Brass Monkeys and Grey Dustbins

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So, the Winter preparation of the garden continues – but with soooo much to do, and a less-than-enthusiastic team member (me!), it was now time to call in the ‘big-guns’! No sooner had my neighbour, David, returned from his holiday, he was then in the thick-of-it (quite literally) at ours, and adding ten very green and experienced fingers to the pruning/planting challenge – and if experience wasn’t enough to get us ahead, David brought an essential extra piece of kit with him – his grey dustbin! as we’d filled ours with garden waste to capacity within about an hour on the first day. After three hours, David’s was full and we had enough garden debris for at least another four dustbins! Now I know what a garage is for!!!

Apart from me hating this annual chore, the other factor impacting on our productivity was the weather. It had changed overnight from pleasant and warm (yesterday and Tuesday), to spot-the-brass-monkey! Yeesh! it was perishingly cold at 9am with a biting wind that felt like we were working in a freezer turned up to 11 – Brrrrr!

Luckily – for me – I had some important phone calls to make (which lasted most of the morning), leaving Ann and David to carry on with the hard work – well, at least the weather had now brightened up a bit! By 1.30 all operations were suspended in favour of lunch!

After making short work of a gigantic cheese soufflé and a home-made apple pie, courtesy of Ann’s culinary skills, we were ready for part two in the ‘battle of the foliage’. Having run out of space in the bins, David retired gracefully and I stepped into help Ann with planting bulbs in the pots. We just about got to the last one by 4 o’clock, and then it started raining, giving us the perfect excuse to call it a day!

More gardening fun tomorrow!

Oh joy! I can’t wait!!!!!!