Dreaming of electric sheep

I strimmed. I waded through weeds up to and beyond my knees.   I had a lovely day.

I know that feels strange to say it (and my body is paying for it now) but it was so madly satisfying.

I limited my strimming to the monster top terrace. Home to our spring, and all sorts of beautiful trees, and many sneaky weeds.

The slope is rather steep in places, so I had to go very tentatively with my mighty beast of a machine. Naturally all my shots are of the gentle sward on the lower section.   And all the while I was dreaming of sheep.

Sheep could trim this grass much more efficiently and a whole lot more silently than me.   But would they have a taste for verbascums? And brambles? I wonder.   I have done the worst of it – but I think there are at least two more hours up there to get it tamed.

And all the while I was strimming, Dario was working on the roof.   If you see the clouds you will know it was a mad day to open up a roof and try and get the thing properly covered.

We had two mad storms. Real stair rod downpours. And then the day ended with a thunder and lightning show that cut the electrics and put paid to the day’s work.

Still the worst part is done – the velux and the edge.   Hopefully we can get a better rhythm tomorrow – I am on broken bits.   Picking up the broken tiles Dario lobbed onto the grass near the house.   And generally being helpful and encouraging.

Between storms I managed to do a massive weed of the corners of the potager. Lots of brambles in there.   And all along the strawberry edge. It was delicate work not stepping on any fruit. But I had to get at the ferns growing out of the wall.

They are just too large and verdant to leave I fear.   They swamp the light from the strawberries and the verbena bonariensis plants.   And they are growing through the fig tree down the far left end of the strawberry bed.

There were also a few nettles that have sprung back from the last major pruning. And the brambles.

I take heart that with every year of cutting back these brambles I will win in the end.

I was a battling away and just lobbing the weeds onto the path. Tomorrow I get the fun task of picking everything up. First tiles, then unwaned greenery.

But at least I managed to get up onto the bit behind the nasturtium planters and get all the brambles out of the sedums as well.

The weedproof fabric holds back the worst of the weeds; I just have to pull out the ones that creep out from under the huge rocks that are dotted about this terrace edge.

Right. Large whisky beckons.