Tag: raised bed

Somewhat Scary

While we enjoyed ourselves shaded from the searing heat yesterday afternoon, Flo, Dillon and Ellie engaged in an impressive gardening

stint, clearing the overgrown raised bed at the bottom of the Back

Drive, much of which our grandson-in-law cleared of weeds, before

going on to the Heligan Path.

My efforts this morning concentrated on the front garden trellis, the roses of which I pruned with long loppers,

revealing solanum and honeysuckle;

then thinned out the Oxeye daisies alongside the hydrangea and Félicité Perpétue obscuring Jackie’s view when driving out onto Christchurch Road; and finally

the clematis Montana obscuring Laraine and David’s exit from next door. Often exceeding the 40 m.p.h. speed limit, vehicles of all shapes and sizes do not slow down when passing me at work. It is somewhat scary.

Jackie continued planting pots.

Later, I converted the gallery in https://derrickjknight.com/2022/09/10/broadlands-breakdown-burger-bar/ from Tiled to ordinary in order to recover the pictures.

This evening we all dined at The Smugglers Inn, Milford on Sea. As usual, the food was plentiful, perfectly cooked, and of excellent quality; the staff were welcoming, friendly, and efficient; even shortly after 6 p.m. the spacious establishment was fully occupied, although we were given a table presumably reserved for later, and a high chair was rapidly provided for Ellie, who readily engaged with staff and customers.

Jackie enjoyed her crisp fish, chips, and garden peas; Dillon and I our tender, lean, steak and mushroom pies;

Flo and Ellie shared massive, meaty, spare ribs.

From the dessert menu Dillon selected splendid spotted dick and vanilla ice cream; Flo a flavoursome toffee waffle, also with ice cream; and I a traditional merangue, cream, and strawberry Eton mess. Ellie appreciated her shares of all our puds.

Becoming Tidier

Yesterday evening Flo had transferred one more wheelbarrow load of compost into the Rose Garden and another to the new raised bed at the end of the Back Drive.

This morning Jackie spread one heap on the newly planted bed,

and continued weeding the gravel path.

The borders are beginning to bloom nicely.

I began refilling the now empty compost bin.

Before lunch the Head Gardener distributed the last load of compost on the Rose Garden soil she had weeded yesterday.

The Heligan Path, weaving its way between the Cryptomeria and the Weeping Birch Beds; and the Phantom Path, separating the other side of the Cryptomeria and Margery’s Beds are looking tidier.

At the end of the morning I published https://derrickjknight.com/2022/04/18/a-knights-tale-126-a-nod-to-little-gidding/

Late this afternoon Elizabeth visited with forms from Barclays Bank re closure of Mum’s account which should have come to me. Somebody has got their wires crossed. She will need to telephone the bank’s bereavement team again to sort this out before we can close the account.

Since we don’t have enough of yesterday’s roast meal leftovers for a fourth person we were unable to ask her to join us. That is what we will be having, with the same beverages as we had then.

Raising Robin’s Interest

At lunchtime Martin showed us the completed raised bed he finished this morning. He has concreted in the galvanised pins, put additional brackets on the corners, sifted and replaced some of the removed soil, and saved the plants that have been dug up.

These primroses may go back in, with a number of bulbs.

The activity aroused the interest of a pair of robins.

We have now agreed that Martin will help us on a regular basis.

This afternoon I published https://derrickjknight.com/2022/02/03/a-knights-tale-98-1987-part-one/

On another decidedly dingy afternoon we visited Elizabeth who hasn’t been too well.

The sheep field opposite her home in Burnt House Lane, Pilley was well stocked.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome liver and bacon casserole; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots and cauliflower, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Douro.

A Deterrent

I have come to the end of my Keeping/Dickens series, but I do have more of the artist’s works. For those who would like to see some I will begin with

This is the cover of a large format book.

My scanner cannot manage a double page spread so I will have to do my best to match up the pages, as in these front endpapers.

Here is the title page,

and the first two pages of text.

Alfred Noyes’s romantic ballad, first published in the August 1906 issue of Blackwood’s Magazine is, according to Iona and Peter Opie writing in 1983, reputed to be “the best ballad poem in existence for oral delivery”.

As is his wont, Charles Keeping, in his own inimitable style, releases the grisly reality of this ghostly tale.

Adding no further analysis as I present segments in forthcoming posts, I will allow the pages to speak for themselves.

There is a triangular section of land at the bottom of our drive which borders onto the care home next door. Vehicles are constantly driven over the beds we plant there. Because of the nature of the establishment neither we nor the residents can know whether the culprits are staff members or any of a range of visiting tradespeople, suppliers, friends, or relatives. Having decided that the time has come for a deterrent, we engaged Martin Bowers to build us a raised bed.

Having prepared the area for its placement Martin cut the heavy timbers with a handsaw.

Holes were then dug for the galvanised pins which will hold the frame steady against buffeting from visitors. Note the solid clay that our craftsman needed to penetrate and remove.

The end grain of the sawn timbers were smoothed

and sealed with a protective coat.

The last stage today was to cut and fit the second level beams.

This afternoon Joe and Angela visited and my brother and I corrected the Probate application forms for resubmission which I will carry out tomorrow. The ladies visited Mr Chan and brought back an excellent range of food from Hordle Chinese Take Away with which they both drank Bucks Fizz and I drank Hardy’s Crest 2020.