Sunday, 16 January 2022
At home (mostly)
Allan installed the final five broken tool fence toppers.
He announced at two PM that the fence project was done, and turned his attention to related projects, starting with the sawing of the stump that would block a wheelbarrow from easily getting through the east gate. This is quite time consuming without a big chain saw, but too small a project to ask a friend with a chainsaw to help us out.
A second cut on the inside allowed the gate to swing open wider.
Allan installed the fence post for the third arbor…the last of the fence posts to go in, about two long months (with many winter weather interruptions) of fence building. I already had the hole dug except for the last couple of inches.
He started to measure the arbor tops, the last thing that needs to be built as part of the willow grove project.
I was digging up new garden beds, making an extension of the bark path, raking sodden leaves out of the bridged swale to use as mulch, and wishing I had a big pile of soil with which to finish the beds so I can start planting assorted plants that have been awaiting this project.
While getting some coir out of a water barrel by the front driveway, I noticed the difference on a Melianthus major (‘Purple Haze’, probably) that was half covered with a big upturned plastic pot during the recent frost.
On the way to the willow grove with a load of rough compost, I noticed that my Olearia traversii (I think) had doubled in size over the winter.
The parent plant has gotten enormous in the seven or eight years, from a gallon pot. The lower leaves tend to yellow in winter. I have two more propagated for if I need screening plants on the south fence.
I lowered a slippery path by the west gate and applied the last bag of bark.
Allan took a short break to deliver more copies of his boating book to Time Enough Books at the port. He saw signs of spring and lots of mysterious markings on the sidewalk.
I found two more tool heads to mount on the fence, so the fence project actually got done just before sunset.
In the last light, I dug up the patch of Iris pseudacorus (yellow flag iris that did not bloom) out of the bridged swale, something I’ve meant to do for ten years. It is a noxious weed here, one so pushy that the state weed control folks spray it when it appears in waterways. (There is a lot of it growing and flowering down by MaryAnn street, by the tidelands. Mine never flowered because it was in deep shade.)
I have some good stepping stones to put in the swale tomorrow. Where the irises were will be a path (in dry weather) leading from the Bogsy Wood into the willow grove and back out again.
As I write this well after dark, Allan is sawing the ends of the arbor toppers by artificial light next to his shed. Tomorrow, installing the six boards should be fairly easy (says the non carpenter).
Tangly Cottage Gardening 
My gosh! What a project. Yay for Allan!
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Fantastic work.
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Thanks, Mr T!
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