exactly where I wanted to put on of the cupboards, so I had to bring it closer than I really wanted. (There are a series of these blocks, about 3” square, concreted in to hold the ghastly “privacy screens” in place – as if wiring them to the fence wouldn’t have been enough! those damn blocks always seem to be exactly in the way, every time.)

I used some wood for them to stand on, and used the worktop that I’d won to cover the gap – it just about fitted. I did think about leaving the door on, and fitting the other door, it would have given more protection to the contents, but would also have made it a lot harder to get stuff out, with plants in front.

The cupboards still had legs, which made the top too high to get large, heavy pots on, as I soon found. So I had to take the pots off, take the top off, turn the cupboards over and take the legs off. I’d removed three when it occurred to me that I could leave the base of them in the wood; they’d do to hold the wood off the ground. Of course, I couldn’t get the damn things apart; I could get the whole leg off, or none of it. I’d also saved some cupboard bases which still had legs in, so eventually I managed to get eight legs separated from the bases and hammer them into the cupboards. Then re-erect the table and put the top back on. And the pots.

I put the large table in the gap between cupboards and end tables (having to move the spare worktop first) and then put the worktop on it. But there was a bit too much unsupported overhang – besides, I was wasting storage space under the cupboards as they couldn’t get any further apart

So, rethink.

Loaded the work table with every plant that wasn’t on the end tables, moved the benches out, put the large table in. Then I could spread the cupboards further apart, and use the spare worktop to provide a top with little overhang all round.

Then move the large table under the lounge window – I had more murders trying to get the thing at least vaguely level (true of all of them: I wanted them to have a very slight tilt backwards to shed water, but they all prefer tilting forwards like the Tower of Pisa and soaking my feet when I water the plants!).

I still had both benches spare, so I put one between the cupboards and end tales and the other at the end of the large table, beside the steps – again, had murders getting this one, if not level, at least stable enough not to wobble alarmingly.

It’s still not exactly how I want it, but it’s a damn good start.

And all this was all done between 7am and noon and after a sleepless night – the people next door decided to have a musical soirée about 1.30 am; at 5.30 I gave up trying to ignore it and got up. It was fairly light outside by 6.30, so I thought, why not? and started. Boy, did I relish that shower! In bed by 3 and must have gone spark out – well, there was reason for it!

Still more to be done; the rest of the garden looks like Steptoe’s yard – I really hate having to move something to get to something behind it, and no matter where I move it, it’s in the way for the next thing I want to get at …

ps: those half-dozen plants are still waiting to be repotted …

• 26 Jun, 2012
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