The weekend tally and getting a gift right with no effort whatsoever

Last week was not a productive week.  Very little I touched seemed to get across the finishing line ie out of my outlook ‘draft’ box, sleep was constantly interrupted (I know not why) and I was at home so little (work hours for two days apart) that it’s a mystery to me how the house managed to get as grubby as it did.  

The weekend, however, is a different story and beyond the truly mundane the tally is:

One walk and drink whilst catching up with an old school friend.

One bumping into a sort of extended family member I haven’t seen for a long time.

One veg bed covered in cardboard, then soaked and covered in muck.

One autumn raspberry bed cut back, nearly weeded and ready to look after itself.

One full garden waste bin.

One impromptu book gift that went down very well.

One incinerator sorted, put in place and paper finally burnt.

Two visits to my parents, one to take a book to Dad, one compost for Mum.

Two  garden arches pieced together which will be used to support veg plants.

Eight garden obelisks pieced together which will be used to support veg plants.

Saturday started out with a walk around a country park followed by coffee.  My friend spent Christmas and New Year in Australia and is at the start of a renovation project on a bungalow.  The idea of me undertaking a flight that long or renovating a property to anything like the extent she is doing fills me with dread but I am perfectly happy to hear stories from others.  Vicariously is the best way here.  

The manager of the cafe/bar we were in turned out to be an extended family member I haven’t seen for ages.  The venue ie her work rather limited much of a catch up but we covered some basics and had a hug before I moved on to my parents. 

I had stumbled across a book that I believe was only released last week.  It cropped up as some recommendation or other though I can’t remember where.  “Lancashire - Exploring the historic county that made the modern world” by Chris Moss.  I immediately thought it might be one for Dad.  The author is clearly playing with old county boundaries as it includes Liverpool and Manchester but they were definitely in Lancashire during the period from when Dad was born to when he finally left when I was very small. 

It proved to be an almost instant success.  Within 5 minutes he had found (a) a mistake; and (b) a photo of a window in Accrington library which he remembered.  This is a book with all the necessary ingredients to keep my father happy.  By the time I went back with some compost for Mum on Sunday the word being mooted about it was “superb”.

S had worked hard on getting the obelisks together while I was out - not sure what he was avoiding doing as they are not needed imminently but still they are done as are two arches and that is a job well done.  The garden gets away from me every year.  I have a preference for the vegetable garden and for the last couple of years plant supports have been honoured more in the breach so we are going ‘up’ this year with supports in place from the outset.  With luck that will sort outdoor tomatoes, trombochino courgettes and some climbing borlotti beans which I bought by mistake thinking they were my usual dwarf variety.  I’m toying with a couple more arches to get some squash off the ground but I do have to call a halt at some point and my home grown veg has to be the most expensive for miles as is.  

I did get one bed covered in card, watered in and then muck piled on top.  I have a few concerns (a) the muck doesn’t seem to be quite as well composted as I had expected - put it like this I am not cupping it in my hands to sniff it; (b) I put 9 x 40 litre bags on one 3.6m x 1.2m bed and I don’t think it is a thick enough layer though it may have to d as there is only so much height to the bed.  I also got most of the autumn raspberry bed sorted and 2 pots of blueberries top dressed with ericaceous compost and the seed potatoes in egg trays to chit. 

In short the garden is officially started albeit that it is a bit on the back foot from not being put to bed last autumn.