Planted up

Done.

Pleased.

I finished around lunchtime. Fuelled, I must confess, with two eclairs from the patisserie in town.

I even managed not to decapitate the lovely euphorbia rigida with the heavy hose when I dragged it all the way down the garden to water in the new fig tree I also planted.

Pleased.

And you may be glimpsing something new around the perimeter. A new chestnut fence.

I was going to write all about it next week. But I’m going to show you now. And then there will be a bit of a blog break as I have to travel to Australia for two weeks.

This is my best go at wild boar and deer protection.  Most people would put up a  discrete electric fence. I would love that. But our electricity supply is so incredibly erratic and prone to tripping at the slightest provocation from thunder in the distance that I thought a physical barrier would be best.

If you squint you will see the little bits of black tape at the base of the slats.  Emergency measures as when Nicolas and I lifted the heavy fence into place on the steep slope most of the slats fell out.

Pause for swearing and frustration. Not on my part – I was in zen planting mode. But we had to find a way to keep the chestnut stakes in place before we lifted. So that was my DIY solution.

A rather painful hour of installation ensued. But Nicolas is the master of the heavy old chestnut supports hammered into rock hard ground. And for the first time I was able to say to him ‘I know, I know how hard it is, mate.’

So there you have it. One ‘instant’ garden’.

Next up will be mass chipping of branches to get that soil covered up with a good thick mulch.

And I need to finish the path. Every walk to the potting shed was accompanied by a bucket so I could pick up small granite stones and rocks. They litter this mountain soil. And for once I get to put them to use.