More blasting, round the poolside today

Had some roofing felt to replace today, bit cold to be up a ladder but it was the pool hut that houses the pool heater, so it's sort of sheltered from the wind - still nut freezing though!

Speaking of nuts, our littl'un, five year old Finlay has a mild bed wetting problem. Alison said to him the other night, "Do you know you are wetting the bed or does it just happen in your sleep? If you are awake, you could ask me to take you to the toilet you know." He replied in the only way a 5 year old can, "Willies don't have ears." Pause, "Or mouths, so they can't speak or hear if they are awake." Just an aside...

These are the scars I mentioned on the front moss-lawn at Pat's:

What a swine that taxi driver is. Quite frankly I could call him up and make a block booking for a bogus address.

Just up the gravel road - behind the holly bush on the top right - the next door neighbours have put posts in the ground and it works a treat. So, I think I will suggest it. That dark bit just above the scars is where a DHL van churned up the edge of the grass/moss.

This is the other side of the drive, almost entirely moss. Yesterday it was covered in excessively mouldy birch tree leaves and took about two hours to clear. Luckily there is a large wood opposite Pat's house so the leaves go in there, spread in amongst the under growth. Sometime I aim to have a nice bonfire over there, but I've never really had the time - I do ten hours a week here, Monday and Tuesday and I could easily work all week there. It's delightful!

There follows a homage to the Karcher - I am obsessed...

The nozzle - in action





BEFORE



AFTER



Zap that algae! POW! No more slippy slidey; no more zoosporangium multiplying willy nilly all over the path. Well, not until later today anyway!

Next week, I am attacking the compost heap at Pat's. It's huge and never been used properly. I intend on digging it over and seeing how much I can chuck on the borders. The heap is about ten foot by six and three foot deep and, like I say hasn't been touched for years. There's grass cuttings and leaves mostly in it but the oldest stuff in there is probably upwards of ten years old. Can't wait to get stuck in. Pictures to come...

Like say, happy digging!

Oh yes! Back to real gardening @ Pat & Brian's

Today was spent clearing leaves, very mouldy, slimy leaves from the front lawn - I call it a lawn for ease of description, it is in fact 20% grass/80% moss, very bouncy! As I have said before, I don't have that much of a problem with moss, it's fine in it's place, i e in an area that isn't used that much and on rocks in a rockery or a drywall. It can also look fine in those little nooks and crannies, tucked under shrubs and trees. 


One area of the front "lawn" has three evil looking scars left by a taxi driver who must have either got lost or was late for a pick up. He reversed over the lawn and did a wheel spin, leaving aforementioned scars. Some people...


I have attempted to patch it by roughing it up with a rake and firming it back down. It actually looks alright so I hope it will recover during the Spring/early Summer. I'm thinking of recommending some boulders or posts along the front of the house to stop people thinking this lawn is part of the road!


Just a quickie today, more pictures tomorrow hopefully and never forget rolling boulders gather no moss...


Happy raking! 

More of our place

 

 

It's tidy-up time...


 

...and a little bit of scraping and it gets like this

 

  

A bit more scraping and it
gets to...

 

...this. This week I shall get hold of the
Karcher and do a bit of blasting on the
paving slabs and furniture



 





    

There will be a major make over for
this area too



The fence needs replacing on the left hand side too and I would like to either take out or dramatically cut back the hedge on the left of the garden aswell.

Anyway, I will post the pictures as I go along through the year...

Happy tidying!



My place...

Just a quickie, the following are a few pictures from my own garden. I am putting these on here to make me actually get on with the changes we want to make. Apart from anything we need a tidy up!

What a fine (?) mess

Same fine mess from another angle

The dark patch is where the swing used to be - it will go with some seed or  a bit of turf

This shows the birdbath I made last year and the ghostly figure is our California Lilac (Ceanothus burkwoodii), all snug for the winter

The fine mess tidied up! The blue bags are the leaf mould I started 4 years ago, yum

From the back of the house towards the trampoline/greenhouse and just in the foreground my attempt at a mosaic path - an on-going project that will take years...

Our lovely girls with two of the rabbits (we had  seven but one was taken by a fox and the daddy, Henry, has disappeared recently, bless!) The hens are called Betsy (front) and Bridie and they have just started laying again. The return of real eggs! Hoo-rah!!!

Happy gardening! 

Some like it hot

Just checked out the compost bins! Oh yes, they are beautiful and this year I can use most of it as I haven't added to them for about 18 months - deliberately so I can chuck it over the allotment. It has rotted down so nicely, all that fresh chicken manure from the girls (hens!) and the rabbit pooh too! There's at least 20 bags of it I can use. Plus leaf mould too. Now the leaf mould is about 4 years old and could not be darker or crumblier. I will take pix as I chuck it all over the allotment, ooo, you lucky people you.

I wish my compost heap was this big! Some Like It Hot indeed...

You need hands...

The heat generated from a good compost heap is fantastic. Worms, wood lice, bugs of all sorts, lovely stuff. Again, as with the soil itself, I like to get my hands into compost and feel it crumble. Is it about getting dirty? I think it probably is. I have always liked getting dirty, dirty knees, dirty face and mostly, dirty hands. Following my dad around in the garden from a very young age, with a trowel or ball of string. And helping plant potatoes was always the best task of the year, still is!

One potato, two potato, three...

Planting tatties is, without doubt, the most satisfying garden delight - not to be confused with my favourite tomato, gardener's delight (basically my favourite 'cos I get free seeds every year from Gardener's World magazine!) I always know that tall is right with the world when it's time to put the potatoes in - early to mid-May. Watching the potato plant grow knowing what is under the soil, I tell you it's the definition of bliss for me. Is there anything that tastes better than home grown veg? No one can tell me there is, because I just won't listen.


Hey! I just heard Blair at the Iraq inquiry. Now there's a man who could make a fine compost heap, know what I'm saying?


Happy composting...

El sol ha conseguido el sombrero en...

I feel I should be out there in the outdoors doing something with the garden, but we just had some magnificent news about a certain lack of illness and I can't concentrate, not even on a rake for the leaves. I want to just drink a bottle of red wine and curl up with my girl. Indeed, there is one of my all time favourite films on right now, "Heaven Knows, Mr Allison" with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum and I am hooked. I'll have to do with another cuppa and then off to pick up the littl'un.


Also, Alison's dad is doing really well in hospital - he developed a bad reaction to some new medication his GP put him on. We are trying to get the housing people to move Alison's parents to Tring and it appears to be working at last. 


So, the angst of recent days - not reported here 'cos it's not the right place - evaporates into the ether and tomorrow is another day Mis Moneypenny. I shall blog again later, but suffice to say we are out celebrating tonight with a pizza and a broad smile.


Happy living...

And... Relax.

The paths and patios are complete. I donned my all-in-one waterproof bike ensemble (all grey and blue and contour devouring) today and just blasted away all the algae I could find - even off the Wendy House! I stayed ostensibly dry but Jesu H Christ it was cold. The weathermen got the forecast completely wrong for here, sunny yet cold my big fat hairy one! Over cast and freeze your round ones off more like! That brass monkey got loads of exercise today...


This is how we get green algae - those of a delicate disposition please look away now...

Anyway, green algae, apart from being dangerous for most people of an advanced age when on a path or patio, I actually quite like it in a decorative kinda way. Rockeries, ponds, etc lovely. Steps, not good. A combination of algae and water on paths, steps and patios, can only mean severe injury for the likes of me, i e Mr Accident. I tellya, you really do wanna watch out for those pesky zoosporangium. 


Asexual reproduction? What a stupid idea. Just shows you, algae ain't all they're cracked up to be. And yet, if one stops a moment and thinks about it zoosporangium can reproduce without the intervention of of any other organism, the locale and conditions are all they need. Jesus, it's all that Germaine Greer could have wanted back in the heady days of women's lib and all that. I think the male population should keep that bit quiet, it kind of knocks sex on the head don't it? I mean, who could be bothered with getting jiggy with a zygote when a zoosporangium can do it all by itself?


Happy gardening campers!