This weekend has seen some play but mostly work.
Yesterday we stole half a day at Aberearon and (not) totally in line with our diet we feasted on fish and chips for lunch. The sometimes sunny, breezy autumnal day and slightly choppy harbour made a perfect Saturday morning out. We keep saying we are going to have an overnight stay there in a B & B but so far that luxury has escaped us.
Returning home we started to tackle the big list of jobs awaiting us. I emptied, sorted and refilled the greenhouse whilst the Wilf one was trying to recover from Watford F.C. winning a match!
Today has been a long day, I am aching from the small amount of gardening I have done. Through the week I have been snatching half an hour each evening to prepare and lay the weed barrier material on three quarters of one of the veg beds.
T-W-O fixed the gate to the dogs area and finally fixed the fire tools in the dining room – we have only had the for around six months!
This morning the Wilf one (T-W-O) and I went off to the tip where they sell shredded wood for £1.50 a bag, they supply the bags and the shredded wood, all you have to do is fill them yourself. We did have a second reason for the trip and that was to dispose of the evidence of some of our wine consumption. On the way we called into Martin and Aura for a coffee and a chat, he is off to North America tomorrow, we added the evidence of their wine consumption to ours. We were saddened to see they had consumed a bottle of Baileys but we had seen none of it. What are friends for I ask myself!
We filled the back of the car with six sturdy bags of chippings and returned home, then carted the bags across the garden (or sodden bog as it rained most of last night) and tipped them out to cover the black weed suppressant material. I have requested a new wheel barrow for Christmas from T-W-O which would make this task much easier on the back. Job done we had another totally (none) diet friendly lunch – roast rib of beef with all the trimmings (yes that does include yorkshire pudding which I hadn’t made for ages).
This afternoon T-W-O has tackled the mountain of ironing I created in my cleaning frenzy, he does it while watching the football on the telly and I carried on in the garden. Opening up two trenches for next years runner beans I went to the ‘resting’ compost heap, half hopeful of finding the sweet soft black stuff. Success, the compost is crumbly, not smelly in any way and looks the part, the best I’ve ever produced. I lined the bean trenches with a few shovel loads as this compost has to stretch a long way. I will be adding to the trench mix until spring.
Inspired I moved on to the tyre veg bed. It was in some need of weeding and I worked away pulling, twisting raking and swearing at the brambles that creep in from the field next door. In between this I cleaned out the chickens house. As payment they came to help me tidy the beds, the funny little things always work around me when I’m gardening. Sometimes I have to shoo them away from the shovel so I can dig and other times I have to tell them off for weeding the seedlings not the weeds.
My compost bins are the cheapest on the market. If you have a corner that isn’t too much on display all you need is 4 old pallets – try asking at your local tip if they can save you a few – some string and something to put on top. I have an old piece of corrugated roofing but I have heard that old carpet is very good.
Stand up 3 of the pallets in a u to form the back and sides of your compost bin. Tie the sides to the back with string at the top and bottom. I find this makes them quite rigid. Then put the front one in place as your gate. As you fill it cover it up with the old carper or whatever you put on top. I like this type of bin because you can wheel in the barrow and tip. My composters have now lasted three years.
