My hands, August 10th 2013
The result of sawing down and cutting up that huge bush, and putting up a bamboo screen and making a few smaller sections of bamboo screen with my own bamboo poles to fill out some gaps.
I didn’t notice any of the injuries when they actually happened, because I have a notoriously high pain threshold, especially in my hands and arms. It was just, “oh, where’s all this blood coming from again?” One of the band aids was partly pre-emptive (tying string very tightly a few hundred times when making the screens gave me blisters, apparently, as I realised after the first two had broken and started bleeding). I have no idea how/why I got three scratches from my saw on the back of my right hand. Oh well.
Anyway, most of it has healed by now …
So much nicer with the screen, even if it’s not totally opaque. Can’t wait for the vegetation to grow back a bit (next year …?). Maybe the small bush in the center, that was quite sad the first years I had this garden, but picked itself up a bit this year, will make a big comeback now that it gets more light?
My day off
Wednesdays I don’t go to my dayjob, because there are too many people in the office and no space for me. So I was looking forward to finally being able to draw comics today …
But last night there was another heavy storm over Brandenburg, and when I woke up I discovered that a large bush in my garden had collapsed.
Noooo …
It was kind of cozy. :3 So nice to have the middle part of my garden completely sheltered from my neighbours. Maybe some day it will really be like that, when/if the cypresses grow up.
To save the cypresses, I started to cut down the fallen branches …
The other half was still standing. My neighbour came to inform me that he had arranged for a guy with a chainsaw to cut it down in the afternoon. It made sense to cut it down, of course, since that part was leaning a bit against the fence and the next storm might pull it down, and if the wind was from the wrong direction it might even damage his roof. (Nothing got damaged this time, luckily.)
I was a bit annoyed that he just “informed” me that it was going to be cut down and didn’t talk about it with me first, but oh well …
I called my mum to whine about it and she gave me some pro tips about how to handle stupid older men who think you don’t know anything … V^(oo)^;V (Be cool and serious, calmly and assertively make sure that things go as you want them to.)
In the afternoon the chainsaw guy came by. Actually there were no less than FIVE guys who just had to participate … My neighbour, a friend of my neighbour (?!), a serious guy who acted like he was in charge and got annoyed at my meddlesome neighbour, the chainsaw guy, and then a random fifth guy who didn’t really do anything (??!!).
By all means, I could have done it by myself with my little handsaw, but it would have taken a little longer. So I guess it was kind of helpful … V^(oo)^;V
So after they cut down the other half of the bush I sawed up those branches too.
The bamboo shrub next to it had collapsed, too, so I might as well harvest all the dry poles from it.
Wood, bamboo, leaves.
That’s only half of the leaves – the first half I already put in the hedgiepiggle hideout. The hedgehogs will have an epic hideout this winter. :3
Hello, neighbour’s kitchen window. :os
My neighbour wanted the front part of the bush (with the whitish leaves) to be cut down, too, but I made sure it stayed …!! V°(oo)°;V That part is no danger to anything, dammit.
… And that’s what I did on my day off from work.
My garden and some of those I share it with
Last year’s 24 h comic. Actually it’s mainly about those I share it with.
Summer of 2012
So, today I moved into my winter residence. Time for a summer summary:
What grew particularly well:
– Cucumber. Besides pickle cucumbers, I tried a bitter-free F1 hybrid greenhouse cucumber, and while that is in some ways evil (not least because you can’t save the seeds!), they tasted really awesomepants and were extremely productive. They very much enjoyed the watering system I set up with unglazed terracotta pots buried in their pots.
My garden is a jungle
I really need to organise my time better, somehow, so I can spend more time in the countryside. This is driving me crazy.
Today I couldn’t take it anymore and went there for a short time, anyway.
The fava beans near the fence have a bit of an aphid problem. (Maybe the ant colony in the ground nearby is farming them?) Maybe they’ll be okay nevertheless. If I see any ladybirds I put them there to eat the aphids …
I was going to use the totally overgrown bed to the right as a pumpkin bed this year, but maybe that plan is going to hell.
