Finally the builder arrived, a day late is better than not showing at all I guess. He did every thing I asked and he did it quickly and with the minimum of fuss. He patched and repaired all the damaged render on the concrete walls, he cemented the stone surround to what will be my pond and my rockery and he made a new door frame for the shed door.
He advised waiting about one week before slapping on the masonry paint which I guess I can do because I am still fighting my way through the mountain of hedge cuttings.
I am now the proud owner of my very own chiminea and having asked one daughter to put it together, another daughter turned up and offered to start burning the hedge cuttings. Turns out she has a slight pyromania streak in her, she sat for hours quite happily feeding this monster with chopped up bits of wood.
The pile of hedge cuttings still looks like a mountain but it is actually half the size it was before she began.
My two little helpers busied themselves sweeping up the stray bits and pieces and trying to keep the mountain from spreading all over the garden. The garden still looks very scruffy but I keep visualising it when it’s all finished.
The dingy old wall with repairs and patched bits will soon be gleaming white. The assorted doors will soon all be painted matching blue gloss, the fences are due for another coat of blue wood protector, the sad heap of earth and rubble in the corner will be transformed into a rockery and of course the bath tub is my pond-to-be. Watch this space as they say.
AND………………if you are wondering…………..yes the photos were taken with my phone.
wonderful pics, glad to hear it is all progressing in a positive manner. LOL, thinking about the pyromaniac!
ReplyDeleteYeah...............love her dearly and she was a great help today but the pyromania tendencies could be a bit worrying I suppose.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you could start to dispose of the cuttings. Where I live, we can put bundled cuttings at the curbside with the recycling and they would take it and turn it into mulch, which is then free for the taking. Of course, our taxes pay for the service, but well worth while. Some neighbors have their own gas operated mulchers and look for cuttings to make their own mulch, clean of seed and weed.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to seeing the finished project. What goes in the pond and will they winter over there?
Looks like a fine garden. You have a wonderful place there.
ReplyDeletethat is a very important question, this will be a wildlife pond for native species. no goldfish ( they are alien) in fact no fish of any kind because they eat frogspawn. The pond should have oxygenating plants native to this region plus frogs and toads. They will not need o be over wintered because .............well because they are native species. I have read a little and apparently what you are supposed to do is, seal the pond, fill with water, it is best to fill with rain water but that could take forever so tap water is ok. Then you need to collect a couple of bottles of water from a pond. That water will have enough insect life and microorganisms to start the process off. Next spring i need to collect frogspawn and toad eggs. It seems these chaps return to the pond where thy were born in order to breed so they will not need replacing. My only regret is that I'm not allowed to keep newts. They are endangered ant its illegal to remove them from the wild or to buy, trade or own them. Seems the legislation is pretty strict.
ReplyDeleteAnyway.............that's what I plan for my pond.
thank you, its not a grand place and its not very big, but it suits me and at least I have a little bit of garden that's all mine.
ReplyDeletelooking good loretta and remember Rome wasn't built in a day lol
ReplyDeleteThe ashes can be used in the garden.
ReplyDeleteNice to read of progress. :-)
Yur garden looks charming to me, Loretta. It's great to have helpers, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSounds as though its gonna be quite the oasis, keep us updated on the bathtub as a pond, I really like that idea.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's an ambitious undertaking! Your plans are wonderful. I'll be following the progress along with all the others. :o) Great phone pics.
ReplyDelete