Chips with everything
Now here are a few things I did this weekend but forgot to mention. And besides, I hadn’t resized the pictures until this afternoon, so it was going to be as dull as the last post.
Chipping. A fabulously noisy sport. But it is the best use to make of that forest of small sticks for the garden beds. I took up the monster tarpaulin during the forestry work, and just lobbed them onto the sheet. Gathered up the folds and then dragged it down the mountain. Naturally I snagged on every single protrudance on the way down. But it sure beats trying to get things down in a wheelbarrow.
And then where to put the lovely chipped stuff? Well onto the existing beds. First…. have I mentioned this before? I suspect so. Sorry. Here are the pictures instead of yammering.
Each terrace gets a top dressing of chips. And in the wrong order as I had to mulch later. But at least the layers are building up.
The creative bit (unless you call stuffing sticks into a whirling machine creative) was to plant up the new courtyard planters with tulips. My stock of juicy bulbs from Andrew’s order had to be inspected and colours consulted. And here it is:
Mount Tacoma x 7
Maureen x 5
Shirley x 5
Spring Green x 5
And only Andrew will know that I have gone for the safe mostly white and slightly green option. With a tinge of violet on the edge of the Shirleys. But I promise to ramp up the colour and the clashes with the rest of the planting.
One other task was to park the cloches for the winter. I had thought of taking them down to the stables and storing them there. But instead I opted for the easy walk: just a few feet away onto the strawberry bed. It may even keep the critters off the strawberry plants. I noticed that they are looking decidedly nibbled of late.
Not as bad as the cabbages which are frankly decimated. But that’s gardening. You plant the cabbage and put them safely under cloches to protect them from the cabbage moth butterfly laying eggs. Instead you keep all the predators out that eat the aphids and you lose them anyway. Can’t believe I will actually have to buy cabbage at the market this Thursday. Fancy. Last year we ate Cavollo Nero until April.