Work on the terrace

28 August 2019

Rowan finally has a bit of time to come over in the evening, so we start work on the terrace.  I dismantled a couple of boards to increase the amount of gravel packing underneath.  It had been packed up to the level of the foundation while I was away earlier in the summer, but there was a further 10cm rise to level it with the kitchen floor which was unfilled.  10cm of cosy underfloor wasp and mouse habitat right outside the kitchen door - not appealing!  Also, if you dropped a mobile phone and it slid through the gaps between boards, you'd want it not to fall very far, I reckoned, as deconstruction will be difficult once the stairs and bannisters are built.

So, Dave and I pickaxed out some more of the lime outflow from years of cleaning the mixer and broke it into little chunks to fill the spaces, topped up with fresh gravel.  Meanwhile, Rowan made up a small amount of concrete to make a little pad for the terrace steps to stand on.

Nice to have started work on something, even if the temperature hasn't fallen at all yet.

 Before deconstruction

 With two rows filled in

 Rowan frames out the step base

 The new concrete pad is made - no cat paw-prints in it yet, either.

A quick visit

21 - 26 August 2019

After our whistlestop trip to the UK, my son returned the favour and came to see us with his girlfriend.  We stopped doing almost nothing in the heat, and went swimming a lot. 

Meanwhile, the sink is doing its clogging-up thing again, so we had to unpack the under-sink area, and power-hose it through.  We hadn't had one of these for about 10 months, so it was very disappointing to have it bung up again.

Tropical growings

19 August 2019

We arrived back after dark, but the next morning, rushing out to check our little tropical plantings, we were very pleased to find considerable growth had taken place during our five days away.

 The moringa trees, showing spectacular growth already

 Ginger coming along well, and the new turmeric settled in

And a very wonderful visitor inside the house, visiting our orchid pot, to welcome us home

UK interlude

14 - 18 August 2019

A very quick trip to the UK.  My son turns 30, with a quick stop-off to see my Dad.  While visiting in Shropshire, we were invited to visit an organic garden in the village.  It was fabulous, very intensely planted.  About a quarter of an acre garden converted into a series of garden rooms, all with different characters and plantings.  The owners said they had set out to make the barren garden a haven for insects, as the first stage, and it had worked spectacularly.

 This was a very interesting water feature.  A buried dustbin, with inverted lid, filled with water and using a little solar pump.  The inverted lid has been filled with stones, and a couple of drain holes, so the water is protected from evaporation, but makes a very damp, mossy location for insects.

 A lovely sculptural seat in one of the garden 'rooms'.

 Being shown round

 The pond.  I am so jealous!

One of the fabulous bug houses dotted around in odd corners.

Then on to the family gathering in the North East.  Much fun and partying, then home again.

 Clash of the Titans at table-tennis

 We left the car carefully under some trees at Preveza airport and came back to find ourselves covered in sticky sap.  The car wash couldn't move it.  We had to hand scrub every inch of the bodywork.  Not fun.

Ginger beer

8 August 2019

Dave is in continuous production of home-made ginger beer now.  It is very drinkable.  Not sweet like commercial ones, and quite alcoholic, so we limit ourselves to no more than a bottle each, once in a while, when we want something to sit out with and enjoy the evening.

 Meanwhile, the tropical corner is showing good signs.  The ginger - on the right - is flourishing.  How great if we can make our own ginger beer from home-grown ginger!  The turmeric on the left was planted about a week later, but also seems to have taken.

 Amazing moringas are showing why they are such great trees to grow - five days after planting, we have seven out of eight seedlings showing.

Electric car points

2 August 2019

We heard on the grapevine (well, the internet really, but grapevine sounds more romantic) that there were some new car charging points at the marina in Preveza.  So we decided to have an outing to discover them and find out a bit more.  Unfortunately we forgot to factor in travel over the bridge and past the airport on a Sunday in August.  It took some time to get there.

However, it was worth it.  We tracked them down, and then went into the office to find out more.  They are not yet ready to be used, mainly because no-one knows quite how much to charge for a charge.  But if we wanted to use one, the manager told us, we could email ahead and something would be arranged.  A bit more infrastructure, and in quite a useful location for us.

Garden Update - final

No more after this, I promise.  Not very interesting for readers, but a useful memento for us if things start to develop from here as we hope.

 These are two goji bushes.  They are spreading like mad, and are full of flowers loved by the bees.  Maybe they will turn to berries.  We've had one or two in the past, but not a full crop yet.

 One of the random squash.  They seem to like the woodchip beds.

 The other re-sprouted moringa, less tall, but bushier than the other.

 Another squash

 The strawberry bed.  Looking vibrant, but less productive than last year.

Yet another squash

The bougainvillea by the front door has perked up and is flowering again.

Garden Update, more

More of the trees that are hanging on in our garden, the hoped for 'canopy' layer of our forest garden-to-be ...

 But, problems in Eden!  The internet identified these as Scale Bug, infesting the mimosa.  I treated it with diatomaceous earth and scraped all the bugs off, and the tree has been doing better since.

 After the bugs were removed, the mimosa looking happier

 This is the unhappiest of the five robinias.  It was too far from the hose for a long time, and has only just held on.  Recent watering is encouraging new shoots to appear.

 The pomegranate that never does anything except produce and drop a few flowers every spring.  Needs feeding and tidying.

 A very unhappy lime tree.  Not comfortable in the heat.  But responding to our new watering regime.

 The centre robinia, a bit happier.

 This is the other lime tree, slightly more comfortable than its sister, and seems well established now.  Planted for its edible leaves - useful in salad.

 This scruffy little bush is locally known as 'Monkspepper', and officially as Chaste Tree, apparently the peppery seeds which can be used in seasoning have a depressive effect on male libidos, which explains the names.

 One of the reborn moringas - sprouting from last year's roots.  This one has now reached two metres high, but is not very bushy.

 Mulberry

 Robinia 5

Dave's citrus - the one we look after best (it gets pee'd on from time to time).  Good growth, currently no fruit.

Garden Update continued

A review of where we are now in the garden, continued from the last post

 A view of the self-seeded, probably apple, trees in the hugel bed, with the wonderful vast robinia in the background - definitely our star tree!

 A close-up of the actual three (crab) apples that showed up this year.  We are encouraging these self-seeded tree starts as we are hoping to be able to graft onto their root stock when a bit more established.

 This is the actual purchased apple tree - it is doing very poorly indeed.  We will move it this winter, as we need to landscape and terrace the bank behind it.

 This was a gift, we think it is a flowering cherry, which may mean it will never fruit, which would be a pity; but it will be good for bees even so.

 One of the hazel trees, which are doing better than expected in the heat.  I think they like being by the oak hedgerow.  Some baby catkins are showing - at the wrong time of year.

This is the kalamata olive, which we bought to provide big fat eating olives.  Not one has shown up yet.

 The citrus nearest the kalamata.  No fruits, but looking healthy-ish.

 The 'unreachable' citrus, for a while too far from the hose to get much water, although we've fixed that now.  Surprisingly, it is the one with a few little fruits on it.  We've forgotten which citrus is what, but these look like satsumas (Ready for Christmas?  All four of them).

 The third and fourth citruses - not looking too good.

 This is the standard olive tree that we planted, it is flourishing, and has a good crop of baby olives, which will hopefully make it to maturity in December.