So from moaning about how cold it was to the jump from 15C to 25C, today at 18:00 the patio thermometer is registering 39C!! To be fair the front of the house faces south and is a suntrap but… It’s also where I’ve been working for most of the day 
Lots of tea breaks required, very definitely my sort of day; and that really sums up the day too, a sort day walking things to their proper places now that the ground is dry.
Lots of tea breaks required, very definitely my sort of day; and that really sums up the day too, a sort day walking things to their proper places now that the ground is dry.
Still no news on hay-making although if the weather forecast remains as given at lunchtime we could have a weather window of 4 days starting tomorrow.
Last night at the bee group I attend we had a talk on permaculture so part of this afternoon has been spent mulching the bare earth in the potager and flower beds with the excess of grass clippings I have.
An Internet search on the use of clippings seemed pretty evenly split between it being a good idea and it being a bad idea so consider it an experiment in progress. Nature abhors a vacuum I was always taught and that’s why bare soil never stays bare for long. The hope is that the layer of clippings will be thick enough to stop weed germination but not thick enough to turn into a slimy layer. Hopefully too, they will also break down over the year and help improve my soil – it really needs something to improve it.
Along with the hay-making a lot of grass cutting and weeding round the house is required as you can probably tell from the picture above. A month ago the flower bed shown was weed free and the area all round it neatly mown but with a bit of (weather) luck, by this time next week it will be again.
2 comments:
Welcome back to the blogosphere! Sounds like lots of changes over the past year or so anyway. I think doing all you can to head for as self-sufficient as possible will be your greatest financial undertaking. The more you can provide for yourself, the less money you'll need to be going out making. Cheeky question to satisfy my curiosity: is your farm paid for in full or do you need to think about earning to cover a mortgage? I do agree that getting out to a job will probably mean your French will improve enormously. Look forward to reading along again :)
Hi Moonwaves. Thankfully no mortgage just loads of other bills! :-)
I'm hoping to catch up on blog reading as well as writing this year although watching documentaries of French TV (mainly on ARTE) is not leaving me a lot of time! My excuse is that it is my French lesson and I have learnt to understand a lot of French by watching; it's speaking the language I need to do next.
Post a Comment