Ding Dong Bell

Renovation work on the buildings continues, but this is the time of year when the outdoor world demands attention. The motoculture store staff were as good as their word and replaced the shredded belt for the sit-on mower. I'm treating it gently; that means no more than two hours' mowing at a time. And no long grass. I dragged out the old petrol push mower to stripen the top lawn. As you can see, I have two out of control bay bushes against two of the south-facing walls. You wouldn't believe that I've already spent hours cutting them back!

Seeds in the cold frame and in the kitchen are are poking their heads up in most cases...

Broccoli beginnings...

Beef tomatoes, cornichons and chillies gifted from Sue. She's very strict and warned me at least three times not to put them outside yet! Kevin's not impressed that I'm using his paella pan as a tray.

Kevin built me a cold frame/propagator in the stone trough next to the well. It made sense to pull water up from the well for the thirsty seedlings. We haven't had much to do with the well so far, as it's quite terrifying. If one were unlucky enough to tumble in head first, death would ensue, as the well is very deep and rather narrow, with between six to eight feet of water in the bottom. I don't think there would be room for an adult to right themselves. 

Kevin successfully pulled up two buckets of crystal clear water. We gave it cautious sips and decreed it to be the freshest water ever drawn from a well. There was a very brief worry about cholera and other water-born bacterial diseases. Kevin told me that I wouldn't be able to pull up the full bucket, as it's very heavy. Well... that was a bit of a red rag! As soon as he was out of the way, I started to lower the bucket down. The chain became entangled with my legs. I freed my legs, and the bucket hurtled down. All the way down. Kersploosh! Leaving me about three feet of old chain dangling... I stood, cartoon-like, with my eyes and mouth wide. 'Uh-oh', I uttered.

Begrudgingly, but, inevitably, I trudged off to report to Kevin. After the lecture, he set about with a suspended lamp, a tow rope and pieces of salvaged 18th century agricultural spikey things...

Did he manage to retrieve the bucket and chain? Of course! After about an hour and a half. Am I using the well to water my seedlings? No. 

Wild flowers (some might call them weeds) are currently bejeweling our fields. They're so beautiful! It makes me delay mowing.

I am, however, mowing what we call 'the fairway' between holes one and two.

Kevin's now using broom handles and bread cloths for greens 3 and 4.

Ah, look... we've now stumbled upon some evidence of work going on! The first of the Velux windows is now comfortably installed and, very soon, the guest bedroom will grow around it.

Probably not very sensibly, I chose to work underneath where Kevin was hacking out bits of roof, painting two kitchen cupboard doors. The only hazard that occurred, however, was falling cherry blossom sticking to my paint. And there were splobs of neon yellow bee poo that stained so badly that I had to paint over it.

Frame in...

Yes, the guest bedroom will soon emerge from this. Definitely.

Meanwhile in the seed trays...

Courgettes

Slightly bigger broccoli*

Tomatoes

Using my bent old garden fork, I've been stripping ivy from the piggery in preparation to re-point the stonework. To make the progress evident in these two photos took a whole day. The ivy is determined to cling on! The resident ant community was forced to carry out a mass exodus, but they attempted several retreats to the bits I hadn't yet reached. There were also some over-interested bees that put a slight edge to the whole process. And I burnt my shoulders.

I went back to it this morning with some steps so that I could reach the higher clingers. The job is more or less done now, but in reaching for the strands entangled in the roof margin, the steps fell sideways, forcing me to semi-jump onto uneven ground in my wellies and granting me an injury of some description to the side of my knee/upper calf. I'll need to rest it for a bit. Hence my blogging.

Super-huge orchid!

* I have a home-grown way of remembering how to spell broccoli. It's tempting to try one c and two l's, but I remember that a broccoli floret has just one stem (l) and several roundy bits (cc). You're welcome.