February 22nd 2019

I have had a busy couple of days outside. I started by buying some second hand tools in a nearby town - two hoes and a pair of lawn shears, all for a fiver - then buying a second hand lawn mower from another nearby town for £20. Thank heavens for Facebook marketplace! I attacked the lawn at once, so it looks worse than ever, but is now manageable and should be fine after several more cuts. The grass was very long and the day was damp, neither of which helped.

 

After that, a friend came round and we sorted out the shed, dismantling the stack of wood and remains of shelves therein. It is very satisfying removing screws and stacking things neatly. Most of the wood can be reused, and the rest can be burned in the rusting chimnea! I now have a usable shed and can store my tools properly.

 

Today I removed the extension lead that had been strung above the washing line between the house and the shed, as well as the wire that it was suspended by. The wire can be reused around the garden but the electrics will have to be binned. I also removed the grubby washing line and soaked it in biological washing powder, and it has come up a treat. Pink, no less, beneath the grime.

 

I have concentrated the rest of my energy on sorting out the patio, and have now removed the pile of garden debris by the back door, much of which was compostable, and have bagged the rest to go to the dump. I also bit the bullet and emptied out the large sack of rubbish the previous owner had left behind; this was pretty grim, but I bagged it up properly and the bin men took it away this morning. All I need to do now is thin out the cordylines and finish weeding near the Hydrangea, and we'll have somewhere pleasant to sit in the spring.

 

I can now imagine a beautiful garden emerging! There are dandelions, celandines and Narcissus in flower now, and Aquilegias are burgeoning. I ended the day by sitting on the shed step, drinking a cup of tea, watching two blackbirds, and listening to a robin redbreast singing his heart out on the fence next to me. Exciting times.

February

So far, February has been cold and wet, with ice and snow and rain. The tall conifer on the corner of the stream behind our house lost a couple of branches with a loud snap during the snow 'storm'. After the snow, the garden looked lovely. This didn't last as the cat walked up the path then back to the veg patch where it made a scrape in the snow and did it's business. Needless to say, I have now chopped up some brambles and laid them over the area. Perhaps that will work, at least temporarily.

I made a start dismantling the wooden struts at the end of the garden, removing screws and hitting bolts with a lump hammer. Very satisfying after a frustrating day at work! I think that most of the wood can be re-used to edge the vegetable patches, and failing that can be burned in the chimnea.

There is a pile of garden rubbish near the back door, left by the previous owner, which I think can be chopped up and safely put at the bottom of the compost bin. It is mostly dried grass and dead weeds. In among it I have found the rotting remains of wooden edging, some of which has chicken wire attached. This can be reused to keep the cats off for the time being or turned into a frame to go over the seedlings. 

I took a seed pod of Callistemon ("Bottle Brush") from my Mum's garden and left it in a dish over the radiator; the heat made it release all its seeds (thousands) so I shall try and grow them when the weather is warmer. I also brought back some of my herb pots and a struggling Sempervivum ("House Leek"); the former are in the garden, and the latter is in the lean-to drying out.

12th
At the weekend we visited a garden centre and bought some wire and netting as well as a selection of vegetable seeds. Today we used the wire to make hoops, and covered them with netting over the veg patch in an attempt to keep the cats off. I hadn't bought quite enough so the ends were covered with chicken wire.

17th
The cats have kept off the veg patch so far! Today I borrowed a pair of edging shears and tidied up the edge of the lawn by the main path, and around the paving slab path. I then dug up a Verbena bonariensis which was in an awkward spot, potted it up, cut it back and put it in the covered area to hopefully recover. Earlier in the week I moved the compost bin, cut the leaves off some of the sedges I had dug up, and put those in the compost bin. I think they will rot down quite well looking at the detritus around the garden. The lawn edgings went in too, and I have started adding the veg peelings and teabags from the kitchen.

 

 
 
 
 19th

Spent a fiver on some second hand tools today and got two hoes and a pair of edging shears. They need a little TLC but seem ok. I tidied up the border next to the patio and archway, leaving in the bulbs and what might be an Anemone japonica (not sure). Cut back the leaves of the Cordyline and dug out brambles and ash tree seedlings (Fraxinus excelsior). The barbecue has been manhandled to the shed, and one of the wardrobe carcasses has been taken down there too, and will probably become a coldframe. Not sure what I will do with the other one yet so am currently using it as a bench.