Ooh, a project

It was the thought that came to me when I surveyed the steep bank below the house.   It has always been a tricky spot. I call it the olive orchard as I had planted four small olive trees here four years ago. And since then I’ve had four years of thinking ‘this isn’t quite right’.

It is long and narrow, steep, and tricky to strim. And you can never see the little olive trees for the weeds during the weed season (that will be about March until October).

So with the time and the inclination this week, out came the tools and off I went.

Here are a few before pictures to give you an idea of what a mess it is.   There’s a lovely stone wall up there somewhere, I tend to give it a bramble haircut about now.   But there’s also a very large rock.   And I have decided that if there’s a rock, then it needs exposing.   Off comes all the soil and mess and out comes the wire brush to get rid of any possible chance for weeds to take hold.

And there’s plenty of top soil here. Not brilliantly rich – it feels a bit leached.   But I didn’t have far to go to put it to good use.

Nicolas built this retaining wall two years ago and there was always a small gap of about a foot behind it that needed filling in. Over the seasons I have been adding grass cuttings, weeds, bits of soil when I had some.   But now it’s the mother load.

And with an aching sciatic back it’s a perfect project. I can stand in front of the wall, no bending required and scoop up the soil and trudge along the wall and fill it in. Perfect.

So for the whole day I landscaped. Oh, apart from the brief hiatius of trying to find Ulysse. So much for counting your blessings. The blighter escaped his electric fence compound.   But he has cantered up to his female friends at the riding school and there he is going to stay for a bit. Well secured behind more electric fencing, and with Claude keeping a stern eye on him.   I suspect I will have to bring him back on the weekend.

So where was I? Scooping soil. No wonder the little olive trees weren’t thriving; they are perched on almost rock. This exposing of the boulder is proving to be a fantastic feature. But two of the olive trees are in the way.

I’ll have to do a bit of research and see about moving them elsewhere. For now I’m just leaving them as exposed little islands of green while I remove the rest of the soil around them.

I moved a bit further along the wall and decided I will stop at the big olive tree. It’s a mess of weeds under there.   And the wall above is even thicker with brambles. But I can’t do the while bank. There’s a sceptic tank in there somewhere and it just needs a neat strim to keep it looking less messy.   I am staying well clear of the strimmer right now, alas.   But before Christmas it ought to be sorted.