more life after ...

(Lieber Gerd, liebe Maria, hope you're recovering well after your nasty colds. Maybe some of the sunny pictures below will put a smile on your faces?)

The little pond was more than 2 weeks overdue for a clean, it was beginning to smell, and as it always causes such a commotion in the duck family when I come into the run with pump, pressure washer and other bits and pieces like brooms I decided on a different tack. I put them to bed at quarter to 9 last night and THEN fetched out the pump. They could hear something was going on outside, I could hear them muttering, but the little pond was empty - apart from the usual grot at the bottom - in less than quarter hour. My intention had been to get up at 5 and do the final clean before letting fresh water in, but I overslept and didn't get out there until just gone 6. It took me an hour to get the slurry out - it filled 8 buckets, but fresh water started to run into the pond a little after 7; at duck breakfast time it looked like this:

The pond was full before 11, and after I turned the water off I thought I'd collect the eggs ..... and when I opened the door to the hut I found 2 ladies inside:

I do hope that Dash and Dotty have not gone brood-crazy now, it took weeks of me chasing Gertie off the eggs every day before she gave up. Yes, I'm surprised that severely handicapped Dotty is laying, I've collected 6 eggs on three consecutive days - and there are only 6 ducks.

My clean-up operation behind the greenhouse and duck run is progressing well. I've had Pat helping me last Wednesday, carting many loads of rubbish to near the drive in readiness for a skip. Since then I've been cleaning up the little raised bed and filling it and the large cold frame with fresh soil. Some potatoes and onions I found sprouting in the house are in the little one now as well as two rows of carrot seed. When I've finished filling the large frame I'll put the sweet corn in which I've grown from seed and which are waiting to be planted.

I have to laugh when I see them scurrying off after having been spotted in a place where they obviously enjoyed being, as if they felt guilty.

The huge holly bush which I thought was part of my hedge turned out to be in my neighbour's garden. I found this out when I cut it back to where I've put the line in this photo.

This pleased me a lot, there are gooseberries growing on all the bushes, even on the one
I bought recently on the left of this picture, I do love gooseberries .......
yes I know, there's still lots of weeding to be done!

I've managed to do some weeding and grass cutting over the last few days. The weeds in the garden near the road were choking what I'd planted last year, and when I'd cleared a patch I made a surprise find:

I checked this morning, the nest was still there [18 eggs, compared to the 12 in the nest in the "formal garden" I came across recently]. I wonder if it will be abandoned as well now the cover is blown.

Everything looks better after a bit of a mow, doesn't it: