For very nice reasons (which we won't detail on this blog!) Monday will become Chris's new day in the garden at PTC! It's a big change in horticultural tradition round here - as for 8 years; Saturdays were pretty much sacrosanct! Last week it was Friday and he brought his friend Nick. Between them, they lowered the soil level ready for Chris builder to lay the new flag stones thereby extending the terrace. They also dug out the soil from beneath the new stepping stones.
With ever an eye for detail, it was Chris who noticed that the gales had blown over the Wollemi Pine over and immediately rescued it by staking it. At first it looked as if the top had been broken out but luckily, it remained in one piece. He also found the very first bloom on the Lonicera Fragrantissima - I told you he has an amazing eye for detail!
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| Novice stone dressing & carving |
Saturday was dark, dull and dismal but at least it remained dry allowing Chris Builder to lay loads of flag stone and for me to try my hand at a bit of stone dressing! Some of the quoins around the arch had to be cut to size leaving rather new looking faces. It was out with a selection of hammers and chisels to see how they could best be 'aged.' It didn't take long to realise that a bit of tasteful graffiti could be attempted by way of inscribing our initials, the date and even a pear! The more I did, the more my confidence grew. The first attempts were a bit disappointing as I wasn't able to carve out letters with clean edges. I kept chipping the letter edges. Then I remembered that I had a small 'V' shaped wood carving chisel and decided to try that. A bit of a big ask - using a woodworking chisel on stone but, it stood up to the task quite well. I left an unchipped rectangle to try and make it stand out a little more. At least it's a permanent record of another garden project!
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