Well yesterday I pulled down a fence. It wasn't a very big fence and it was very old but it still remains a fact that I ripped it down with my bare hands (and bolt cutters for a couple of pieces of wire holding remnants to concrete posts). This was theraputic, but also intentional. That old fence had to come out. The up shot is we have added a few square feet to the garden in that corner, and as I took out some of the rambling rose and the lilac underwood we've also added some light. The green bin provided by the council is full and there's a backlog of at least three weeks worth of material to go in.
Unfortunately the council won't take the broken down fence panels, certainly in the green collection.
If it isn't removed soon it will have to stay until spring. The hedgehogs will hibernate under it and I'm not prepared to disturb them.
There's been some discussion in the paper this week of eating off the land and how to cook a hedgehog. Someone's written in asking for something in the culinary line to do with the surplus slugs. Having turned over some of the stuff in the garden today I'll keep my eye out for any sensible responses, though I can't help thinking I'd better keep the family in the dark.
Having turned the front garden over and then left it to do what it wants for the last couple of months all sorts of intriguing plants are spring up in between bits of lawn that survived, morning glory, nettle, thistle and a host of other common places. If tomorrow's as fine as today's promising to be I'll get out with the camera to record and save up for investigation during the coming months when we'll probably have few moths and other bugs in the bathroom for me to investigate.
The tomatos have been a complete failure and the sunflowers struggled this year. Of the rosemary and lavender seed I planted one lavender plant has thrived and is now in a terracotta pot by the front gate. I'm as pleased as punch with that. Three little rosemary seedlings are still clinging to life, still protected in the propagator having come through after the destruction wrought on the early seedlings by the slug plague, and one more lavender seedling has very belatedly emerged. It will be a miracle if it survives.
I've gone into seed harvesting mode now: a neighbour has a couple of different lavender varieties and I've grabbed dried heads from each. Last night I strained my eyes and left myself with aching fingers as I pried the seeds from one. The other will have to wait. This morning I've harvested some seeds from the lilac by the pond in the back garden. I have no idea what my chances are with them, but I'm willing to try. Finally the trailing snap dragons which have so enjoyed this summer and flourished are now covered in dried pods ready to be harvested. The seeds are tiny and I'm keeping the pods in tact now (hard lesson learned) pending next spring.
Have to get ready for work now, sady. I might not be English and so I might not despise the Welsh but I do so hope we give them a stuffing today. If things are quiet I'll at least be able to have the radio on. Excellent result in the crash bang wallop version of cricket yesterday after the fiasco against the boo-hiss villains of Mugabe's banana republic - even in John Howard's version of Australia surely thrashing Mugabe's state-approved cricket team is a moral obligation?
Suitably fired up now, must go and get suited and booted. How sad that today has turned out simply glorious.
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