0 comment Thursday, October 16, 2014 | admin
I know, I know, I'm posting like a madwoman today, but the excitement has been huge.
I did very little work yesterday - Easter break is coming up and I need to conserve my energy. If I exert myself for a few hours, I pay for it for days. But I just couldn't resist; the raised bed was calling me, and the mound of soil before the bed just seemed like it would be perfect for straightening up my rugosa hedge next to the fence.
So, bright and early after losing an hour to daylight savings (and what of it? I'm used to being up at 6am) I was out with shovel in hand and I set to.
I wasn't convinced about the small path leading to the raised bed with mounds on either side; honestly, I think they just really didn't want to try digging that hill by hand, and I certainly could not blame them. There were four men out there and they could barely get the ground to shift. It's horrible soil; clay, flint, chalk. They managed to break it up with pickaxes but it was still backbreaking and the whole process took five hours. We're apparently going to get pummelled with rain over the next few days and I wanted to get things sorted out before the rain packed everything down again. So I decided to make a flat walkway with a bit of soil in between this and the patio space, either to be packed down or turned into a small planted "strip".The roses have always needed a tidy; when I tried putting them in last year I was so dismayed at how impossible it was to dig into the ground here, so I know exactly what the gents were going through yesterday! However, their efforts had loosened up plenty of ground, and I just shovelled this in round the rugosas, straightening out some of the leaning stems and packing the earth in. Roses are amazing plants - they are very much coddled usually; fertilised and trimmed and fussed over, but when left to their own devices they can survive for ages in some really horrible conditions that would kill other plants. I adore not only their beauty and fragrance, but their hardiness to withstand just about everything nature throws at them. So even though there's nothing but clay, flint soil round them, I know these rugosas will be just fine.
Vegetables however are a different story! The raised bed was now full up with clay soil left over from digging the patio space, so I started to break up the clods. I only had one bag of compost left - and even that compost, though rich, is incredibly dense. Inspiration struck, however as I remembered the sharp builder's sand left over! I started hauling buckets of the stuff from the front to the back, and then mixed it in with the clay, picking out the larger stones as I went, as well as any weeds and grass I could find. Then I went up to my compost heap and I raked out as much compost as I could get to, even some that was still composting (this went into the pea-bean area) and mixed that, giving it a good forking over. As I went, I tromped back and forth to try and make a relatively level space underfoot next to the raised bed, so I could get from one side of the bed to the other without needing to lean or strain myself - important both for me and also my young son.
I managed to mix in a fair bit of sand, organic matter and even left some furroughs which are almost all sand - primarily for growing carrots, which might struggle in the soil otherwise. Over this, I've spread the bagged compost, digging it in, and then covering the top with a thin layer. It's by no means "done" - clay soil can be a right bugger, and what I think I will do is just turn the whole garden under, burying any plants that have bolted, cutting the peas and beans at ground level and then digging them in, and at the end of the season when nearly everything is out, add any more sand that I have left. Adding compost will be a year-long thing, but that's what the compost bin is for, and so I'll keep at it.
I couldn't resist laying the cut ash canes to mark out the pea/bean area, and I planted out the strongest of the leeks - about three rows worth. Since the soil has warmed nicely, I also put in a row of assorted baby leaf lettuce seeds to get them underway as I've started buying lettuce for salads as the taste for them has returned, but of course there's the option of just growing my own!
I did all this in about two hours and I suspect I'm going to spend a portion of tomorrow wondering what I was thinking! But I so wanted that bed ready for the Easter break, when sprog and I can start planting some more seeds and get to digging in dirt together.
I did very little work yesterday - Easter break is coming up and I need to conserve my energy. If I exert myself for a few hours, I pay for it for days. But I just couldn't resist; the raised bed was calling me, and the mound of soil before the bed just seemed like it would be perfect for straightening up my rugosa hedge next to the fence.
So, bright and early after losing an hour to daylight savings (and what of it? I'm used to being up at 6am) I was out with shovel in hand and I set to.
I wasn't convinced about the small path leading to the raised bed with mounds on either side; honestly, I think they just really didn't want to try digging that hill by hand, and I certainly could not blame them. There were four men out there and they could barely get the ground to shift. It's horrible soil; clay, flint, chalk. They managed to break it up with pickaxes but it was still backbreaking and the whole process took five hours. We're apparently going to get pummelled with rain over the next few days and I wanted to get things sorted out before the rain packed everything down again. So I decided to make a flat walkway with a bit of soil in between this and the patio space, either to be packed down or turned into a small planted "strip".The roses have always needed a tidy; when I tried putting them in last year I was so dismayed at how impossible it was to dig into the ground here, so I know exactly what the gents were going through yesterday! However, their efforts had loosened up plenty of ground, and I just shovelled this in round the rugosas, straightening out some of the leaning stems and packing the earth in. Roses are amazing plants - they are very much coddled usually; fertilised and trimmed and fussed over, but when left to their own devices they can survive for ages in some really horrible conditions that would kill other plants. I adore not only their beauty and fragrance, but their hardiness to withstand just about everything nature throws at them. So even though there's nothing but clay, flint soil round them, I know these rugosas will be just fine.
Vegetables however are a different story! The raised bed was now full up with clay soil left over from digging the patio space, so I started to break up the clods. I only had one bag of compost left - and even that compost, though rich, is incredibly dense. Inspiration struck, however as I remembered the sharp builder's sand left over! I started hauling buckets of the stuff from the front to the back, and then mixed it in with the clay, picking out the larger stones as I went, as well as any weeds and grass I could find. Then I went up to my compost heap and I raked out as much compost as I could get to, even some that was still composting (this went into the pea-bean area) and mixed that, giving it a good forking over. As I went, I tromped back and forth to try and make a relatively level space underfoot next to the raised bed, so I could get from one side of the bed to the other without needing to lean or strain myself - important both for me and also my young son.
I managed to mix in a fair bit of sand, organic matter and even left some furroughs which are almost all sand - primarily for growing carrots, which might struggle in the soil otherwise. Over this, I've spread the bagged compost, digging it in, and then covering the top with a thin layer. It's by no means "done" - clay soil can be a right bugger, and what I think I will do is just turn the whole garden under, burying any plants that have bolted, cutting the peas and beans at ground level and then digging them in, and at the end of the season when nearly everything is out, add any more sand that I have left. Adding compost will be a year-long thing, but that's what the compost bin is for, and so I'll keep at it.
I couldn't resist laying the cut ash canes to mark out the pea/bean area, and I planted out the strongest of the leeks - about three rows worth. Since the soil has warmed nicely, I also put in a row of assorted baby leaf lettuce seeds to get them underway as I've started buying lettuce for salads as the taste for them has returned, but of course there's the option of just growing my own!
I did all this in about two hours and I suspect I'm going to spend a portion of tomorrow wondering what I was thinking! But I so wanted that bed ready for the Easter break, when sprog and I can start planting some more seeds and get to digging in dirt together.
0 comment Sunday, September 28, 2014 | admin
You probably can't see the little-spinny-thing due to the sunlight in sprog's bit of garden, but it's there. I've also placed the toms and chillies in the growhouses on his bit - the one bit of stable ground which isn't going to get dug up, though topsoil will get raked in at that point.
You can see the new plants down toward the bottom - sprog chose the white osteopermum to go into one of his blue pots, and there's chamomile growing in the other. Lined up are the medicinal herbs, peppermint, snapdragon, more osteos, a few dianthus, and the psychedelic geranium.
We ate outside today, and played with bubbles in sprog's bit. We planted some more peas and transplanted the sunflowers into bigger pots - the final pot before I instate them in sprog's bit of garden in a month or so. We've still got more digging to do but I'm waiting on the clemantis and the "Red Rum" bush mallow which I think will look really good along the fence.
So my "weed infested" garden is coming along very nicely, thanks!
You can see the new plants down toward the bottom - sprog chose the white osteopermum to go into one of his blue pots, and there's chamomile growing in the other. Lined up are the medicinal herbs, peppermint, snapdragon, more osteos, a few dianthus, and the psychedelic geranium.
We ate outside today, and played with bubbles in sprog's bit. We planted some more peas and transplanted the sunflowers into bigger pots - the final pot before I instate them in sprog's bit of garden in a month or so. We've still got more digging to do but I'm waiting on the clemantis and the "Red Rum" bush mallow which I think will look really good along the fence.
So my "weed infested" garden is coming along very nicely, thanks!
0 comment Wednesday, August 20, 2014 | admin
e bee
Many many thanks to the St Paul's Volunteer group - I was expecting only a few people but instead there was a fair swarm, as well as one young fellow who was a dab hand with a pickaxe! Digging, trimming, cutting, MORE digging, dismantling, digging - did I mention digging? I'm just amazed these people worked for six hours straight for a complete stranger.
And work they did!I now have a patio rather than a mudpit! They left the side on the right open as there will be a digger coming through and they didn't want the tile to get ruined for me, so they'll be back to do more later. They did lay down some small "replacement" tiles as the paving was so bad toward the stairs once they scraped it free of mud they were afraid I'd fall on it - it was a mishmash of broken bricks, spots of tarmac and broken paving all crammed together in a mass. In short, no surprise for this house, really. I've got dirt aplenty to fill in along the side of the hedge and to straight up my roses, so woot there.
Monster triffid rosebush has been removed from the raised bed - and by the look of things it took a huge effort to do so! The rose bush had obviously been planted when the house was built, and I think it is a hybrid rose which was grafted onto a wild rose stem as it's a mad amalgamation of two different types of rose growing from the same stem. However, I wanted to try and keep it, and it has been moved to the side portion of the house. I'm not sure it will actually grow - it might just die, but we'll see.
In the meantime, I have the raised bed now full of all the topsoil from putting the hedge in. They tried to give me a little walkway with raised bits to either side of the raised bed, maybe to plant flowers in, but I think I'll shuffle that over a bit and maybe try to get some more paving laid in there as I need access to the bed.
Can you spot what's missing? Yes! The godawful compost/tip/hazardous dump is now gone! Loads of soil and a few slow worms were moved under the sumac tree, which has been pruned. The soil will hopefully be used to help with the levelling which will happen in a few weeks' time, or for the flower beds - the heap had so much rubbish in it; old carpet, plastic and paint cans that there's no way I'm growing food in that soil, but it will be useful for growing other stuff. The bramble is also gone, as well as a ash sapling which was trying to grow its way through the fence from the neighbour's yard. It's amazing how having that compost thing gone really opens up the garden space, but I'm not sure sprog will be so happy the "jungle" has been tamed a bit. Still, there's loads of dirt for digging and they even removed all the metal and glass from it, so he can dig aplenty.
And, of course, there's good news fo sproggo - there was enough sand left over that he can have that sand pit he's been asking for; it's builder's sand but sprog won't mind, he'll play with it for now, even though it's a bit sharp. We just have to build him a proper sand pit and then figure out how to cover it, but all in due time. Until that point, I'll rig up a temporary one for him to use during the holidays.
There's still a fair bit to do, but the transformation is indeed taking place, and I'm once again humbled and grateful for the people who have been willing to blow a Saturday to work, and work hard, at a stranger's house - all the people who have donated seeds, all the cuttings, and all the advocacy certainly starts to stack up to form a cohesive whole.
So awesome, I really wish the weather would hold off a bit, I want to have breakfast with my son on the patio.
Many many thanks to the St Paul's Volunteer group - I was expecting only a few people but instead there was a fair swarm, as well as one young fellow who was a dab hand with a pickaxe! Digging, trimming, cutting, MORE digging, dismantling, digging - did I mention digging? I'm just amazed these people worked for six hours straight for a complete stranger.
And work they did!I now have a patio rather than a mudpit! They left the side on the right open as there will be a digger coming through and they didn't want the tile to get ruined for me, so they'll be back to do more later. They did lay down some small "replacement" tiles as the paving was so bad toward the stairs once they scraped it free of mud they were afraid I'd fall on it - it was a mishmash of broken bricks, spots of tarmac and broken paving all crammed together in a mass. In short, no surprise for this house, really. I've got dirt aplenty to fill in along the side of the hedge and to straight up my roses, so woot there.
Monster triffid rosebush has been removed from the raised bed - and by the look of things it took a huge effort to do so! The rose bush had obviously been planted when the house was built, and I think it is a hybrid rose which was grafted onto a wild rose stem as it's a mad amalgamation of two different types of rose growing from the same stem. However, I wanted to try and keep it, and it has been moved to the side portion of the house. I'm not sure it will actually grow - it might just die, but we'll see.
In the meantime, I have the raised bed now full of all the topsoil from putting the hedge in. They tried to give me a little walkway with raised bits to either side of the raised bed, maybe to plant flowers in, but I think I'll shuffle that over a bit and maybe try to get some more paving laid in there as I need access to the bed.
Can you spot what's missing? Yes! The godawful compost/tip/hazardous dump is now gone! Loads of soil and a few slow worms were moved under the sumac tree, which has been pruned. The soil will hopefully be used to help with the levelling which will happen in a few weeks' time, or for the flower beds - the heap had so much rubbish in it; old carpet, plastic and paint cans that there's no way I'm growing food in that soil, but it will be useful for growing other stuff. The bramble is also gone, as well as a ash sapling which was trying to grow its way through the fence from the neighbour's yard. It's amazing how having that compost thing gone really opens up the garden space, but I'm not sure sprog will be so happy the "jungle" has been tamed a bit. Still, there's loads of dirt for digging and they even removed all the metal and glass from it, so he can dig aplenty.
And, of course, there's good news fo sproggo - there was enough sand left over that he can have that sand pit he's been asking for; it's builder's sand but sprog won't mind, he'll play with it for now, even though it's a bit sharp. We just have to build him a proper sand pit and then figure out how to cover it, but all in due time. Until that point, I'll rig up a temporary one for him to use during the holidays.
There's still a fair bit to do, but the transformation is indeed taking place, and I'm once again humbled and grateful for the people who have been willing to blow a Saturday to work, and work hard, at a stranger's house - all the people who have donated seeds, all the cuttings, and all the advocacy certainly starts to stack up to form a cohesive whole.
So awesome, I really wish the weather would hold off a bit, I want to have breakfast with my son on the patio.
Labels: Before, During, Good Life
0 comment Wednesday, August 13, 2014 | admin
I opened a letter today and out dropped a cheque for �750! Hurrah! This is thanks to Gardening for Disabled Trust, who graciously put forth funding to help with putting in a few more levels in the garden as well as some raised beds. I'm so very chuffed! This amount is more than likely going to finish the garden for us - and then the best bit of adding plants and doing the actual gardening bit awaits.
Good grief, this has all come together, and I can't believe it. There aren't enough YAYs in the English language right now.
LATER:
Cheque deposited and will wait to hear from DTEP with regard to finishing the garden off. In the meantime, I'm watering and compost-mulching everything in the garden. I've discovered the Warrior Compost I bought is VERY drying; it drains fast and dries almost as hard as clay. This is somewhat disappointing, so I'll be working some basic compost in when I'm planting the toms and sunflowers up.
I'm doing a kind of lasagna bed set up for the remaining potato tub and for the squash; I did similar for the squash last year with decent results, though the placing was poor and they were too shaded. I'm aiming for a lot more sun this time round and adding even more items for the mulch, including half-rotted compost. I'm really going to pack this in and we'll see how we do.
My first hazelnut tree and elderflower are doing well; it's their first year and so far, so good. However, I will probably transfer the hazel to the back garden, as I'd like another one in order to actually get some nuts from the trees in a few years, and they'll need more space. Coppicing is a possibility but the hazel would need to be a lot bigger first. What I'd like is a truffle/hazelnut tree as I'm a huge fan of mushrooms, and I could get two-for-one. Truffles are lovely, but gods knows I can't afford to buy them!
The cherry tree is setting its first blooms, which is pretty exciting! Only a few, but it's a good sign I think. I don't expect any cherries this year but at least it seems the tree likes where it is at the moment. I'm still considering the mulberry, and a pear-minarette provided I can keep the dog off it! Where they'll go, I've no idea, but those are plots and plans for another year.
All in all, things are going well and I'm very pleased with garden progress this year. I imagine Sprog is going to want to water the garden all by himself again today, and he was so chuffed yesterday that I'm more than willing to oblige. After all, that's what this is all about.
Good grief, this has all come together, and I can't believe it. There aren't enough YAYs in the English language right now.
LATER:
Cheque deposited and will wait to hear from DTEP with regard to finishing the garden off. In the meantime, I'm watering and compost-mulching everything in the garden. I've discovered the Warrior Compost I bought is VERY drying; it drains fast and dries almost as hard as clay. This is somewhat disappointing, so I'll be working some basic compost in when I'm planting the toms and sunflowers up.
I'm doing a kind of lasagna bed set up for the remaining potato tub and for the squash; I did similar for the squash last year with decent results, though the placing was poor and they were too shaded. I'm aiming for a lot more sun this time round and adding even more items for the mulch, including half-rotted compost. I'm really going to pack this in and we'll see how we do.
My first hazelnut tree and elderflower are doing well; it's their first year and so far, so good. However, I will probably transfer the hazel to the back garden, as I'd like another one in order to actually get some nuts from the trees in a few years, and they'll need more space. Coppicing is a possibility but the hazel would need to be a lot bigger first. What I'd like is a truffle/hazelnut tree as I'm a huge fan of mushrooms, and I could get two-for-one. Truffles are lovely, but gods knows I can't afford to buy them!
The cherry tree is setting its first blooms, which is pretty exciting! Only a few, but it's a good sign I think. I don't expect any cherries this year but at least it seems the tree likes where it is at the moment. I'm still considering the mulberry, and a pear-minarette provided I can keep the dog off it! Where they'll go, I've no idea, but those are plots and plans for another year.
All in all, things are going well and I'm very pleased with garden progress this year. I imagine Sprog is going to want to water the garden all by himself again today, and he was so chuffed yesterday that I'm more than willing to oblige. After all, that's what this is all about.
Labels: During, Garden, Good Life
0 comment Wednesday, August 6, 2014 | admin
I was armed and ready today with �150 of the funds I received from Gardening for Disabled. It was going to prove to be a trek for me but I just promised myself I'd have a nice long bath and go to bed at 8pm tonight.
I managed to get a bus over to Wilton Garden Nursery, and even though I have been debating what to get for months, I so found myself overwhelmed. Amazing colour and fragrance and foilage everywhere...and what were the chances I'd be able to get any of it on the bus?! After selecting the rather obvious herbal pots, I made my way to a staffperson and asked if someone would be so kind to help me narrow down some choices.
Immediately an incredibly helpful chap came round and toured me all about the garden centre, asking about my requirements (good colour, good fragrance, non-poisonous). I got some really great ideas, and discovered some breathtakingly beautiful daisy-like flowers which I really can't wait to get into the garden, they're beautiful! He also introduced me to fancy-leaf geraniums. Understand I've always found geraniums to be rather boring, but these plants are so technicolour, it's unreal! And the leaves are so very soft to touch, they're just packed with sensory detail. I was also turned onto some landscape "sword grass"(?) which comes in amazing colours and yet, isn't sharp like the pampas grass Sprog has managed to get fixated upon. Passionflower, a thornless rose bush and some Japanese maple all went into the pot and was gently stirred, but as much as temptation called, I don't want to make any big final decisions on permanent placement until the final landscaping is done, so I resisted - just!
I managed to make a few more choices on plants and even was given ideas I hadn't even thought of before - hedging with rosemary and lavender is certainly a bit of a "duh" moment for me, I should have thought of it before! I think that's what I'll do in order to give sprog his "secret garden" space, and yet also add to the fragrance and herbal use of the garden. Still, gardening isn't all srs biznss: I added a splash of kitsch by getting some very technicolour plastic pinwheels, which I'll add to the rainbow coloured windsock I've also purchased as bright sensory visual detail for the garden. Yeah I know - rather hideous but get those going and our bubble machine and it's instant giggle material. And I gotta admit, the visual tickles me.
It would have been very easy (insanely easy!) to spend all the dosh I had just on plants alone, but I was also keeping in mind the practicality aspect; the grant was given to me for "active" gardening for disabled people, and one thing I'm tired of struggling with is the watering can, at least when it comes to going to the back garden! So I also invested in a really durable hose which apparently has a 10 year warranty. That would be excessive if one did not know the Sprog+Dog combination at my house - durable is good. I also invested in another set of gardening gloves for sprog so he has his very own pair once more, and I got the small growhouses for the tomato plants (and then realised when I get home that I'm not so certain a four-foot-high growhouse is going to accommodate indeterminate toms! But it will give them a good start and as weird as it may look, I can always grow them through the tops with the stakes. In addition to this, I had a look over the tools, and got his advice on the Wolf Garten line - a lot of versatility in those and they don't seem too hard to keep straight or use, even when my hands are giving me trouble. Worth remembering. I put in some plant food in the mix as I'm really just starting out on the gardening lark and neither my compost bin nor my comfrey plants have been long established, so I can't bank on the organic feeding just yet.
I quickly found however that I was rapidly reaching my limit of spending for the day, and I hadn't even picked up any soil yet! Nothing else for it, unfortunately - and then how to get it all home? Well, Helpful Gent told me that they can offer a delivery service. I never knew - hurrah! For no charge they'll bring things round for me on Monday; he was rather apologetic as we were both getting really enthusiastic about garden plants and he had been really hopeful he could get things to me this week, but nothing else for it. To be honest, I wasn't troubled; I would have never managed to get those plants anywhere else but at a garden centre, and certainly never managed to get them home. On top of that, we're looking at our last very heavy frost in the next day or two - I'd feel an idiot if I got the stuff here on Tues only to have it all die on me on Wed morning! All in all I was very chuffed when I left and I look forward to getting those plants in, and daydreamed colour all through my lunch in Wagamama. Yep, rare treat, I ate in a restaurant for lunch, but at that point I was starting to find walking difficult and I had only eaten a slice of toast for breakfast, so I needed to recharge without putting forth any further energy.
In addition to this great garden-score, I was on a mission for White Horehound online. Now, for whatever smegging reason, the stuff is difficult to find. VERY difficult. Even harder to find when I need to pay via Paypal. I grumbled a fair bit about this and then, lo and behold, Google was kind to me. I found a company called "Plants With A Purpose" - that's the bunny! It's way up in Scotland but they have a wide assortment of medicinal plants, and a great store of herbal knowledge. They even offered what they called "The Mediaeval Collection" which featured a bunch of herbs I have been looking round for but haven't been able to find; goat's rue, meadowsweet, soapwort, and so on. Bonus! I added a bergamot, some mallowroot and my very-sought-for horehound, and that order is winging its way to me as well.
I have still been foiled on the topsoil front. It was looking as if I'd have to order from somewhere well across the country for a ton of earth, and pay through the nose. But after some hunting about, I found a company in Hampshire which sells topsoil that hasn't just been dug out of a construction site or a landfill somewhere. They can do two tonnes for the cost of one anywhere else. VERY tempting offer. Unfortunately for me, I can't quite swing the cost - I'm nearly spent up as much as I dare to be if I still want to get works complete. It's sort of backwards and not very cost effective in the long run, but I'll have to grit my teeth and just go for the bagged, bog-standard B & Q stuff which I can put down �20 for. A stopgap measure but the best I can do right now; the toms need planting when the stuff arrives next week, the potatoes need hilling up, and everything honestly could use a bit of a topdress, so needs must for now.
The pinnacle of awesome has yet to be fulfilled however: Wumpy House is being ordered this week! This is not coming under the "actively gardening" bit, and therefore none of the funds are being used on it - it's Ex's gift to the garden project which I think he's secretly rather impressed with even though he and plants don't get on ("I don't touch them, they don't die - that's the agreement.") Then I'll need to get some cash together to paint it, and also paint the fence. Wumpy House will need a spider scarer too - this area is spider heaven during the fall and they get HUGE round here. I won't be having spiders in my son's playhouse - those are the Rules. We've a spare mat for the flooring so it doesn't look so naff, and maybe I can get really inspired and paint the inside as well. I'll keep the hope on that one as I really, really want him to like it - so I'll paint it however he wants. It could be bright pink with psychedelic bubble-detailing, I wouldn't care, and possibly be secretly jealous.
Then, another dig-deep-into-the-pockets for the sandbox which I have picked out, and even though the grass won't be back 100% (and I probably won't be able to work on the state of the lawn again until Sept/Oct time) it should be a relatively welcoming Wump-space to keep my son happily occupied over the summer. Raised beds and so on up that way would be a bonus. If my son is happy, playing and chattering outside, then I'm happy. It's always done my heart in to watch him just circle round and round, round and round, in the garden previously as there were no toys out there, no plants, no colour, and all sorts of dangerous stuff he wasn't allowed to play on or touch. I want this to really be full-sensory space where he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.
So, it's 8pm, and I did promise myself I would be heading to bed - especially as it's shopping tomorrow! Then the rather despised house-inspection Wed, a mental health assessment for sprog on Thursday (sounds more ominous than it is, but it's still going to be two hours long and very draining for me AND sprog), and Friday I'll more than likely need to head on another trek for potting soil.
Yeah, I know, doesn't exactly look like this whole rest-and-heal thing I was going on about does it? Pressure is mostly off next week, so all in good time.
Sun's still up, but goodnight anyway!
I managed to get a bus over to Wilton Garden Nursery, and even though I have been debating what to get for months, I so found myself overwhelmed. Amazing colour and fragrance and foilage everywhere...and what were the chances I'd be able to get any of it on the bus?! After selecting the rather obvious herbal pots, I made my way to a staffperson and asked if someone would be so kind to help me narrow down some choices.
Immediately an incredibly helpful chap came round and toured me all about the garden centre, asking about my requirements (good colour, good fragrance, non-poisonous). I got some really great ideas, and discovered some breathtakingly beautiful daisy-like flowers which I really can't wait to get into the garden, they're beautiful! He also introduced me to fancy-leaf geraniums. Understand I've always found geraniums to be rather boring, but these plants are so technicolour, it's unreal! And the leaves are so very soft to touch, they're just packed with sensory detail. I was also turned onto some landscape "sword grass"(?) which comes in amazing colours and yet, isn't sharp like the pampas grass Sprog has managed to get fixated upon. Passionflower, a thornless rose bush and some Japanese maple all went into the pot and was gently stirred, but as much as temptation called, I don't want to make any big final decisions on permanent placement until the final landscaping is done, so I resisted - just!
I managed to make a few more choices on plants and even was given ideas I hadn't even thought of before - hedging with rosemary and lavender is certainly a bit of a "duh" moment for me, I should have thought of it before! I think that's what I'll do in order to give sprog his "secret garden" space, and yet also add to the fragrance and herbal use of the garden. Still, gardening isn't all srs biznss: I added a splash of kitsch by getting some very technicolour plastic pinwheels, which I'll add to the rainbow coloured windsock I've also purchased as bright sensory visual detail for the garden. Yeah I know - rather hideous but get those going and our bubble machine and it's instant giggle material. And I gotta admit, the visual tickles me.
It would have been very easy (insanely easy!) to spend all the dosh I had just on plants alone, but I was also keeping in mind the practicality aspect; the grant was given to me for "active" gardening for disabled people, and one thing I'm tired of struggling with is the watering can, at least when it comes to going to the back garden! So I also invested in a really durable hose which apparently has a 10 year warranty. That would be excessive if one did not know the Sprog+Dog combination at my house - durable is good. I also invested in another set of gardening gloves for sprog so he has his very own pair once more, and I got the small growhouses for the tomato plants (and then realised when I get home that I'm not so certain a four-foot-high growhouse is going to accommodate indeterminate toms! But it will give them a good start and as weird as it may look, I can always grow them through the tops with the stakes. In addition to this, I had a look over the tools, and got his advice on the Wolf Garten line - a lot of versatility in those and they don't seem too hard to keep straight or use, even when my hands are giving me trouble. Worth remembering. I put in some plant food in the mix as I'm really just starting out on the gardening lark and neither my compost bin nor my comfrey plants have been long established, so I can't bank on the organic feeding just yet.
I quickly found however that I was rapidly reaching my limit of spending for the day, and I hadn't even picked up any soil yet! Nothing else for it, unfortunately - and then how to get it all home? Well, Helpful Gent told me that they can offer a delivery service. I never knew - hurrah! For no charge they'll bring things round for me on Monday; he was rather apologetic as we were both getting really enthusiastic about garden plants and he had been really hopeful he could get things to me this week, but nothing else for it. To be honest, I wasn't troubled; I would have never managed to get those plants anywhere else but at a garden centre, and certainly never managed to get them home. On top of that, we're looking at our last very heavy frost in the next day or two - I'd feel an idiot if I got the stuff here on Tues only to have it all die on me on Wed morning! All in all I was very chuffed when I left and I look forward to getting those plants in, and daydreamed colour all through my lunch in Wagamama. Yep, rare treat, I ate in a restaurant for lunch, but at that point I was starting to find walking difficult and I had only eaten a slice of toast for breakfast, so I needed to recharge without putting forth any further energy.
In addition to this great garden-score, I was on a mission for White Horehound online. Now, for whatever smegging reason, the stuff is difficult to find. VERY difficult. Even harder to find when I need to pay via Paypal. I grumbled a fair bit about this and then, lo and behold, Google was kind to me. I found a company called "Plants With A Purpose" - that's the bunny! It's way up in Scotland but they have a wide assortment of medicinal plants, and a great store of herbal knowledge. They even offered what they called "The Mediaeval Collection" which featured a bunch of herbs I have been looking round for but haven't been able to find; goat's rue, meadowsweet, soapwort, and so on. Bonus! I added a bergamot, some mallowroot and my very-sought-for horehound, and that order is winging its way to me as well.
I have still been foiled on the topsoil front. It was looking as if I'd have to order from somewhere well across the country for a ton of earth, and pay through the nose. But after some hunting about, I found a company in Hampshire which sells topsoil that hasn't just been dug out of a construction site or a landfill somewhere. They can do two tonnes for the cost of one anywhere else. VERY tempting offer. Unfortunately for me, I can't quite swing the cost - I'm nearly spent up as much as I dare to be if I still want to get works complete. It's sort of backwards and not very cost effective in the long run, but I'll have to grit my teeth and just go for the bagged, bog-standard B & Q stuff which I can put down �20 for. A stopgap measure but the best I can do right now; the toms need planting when the stuff arrives next week, the potatoes need hilling up, and everything honestly could use a bit of a topdress, so needs must for now.
The pinnacle of awesome has yet to be fulfilled however: Wumpy House is being ordered this week! This is not coming under the "actively gardening" bit, and therefore none of the funds are being used on it - it's Ex's gift to the garden project which I think he's secretly rather impressed with even though he and plants don't get on ("I don't touch them, they don't die - that's the agreement.") Then I'll need to get some cash together to paint it, and also paint the fence. Wumpy House will need a spider scarer too - this area is spider heaven during the fall and they get HUGE round here. I won't be having spiders in my son's playhouse - those are the Rules. We've a spare mat for the flooring so it doesn't look so naff, and maybe I can get really inspired and paint the inside as well. I'll keep the hope on that one as I really, really want him to like it - so I'll paint it however he wants. It could be bright pink with psychedelic bubble-detailing, I wouldn't care, and possibly be secretly jealous.
Then, another dig-deep-into-the-pockets for the sandbox which I have picked out, and even though the grass won't be back 100% (and I probably won't be able to work on the state of the lawn again until Sept/Oct time) it should be a relatively welcoming Wump-space to keep my son happily occupied over the summer. Raised beds and so on up that way would be a bonus. If my son is happy, playing and chattering outside, then I'm happy. It's always done my heart in to watch him just circle round and round, round and round, in the garden previously as there were no toys out there, no plants, no colour, and all sorts of dangerous stuff he wasn't allowed to play on or touch. I want this to really be full-sensory space where he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.
So, it's 8pm, and I did promise myself I would be heading to bed - especially as it's shopping tomorrow! Then the rather despised house-inspection Wed, a mental health assessment for sprog on Thursday (sounds more ominous than it is, but it's still going to be two hours long and very draining for me AND sprog), and Friday I'll more than likely need to head on another trek for potting soil.
Yeah, I know, doesn't exactly look like this whole rest-and-heal thing I was going on about does it? Pressure is mostly off next week, so all in good time.
Sun's still up, but goodnight anyway!
0 comment Saturday, July 19, 2014 | admin
Plant a Difference from Thrive Charity is sending me a box of donated perennial plants! I'm very chuffed at this and looking forward to what will arrive on Friday. Since the entire week has been dedicated to "digging" in one form or another, I'm very pleased. Also on Friday the Wumpy House will be arriving, so I need to be sure that gets stowed somewhere safe-ish for the week as it won't get assembled until the following weekend (and by "safe" this also means "completely out of Sprog's Point Of View or I'll never hear the end of it"). Very chuffed!
My tools in the form of soil rake, a "digger" and a "scrapey thing" for weeds (technical terms of my own) has arrived. Yay, Wolf Garten. Sort-of-boo Ebay. Yes, the tools were much cheaper through ebay but they didn't come packaged or labelled - the price was incredibly low for these tools, which is why I bought them. But, as has become more and more clear to me, thieves are robbing people and then selling the spoils on ebay - entire truckloads of items are disappearing, warehouses being robbed, and since this happened recently to my dear Fairy Gardenmother, I actually was wanting to cancel my tool order, but it arrived today. Suffice to say, even though I now have some damn good tools, I'll be a bit more cautious in the future about the too-good-a-deal. In order for something to be a bargain, more often than not it means someone else has just managed to get screwed.
Now, with all this activity happening, and what promises to be two days this week of gardening interspersed with soapwork, I find myself thinking there's a possible book in all these trials and tribulations. I used to be a writer, but fibro-fog and fatigue has made focussing on creating new subject matter quite difficult. Now, since the subject matter is here right in front of me, I am thinking about it; I'll have to put my mind to it and see what I can do, though it will take time - considerably more time than it used to due to concentration, or the lack thereof.
My tools in the form of soil rake, a "digger" and a "scrapey thing" for weeds (technical terms of my own) has arrived. Yay, Wolf Garten. Sort-of-boo Ebay. Yes, the tools were much cheaper through ebay but they didn't come packaged or labelled - the price was incredibly low for these tools, which is why I bought them. But, as has become more and more clear to me, thieves are robbing people and then selling the spoils on ebay - entire truckloads of items are disappearing, warehouses being robbed, and since this happened recently to my dear Fairy Gardenmother, I actually was wanting to cancel my tool order, but it arrived today. Suffice to say, even though I now have some damn good tools, I'll be a bit more cautious in the future about the too-good-a-deal. In order for something to be a bargain, more often than not it means someone else has just managed to get screwed.
Now, with all this activity happening, and what promises to be two days this week of gardening interspersed with soapwork, I find myself thinking there's a possible book in all these trials and tribulations. I used to be a writer, but fibro-fog and fatigue has made focussing on creating new subject matter quite difficult. Now, since the subject matter is here right in front of me, I am thinking about it; I'll have to put my mind to it and see what I can do, though it will take time - considerably more time than it used to due to concentration, or the lack thereof.
0 comment Wednesday, July 9, 2014 | admin
Things are somewhat quiet here due to me quite honestly being too strung out lately to write anything interesting. I've been busy this week - nothing too major, really, but Languishment has meant I've been calling off all activities at around noon and napping until my son gets home. I'm still getting rather Red-Alert levels of fatigue however, and the shopping run I'm doing this morning will be brief and to the point so I can come back and do some much overdue mending and preparation for the fair event at the end of the month.
I now have a HEPA air filter/ioniser to cut down on the dust levels in the house, and it seems to be working quite well - we'll see how it does on the dust but I notice I'm not sniffling or coughing as much as I was doing, and the sore throat I've been suffering from for the past month is also starting to ease a bit. We also have spider scarers installed in sprog's room and hopefully these will keep the spiders out of there this year.
Tonight the landscaping team will pop round to discuss what we can do with the garden to make it more level, along with raised bed plotting and hopefully a bit of a topsoil score. After purchasing more plants and tools for the garden I have about �500 left but that should certainly manage to get a bit more done, hopefully in time for summer break. The main thing is leveling the garden even further to cut the sloping down to a minimum and getting a raised bed or two installed. Topsoil hopefully will be left over and I can use that to reseed the lawn. I really miss having grass!
It's definitely getting to outside weather time again as sprog asks to go outside now on a regular basis - it's around 7am right now and sprog has been up since six, and has already been outside twice! It's not too interesting out there at the moment - no beds, no wumpyhouse, but he's entertaining himself with the flints and laying them out like dinosaur skeletons and "fossil hunting". He's certainly looking forward to the delivery on Monday as I've told him of all the new plants and tools which he will have all to himself, and so a very excited Wump will be coming home from school to get started.
I'll be following up with some more photos of this final Stage 3 for the year as things commence, so fingers crossed things will be happening soon!
I now have a HEPA air filter/ioniser to cut down on the dust levels in the house, and it seems to be working quite well - we'll see how it does on the dust but I notice I'm not sniffling or coughing as much as I was doing, and the sore throat I've been suffering from for the past month is also starting to ease a bit. We also have spider scarers installed in sprog's room and hopefully these will keep the spiders out of there this year.
Tonight the landscaping team will pop round to discuss what we can do with the garden to make it more level, along with raised bed plotting and hopefully a bit of a topsoil score. After purchasing more plants and tools for the garden I have about �500 left but that should certainly manage to get a bit more done, hopefully in time for summer break. The main thing is leveling the garden even further to cut the sloping down to a minimum and getting a raised bed or two installed. Topsoil hopefully will be left over and I can use that to reseed the lawn. I really miss having grass!
It's definitely getting to outside weather time again as sprog asks to go outside now on a regular basis - it's around 7am right now and sprog has been up since six, and has already been outside twice! It's not too interesting out there at the moment - no beds, no wumpyhouse, but he's entertaining himself with the flints and laying them out like dinosaur skeletons and "fossil hunting". He's certainly looking forward to the delivery on Monday as I've told him of all the new plants and tools which he will have all to himself, and so a very excited Wump will be coming home from school to get started.
I'll be following up with some more photos of this final Stage 3 for the year as things commence, so fingers crossed things will be happening soon!
Labels: During, Languishment
0 comment Tuesday, June 17, 2014 | admin
Woot and thanks again to the DTEP; Cute Dread Guy stayed till 7:45pm, manfully nailing boards into place long after I would have said bugger-this, and it's now done and sorted. Sprog ran back and forth like a mad thing over the new dirt, I introduced him to chalkstone (of which we have no shortage whatsoever, this area is nowt but chalk beneath the flint) and we playfully marked of his bit and my bit on the new fence with chalk.
He wants to run all over the place, and I've gone over the soil to pick out anything he might hurt himself on, but the lads were thorough, so there was only a bit of rusty metal hinge and one piece of broken glass unearthed - the rest was copacetic, if flinty. No grass? Sprog hardly cares.
So, the major bit of the whole project has just been completed, and now we'll get the grass growing again. Beds will follow eventually, but not this year, I think. I'll just do what I can by growing a few things along the fence for now, and we'll just rest on the laurels for a bit, with a fair few photos and, hopefully, further advocacy for people in my same situation.
Gild the cage, y0.
He wants to run all over the place, and I've gone over the soil to pick out anything he might hurt himself on, but the lads were thorough, so there was only a bit of rusty metal hinge and one piece of broken glass unearthed - the rest was copacetic, if flinty. No grass? Sprog hardly cares.
So, the major bit of the whole project has just been completed, and now we'll get the grass growing again. Beds will follow eventually, but not this year, I think. I'll just do what I can by growing a few things along the fence for now, and we'll just rest on the laurels for a bit, with a fair few photos and, hopefully, further advocacy for people in my same situation.
Gild the cage, y0.
Labels: During, Garden, Good Life, Sprog
0 comment Saturday, May 24, 2014 | admin
I don't often post photos of my child - he's beautiful (and I don't think I'm completely biased here) and also vulnerable, and gods knows how many creeps there are on the internet, but this huge smile on my son's face pretty much epitomises why I have spent over seven months and countless hours drumming up support and funding for gardening, frustration and aching limbs and exhaustion and arguments with estate agents and...yeah.
But here's the payoff; new plants arriving from Thrive containing some perennials, which I was very glad to see - I like the colour of annuals but I don't have the energy to continuously put plants in the ground, so something I can just bung in and tend as it grows suits me fine. So, here were these lovely plants, just waiting for somewhere to go and I know my son would be keen when he got home as he's been waiting for these plants ever since I told him they'd be arriving.
He has an obsession with rocks, pretending they're fossils and arranging them in (very convincing) vertebrae formations. Since our soil is pretty much all flint with a bit of clay in between, finding rocks isn't hard, and he'd found loads. So, I told him we could make a bed for his plants, and he decided he wanted to do a "rock line". He put all the rocks together into a low wall, chose the plants he wanted, and I cleared weeds, dug in the last of our soil (and pulled out even more rocks) then put the wallflower, snapdragon, and "pincushion" (can't remember the name of it) plant in. The board in the back is there to rather quixotically keep the weeds on the other side of the fence at bay, but since there are two tree saplings right there, I think this might be rather wishful thinking. If I snipped them down, I wonder if anyone would notice....
Still, it was a good effort and my son was obviously very pleased. That's only three plants out of, well, a whole lot left! So we've still got our work cut out for us over the next few weeks. But bung-it-in-and-water-it shall be the whole of the law. I'm lovin' my tools, though - not having to be on the ground on hands and knees is such a blessing!
But here's the payoff; new plants arriving from Thrive containing some perennials, which I was very glad to see - I like the colour of annuals but I don't have the energy to continuously put plants in the ground, so something I can just bung in and tend as it grows suits me fine. So, here were these lovely plants, just waiting for somewhere to go and I know my son would be keen when he got home as he's been waiting for these plants ever since I told him they'd be arriving.
He has an obsession with rocks, pretending they're fossils and arranging them in (very convincing) vertebrae formations. Since our soil is pretty much all flint with a bit of clay in between, finding rocks isn't hard, and he'd found loads. So, I told him we could make a bed for his plants, and he decided he wanted to do a "rock line". He put all the rocks together into a low wall, chose the plants he wanted, and I cleared weeds, dug in the last of our soil (and pulled out even more rocks) then put the wallflower, snapdragon, and "pincushion" (can't remember the name of it) plant in. The board in the back is there to rather quixotically keep the weeds on the other side of the fence at bay, but since there are two tree saplings right there, I think this might be rather wishful thinking. If I snipped them down, I wonder if anyone would notice....
Still, it was a good effort and my son was obviously very pleased. That's only three plants out of, well, a whole lot left! So we've still got our work cut out for us over the next few weeks. But bung-it-in-and-water-it shall be the whole of the law. I'm lovin' my tools, though - not having to be on the ground on hands and knees is such a blessing!