There I was at 1pm, outside the local police station with three, count 'em three police officers, me with a garden fork in hand and all of us looking dubiously at the scraggly rhododendrons in their "garden". One of them took the fork off me and started digging up a clump of past-it daffs.
PC1: Don't dig it up! Don't dig it up!
PC2: Why not?
PC1: You'll have to get all those stones off first. If you dig anything up, all the stones will just go into the soil.
PC3: There's plastic underneath too, look.
Me: Oh dear.
PC1: You need a rake or a broom or something.
PC2: A broom?
PC1: To sweep all the stones off.
PC3: You should probably come back on Saturday morning...
Yep, so that's what I'll do then. I got the e-mail saying to turn up to dig up all the plants in the police station garden, but not the other email saying not to bother. All the tools were there and I was willing to give it a go, but cooler heads than mine prevailed. Saturday was supposed to be the planting day but I guess now it'll be the digging-up day. Unless the PCs get motivated. Personally I'd find gardening in a stab vest a bit warm.
Right now I'm off out to plant some stuff in my own patch.
18 April 2007
4 April 2007
:: progress report
Today I battered in the stakes on the raised bed and screwed the gravel boards in place. It wasn't too easy - most of the stakes ended up at slightly different angles for a start. But once I'd heaved in the two bags of dirt it looked a lot better. The third bag is still in the car boot - didn't have time to heave it out today.
While I had the drill out I completed another little project I've been procrastinating on and put up a washing line. The previous owner for some reason took down one of the three concrete posts set up for a traditional line (and left the post where it lay! it weighs a ton & can't be reused), so today I bolted a hasp to the tree to act as the third pole. Hurrah! I'll hang out my first load of washing tomorrow.
Some photos:
Planted some sunflower seeds....
.... which were much appreciated by the enterprising wildlife.
This is the raised bed earlier in the week, before I finished building it.
My nice compost bin - it's German, very cunningly designed and made from recycled plastic. I have a worm bin too.
While I had the drill out I completed another little project I've been procrastinating on and put up a washing line. The previous owner for some reason took down one of the three concrete posts set up for a traditional line (and left the post where it lay! it weighs a ton & can't be reused), so today I bolted a hasp to the tree to act as the third pole. Hurrah! I'll hang out my first load of washing tomorrow.
Some photos:
Planted some sunflower seeds....
.... which were much appreciated by the enterprising wildlife.
This is the raised bed earlier in the week, before I finished building it.
My nice compost bin - it's German, very cunningly designed and made from recycled plastic. I have a worm bin too.
:: nearly finished!
This afternoon I finally whanged in the posts on the raised bed, screwed the planks to them and tipped in the two bags of dirt I've managed to haul in from the car (one still to go; bad news is I think I'll need another few bags). It looks great! Not perfect - it's hard to whang the posts in straight - but certainly dirt-proof.
While I had the electric drill out I attacked a tree with it. The traditional clothes-drying arrangement in Edinburgh and environs is a to have special posts and a line strung between them. At some point before I bought my place, one of the posts had been taken down. It's an enormously heavy concrete thing, so reusing it isn't an option (yes, it's still there! I managed to heave it to the back of the section but it was a major struggle. There are two others, but they're both on the same side so useless). So I have screwed a heavy galvinised bracket to the pine tree at the back and strung a line to one of the remaining posts. Cool!
It's a stunningly sunny and warm day, the first real warmth we've had this year, what with all the haar.
The sweet peas have sprouted in their pots in the spare bedroom. I think they're sweet peas anyway. I didn't label them, oh dear.
Chris, Julian and wee Ella arrive on Sunday night (or Monday afternoon, depending on whether they break their journey up from Oxford). Chris is looking forward to seeing the raised bed because she's planning to build one herself. I'm looking forward to meeting Ella!
While I had the electric drill out I attacked a tree with it. The traditional clothes-drying arrangement in Edinburgh and environs is a to have special posts and a line strung between them. At some point before I bought my place, one of the posts had been taken down. It's an enormously heavy concrete thing, so reusing it isn't an option (yes, it's still there! I managed to heave it to the back of the section but it was a major struggle. There are two others, but they're both on the same side so useless). So I have screwed a heavy galvinised bracket to the pine tree at the back and strung a line to one of the remaining posts. Cool!
It's a stunningly sunny and warm day, the first real warmth we've had this year, what with all the haar.
The sweet peas have sprouted in their pots in the spare bedroom. I think they're sweet peas anyway. I didn't label them, oh dear.
Chris, Julian and wee Ella arrive on Sunday night (or Monday afternoon, depending on whether they break their journey up from Oxford). Chris is looking forward to seeing the raised bed because she's planning to build one herself. I'm looking forward to meeting Ella!
2 April 2007
:: ow ow ow
Gardening is hard! Saturday I trailed around various garden centres looking at log rolls, before finding the perfect fixings for a raised bed at the Homebase in Linlithgow. Gravel boards and pointed stakes. Gravel boards are planks that have been pressure treated to prevent rot. What could be simpler? bang in the stakes, nail the gravels boards on to them and bingo! A raised bed.
I started out with three planks and six stakes, intending to cut one plank in half and make a rectangular plot. The first challenge was getting the sawdusty planks into the car - move over Bertie! - but managed in the end. Bonus: the car smells lovely.
But when I got home, I realised the plot would be too small, and I should get another plank and have a square plot. OK. By now it was too late to go back to the shop; not only that but I'd missed the first episode of the latest Dr Who series. Tsk.
So, Sunday I set out for the DIY shop again, and got the extra plank, plus two more stakes and three big bags of dirt. How big? Eighty litres. Why do they measure dirt in litres? Very odd. I might be more helpful to express it in stones, so you'd know you were picking up the equivalent of a dead rugby player. I tried to put one of the bags on my trolley and it fell on the ground. I couldn't get it up again. That was a clue I chose to ignore. A staff member hurried over and heaved three bags on dirt on to the trolley, and another staff member heaved them from the trolley in to the car boot. I drove home, suddenly feeling like I was piloting a barge.
I left the dirt in the boot while I dealt with the bed-building. Easy-peasy! Mark out the space, dig up the "lawn" (actually peed-on yellow spots and moss), bang in the stakes and nail on the planks. Digging up the lawn took a long sweaty hour. It turns out there is an amazingly healthy network of buttercups crisscrossing the backyard, roots like hawsers. So then I banged in the stakes. Bang bang bang bang bang ... ARGH! What I really needed was a Russian weightlifter and a sledgehammer, not puny old me and a joke mallet. Blam blam blam blam bangbangbangbang. I managed to get most of them firmly battered in, albeit at crazy angles, without having a heart attack.
I only really lost heart when I discovered that I didn't have any nails big enough to hold the planks on. And it was too late to go back to the shop, whew!
Today I thought I'd better get the dirt out of the boot before the suspension gave way. I don't have a wheelbarrow or anything, but I had a cunning plan! The brown recycling bin had just been emptied, so I'd just load the bags of dirt into it and trundle them round the back. Perfect.
The bin is chest-height, so I laid it down on its side next to the car and posted two bags of dirt in. The flaw in the cunning plan presented itself. Strain as I might, I couldn't lift the bin upright. So I heaved one of the bags out on to the footpath and this time got the bin rolling. Trundled it round the back and heaved it up the steps to the lawn. Repeated with the second bag, more slowly this time. Couldn't. Manage. The. Third. Just. Yet. So it's still in the boot.
Here's the scunner: With two bags of dirt laid out next to the bed, it's apparent that I'll need at least another three bags to fill it. I think this time I might see if Homebase delivers...
What with all this heaving and hammering I can barely raise my arms past shoulder height, and I've discovered bruises I don't remember getting.
The seeds I planted aren't doing very well - a scattering of husks on the tray marked "sunflowers" was a clue, as were the neat rows of holes in the tray marked "broccoli" (I thought I'd put that upstairs in pots but it must be something else up there).
At first I blamed the birds, but then I spotted a little wee burrow under the thyme bush. I covered it over and the next day it was back. That might also explain Bertie's digging frenzies: he's after whatever is burrowing in the bed. One of my neighbours has reported seeing rats - yikes, please don't let it be rats. The burrow looks more mouse-sized though, very neat and cute.
Garden pix:
The rhubarb is up! Yay!
Something eats the blue polyanthus every year. Not the yellow, not the pink, just the blue.
I've taken progress pix of the raised beds, will post them eventually.
Tomorrow I can't do any DIY or gardening or anything because I have some IT training at work. Finish work at 1am (if I'm lucky), start training at 1pm - wah!
I started out with three planks and six stakes, intending to cut one plank in half and make a rectangular plot. The first challenge was getting the sawdusty planks into the car - move over Bertie! - but managed in the end. Bonus: the car smells lovely.
But when I got home, I realised the plot would be too small, and I should get another plank and have a square plot. OK. By now it was too late to go back to the shop; not only that but I'd missed the first episode of the latest Dr Who series. Tsk.
So, Sunday I set out for the DIY shop again, and got the extra plank, plus two more stakes and three big bags of dirt. How big? Eighty litres. Why do they measure dirt in litres? Very odd. I might be more helpful to express it in stones, so you'd know you were picking up the equivalent of a dead rugby player. I tried to put one of the bags on my trolley and it fell on the ground. I couldn't get it up again. That was a clue I chose to ignore. A staff member hurried over and heaved three bags on dirt on to the trolley, and another staff member heaved them from the trolley in to the car boot. I drove home, suddenly feeling like I was piloting a barge.
I left the dirt in the boot while I dealt with the bed-building. Easy-peasy! Mark out the space, dig up the "lawn" (actually peed-on yellow spots and moss), bang in the stakes and nail on the planks. Digging up the lawn took a long sweaty hour. It turns out there is an amazingly healthy network of buttercups crisscrossing the backyard, roots like hawsers. So then I banged in the stakes. Bang bang bang bang bang ... ARGH! What I really needed was a Russian weightlifter and a sledgehammer, not puny old me and a joke mallet. Blam blam blam blam bangbangbangbang. I managed to get most of them firmly battered in, albeit at crazy angles, without having a heart attack.
I only really lost heart when I discovered that I didn't have any nails big enough to hold the planks on. And it was too late to go back to the shop, whew!
Today I thought I'd better get the dirt out of the boot before the suspension gave way. I don't have a wheelbarrow or anything, but I had a cunning plan! The brown recycling bin had just been emptied, so I'd just load the bags of dirt into it and trundle them round the back. Perfect.
The bin is chest-height, so I laid it down on its side next to the car and posted two bags of dirt in. The flaw in the cunning plan presented itself. Strain as I might, I couldn't lift the bin upright. So I heaved one of the bags out on to the footpath and this time got the bin rolling. Trundled it round the back and heaved it up the steps to the lawn. Repeated with the second bag, more slowly this time. Couldn't. Manage. The. Third. Just. Yet. So it's still in the boot.
Here's the scunner: With two bags of dirt laid out next to the bed, it's apparent that I'll need at least another three bags to fill it. I think this time I might see if Homebase delivers...
What with all this heaving and hammering I can barely raise my arms past shoulder height, and I've discovered bruises I don't remember getting.
The seeds I planted aren't doing very well - a scattering of husks on the tray marked "sunflowers" was a clue, as were the neat rows of holes in the tray marked "broccoli" (I thought I'd put that upstairs in pots but it must be something else up there).
At first I blamed the birds, but then I spotted a little wee burrow under the thyme bush. I covered it over and the next day it was back. That might also explain Bertie's digging frenzies: he's after whatever is burrowing in the bed. One of my neighbours has reported seeing rats - yikes, please don't let it be rats. The burrow looks more mouse-sized though, very neat and cute.
Garden pix:
The rhubarb is up! Yay!
Something eats the blue polyanthus every year. Not the yellow, not the pink, just the blue.
I've taken progress pix of the raised beds, will post them eventually.
Tomorrow I can't do any DIY or gardening or anything because I have some IT training at work. Finish work at 1am (if I'm lucky), start training at 1pm - wah!
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