Barn Building

Have been having a go at more carpentry this week - under the ever watchful eye of Chris.  Whilst he of course has done the lion's share of building; I seem to have acquired a little confidence at using a router and so edged and sanded the shelves for the inside of my.......................wait for it!  Barn!!  Well!  It's the nearest I'm ever going top get to owning a real one and it does look wonderfully rustic!  The fence and gable end have been made out of planked Alder, Willow and Oak from the other Chris's wood.  Note Chris's disguised door - only the sawn edge at its top gives it away.

The through path provides the only step-free and level route from one end of the garden to the other so the far north gable end will probably remain open meaning that it's actually more like a verandah beneath the shingled roof.  However it does mean that Al has more storage space adjacent to the oil tank and the oil tank itself will benefit from more shelter from the elements.

The trellis is made from concrete reinforcing mesh.  Chris cut out the curves and welded the top curve on afterwards.  The shelf helps stabilise the panels and provides a perfect pot spot.  

When the Ivy (Hedera Paddy's Pride) get's going, we should have a wall of green surrounding the Androlia stained glass.  Inside, the sun streams through both the stained glass and the multi coloured ivy leaves as well as the gaps in the planking creating quite a pleasing and colourful dappled/shadow effect.

More spring photos in the garden:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100788191989823327785/PamSBarn1832012 

Wheels within wheels

I think I may just have had an idea to finish off the gate quadrants between the wall and the gate posts.  If we could fix 3 pairs of lovely old cast iron wheels - courtesy of Chris and Maureen in matched pairs, it would be the perfect solution.  Better see what our esteemed builder has to say on the subject!!

Pond Work

New home to the 7 Dogwoods

Spring weather means doing much needed tidying up around and in the pond.  Dead heading, weeding, pump maintenance and margin reshaping and planting.  The remaining 7 Dogwoods (Cornus Sanguinea) from the old greenhouse path - that didn't make the Aspen Grove have moved to the foot of the pond and the steep grassy bank has been reduced - it always was tricky to mow!  All that remains is some re-building of the stone work at the head of the pond and to re-site the pump, tubing and cables and to try to scoop out some of the leaf debris at the bottom.  Hopefully we won't disturb the King Cups which are ready to bloom and looking at their very best.

It's looking a lot like spring!!

It really is!  The snowdrops have all faded and the spring flowers are popping up all over the place.  In the woodland border the Hellebores and Pulmonarias are looking really colourful as are the Primulas and Croci.   Even the Symphytums are budding up and the day glow acid green of the Euphorbia's adds another dimension to spring colour.  Today was a plant acquisition day and we came home with Celandines ( Brazen Hussy) more Pulmonarias and Wood Anemones - both wild and hybrids.  I know Celandines can be a nuisance and that. once planted, I'll never be rid of them but I love 'em! 

Lawn mowing has commenced which has meant miles of edging and mowing until the end of next autumn which seems a very long way away right now.  I wonder how many miles I'll have walked behind a lawn mower by then!

In the greenhouse we've had good germination rate with purple sprouting, leeks, Greyhound cabbages and various herbs. The exception is the Alyssum Saxatile.  Out of an entire pack of Sutton's seeds only about 4 germinated.  For the very first time, I've also lost some chitting Arran Pilots to rot.  Never ever been known before.  Why exactly do rotting potatoes smell quite so AWFUL?

Hardly Thomas Chippendale!

Recycled oak throne 

The odd rainy Saturday in the garden at PTC never means idle hands!  This particular rainy Saturday meant the production of a very rustic chair made from recycled oak fence posts and rails.  Not quite the driftwood effect but, not a millions miles away. Meanwhile; Pugh's Pew has moved down to the Aspen Grove to make room for Thompson's Throne?

Comments from the the Coop

Lulu - too cold for 2 feet!

Despite the recent cold snap and the loss of Amelia a couple of weeks ago; egg production has been eggsellent (sorry!) all winter long and sales have boomed - well relatively speaking!  The flock is now reduced to 4 and only Black Betty remains as one of our original girls.  Even so, frequently we are finding 4 eggs daily.  Given the short days and low light levels, we reckon that's pretty good.

Of course our girls are very spoilt. On the breakfast menu is warm mash with a sprinkling of mealworms and generous handfuls of mixed corn.  They also have a block of mixed grain and molasses suspended above their outdoor perch to peck at all day as well as layers pellets in their hopper.  Surplus greenery from local farm shops and bruised apples are always demolished with great relish.  Grit and oyster shell along with fresh water are always on hand and each morning their day old Daily Telegraph is delivered and spread on the floor of their house.  All droppings are wrapped up and composted.

Funny how very satisfying it is to find a pile of perfectly aimed fresh hen's droppings on the smug face of some idiot politician/celeb!  A good start to any day.

All round Poultry Paradise you might say.

Drive Widening & Hedge Narrowing

The original wide hedge

Digging out the roots and stumps

We had been giving much thought to the old drive hedge which consisted of ever browning Leylandii and much neglected Hawthorn.  We noted the extent of die back in the Leylandii and we looked at its vast width.  Mrs. Carwood from whom we buy our hedging plants has decided to retire at the end of this season and so we had to make our decision fast.  We weighed up the pros and cons.  So late in the season meant that any decision to buy bare rooted hedging plants had to be made fast.  It was now or never.  We couldn't contemplate buying from elsewhere.  The other considerations were soil levels and the ditch on the far side.  We would definitely need some form of retention for the higher soil level and with all that's going on - what would we use and how long would it take?  Chris builder came up with the solution: residual stone (from our day's quarrying) used on its side.  Did we have enough left over?  He thought so.

So it was all go!  Chris set to work with a chainsaw and then a digger. He had the digger for 3 days and even dug out the ditch.  His bonfire burnt for 4 days.  When all the digger work was finished, we spent a day putting up the new posts and rails with rabbit wire and when that was done both Chris's spent a day building the stone retaining wall, finishing off the rails and levelling the soil.

The 2 Chris's building the stone retaining wall

A trip to Mrs. Carwood's on Saturday to pick up the new Laurels - all wonderfully healthy plants with well established root systems kept moist in bin liners, kept Chris and I busy for the rest of the afternoon.  Three Hawthorns (Cratageous laevigata Paul's Scarlet) were also placed along the line of Laurels so, in a year or two's time, we should have a dense evergreen hedge with pretty pink May blossom in spring and - much more room on the drive! 

All finished and 4' of drive gained by the garage