a week of no rest

The gorgeous deep red glady of the last post is now fully open, or almostso i took another pic this morning in the early morning sun. Beautiful isn't it.

And my harvest this morning, i think i was picking for over an hour and Charlie is deciding which one he'll start with but unfortunately his favourite peas have finished and he doesn't like raw beans. My favourite beans are the borlottis, upper left corner, i just steam them whole and eat with my fingers. Yumm, i must remember to plant more next year. Bottom right corner is the first cucumber of the season with a yellow marrow and more broccoli, which they say don't grow in Summer!

And now on to the reason for the title above -
The reason for this pic above is that it no longer looks like this. It was a nasty slope down to the bottom of the garden and out into the paddock behind which Mum had trouble negotiating and grass never grew here so for various reasons i got stuck into it on Boxing Day. Mainly the noisy barking dog next door is away with it's noisy splashing neighbours so i had some peace and quiet to work in.

The end of Day 1, a bit of digging, much thought and re-sourcing grey concrete retaining wall blocks from various places around the garden, where the soil level had sunk so they were no longer needed.

End of Day 2, the first level of steps are laid and a lot more digging has gone on. Whoops, i think this project is becoming a bigger job than i had originally thought. It was made worse because i had 2 cub metres of crushed granite delivered out in the paddock behind so i had easy access to it, but disaster struck.

All was fine until i returned the next morning only to find the wild cattle, all 50+ of them, had found it and thought it was delivered for them to play in! What had been a neat pile of about 2.5 ft high and a nice tidy base was now barely a foot high, spread everywhere and with "droppings" of various kinds on it!! In my jarmies (jammies) at 6:45am i screamed loudly to them and waved my hat and chased them off, temporarily. This saga went on for several hours as they continued to try to return as i madly bucketed and wheelbarrowed a tonne and a half of granite inside my fence where they couldn't get it. Whew, i'm exhausted just writing about it, but i must have looked a sight as i yelled obscenities and worked madly in my PJs.

Anyway, the work eventually continued quietly and here's Charlie testing it some time on Day 3. Hey Mum it works but where do i go after this?

Day 4, i think, the job is nearly done, but i have to make some finishing touches which as we all know will take me another full day, not today tho - i'm resting my acheing muscles.

I'm calling it "the highway to hell" as it has become so huge. i simply followed the line of the fall and of the previous garden beds to the back gate, but i could have (should have?) made it narrower. It's done now tho and soon when the granite is settled Mum will be able to walk down here more safely. The steel posts are for her to hang onto for extra support, i've got a couple more to add.

I hope you all have a splendid NYEve and a very rewarding and satisfying 2012, and i'm hoping that the world and its people's have done with disasters for quite a while. This has not been a happy year for many people and animals.