Yay! All weeded, ash scattered, and manure down. Redcurrant pruning still in progress so I will finish manuring around the base of the bushes once I don't need to step about on the soil around them. But I feel definitely satisfied.
And today's major project launch? Team Windy Acres vs Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail - Phase 1...
I felt like I had wasted most of yesterday morning toing and froing collecting stakes and chicken wire etc from assorted different farm suppliers (MVF sold out of chicken wire? I mean, really?), with poor old Darcy stuck in the car as I thought it was only going to be a quick half hour dash after taking him to the vet for the necessary clean out and antibiotic jab for his lovely lovely abcess on the head.
So I was determined our war on the evil bunnies was going to get underway come rain or shine....
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| First 2 posts in, and we are feeling (over?) confident |
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| Satisfying, but hard on the shoulders and elbows! |
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| Women's Lib live in action |
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| A brief shower drives me into the playhouse for sketching layout of paths and location of gates |
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| All posts in, let the trenching begin! A hiding behind the rosebush so I can't photo the increasingly pained smile/grimace as the hours of hard labour start to take their toll |
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| Feeling like we're getting there... |
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| Admittedly not the most exciting picture, but I just had to try and capture for posterity the quantity of stone only a few inches below the surface here...turns out this must have been the edge of the old veg patch path, it was just grassed over!!! Whole slabs still intact under there - no wonder the last 2 posts near the hedge were such sods to get in... |
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| I can start to visualise the new space now |
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| Evidence that child labour is alive and well at Windy Acre! |
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| Last stretch to the hedge about to be covered back up - unfortunately because of the path and stones underneath, we couldn't achieve a fantastic downward angle for the underground wire here, but hopefully the rabbits would find the slabs of concrete as difficult to dig through as we did... |
A has now collapsed in the bath, probably incapable of getting out again(!), and this was only Phase 1...we still have to do the same again in the small stretch behind the rhubarb patch and compost heap, to meet up with the hedge further down. Also we need to remove the rotting old fence panels which currently separate the veg patch visually from the rest of the 'ornamental' garden, retaining the existing concreted-in posts and trench and attach the chicken wire there too. This will mean the working part of the garden will be more visible to the house and the rest of the garden...but I feel I want to see it, as the veggie patch is what tends to draw me outside. Hopefully as we continue to redesign the working part of the garden it will look less manky and decrepit and more handsomely utilitarian!
And not to forget the fun of building 3 gates as well...I am determined to get this rabbit proofing completed by the end of the Easter holidays before the ladies arrive and the Engineer starts casting wistful eyes over other, more exciting (to him) projects (like his new wood store...).
Something for him to look forward to after work every night this week, then...Thank heavens for British Summer Time.
Meanwhile, to lift the spirits of the bone-weary gardener:
My first tulips are out! This pot in the front must just catch that little bit more sun than the others, as all the other pots are still in bud, although the wallflowers have been opening over the last few weeks. But the first week of April? I think these are the earliest flowering tulips I've ever had. They make my wee heart leap every time I see them as I come out of the house....I don't think you can ask for more than that, can you?
x
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