Les poissons en France: April 2011

Easter Jobs

Like a lot of other people, we were busy over Easter working around the house. Last year I'd converted an old table for us to use on the terrasse outside. However, the rain had affected it and so, I've put a new top on it.

I'm still a bit 'twitchy' about it getting wet, so at the moment, it's going in and out like a yo-yo!

Meanwhile, the head gardener has grasped the nettle and begun planting up the Christo bed behind the barn. She'd been holding off till we got some rain but we've not really had any all of this month and there's still none on the horizon.

So, back to the old chore of watering!

Maturing

No not us, although that is certainly true. I am, on this occasion, referring to the garden. Although the house is obviously not progressing I am pleased to report that I am delighted that the garden is approaching how I envisaged it. The glorious weather in April has brought the irises etc in the front garden, on very early. However for us gardeners there is always a down side - we need rain.
I am even more delighted to see the long bed maturing. (I hesitate to say anything but this is partly due to the lack of deer visits recently). I am busy growing perennials from seed, which will tolerate arrid conditions. I am hoping that this time next year most of the earth and consequently the weeds will be covered. The raised bed is also coming to fruition (no pictures at present as I have had no time to weed, and the irises are blooming above the buttercups!!). Finally, we are about to start transferring things to the new "Christo" bed, although the lack of rain is delaying this.

All Strung Up

The 'new' deer fence is now in operation .... just we haven't seen any deer for ages!

After serious reflection, we decided that we wanted to deter the deer; there was no need to try to make it impossible for them to get to the roses. So, we changed the wire for string.

Hopefully, the string will restrict the deer, but also, it won't be a major job to retie it if the string starts to sag!

We'll let you know how well this works.

Another Deer Fence

The Head Gardener has been concerned that we have nothing protecting the roses in the 2 beds in the front garden. So ..... we are going to erect a simple 'fence' of wires on posts in an attempt to discourage the deer if they want to nibble the fresh young shots!

We got Guy to finish off hammering the post whilst he was here last week.

(Notice the expert way that the post is being held!)

However, today I got to the point of fixing the wires on one side of the first bed, and .......
Head Gardener not happy!!!!!

After reflection and deep thought, plan A has been rejected. The wire is too thick, which causes problems with keeping the posts upright when I tension the wire. Also, Sue does not like the 'large' tensioners. So, they've got to come off and we'll experiment with plan B ..... string!
More will be revealed soon.

Mummy's Little Helper

At the end of our son Guy's stay at a school north of Angouleme, we picked him up and he's staying with us till Friday. So, Sue's taking the opportunity to get him helping in the garden (in between writing essays!)

We have stiil a sizable heap of soil which she wants put on the Christo bed before she can start planting it up.

Yesterday Sue managed to combine earth moving with manure spreading. Our friends Annie and Donnie arrived in the morning with a trailer-load of horse manure which went on the Christo bed before the earth moving!

As you can see, we're experiencing lovely weather. We both got the sun on our faces and necks!!!

Everything's Blooming

We haven't been doing much lately so I thought you would be reassured to see that we are still here! We've had rain for the last 3 days but the forecast is now for a decent period of warmth and sun. So, of course everything is growing like mad. And that means grass cutting.