back garden/ bamboo ninja

Oh dear sweet wonderful readers, you thought I had abandoned you didn't you? No I have been thinking of you often, just haven't gotten around to actually telling you. I know, so selfish *shakes head in shame*.

We have been working on the back garden some more (and of course when I say 'we', I really mean Andrew, I am merely a helper in times of need) and it's looking pretty darned cool.

 

Though this time last weekend Andrew was attacked, viciously and without due cause by one of our Bamboo plants. Yes!! Who knew gardening could be such a dangerous hobby, sometimes ending in a trip to A&E! Whilst re-potting one of of our oldest and most loved bamboos (re-potting with tender loving care of course) Andrew was jabbed in the eye by a bamboo stem - oh the travesty - like a ninja it damaged his cornea and he had to go to the hospital. Luckily he is now okay and the good nurses at A&E gave him some good medicine and inflated his head by telling him that he had the best eyesight they had seen in a long time even; with his affliction he's 20:20. 

<  Which can be clearly seen by this photo, lol

Apart from that little bit of drama, all has been rather mundane at the lottie. Weeding until the sun sets her weary head, only to be back hard at it again the next visit! Where the blasted heck do they all come from? I'll tell you........ the unoccupied plots all round the place - ggrrrrr!

Back to the garden and a nice deep breath. We have a mini version of Harland and Wolff's cranes out there now, look - I only realised just how alike they were today when I took the photo. We ought to paint them yellow, hahha. But no, this is the basis for our pergola and look at that hammock :) There shall be rafters on it in no time and a beautiful climber and a little decking underneath for yoga-ing on :) Eeek! It shall be divine.

The Big Easter Weekend Project

Saturday saw Andrew and I up early! We had to get to the timber merchant before he closed at 12.30 and believe me, everyone in Carrickfergus seemed to have caught the DIY bug. I think I heard once that A&E departments hate Easter because of the all the people suddenly picking up their hammers and saws etc and them running to them bleeding all over the place. Safety first, my friends!!

So we bought timber and went to the Lottie (after a fortifying scone and coffee) to get to work. We'd been planning this project for a while now and the weather was unexpectedly good, there was no time to waste. Well, actually there was...we visited Mamma G on the way, but it was in relation to 'The Project'; 2 old wrought iron gates.

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Holes were dug to receive 8ft vertical posts and then tightly secured into the ground, 2 ft deep - they are going nowhere. Andrew did all that huffing and puffing, I played the vitally important role of overseer and encourager. I also held the spirit level when required. My main job though was using the wire brush to rub off god knows how many decades of flaky paint from the 2 gates! Boy that warms you up alright.

Andrew then was moving on with more timber. When we were making the Fruit Arch a while back, one of the posts broke at the bottom whilst being driven into the ground (there are some BIG rocks a spade's depth or so down) so we had this big piece of wood laying around and then - yes! it was perfect to act as a lintel between our 2 uprights. It this point I went off to talk to Ivan, Andrew likes to work alone.

Back again and my super duper Hubby had cut to length 3 bits of wood to run from just above the shed door over to the lintel - thus making a pergola. Just to see how it would look we put up the gates on the uprights, one on top of the other - we're using them instead of trellis - recycling ahoy!

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Sunday and we were back at lunch time, with sandwiches. Andrew put up all those extra fixings to make sure that a hurricane wouldn't move the darn structure! (We don't get them here in Carrick but better safe than sorry). I started to paint the wood. I had a very dickey tummy and was throwing up into a flower pot so Andrew kindly took over and finished the work. I just sat there feeling sorry for myself and tickling Maggie.

So there you are, our Easter project done. The gate trellis will have a beautiful climbing rose growing up it (Queen Elizabeth ~ shown below) and some wonderful climbing beans, the ones we got free from the council and which are already germinating. It should look lovely.