It's the view of the ugly fence and the neighbour's house that bothers me the most. Potential buyers are put off by unpleasant views and I would definitely paint it a dark green or grey then plant some screening trees all the way along it- tall, narrow & evergreen pencil pines. The creeper on the fence/trellis isn't doing enough imo. As for the vegie patch, dig in some mushroom compost, make a couple of tee pees for some climbing beans or cherry tomatoes in each bed, plant lots of salad varieties and herbs around the edges, mulch well..hey presto in a few weeks. We all need a little visual inspiration sometimes.

So should the oldies have a proper meal. My parents were quite vulnerable to eating a poor diet as they aged, with no one to take them in hand. I'm determined that won't happen to us. Plus, I spent a fair bit of my life in places where you ate what was available seasonally, so it was all fresh and unprocessed and had actual flavour. (Of course, in some of those places, you were desperate for anything even remotely green by the end of winter!) I also spent a good part of my life eating fruit and veggies trucked several thousand km from California or Florida to Canada. Been there, done that, never again. Eating apples that have been in cold storage for months, or tomatoes that have travelled hundreds of kilometres, or someone's idea of a 21st century version of the old TV dinner, just doesn't cut it with me. As much as possible, local produce, my own herbs, and meat from a reliable local butcher. Frozen peas, beans, even spinach and broccoli, fine, all good,along with canned tomatoes and beans. But that's where I draw the line. Life is too short to be eating mediocre food just because it's convenient.

emerald..don't know how you full time mum does it..I wouldn't be able to cope lol I only work part time and yet on the days I work I don't even look after myself properly lol. took the kids to Yum Cha today so I bought groceries at Melb Central before hopping on the train back .. just making a stir fry tonight..was going to have stir fried noodles..turned out my Hokkien noodles are expired..this is the reason why I don't buy stuff beforehand lol so will wing it and have with rice..one wok wonder with some scallops from the freezer.. my kids are easy they don't ever whinge about what I cook they know better..as sometimes I don't cook at all lol

our kitchen dining area was tiled, and its all cracking, but the bathroom is fine. i think it's just that the bathroom is smaller and the posts pretty much run around the wall so it all moves together, the kitchen/dining is just too big an area and the posts run right along the crack, so of course is really cracked and needs to be pulled off. lovely tile, but wrong choice for this house. i plan to use lino for the floor in the kitchen and bathroom, it would have originally been lino. our neighbour has a concrete slab under their house and i'd been puzzling how they stopped it cracking till they showed me they layed it in sections like massive pavers. this sort of soil is like big sponge, so i prefer to keep it moist and use plants that soak up any excess moisture. i've got water loving subtropicals, gingers and cannas and half the lawn is mint. look, don't panic, get to understand what this means and factor it in to any further choices.