2016

January 2016

We diverted water from a nearby ditch to fill her up. Then just added birds...
Catching the little buggers was most amusing, but we eventually got most, except for those that suddenly discovered the power of flight.

The most urgent task was the Box hedge. Should we treat it or should we dig it up and plant something else?
We tried treatment as removing it threatened the stability of the entire house. This required spraying the whole thing every three weeks, to kill the caterpillars that were munching away happily.  We soon realised that we needed to build a large retaining wall to access the other side of the hedge and to stop the erosion that threatened to carry off our new home.
Our 'garden' was gradually turning into mud with added rocks. A lot of rocks. Pretty much an entire quarry-full of the bloody things...

February 2016

At this time we started pondering as to the future of the field behind us. To make it into something approximating to a garden required some terracing. As we had a man with a digger to hand, we asked him (Dominique) what he thought could be done. Before we could stop him he chugged away happily digging, scooping, pushing, and, well, sculpting the field. It was a truly massive job.
Involving significant quantities of mud. And dosh.

A massive money-gobbling job.

July 2016

So, after 6 months work on the garden, what did we have?
A moonscape of mud, rocks and weeds. There are no weeds on the moon? No. Because they are all in my bloody garden!

The terracing continued. From the original 'one or two' terraces, we had progressed to over eleven, going in all kinds of directions. Although this looked somewhat random and had the neighbours guessing what the hell we were up to, there was method behind the madness. And behind the madness was one overriding factor; water.

The total rainfall per year maybe near a quarter of that back in Wales, but when it falls here it sometimes falls in torrents. Every terrace needed to direct water in such a way as to avoid washing away the newly formed banking. It was directed towards a border ditch and, centrally, a large hole that was dug with a humungous pipe to take the water away. This hole was the central eyesore in the whole plan. 

It was destined for other things.

August 2016

During this 'destructive' phase, there were the occasional signs of a brighter future. The 'very' occasional flower.

November 2016

The combination of hot weather, sunshine and water is ideal for growing a multitude of different plants. A multitude of different weeds had the same idea. In out previous home I had learned the hard way about these fast growing buggers. There is but one way.
Plastic liner.
Acres of plastic liner was to transform our bare muddy banks into a bizarre looking plastic monstrosity.
Within these plastic banks were installed nearly two kilometres of wiring controlling pumps and lighting, and over two kilometres of water pipes for a watering system that incorporated five controllers, and nearly twenty remotely controlled valves.
This project was becoming a monster in itself.

On to 2017