Tuesday 1 June 2010

Z digs again

Squiffany chose to spend the afternoon with me, which was a delight. I was digging the bed at the base of the section of wall that Dave finished last Friday - here follows the dullest photos of the year -
and Dilly came along to fetch something from the greenhouse. She said to the children that she was about to prepare lunch, and Squiffany whispered to her, received approval and invited me and the Sage to join them.

After lunch, Squiffany helped me in the greenhouse for an hour, then we came in and played board games, then cuddled up on the sofa together with orange juice and biscuits to watch a DVD - it's such a compliment when a child wants to spend time with you. And it meant that Pugsley had some time alone with his mother.

I'm vacillating a bit on whether to plant things in that bed or put them out in pots. Next year, I'd like to plant some fruit trees, but this year I'll use it for peppers, aubergines and tomatoes. I think I'll probably do the pots - it'll mean more watering, but then the bed would need daily watering in any case. Apart from the asparagus bed, which wasn't weeded at all last year and is beyond redemption, the veg garden is getting quite tidy. Oh, and apart from the bed where I used to grow herbs. There still are some, but they've been overcome by such nuisances as tansy. I think that I'll have to chop it all down and smother it with old carpet. I can't dig out those roots. I've taken cuttings of perennial herbs. As for the asparagus, it's a very old bed and needs to be replaced. Again, I'll cut it down, cover with old carpet to smother the weeds and start again with new asparagus in another bed.

Dull post today darlings, sorry.

9 comments:

Pat said...

That's quite a wall. What next I wonder?

Anonymous said...

Norfolk Black Earth?

Anonymous said...

That's a plan with the trees...

Ms Scarlet said...

I wish that I was better in the garden, but I'm often defeated by ground elder... and just pure laziness.
Sx
Yes, it is a huge compliment when a child chooses to spend time with you.

Rog said...

That's a real heat pocket - you could grow Oranges and Lemons!

Rog said...

That's a real heat pocket - you could grow Oranges and Lemons!

Roses said...

There is something truly wonderful when children seek you out. No, not dull at all.

I'm still waiting for the Great Wall party...

Oh...did you hurt yourself falling over the hint I dropped? :-)

My brother uses newspaper to damp down weeds. Not pretty, but effective.

Z said...

Lean-to potting shed against the wall, Pat. The summer house needs to be taken apart, the ground levelled (moles have undermined the turning mechanism and now we can't open the door fully) and it be put back together and repainted. The boat house needs to be completely rebuilt, which will be fun as it must have almost disintegrated. Oh, and there are the plans for cutting back the overgrown shrubbery - which will only take a week or so once I and my pruning saw get to grips with it.

I was talking to someone today who has fourteen varieties of fig, Anon and Rog. That's given me ideas, I can tell you. And oranges and lemons, but they really do need to be taken indoors overwinter. And I don't really feel I can justify the heating of the greenhouse all winter. Or afford it, sadly.

Scarlet, ground elder is enough to defeat anyone. It defeated me, I turned the bed it's in to lawn in the end. There's still a big lump outside the greenhouse, but it's not spread yet. I'll murder it, by and by. Is that bye and bye? Hm.

And yes, I was vastly touched by Squiffany's pleasure in my company.

Roses, I'm using newspaper as a mulch over the cucumbers this year. Slightly anxious, don't know if it'll work, but the stuff I used last year didn't allow enough humidity. I'm planning to top it with straw though. And I'm sorry about the party last year, Dave's illness scuppered it as it didn't seem right to hold it without him. He seems to be buggering off having fun without us for most of the summer, but we'll have to have a get-together somehow. I think we'll have to just choose a date. No reason why we can't meet in the meantime though, if you like?

Roses said...

I really would like, when are you available? You come to me, or me come to you? Email me and we can make arrangements.

I'll be the one with the rolled up copy of the Grauniad.