Messing about in the River and Tulips 10.4.09

Yesterday was a bit of a non gardening day, Jim went shopping to Ennis and I stayed home and cleaned up and did my ironing! Yuk. It rained so it was an indoor day. In the evening Buster decided he needed to sit on Jim's knee and I took a few photos of them:



What a pair of softies













Then Buster fell asleep. He was absolutely out of it! What a dozy dog he is.












Oh, and Stanley's chimney decided to catch fire. Jim poured water over it and luckily it went out. Today Stanley had a de-coke!

Anyway, what a fun day we've had today. The weather was much improved, it rained this morning but as we missed most of that it didn't matter! So it was breakfast and then off into the garden. First I took some photos in case the sun disappeared. They will come later. Then Jim and I decided what we should do next. There is a path between the allotment and the field next to it and it is very boggy, so we decided we needed to put some drainage in. Jim cleared a channel from where the water was gathering on the surface to the little stream that runs along the bottom of the fairy hill in one direction and up to the top of our land in the other. The water poured away in a rush.

Where the water was gathering, is the end of a path across the field to the avenue of silver birches. We've always had trouble with it. It has planks of wood down like duck boards to walk on but they disappear under the mud and water at times. We lifted them up and more water flowed down into our drainage system. Basically, we've decided we might as well make that 'path' into a stream. Now that's fine, except we still need a path up to the top of the land. Jim suggested we make it to run alongside the stream. Hmm, all very well but it looks like this in one direction:





















but like this in the other:


There is water under the brambles


















and this is where the path has to go












The section above runs alongside the stream. To the left is the willow plantation and they have grown so tall in the 3 years we have been here, as you can see. So Jim left me to paddle about in mud and water while he decided to tackle the willows, ie, cut them to about 2 feet tall. I put some drainage pipe in the channel then filled it all with stones to keep the mud off the piping.




This is the soggy section, now a 'bridge' of stones with drainage underneath. The plank is from the old path, which is shown below















Here's the old path, now a stream and the plank on the left again.
As you can see, it's already pretty wet. We'll scoop out the mud and then it'll have a nice stony base.












So I reckon that's me sorted for the next few weeks!! Lots of brambles and nettles to tackle. I got nettled today and my hands still sting. I actually love that sort of job. Something to get my teeth into, in a manner of speaking!

This evening at 8pm, Jim's 2 great nephews, Luke and Sam Burgess, were both on television playing rugby league against each other! It was quite a tight match and it was good to see both brothers on the field together. Sam's team, the Bradford Bulls, won but only just. Luke's team, Leeds Rhinos, had 3 tries disallowed, so I'm sure there'll be some arguments in their house tonight!

Since then it's been food, fire and fun on the computer! Talking of computers, did I mention that the builders cut through our Broadband cable?? Well, they did. Jim thought he'd have a go at a temporary mend as it'll all have to be moved when we eventually go into the extension. This is our Broadband connection now:







Well, it works!!












It's ok, Grandpa Scarecrow is looking after it! And the snail on his head.






Now the bit you've all been waiting for, the flower photos. Oh, first I must tell you about my Judas tree. These trees flower in the spring on bare branches. I have looked each spring so far and no, no flowers. But guess what? This year they are there. Well, they are little buds at the moment but they are definitely flower buds. I'm so excited. When we first moved here we could hardly see the Judas tree, it was about 1foot tall and covered in grass. I put sticks all around it in case the deer decided to eat it! Well, baby, look at you now:




It doesn't show very well against the earth as it hasn't any leaves yet, but you can just see it, and here are some of the flower buds:















The flower buds are what looks like a little bunch of grapes with a twig next to it! I'm dying to see what they look like fully open. The leaves of the Judas tree are also lovely, like big pennies.









A dandelion clock
















Gorse behind and blackthorn blossom to the fore


















The 'hairy' tulip is almost fully out


















Beautiful narcissus, and below
































red and yellow tulips




















saxifrage, I love the colour of this variety


















This orange and yellow tulip has spiky petals

















As does this red one. These are very tall too.















This bi-colour tulip from the other day's blog is almost going over but isn't it stunning?
















Finally, a yellow tulip, for a change



















I have also been making some more ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and here are a couple I made in the past few days:




As Happy as a Pig in .....?





















Gold Leaf











Until next time
xxx