Another busy day!
It seems like we’ve had an early weekend. A second day in a row of back breaking work sifting stones and shifting dirt.
Today we managed to finish the four temporary garden plots. With the help of some pony-poo (Caleb’s to be precise – pocket money I guess for one of the local kids) and compost, and the sieve (which is still providing sterling service!). We even managed to get a few pebble paths between them! Only thing we could think of to do with the smaller pebbles!
In went the couple of butternut squash plants we’d picked up. No mucking around!
Then all the native trees and grasses we’d bought before the UK trip went in. And not before time for some of them! They were all roots and no soil left in the pots. But hopefully they’ll all take and we’ll have a nice little strip of natives behind the shed. Still need a lot, lot more to fill in the patch we sprayed, but it’s a start. And due to some of the weeds coming through looks like one of the chores next week will be to spray the patch again.
Good news too, I think, in that we’ve managed to get a ring of larger stones all around the water tank! Why? Who knows! But what else do you do with a whole bunch of stones. At least we know where they are if we want any. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll come up with some nice flowers or something to make things look prettier and hide the stones.
Spotting a theme here?! Yes, we have a few extra rocks and pebbles! Want some?!
Last gardening job was to wrap all the plots in some windbreak cloth and staple it all up. Hopefully, as well as the wind, it’ll keep any hares out. We’ll see! Haven’t seen any for a few days now, but the grass is pretty long, and they’re pretty good at hiding!
A quick last minute decision on the way out saw us drop some parsnip and beetroot seeds into one of the beds. I wasn’t allowed to plant any radishes this time! The other plots can wait for the broccoli, leek, and zucchini plants that will hopefully pop up. (Actually, the broccoli seeds have already sprouted, but we’re waiting for the others…)
And that was the day! For some reason it seems like this post suggests that we didn’t get through half the stuff we did yesterday, but I can assure you all of that took just as long as yesterday (actually a bit longer as I forgot to decant the coffee from the caffiterie to the thermos before I left, so there were no coffee breaks. DOH!) And both of our backs are suffering a bit from all the bending and digging. A day off that sort of labour tomorrow, I think. I just hope the promised rain keeps up all week to keep all the plants and seeds nicely lubricated!