Slow Walls and Sailing Beds

We're moving on with work on the house, garden and outhouses. When I say we, I have to be honest and say that the bulk of the real work has been done by Him Outdoors and Sandy, a local gardener from Wirksworth, recommended by a neighbour, who has weeded, pruned, shovelled horse manure like a racing demon, which it turns out she is, being a super-fit runner with huge reserves of energy and enthusiasm and we feel fortunate to have found her. We've been working (royal 'we' as above) on the lower flatter part of the garden, where we plan to grow fruit and vegetables.

H.O. has finished pointing the outhouse wall - he may be slow (his dad used to say he only had two speeds, slow and stop) but he does get a job done in the end. I'm afraid I'm a botcher and motcher as far as d.i.y. is concerned, all thumbs and hasty. More haste less speed, Heather, my mum used to say, rule number one - if a job's worth doing it's worth doing well. Sorry mum, should have listened to you. Still, rule number two, find a man/woman who can.

The wall looks beautiful.  

Sandy and R have spent the last week building raised beds out of sleepers.  This slow and fast business also turned out to be an interesting aspect of their methods of working together. She is also extremely thorough and conscientious, but even she was displaced a notch or two on the 'if a job's worth doing' spectrum by Mr Perfectionist Himself. Getting the sleepers exactly right took lots of gnashing of spirit levels and incomprehensible discussions about countersinking of screws. I kept well out of it.  



Dealing with this 'flatter' part of the garden has turned out to be a lesson in relative values. As the raised beds were being built it became clear that it only looked flat in relation to the rest of the garden, plus the hills around and that it was actually so sloped the sleepers had to be embedded into the ground at one end, in order to get a level surface. It took a bit of getting used to but now I think they look great, like wooden ships sailing down the garden.

Next jobs - laying the chippings, putting cordon wires on the wall, planting a plum tree, apple and pear cordons, gooseberries and rhubarb in the side beds and vegetables in the raised beds. I mostly do the growing so it's my turn next to get my hands dirty. Watch this space.