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| Enhanced patio with newly reburbished chiminea |
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| R/h bed, front garden, trimmed for neatness |
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| L/h bed, front garden, now tidied |
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| Paved front garden, still work in progress |
Carl is from South Africa. He is imbued with the work ethic. We’ve given him a free hand with our garden.
He doesn’t just do the work we ask of him, he points out tasks which were previously invisible to us but nevertheless necessary. And goes ahead and does them. He’s been toiling for three weeks now, mostly full days, and our garden is slowly becoming a garden and ceasing to be a collection of misplaced greenery.
Take the patio. Instead of bending the horticulture round an arbitrary arrangement of slabs he’s used an angle-grinder (which I willingly bought for him) to cut and shape the patio’s outer edge into a set of congenial curves. Noting that the adjacent chiminea (incinerator) was gently rusting away into oblivion, he’s given it a new shiny coat of black paint. And set the table and chairs at a pleasingly artistic angle.
The beds on the left and right of the back garden – previously simulacra of the Amazon rain forest – have been reduced into separate and identifiable clumps of flowers. The lower branches of the bushes and the upper branches of the bay tree trimmed.
The metal fencing of the front garden has been sanded down and repainted black The newly refurbished garden bench now supports small bowls of succulents and alpines. New terracotta pots have been acquired and planted with tallish flora to give the brick surface “vertical structure”.
There are plans to create a three-step-staircase (with handrail) down to the patio and a low fence at the upper level which may increase the patio’s coefficient of cosiness.
Much, much later an underground swimming pool beneath the patio. But there I jest.
All done with another’s labour which I watch but do not share. Oh, the indolent luxury.
It looks lovely there. Nice to have someone come and do this work. We're having some gardeners come this week to help us weed our way back to a beautiful front yard.
ReplyDeleteNew Robin13: It's more than nice it's vital. Without Carl we would have lapsed into desuetude.
DeleteHow did you find him? Did you fly him in Business Class from SA? Strange to find you thanking God (perhaps just in case?)
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: A neighbour recommended him, The reference you allude to is, naturally, ironic.
DeleteArea looks nice there. I'm dealing with drought here in Southern California and mandatory water restrictions for my sprinklers -- only once a week, 8 mins. for each station. Grassy areas won't survive summer temperatures. Gardeners come only once a week so are allowed to augment with some hand watering as want my hedges, trees, bushes, other flowering plants to survive. Am considering a drip system but read critters seeking water often destroy it.
ReplyDeleteFWIW I introduced your blog to my readers in my week of June 26th post but don't hold your breath that they'll pay any attention and rush to comment here. ;-)
Joared: I worked as a journalist in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for six years; one of the high spots was a reward trip (with my wife) to San Francisco for a final checkout with the author of a book manuscript (about control valves) which I had prepared for publication. I found SF to be the only place on the globe's surface which actually lived up to its pre-hype. Since then I have read with dismay about Calfornians' slow march towards death from thirst.
ReplyDeleteThe USA taught me to love baseball, the white wines of the north-west, the impressive facility with concise slang among many of the working classes, the way neighbours act like real neighbours (not so in the UK), inexpensive lobsters and the fact that the public libraries contained many books I hadn't read. I often allude to these matters in my blog so perhaps I'll tempt some of your blog readers.