The first thing will be a survey by me and some photo’s taken for the record. ‘LC’ is a 40 odd year old Hunter Europa. A 19 foot fin keeled masthead sloop. Her history is know over the last 10 or 12 years. She was last sailed about 7 years ago and she sailed very well in spite of a very tired suit of sails. I know because I sailed her.
She has a taty, tired looking old mainsail with quite a big roach which makes the sail area bigger than standard, probably been raced many years ago or perhaps the mainsail has lol, it’s probably second hand. I bought LC from someone who was sailing a very nice looking boat of the same type which sported a much newer looking main and roller furling headsail. All the sails need replacing but I will keep the sail number that’s in the club register rather than change the number in the register. Less of a clart on.
I will be fitting a roller furling headsail too. I used to raise the main by standing in the saloon with the companion way hatch cover open. There’s only sitting room in the saloon but with the hatch open and roller furling headsail there would never usually be the need to climb onto the coach roof or go forward of the mast.
Making a start on a neglected front and back garden
I just never have any time to do anything. Not properly anyway. The forces of nature are causing my garden to mutate into a wilderness. What must the neighbours think.
Actually most of my neighbours have concrete drives at the front. Not sure if I would like one myself. I have had plans in my head for ages about what I want to do with ‘my land’. I walk around the area a couple of streets away where the houses are bigger and have room for a drive and a nice garden and get my ideas from them. I even have some of their plants growing on my windowsill. I didn’t pinch the whole plant, the ones I really like are too big so I took cuttings.
It should turn into a bush when I let it loose into the garden
At my age (63) I don’t want to over do things and the time to dig is in the autumn so I missed that bit. I don’t know where the saying ‘hard work never killed anyone’ came from but I guess it must have been a fairly right wing politician. Hitler or one of them types. It’s obviously not true anyway. ‘Dirt never hurt anyone’ is another saying that’s not true. Probably a slum landlord came up with that one.
Apart from getting killed outright or dying from an infection from the dirt I want to avoid a bad back, losing an eye and stabbing my feet with the spikey shovel. I will come back to that when I remember it’s proper name. I just want to enjoy the health benefits of having a nice garden whilst avoiding the unhealthy side effects of hard work. I wore gloves, glasses and boots for safety. The strimmer is pretty quiet or I would have used the ear plugs I use when Vacuuming.
Fork, that’s the one I was thinking of. Not sure what your supposed to dig with, fork or shovel. I tried both briefly just last year as a test and found they are both hard work. I will just use one till it breaks then switch to the other one.
Some tools and Slow Coach the Tortoise. He does move but I don’t know how, him being plastic like. xx
I have made a start. The first thing I did was cut the grass at the front. I bought a cordless strimmer and it didn’t take long. Just a tidy really to stop kids from knocking every few hours wanting to cut it. They are not cheap either them kids and the flex on their strimmer is not long enough to stretch back to their mam’s gaff so they expect a tenner and free electric. I was £10 up by the time I finished the front and it only took 15 minutes. There is a tree stump trying to take up all the space to one side. I will deal with that another time.
Front before and afterPosing with my strimmerSide garden tree stump in distance
I left the side garden and Sycamore tree stump for another day.
My next priority was to get my Tatties in. I didn’t have time in the Autumn to dig the back garden and don’t have time nor energy to do it now. My solution was to skim the greenery off the top of the soil with the shovel, make little holes with my mini shovel and pop the Tatties in. Some nice new compost on top should make them feel at home and keep them warm and cosy. I planted 27 of them today. We shouldn’t starve to death this year like we did last year. Hoarders stripped supermarket shelves of anything remotely edible last year.
Posing with my shovelRhubarbIn it’s little holeTatties in job doneTatties waiting to go in
It was still hard work but I paced myself. Took 2 hours but doing it properly would have took a lot longer.
That’s all I am doing for this week. There is a magnificent Nettle patch down one half of the garden. Rather than see them as an eyesore as Mr. Grumpy Pants does, don’t ask, I see them as a fantastic easy grow crop of leaves that can be harvested for a herbal drink and a nutrient rich tasty bit of greenery for the dinner plate. I also know that lot’s of different types of Butterfly like them. I bet I have the finest Nettle patch in the whole street.
Flower weedNettle patchTools and TortoiseThe flower weed can stay, it has dainty little flowers that I like. I am quite proud of the magnificent showing of Nettles. It’s a fine crop this year. On the right are my tools, I used the big shovel and the cute little mini shovel that has a saw blade down the side which sawed through some roots when I dug with it.
I feel like I have taken all day but I have made some progress. I think gardening is fun because it gives you something to look forward to. I can see a fantastic garden in my mind. I am sitting there in the nice warm sun with a good book and a nice cup of Nettle tea in amongst a lovely garden with a mix of veg and flowers. Oh look, there are hanging baskets on the fences and wind chimes and over there a shed with a little patio like on Little house on the prairie. I can see Ma Baker sitting in a rocking chair now. Upside down clay pipe in her toothless mouth and Tommy gun on her lap. Better leave it there.
I have lots of good things to look forward to this year. It’s all very exciting.
