Who fell into the pit?
Hello m' muscly stunt doubles,
It is not always easy gardening here at Long Mizzle, with its six split leveled terraces, many steps and uneven slopes. Many a time I have found myself either stumbling up or stunt rolling down the garden with momentum. If anyone remembers 'Dynasty' from the 1980s, you may remember the classic cat fights between sappy Krystal and villainous Alexis. Well there's one 'mud slide' classic that springs to mind (copied in to the end of this post for your perusing leisure).
Above: Watch the drop! One of the terraced walls of Long Mizzle
One programme Monsieur and the kids have got into during lockdown is 'Parks and Recreation' (on Netflix). It loosely centres around what will be done to the local pit. The character Andy, played by Chris Pratt, is the singer of a cringey, wanabee Dave Matthews / Hootie and The Blowfish pub band and his song 'I fell into the Pit" amusingly soundtracks this ongoing saga.
Well our old pond bed, or 'pit' as it has come to be known, is my garden nemesis. Why on earth anyone in their right mind would build a pond at the bottom of steep steps, I do not know!!!
Luckily when we moved in, previous owners must have seen its perils, and had filled it in. Unfortunately it was filled with un-child friendly and un-savoury items such as nylon socks, Y-fronts, nails, glass, rolls of carpet, suspect asbestos tiles (which were safely disposed of)... and at the bottom... disintegrating pond liner and concrete rubble.
After a major clean up operation and piles of fresh compost added, the old pond pit has since been used for growing onions, radishes, sweetpeas, candytufts and californian poppies. One year I even experimented with growing watermelon: the huge sprawling plant produced one fruit the size of a grapefruit, small and delicious, but not really worthy of the space.
This time last year, at the start of March 2020 lockdown, I was short on compost and with the garden centres all closed, I had to improvise. The soil level had significantly dropped and with no extra soil or compost at Long Mizzle, the littlest helper and I filled it in with cut down conifer branches.
We also introduced a new path across it, to save on us walking down then back up, Faulty Towers style, to get to the picnic area. The extra path also saved on being whipped by whatever was on the washing line. Unsurprisingly, over winter, the level started to drop again and the stepping stones were becoming crooked; the weeds taking over.
Above: Before
Today, feeling muscly and hairy legged, like one of Joan Collin's male stunt doubles, and with the sound of Chris Pratt's 'I fell into the Pit' in my head, I tackled it.
The cold frame was removed from the strawberry bed and the self seeded
foxgloves temporarily popped in a pot -
Stepping stones and slate chips removed, I dug down,
removed the half rotten conifer branches and piled the nice fresh
compost onto the strawberry bed (They'll like the ericaceous soil).
Then I filled it back in with the concrete rubble that I had laboriously removed a few years ago. As long at the pit remains, the path is staying and I don't want the soil level to keep on dropping.
Here it is with weed membrane wrapped over, slate chips and stepping stones re-introduced -
So there it is, a big pain of a job, but hopefully one I will not have to do again!
On the plus side, the pit did get a thorough weeding. I planted some of my autumn sown Achilea in the free draining , shallow part. This will be a gravel garden with lots of sea shells and potted succulents. Hopefully the dark pink of the Achilea 'Cerise Queen' will look great with the bright orange of the Californina poppies. I will also plant some sea thrift and sedums in the little pockets between the stones.
Wouldn't this area look better with those ugly concrete bricks covered in colourful mosaic tiles?! Like Gaudi's Park Guell in Barcelona. Now, there's a job for another day...
Before I go I absolutely must share with you the first tulip of the season -
Some pink primrose joy -
It's Friday night and it is officially Spritz-O-Clock so I'm going to tootle off.
Have you got any pain in the bum jobs lined up for the weekend ?
Please let me know in the comments section below.
Lulu xXx
p.s. Silly video clips, as promised -
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A job well done and it looks great. Fingers crossed you get a healthy crop of strawberries in the summer. X
ReplyDeleteThank you Jules :) Finger crossed indeed... I just need to keep the slugs and birds off them now and get the ice cream ready. Lulu xXx
DeleteBlimey, you have worked hard and the end result does look very nice. I am off for my covid jab this morning and hopefully won't have any side effects. There's far too much to do in the garden so I don't have time to be under the weather.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cherie, I've got muscles on top of muscles now! Hope the Covid jab was ok and no achy side effects. Popping over to see what you've been up to shortly.... Lulu xXx
DeleteWow you have been working hard. I cannot believe what some rubbish people dump In their garden we have to planning permission for everything and I mean everything and they come out and inspect it every step of the way as well
ReplyDeleteWe are planning our koi pond kind of how did I manage to get shale mixed up with pea gravel moment changed. And the amount of paperwork we have to do is crazy. From design to planning on disposal of wrong said shale. And permission of works the list is endless.
All I want is a nice little space in the middle of the city!!
But on the other hand the kids did go to daiso and pick up some seeds thinking they were flower seeds , they were chilli and bok choi!! plenty of veggies they mean well so I have potted the seeds for them . Off to buy bulbs tomorrow from my florist friend.
Kids are great but they often get things wrong or dig up flowers when they think they are weeds!!
Take care and keep safe.
Hello Allie jane, how interesting that you have so much paper work for garden jobs in Tokyo. I wonder if it's like that for the whole city, or just certain protected areas, such as the conservation areas within the UK? I'm sure your koi pond will be worth all the effort in the end.
DeleteHope you had fun picking bulbs from your florist friend, that sound like a good outing to me. It is sweet that your kids brought you some seeds. My kids are very good at switching all the labels around on my pots. I'm trying to teach them which flowers they're allowed to pick, and the ones they must stay away from as they don't re-bloom in that season (e.g. Tulips).
Lulu xXx
Great job Lulu! The California poppies will look beautiful and I love the idea of sedum and sea thrift between the stones. That tulip is a stunner - very like a peony. I'm so disappointed in ours; planted at the right time and the right depth (and definitely the right way up) but no sign of any flowers - just stalks and leaves so far. I can only think they haven't had enough sun. Who on earth fills in a pond with Y-fronts and asbestos?! Do you have a pond anywhere now or has it put you off for life? I must watch Parks and Recreation. I keep hearing how good it is. Like everyone, a few more hours in the day would be hugely appreciated! x
ReplyDeleteThank you Claire :) The Foxtrot Tulip is fast becoming my favourite tulip. Ours have only just popped out, so it shouldn't be long now! It is crazy the things people will dump in their own gardens. My old boss said his dear old dad used to bury whole car engines at the bottom of his garden, in the days before council tips / recycling centres.
DeleteWe don't have a pond. I thought about putting one at the bottom, in what will ostentatiously become 'the woodland glade' this year - but I wanted to wait until the kids were a bit older, for peace of mind. Parks and Recreation is good silly fun, and only 20 minutes per programme. If you do watch it, look out for the characters Ron Swanson and Tammy 2 - brilliant! Lulu xXx
I got a bit lost and confused in your garden, I would be the one to fall in the pit. It's a big garden and there's lots of dangerous rocks and stuff to fall on so I think you are brilliant to have manhandled it all into shape and purpose. I would probably have left that heap of y fronts and asbestos and put some decking over it and taken the easy way out - if I can't see it, it's not there sort of thing. Isn't it satisfying when a flower pops up and looks just like it's supposed to in the pictures - i.e. your perfectly formed frilly tulip - it's fabulous - I would want to freeze it in a block of ice and keep it forever and admire it, they have such a short life and don't grow for me - they just grow leaves and stalks! I used to love Dynasty (Dysentry) those shoulder pads, the jewellery, hair, tight skirts, silly shoes. I worked in a merchant bank in those days and in my head I was Crystal - nobody told me wasn't see, I remember I had a bright pink suit, shoulder padded of course and my boss asked me not to wear it on Mondays as he always had a hang over......
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes Betty, it is a confusing shaped garden which caters for only the nimblest of toes, and is is not kind on klutziness. It is also a pain getting things in and out of the garden, as we have to walk them through the house. So things get repurposed as much as they can. Not the Y fronts though! More Foxtrot Tulips have popped out today. I need to go and photograph them whilst the sun is out. Apparently they are subtly scented too.
DeleteAh Dynasty, what a corker. That's so funny that you dressed to impress like Crystal, at your 1980's bank job and the pink power suit offended your boss' eyes!!! :0 :) :) Lulu xXx
love the pink camellia!
ReplyDeleteand all the other pink flowers too!
hilarious video of the dynasty bitches :-DDD
a terraced garden is not easy to care for - around here are many of them. not nice of the former gardeners to dump all the trash into the pond - but i fear not many people can think into the future.....
in the BWH garden is still a lot of concrete in form of paths - ugly and not nice to walk barefoot. over the years i digged up a many and changed it into lawn, but the rest i have to replace with something sturdier then grass...... and that needs money. which i don´t have.
time will tell.
happy gardening! xxxxx
Hello Beate :) There's also a particularly good Dynasty cat fight in a fashion haberdashery on YouTube, with lots of male stunt double rolling through clothes rails, interspersed with breathless shots of the actual actresses. Classy stuff!
DeleteGosh, it is hard work to remove the concrete isn't it! I was going to take it all to the tip, but apparently it just goes to landfill, so I am trying out ways to live with it. I have started collecting broken tiles to mosaic cover over the large retaining bricks. Either that or I'll paint them and grow lots of trailing plants over the edges. It is always a work in progress. Lulu xXx
now you say it.... i remember that cat fight in the fashion boutique - have seen that in the 80´s when the series was aired in germany.... we could see western german TV because we lived up the mountain - bad quality but yeah!
Deletewe reuse the old concrete....
xx
It's a corker isn't it!
DeleteTrashy 80s TV - another great reason to live up in the mountains :) x
You don't half know how to work, love! the garden looks fabulous and I had to giggle at you unearthing Y Fronts in your pond. The stepping stones look fabulous and I love the idea of the sea thrit and sedum growing inbetween, I've got some scabby sea thrift in a pot, I wonder if I could do something similar.....hmmmm! xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you Vix :) I was hoping for nicer garden treasures. The most exciting thing uncovered thus far, apart from the Y fronts, is a rusty matchbox toy car. Yes hopefully the little plants will soften all the hard landscaping. I've just been ripping off clumps of sea thrift and sedum, with little roots attached, and sticking them in. That reminds me, they need a good watering today! Lulu xXx
DeleteGosh, makes me tired just reading your post! What a great job you are doing, such a wonderful garden - the possibilities seem endless. All best wishes ~ Mike.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mike :) Yes, lots of ideas and muscles, but rarely enough time!
DeleteIt is more fun for me than the gym though.
Take care, Lulu xXx
That clip is brilliant! I don't remember it at all. I just remember being scared of Alexis as a child and I remember that someone had kidnapped someone that looked like Crystal and was keeping her tied up somewhere but that's all I remember!
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about your pond transformation but why on earth did they fill the pond with all that rubbish!??!
Those Dynasty cat fight clips never cease to cheer me up. I was allowed to stay up and watch it cuddled up with my mum on the sofa as a kid. We used to howl with laughter. Now you say it, I vaguely remember the Crystal lookalike kidnap story line. What a load of tosh it was.... brilliant tosh though.
DeleteThe things people dump in their own gardens is just mad. Lulu xXx
P.S. Your mention of the mighty watermelon and its rather unfruitful progeny reminds me of my Turkish Turban squash last year. It was mighty- it grew tall, it grew many little fruits which all dropped off- only one came to full fruition but it had been attacked on one side by insects so it had produced Curcubitacins to protect itself so when we come to eat it- we both got toxic squash syndrome from it! I was dismayed (and ill!) - all that effort and watering and attention for one blooming poisonous fruit!
ReplyDeletep.s. I'm loving the Kezzie-athon of comments :) What a shame about the Turkish turban squash, they are great looking things. I didn't know about Toxic Squash Syndrone! Now that's one to watch out for..... Lulu xXx
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