Bench building

As if two days of labour from Nicolas wasn’t enough; Manu has come around to do a day of fiddly handyman jobs.   We didn’t think about emptying the outside tap before the cold started, and there was a split in the pipe.   That was fixed in a jiffy, and then he set about making me a new desk in my office that fits snugly in the alcove around the window.   Who knows? In a few years time I might be able to lean out of the window and pluck cherries from the tree.

Next up was to make two more benches in the pottings shed.   After a few weeks of trialing, I have realised that one can’t have enough of them.   So much easier to keep things neat if there is a place for everything.

The weather was still absurdly sunny, so I kept on at the new hedge area.   Down went the enormous carpet of marjoram.   And I have planted it in. In a mad, how do I do this sort of way.   We shall see if it’s a sucess and the roots don’t freeze.

I also decided to add a mulch around the plants from the stock in the lower stables.   Good leaf mould and horse manure. Wish I had a tonne more.   But the terraces are now all covered and things might improve in the summer.   This area is a shallow over the rock construction and is thirsty.

To celebrate the new benches, I potted up some of the 50 or so Casa Blanca lily bulbs from last year, sowed some seeds (cenolophium denudatum, cavallo nero, four types of tomato, cabbage greyhound and the start of many verbena bonariensis trays). It’s way too cold for them to germinate properly, but I was so happy just playing in my newly completed potting shed that dusk was the only reason to be dragged indoors.