Half an Hour

The pair of us came up with a cunning plan this year, it is so simple, Monday to Friday we go out in the garden at 10.00am and do thirty minutes of gardening each, which we have found gives us focus, plus by the time the half hour is done we have a quick review and then go back to our day and have not tired ourselves out.

The front yard had a lot of this attention before we went on a trip, weeds of course love this environment and once we had removed most of them, we laid the path of stepping stones at the side and then our attention shifted to the long neglected back yard and of course the first order of business were the weeds again and that wobbly post at the start of August, however, we never expected to do this :

We always say this, we wish we had taken a before photo, although taking one would have brought shame upon us because the back yard was in a terrible state, three or four years of neglect, however, all that has been reversed in the last four weeks and also enhanced with the removal of a ton of wild grass, an old tarp that had been grown through, rocks and weeds everywhere, all gone during our thirty minute shifts.

The path to the left with the island is new and we just had enough screenings left to complete it, the two shrubs in the foreground were saved from the Canadian Tire garden centre at the end of the season, little bargains here and there and in a few days time we will be visiting Russel Nursery with our gift card from Karen's mum, Pat, and will buy more plants for the front and back yards.

It is approaching that time of the year when we start thinking about the next season, we have those loose ideas of what we will be doing and then of course, we will surprise ourselves with stuff like this that we did not intend to do, all sparked off by a wobbly fence post repair, that is the fun of gardening.

Holiday Monday Fun, mixing concrete

During the winter we noticed another of our fenceposts had gone wiggly with the base probably rotten, this at the side between our back garden and the neighbours. It was staked up on a temporary basis just to stabilise it through the winter and spring winds but I suspect that would not last another November. Today it was time to complete a longer term fix to see if we can achieve another three years of not costing much to keep the garden enclosed.  I was expecting to be thwarted by existing concrete footings, but this was one of the posts that was simply compacted into the soil, hence the rot. That was a mixed feeling surprise as I dug the hole with a lot less resistance, but also realised that a lot of the other posts would be in the same condition.

I managed to dig a good hole about seventeen inches deep last week, scrounged a two by four off one of my buddies, well it was more a barter type situation, I swapped some home made hot sauce for the piece of wood. This was then cut to length and I attached a six inch piece at ninety degrees about six inches from the bottom for more concrete contact and fore/aft stability, then I made a frame to add another two inches of depth to cater for a couple of bags of Quikrete. Last week Quikrete was $8.49 for a 30kg bag at Canadian Tire, which seemed like a deal, so I bought a couple and we managed to get them into the back of the car without dropping anything or turning each other into grey powder covered ghosts. This morning starting at about 9.30am with great help with the heavy lifting from the forewoman, everything came together in less than an hour, including full cleanup, it feels like a weight off my sore shoulders.

As you can see, the post is close to the California Lilac bush which delivered many insects and bits of stuff onto my head while digging the hole, two bags of ready mix, a bit of tamping down and the job is done. I'll go and check later this afternoon to see if the fascinating process of concrete setting has taken place. 

The job will be finished off later in the week with a lick of paint, but for now, it must be time for lunch.