talk us into being ready…..

Spring is most definitely on the way, and we both feel that we are seeing the changes coming earlier every year or is it that we just weren’t really looking before. As you can see the willows are all starting to sprout and I am so pleased that we took the decision three years ago to have Willow in every corner of the garden.  Willows come out of winter without a complaint about the cold and they really put on a show before any other tree has thought about it.  Now, I didn’t know all of this before we came here and I encouraged the willow concept because they grow quickly and when we started the garden I felt that we had so little time to create something worth while and here we are with babies of babies looking all grown up and beautiful, it’s   just like parenthood all over again

Mike did a perfectly timed bon coin find two days ago.  I scrambled my way through a conversation with a fast speaking country dood on a very crackly line to get a detailed address for  Lovely, the GPS, to attend to, and a commitment on time to visit. Today then we set off with high hopes that another little drive out in the country will become a successful purchase at an honest and low price.  It all went very well and we successfully bought a trailer full of wood chippings for 35 euros. Loads of money actually I hear you say, but when you need to discourage weeds from invading your works of art then money is almost no object. A sheet of plastic and a layer of wood chippings with a pay back of no weeds and a trouble free garden is worth the outlay within reason. It is  especially important at this time of year when the weeds are still not conscious  so we are now  way ahead of their cunning little plan to cover over  all our hard work

I have moved all the shrubs that I recognised as being in the wrong place this year, on the strength of over crowed beds we have created a new garden and extended another, and it has cost us nothing. We had two willow trees planted by the abri and this winter we have put in the machinery and transplanted every thing else, I also have propagated Honesty and Box hedge to finish it all off. I find creating a garden like this more satisfying that drawing or painting and getting out there with secateurs to keep them looking smart is equally satisfying.

We have all the caravan proceedings in progress now and next week we will decide when to start. A new friend has today e-mailed me to see if we will have the vans ready soon  as she has people looking for accommodation in June. I stood in the doorway to the lounge and asked if Mike thought we might be ready and he just gave me a bit of a worried look and said, "I really don’t know". We are having these new friends here for lunch on Monday and we will see if they can talk us into being ready…..