A spot of editing

wednesday wallI was standing under a very hot shower tonight trying to work out why my arms are lacerated in a six inch band all they way around each arm.   And then it came to me; the playful gap between gloves and sleeves.   I was collecting buckets and buckets of stones this morning and had to scrabble about among long branches of brambles to reach them.

Amazingly I’d forgotten all about it. That’s a long day’s gardening for you.

The wall is almost but not quite done. There’s an hour or two to go, and Nicolas has to finish it tomorrow morning as I have London duties to attend to in the afternoon.eragrostis tied up

wednesday wall detailBut I did my stone duties first thing, and then scooted off to attend to things more verdant and fluffy.   For months I have been battling my way past the eragrostis grasses that are growing like triffids in the calabert bed. They won’t put on such verdant growth when they get sent to the pool garden bank. So I hope they enjoy the lush spot for now.   But I don’t. So today I recycled the string from the peas and bean poles in the potager and tied them in knots.   I even plaited a few, but that felt very odd indeed.

And then I actually cleared up the last bits of the vegetable garden. One glam new wall on the edge of the potager means that the rest of it has to look good.   So I pulled up the last of the cosmos and tomatoes; dismantled the bean poles, and even did the hands and knees weeding thing.

editing the wildflowersThe best bit was tossing the small stones over the edge to Nicolas’s pile. No more stones in this veggie garden.

And then with a freshly dug and tidied potager it was time to attack the wildflower garden.   We have been ‘editing’ our London home in preparation for the move. And editing was a polite word for the work I had to do.

I was carefully supervised by Artur who was losing a few of his hiding in the jungle spaces. But the dying plants had to go.   I made sure I shook all the seeds out of the plants before I piled them into the wheelbarrow.   And I managed to find a few rogue nettles in among the achillea. Tingling fingers as I type.   But there’s more work needed over the winter.   I want to sort out the far end of the huge bed.   It’s about 40 feet long.   It is slightly shaded so most of the wildflowers haven’t really taken at the far end.   There’s a rather useless elderberry tree up above.   But it does seem to be moist.

Suddenly I find moist places all over the garden.   Maybe I ought to divide up that monarda I planted and spread it around in this new spot. paperwhites potted up

For a last task I tidied the potting shed and potted up some of my hundred lovely paper white narcissus. I need to keep all the neighbours supplied. They prove a hit each year.

rosemary and thymeOh yes, and here’s the final product from last night’s work.   I can’t believe that all the thyme and rosemary I have been drying since spring has yielded just two jars of herbs.   I had visions of selling pots and pots of the stuff at the Christmas Fare next month.   But this looks just enough for our own consumption.