Blue Sky and Blossom...

After a winter lasting what seemed like an eternity, the sun is finally shining and the sky is all fabulous and blue. The crocuses never did flower but the 3 pink hyacinths are doing well, albeit propped up by sticks, and the yellow primulas are looking all splendidly traditional along the border.

There’s no sign of my 4 little bees making a move from their rusty baked bean tin and I wonder if they actually managed to survive the winter – I do hope so.

My fabulously tall wild cherry tree was nothing more than a weed a few years ago, deposited by the compost bin presumably by an overhead bird, and now it is bloom and looking spectacular against the clear blue sky…

APRIL 23, 2013 

New Fence (The Final Chapter)...

After two long days I finally have the fence of my dreams! I made the decision to ask him to chop down the forsythia (I expect it’ll grow again); 1) to make it easier for him and 2) so I can put bedding plants in that border without the tree draining the life out of them. I kept the branches and stuck them behind the compost bin for any wildlife that enjoys that type of environment.

It all seems a little surreal right now but hopefully it’ll soon sink in that I have some much-needed privacy.

I will have to maintain it, of course, with an annual coat of wood preserver, but that’s a much easier job than constantly cutting back fast-growing forsythia branches.

Now all I need is a couple of nice couple of days so I can sunbathe………shame the weather’s turned cold….

MARCH 30, 2012

New Fence (Part 2)...

My Plan B fence chap turned up early and got to work immediately on removing the rotten fence panels. Although I’d pointed out during his initial visit that the compost bin that would need moving was actually FULL, I think he under-estimated quite how heavy it’d be. He struggled to shift it…..and then I heard coughing and wheezing. I rushed outside and found out he’d been over-come with dust from old/dry/dead ivy which had been lurking behind the compost bin.

I quickly sorted him out with a glass of water and a sit-down, and he eventually continued with the work.

Not wishing to ‘lose’ a second builder I ensured he had a constant supply of drinks throughout the day and that he had plenty of shade from my tatty old garden brolly, as the weather was close to the hottest March on record!

When he went off for his lunch break I picked up all of the mess so that he had a clean and dust-free yard to work in during the afternoon.

By 4pm the main posts were up and the concrete bases had to be left overnight to set…

MARCH 30, 2012