Mallard Lodge

Repaired roofing felt on the summer house yesterday. That was a job I wasn't expecting to be that difficult. It was a nightmare getting the new felt under the strip above it and then round the edges of the eves. We managed it. Required another pair of hands as it was really windy and the stuff kept blowing everywhere. There were a few rips in the new felt but nothing a coat of bitumen won't cure.

Saturday was a productive day. Managed to sow 6 rows of seeds in the greenhouse. Well, with a bit of help. Mange tout, radishes, carrots, spring onions, broccoli & turnips. The ground was already well prepared as I had rotavated it earlier in the month. OK, so it's July and some may think that it may be slightly too late to plant crops. These crops were selected as the recommended sowing time was March to June. As it's only the start of July and it's in a greenhouse, I decided that I'd give it a chance. We should know in spring whether it was a good idea or not.

Yesterday morning, I had a visit from the friend of our neighbours who has an old JCB and has agreed to do the odd bit of 'extreme gardening' down the end of the property. When we get a good spell of dry weather again - i.e. when the land is less mucky, I've arranged to clear the ground at the north west of the property. This bit of land - fenced off from the rest of the garden - was to the best of my knowledge used for mechanical work and is covered in gravel, hardcore, weeds and a catoniaster. It's about 10 metres wide and 20 metres long and once it is clear, I'll be using the muck heaps at the front of the property (formed from ten years of compost and excavated material from a pond that never was - yet) as topsoil in order to extend the lawn at the back of the property the whole length adding an extra half the area again to the size of the lawn. I'm also planning to move a 4 metre feathered fence from this patch to fill a gap in the property boundary. The JCB will be used here to dig out the existing fence posts (nice big railway sleepers) and dig holes for their new home. I'll need to remove the feathered fence from these posts before hand.. here's hoping that it'll come off in one lump. I also have planned for this area, two large 650 litre timber compost units to take the vast amounts of biomass that will accumulate in working on a garden of this size as well as keeping the 150 metre dyke at the side of the property clear.

There is another smaller lawning project I have on the go at the dyke side of the propert. I say smaller, but it's about 30 metres long and 10 metres wide and won't require the use of a JCB. This is that patch of land between the dyke and the back of the garages which was used in the past as a vegetable patch and has more recently just been rotavated to keep tidy. Plans then to give the raised strawberry bed a coat of preservative stain and plant lavender around this lawned patch.

Lawn is good in a garden this size. It naturally keeps the weeds at bay (with - dare I say it - a little help from selective weedkillers) and makes vast areas a lot tidier and easier to keep. I know there is a call to help increase plant biodiversity in order to help revive the dwindling bee population, but that is why I will be planting hundreds of lavender plants around the property. Bees love the stuff!

Anyway I suppose I better go and water the greenhouse... there's always something to do even when it's raining!

Today is wet. Very wet. One of those boring wet days where the sky is a uniform grey with no interesting cloud formations. Unlike last Friday when I witnessed the largest most violent thunderstorm I've ever seen in this country. Lightning flashes every 20 seconds or so, some double, some triple, some even forked from about 10am through to 4pm and rain like you wouldn't believe. Since then I've been hearing stories of several properties still sorting out the aftermath of being struck and flash flooding.