Another weekend at home in the garden… The 3 panoramas are “before”, “after day 1” and “after day 2”. We had a serious focus on covering over the big old veggie patch, and tidying up along the left hand side. Steve sorted covering the veggie patch. We think reviving this space might take more than one season. It’s always been really really weedy, so it’s as well to take the time and do it properly.
I weeded and mulched around the raspberries, supported them with some bamboo canes, and then attacked the overgrown bushes next to them. I also put up the second compost bin.
Day 2, for Steve, was all about our new toy – a wood chipper. Depending on how leafy the input is, we’re either generating mulch, or chewing stuff up to go on the compost heaps. Having had the tree taken down that was overshadowing the old veggie patch, we are not even slightly short of mulch. The large pile featured below is where the car is usually parked.
The above picture also features my favourite new tool – a shovel! We’ve been “struggling” with a short-handled shovel and a spade for ages. Steve acquired this silver beauty while getting the covers for the veggie patch. He also got weed suppressing cover for making paths, which will then be covered with (you guessed it!) mulch. Having a decent shovel makes a massive difference. I know, I’m easily pleased.
We’ve been lucky with the weather this weekend, and have both ended up feeling a bit sun-kissed. The rain has set in now (Sunday evening) and happily its onset coincided with the time where we had both pretty much had enough gardening fun for one weekend.
Below is the view from the new compost bin. The incinerator’s on the go here – I think it was because of how long it took to burn stuff yesterday that Steve decided a wood-chipper was a prudent investment!
And, because I’m writing this so of course it’s all about me, here’s a close-up of my awesome work on the raspberries.
The canes still have buds & fruit on them, so I’ve concluded they must be autumn fruiting as well as summer fruiting, so I’ll chop these canes back in the spring.
Today’s big achievement, which probably means I won’t be able to walk upright tomorrow, is that I’ve cleared the shrubs to the left of the raspberries back at least another 6 feet (a fence-panel’s worth), including digging out the roots. I nearly had Steve take a picture of me standing over them like a big game hunter, but decided at the last minute that that would be in poor taste. Suffice it to say, I was dubious that getting them out was within my capabilities, and I’m please to report that my dubiousness was misplaced.