Sowing in the Rain

We have literally just come in after a morning of raking out stones, levelling the ground, then fertilising it and then sowing grass seed.  We really wanted to get it done this weekend as a week of rain is forecast and what better start to new grass than warmth and rain.

Unfortunately the rain arrived a little earlier than we expected, and we spent a good couple of hours getting very wet indeed,  so much so that while I was stood under the conservatory overhang opening the fourth box of grass seed I thought it was still raining on me, but no it was just me raining on me, my hair was that wet it was dripping down on the rest of me.  But the job is now done, and we are in showered and dry at last, this new levelled area matches up with the newly laid grass at the side of the house and will be that much easier to mow on a regular basis.

Now we just have to go out and try and find a reasonably priced petrol mower, as ours had a bit of a mishap yesterday when Lovely Hubby hit something very hard and a huge chunk of metal flew off it.  It will be repaired in the future when LH has his welding gear in the workshop but for now we need something a bit lighter weight that I can use more often and that will fill the gap until our old one is fixed. 

Sue xx

Our Little Wildlife Haven

This weekend's main job apart from all the other little jobs that fill our days was to finally finish off Nut Wood.  It's in the corner of our main paddock and is so called because most of the trees planted in there are nuts.  My nickname for it is Nutbush City Limits ... but Lovely Hubby gave it it's sensible name ;-)

In fact in there we have three Oak trees, three Birch, two Sweet Chestnuts, two Almonds and four Walnuts.  One day, hopefully, we will get a glimpse of what it will become after our lifetime.  It should be a wonderful heavily wooded area, in the meantime we are continuing to make it into a wildlife haven on a much smaller scale.

Yesterday this area was raked and had lots of flower seeds scattered onto it, a mix of flowers and wildflowers that will be allowed to run rampant and set seed.  It should be a haven for all sorts of bees, insects and other types of creepy crawlies.  The bushes that were already here and the nettles along the fence are staying, and I have a few Borage plants that I will transplant into here in the next day or two.

The old plastic paddling pool that we found here when we moved in, has slowly filled with rainwater and is half buried in the soil with grassy edges, inside it there are rocky ledges and a ramp to help creatures that fall in climb out again.

Talking of climbing I climbed onto one of the soil piles to try and get a higher shot to give you an idea of the whole place.

As well as the huge boulders that we excavated when we dug back into the hillside for the garage and workshop, there is a huge chunk of the old oak tree that we had to cut down when we moved in.  These are already proving to be little wildlife havens, each in their own way for small creatures and insects.  The black charred stump behind the oak was found on an old bonfire site when we moved in and was put in here for it's unique ability to attract things.

The chippings had been piled high over the whole circle of flattened grass that you see, Lovely Hubby moved it mostly with the tractor, tipping it over the fence from the front bucket and then raking it all out, but the last loads he filled wheelbarrow and wheelbarrow full of and moved it to where he wanted it.

Including all around the doors of the poly and net tunnels.

Everywhere was looking so much neater until some of the chickens got out again and started rooting around in the chippings for bugs. The last I saw of Lovely Hubby he was chasing two chickens up the hill brandishing a sweeping brush and shouting 'get back to where you should be you little f***ers'.

There's never a dull moment!!

Sue xx

Our Littlest Weekend Visitor

Saturday evening saw Lovely Hubby erecting the old chicken fence around his now flattened 'molehills'.  He was about the start properly smoothing the area, but then he came in for some lunch and in the thirty minutes he took off to eat his dinner (and the forty five minutes he then had for a nap) Mr Mole ... the real molehill maker .... erected two new edifices to mole life in the previously flattened ground.

Losing the will to live he decided to put the fence up to keep the dogs from walking wet dew ladened soil into the kitchen every morning ... I think Lovely Hubby must have heard the slight use of swear words and banging of doors first thing on Saturday when they did just that!!  I think we will leave it for a week and see how many new real molehills appear before we sow the new grass seed.

On Sunday someone decided the new fence was the perfect place to sit to observe what we were up to ....

... he stayed there for ages, long enough for me to firstly stand and admire him from the conservatory and then to risk dashing into the other room to pick up my camera.

Not even a lazy cat cooling off in the shade on the patio was enough to scare little Mr Robin off.

Sue xx

Giant Mole Hills? Buried Sheep?

I had a heart stopping moment when I stepped down from the shed with the corn for the chickens the other morning.   The piles of earth deposited by Lovely Hubby with his tractor shovel looked just like row upon row of graves ... and they are just about sheep sized!!  I had visions of the coach loads of tourists that go past each day wondering what the hell we were burying just over the hedge from the road, then seeing the half dozen sheep in the end field and putting two and two together!!

If the police get tipped off and call round luckily all they will find under the ground is one very worried mole who has been leaving his mole hills all over this same spot for the last couple of months.

Now when his fresh mole hills appear they are on top of Lovely Hubby giant mole hills.

This is the start of the re-landscaping work that Lovely Hubby is doing between the house and Chicken World.  Once the ground is levelled nicely it will be seeded with new grass and a permanent fence will be put in place between the shed and the hedge, which will also run the entire length of the inside of the hedge in Chicken World to the pointed corner edge of our land.

So it's all go here again at the moment and the building work starts on the house tomorrow to repair the damage caused by the heavy rains of Winter.  It seems to never end ... oh well back to brewing cups of tea six times a day :-/

Sue xx

All Very Organised ..... or is it?

It's all coming along nicely in the polytunnel, my favourite seedlings in the world, the Courgettes,  are looking deliciously chunky, everything else is showing it's face nicely.

Little touches of green peeping through  :-)

I even have Aubergine seedlings showing their faces .... I struggled a bit with these last year.

All very organised and productive.

Unfortunately the weeds in the front flower bed are equally productive, and it doesn't help that the wind scattered grass seeds in there when we sowed the new grass next to this bed last Autumn!!

Oh well if it's dry tomorrow you know what we will be doing  :-)

Sue xx

Front Flower Bed - Second Attack

We spent a good portion of yesterday weeding, pruning and generally tidying the front flower bed.

We had started it last year, but time ran away with us and with one thing and another, as is the way, this top corner was only titivated and not deep weeded the way the rest of it had been, so this was a slightly longer job than just the quick weed we thought it needed.

But by the end of the afternoon, with the sun shining down on us this second attack was completed and it was all tidied up at last.  

Lovely Hubby brought over barrow load after barrow load of chippings and the whole thing was looking lovely and neat.  I planted some Primroses and Primulas and a few other plants that had been languishing in plant pots and the whole thing took on an area of cared for garden.

A much nicer welcome when you walk towards the front door.  I hope 'Geriant the Post' appreciates his new view as he walks up the driveway to deliver the mail.

Sue xx

The Molehills

The 'molehills' spotted by Suky in yesterdays post have been growing and growing .....

 



 

... and here is Mr Mole, otherwise known as Lovely Hubby.

 

Barrow full after barrow full he carted over from the soil heap adjacent to the paddock, all sifted and ready to use.

 

While he barrowed and I cleaned out the henhouse little Charley kept herself amused with acorns and cobnuts.

She's growing fast now and is always on the go, but she's no trouble and is learning all the time.

 

 

Soon the new bed was almost filled, and after doing my little gardeners dance of treading backwards and forwards in the soil to compact it, we were almost there.  We are planting a Rhododendron bush and some other shrubs and plants to fill in this space in the hedge and make the area safer for the dogs.  My heart is in my mouth every time Charley runs in that direction in case she tumbles through onto the road, now hopefully, this will be a visible barrier to stop her in her tracks.

 

Of course keeping yourself amused while Mum and Dad dig and do silly walks is very tiring ...

 

 

... and soon she was flat out snoozing in the sunshine.

 

Looking as cute as a button while dreaming doggy dreams.

 

Sue xx

Suky the Pug .... and the Molehills

 

Hello, my name is Suky, I am a Pug.

 

 

Mum's put me on a diet, she says I am at least 3kg overweight, so I'm practising my camera angles, she's said once I look slim I will get more food again.

 

If I do this I look thin .....

 

.... this must be my good side. 

So much more flattering than the photos on the last post.

 

Mum keeps vanishing outdoors, it's something to do with all these molehills that are appearing by the hedge!

 

Suky xx

Serious Shredder Envy

A huge pile of chippings has appeared in our roadway ready to be barrowed up the hill to top the membrane we are laying on the pathways between the raised beds.

 

And it didn't cost us a penny!!

 

 

It's all thanks to these guys, the tree surgeons that have been given the job of trimming all the overhanging trees and branches around the electricity cables on the hillsides around here.  When they came to let us know what work they would be doing I was quick to ask that all chopped wood be left behind for burning and then Lovely Hubby asked them what they did with the chippings. 

 

They were very quick to offer them all to us if we needed them, so up to now we have had six deliveries at the end of their working days.  They were really pleased to be able to tip them all and head off home with an empty truck ready for their next days work, and we were really pleased as it means that all the chippings on our land have pretty much come from our land and the surrounding hills and woods.

 

And I have serious shredder envy ..... ours takes one or two branches at a time theirs took dozens and tidied up the place in no time at all.

 

Sue xx

 



The Front Bed

 

 

 I did a post the other day about the edibles that I've managed to grow near the house this year, so I thought for posterity I would just show the front flowerbed and how that's coming on.

 

It seems to have been planned out with a very pink and purple colour scheme and most of the plants that are still coming through are following this trend.  Quite coincidentally the things I've added, apart from the daisies, have all followed this pattern.

 

I love lavenders and am slowly building up my collection again after leaving ALL my plants behind at our rented place, we simply couldn't fit everything in the truck or trailers in our many journeys to Wales.  I just buy the odd one when I spy a good variety at the garden centre.  I will always, always, always make room for a Lavender or Rosemary plant :-)

 

 

There's a lot of the plants that I don't know the name of .... and do you know, that doesn't bother me in the slightest.  If it looks pretty, is useful for the bees and more or less looks after itself it's very welcome in my garden whatever it's called.

 

Of course lurking further along the bed is the bit we never got round to weeding and mulching, as it is currently awash with a giant lavender plant that the bees love I am not disturbing it at the moment .... well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Sue xx

Father's Day

 

I was sat at the computer feeling increasingly maudlin, of which the dictionary definition is 'self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental'.  It's Fathers Day here in the UK and everywhere you look, both online and in shops and well just everywhere really there are messages for Dads, gifts for Dads etc etc.

 

Then suddenly there was a shout from Lovely Hubby who is putting up a run of rabbit-proof fencing in the paddock ..... "look out of the bedroom window".

 

The top picture is what I saw, and I managed to get almost over to her and record it for posterity before she moved.  Rosy was sat in the shade of Dad's tree.

 

 

Dad has had two presents this Fathers Day, the first was from me, this Veronica, 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' and the second .....

 

 

.... was from my darling girl, a freshly caught rabbit buried neatly next to mine.

 

I have dug it up now and returned the bed to it's former state, but she did it very neatly  .... and the thought was there!!

 

Sue xx

 

Yay .... Good News

 

I'm about to be back in business, the food growing business that it.

 

We have just heard that Planning Permission has been granted for us to erect the poly and net tunnels on our paddock.  We are both so pleased, so exited and so relieved that we now have permission.

 

As soon as I have the letter in my hand confirming what our architect has just told us I will be on the phone to First Tunnels (see HERE) to confirm the order that I placed with them many, many months ago and which they have kindly kept on record for me, just waiting for this day.

 

   Happy Happy Happy 

 

:-)       :-)          :-) 

 

 

Note:  you do not normally need planning permission to erect a polytunnel on your own land as they are classed as non-permanent structures.   Unless like us you are right against a main road, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty AND right on the edge of Snowdonia!!

 

Sue xx

 

It's gonna take a while ......

After one day of banging, digging and sawing we had the beginnings of the plan on the soil instead of just scribbled on the back of an envelope.

 



 

Retaining boards and the first two beds done.

 

The view from the top before I started digging on day two.  While I still had the strength to hold the camera!!

 

 

First barrow load in, it looks pathetically small, I just kept reminding myself that even a bucket fills up one drop at a time left under a dripping tap.

 

 

While I was filling the smallest bed (Dad's Bed), Lovely Hubby was already springing into action building more beds.

 

 

After an hour or so I scarpered back to the house to fetch some liquid refreshments ... and came back to find him posing with his hammer :-)

 

Sides being lined up with posts.

 

By the end of the weekend this is what we have.

Dad's bed one third filled, to get this far took eleven wheelbarrow fulls before I gave up the ghost and went in to make sandwiches and cake ... I know pathetic, I have no stamina!!  To give you an idea of scale this smallest bed is two metres in each direction.

 



 

 Hopefully I'll be doing a couple of barrow fulls a day this week to fill it a bit more if I can summon up the energy and enthusiasm.

 

Suky is slightly baffled by the change to the hillside but is enjoying picking her way over the boards every time we go out.

 

We have chosen to use good quality treated wooden boards and strong corner posts well hammered in, as we want this to last.  All the tops and cut edges will be treated with creosote on a regular basis and hopefully once this job is done we will not have to repeat it.  For us this is a permanent thing, and the priority is to take things slowly and steadily and do it right.  Obviously we have had the opportunity through renting our last two properties to trial this all before in different ways and this is the way that we have decided works the best for us.

 

 

And finally ...... the Winner of Rear of the Year ......

 

 

.... goes to Lovely Hubby :-)

 

Sue xx