76 - Raised beds!

 When you have been reading this blog it will not come as a surprise I have bought and assembled two raised beds, right?

Blumfeldt planter

Often I have complained about my heavy clay, which gets waterlogged in winter and turns into something most resembling concrete in summer.

The strategy behind Hunky Dory was to spend as little money on it as possible, so I sow seeds, I recycle, upcycle and cycle to friend's gardens to pick up free seedlings. But lately the impossibility to get a spade into my soil was irritating me, not in the least because I saw my cherished seedlings suffer, struggle and sometimes perish. Okay, so we've had an unusually dry spring and summer so far, but all the signs are that this is a state of affairs that we will have to get used to. 

So I looked at raised beds, that is to say, I realised when I was at the diy shop I do not like straight lines, at all. Besides, those planks are bloody heavy, and I am not strong.

First one done

There are no straight lines in nature, you see. They go against the grain, well against mine anyway. Research led me to Berlin, you must love the internet, to Germany from my easy chair. I ordered a Blumfeldt metal planter, 160x80cm, which would arrive in 'between now and in 7 days', using DPD. Perhaps folks in Germany take a week off to wait for their stuff, because no track&trace possible. I wasn't going to sit at home for a week, dogs need to be walked, food has to be bought, veg needs to be watered you know? It turned out that was just as well, because DPD did not even attempt to deliver to my home, they dropped it off at a delivery point 3 km away. 

Anyway, long story short the tiny woman there heaved the flat pack into the back of my car (she was strong!) from where I dragged it into my wheelbarrow with a great deal of swearing, and opened it with trepidation. Hm. It looked straightforward enough, 2 lengths of nuts, and bolts, plus rings. It also turned out to be very high, much higher than I had counted on. So I decided on the spot to turn it into two planters, yay, two for the price of one! It was very easy, really, even for a diy dummy like me, except instead of having a lot of leftover nuts and bolts (every time I attempted an IKEA) I now had 6 too few. Or 6 holes too many. So glad I could not find the courage to clear out my shed, yet! I found 6 different gauge bolts, and they all fit those holes, hallelujah.

To save more money, I chucked the old tired strawberry plants I dug up into the bottom of the planters. That means I had to buy less bags of garden soil. All the same, one planter took 320 litres of soil. Two planters...you get my drift. Pigs will have flown three loop-de-loops over my greenhouse by now...save money..., right.

So happy I did this!

Still. I have planted some lovelies in those planters and I have given my neighbours something to talk about. Two birds with one stone!

Read more about Hunky Dory on Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman  . Have a lovely weekend!

74 - I garden, therefor I am

 What is this urge to document, to put down on paper what is keeping me occupied other than an existential need to prove that I exist?

Pumpkin

 Woah!

Gardening, right, we are reading about gardening here?

Yes, we are, kind of. Like that pumpkin over there on the left, my being is hidden underneath a whole mass of creepers. Older ladies like myself tend to become invisible to younger people. The thinning hair, the wrinkles, the varicose veins, the sagging flesh, all not so attractive to gaze upon, I get it, don't think I do not.

But just as that pumpkin hidden under those green leaves is rather beautiful, so my soul remains all glossy sheen and firm flesh. It is just hidden inside an older person. Although my soul is an old one. And there you go. Back to Hunky Dory.

Datura

That area of high pressure is doing weird things to our weather. It is warm to very warm, but sometimes clouds hide the sun. Still, it is necessary to water the greenhouse veggies every day, and I talk to the daturas while I am doing that. The two of them appeared by magic, and are waving their amazing cream coloured trumpets at me, one day at a time. They wilt when I do not water them religiously, so I water them. I tried to grow one on my balcony last summer, but it pined, and I threw the spent pot soil in my greenhouse, and, well.

I have ordered a metal raised bed planter from Berlin for Hunky Dory, which is supposed to arrive 'within 7 days', of which 6 have passed by now. No tracker tracer thingy possible, so am I supposed to sit at home waiting for my buzzer to go off for a week? I think not!  I bet you they will try to deliver it when I am walking Puck. Anyway, I saw it on Gardener's World and several Instagram feeds and I thought I want one! It can go on the old strawberry patch (which will need clearing first) and I can fill it with a mix of veg and flowers I do not have to use a pickaxe for to get them into the soil. If this becomes a success, there will be more, folks. But first get it delivered...

The Cannas on the balcony

Mind you, the flowers are valiantly and defiantly showing they are just as good as last year's onions they have replaced. Good onions though, I am actually still eating them.

The forecast says it will be 36 degrees C next week, even though we are near the sea, holy cow! My poor garden... Oh well, her and me both, it will be over 40 under my flat roof at home. I have stocked up on icecream and made water ones for Puck, on a stick, she loves to lick them whilst I hold them up for her, eyes closed with extacy. (Hers, not mine)

If you like to read more, find my Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman.  Have a lovely weekend, and keep your head cool!