The fence is mended!

Hallelujah! The fence at the front blew down in one of the really bad storms we had earlier this year, and my favourite builder couldn't come along for ages, so I had to wait, with bits of fence strewn all over my little forecourt. Now, however, its been done, and in as green a way as possible too. Several of the panels blew off, and the posts were so rotten that one of them came down too. Surprisingly, the posts were the easiest bit to fix - they'd been very tall, so tall that they caught the wind, so my builder friend cut them down and in doing so cut off the rotten bits that had made them collapse. Hey presto - more normal looking posts, at no extra cost, and no waste.

This is what it looked like soon after it had been blown down. Initially, I tried to shore it up with one of the horizontal overheads that had blown down, but it continued to be too windy for that to survive for long.

So, when the builders were able to come, the first thing they had to do was take away all the rotten stuff, and all the stuff that had collapsed because the rotten stuff wasn't there any more!





The panels themselves seem to have been a little bit more tricky - each end was rotten, so there had to be a little bit of jiggery-pokery extending the horizontal bits supporting the whole thing, so as to re-attach the panels to the posts. I'm very happy with the way its gone! The workmen that came also fixed my gate, without me asking - and without telling me, actually - I only found out when I was suddenly able to close my front gate and have it stay closed. Very nice, and very kind.

And this is what it looks like now - it has one coat of weather-proofing on, but if the last few winters are anything to go by, it needs a few more. Looks much better now though, doesn't it!





And now, finally, I'll be starting to pay attention to the soil, and the planting out in the front. While the fence was down, for instance, I slowly pruned one of the huge, flowerless, depressing shrubs out there - in looking at it, you can't tell, but a whole binbag has gone. There's two self-sown trees, much too close to the house (one is only six inches away) and they'll have to go. The roses need shaping, so does the honeysuckle and the forsythia. The Japanese anemone needs to be consigned to history, there are too many, and they're way too big. And I don't like them! Thats rather important!

There's a little bit out there that can be used as forage: the roses can, for instance (rose petal jam, anyone, or rosehip tea?). Heather flowers can be used, though I'm not quite sure I'd use them from that border. Interestingly, forsythia is said to have anti-viral properties, though the studies are small, and I don't think they've been replicated. I wonder if thats why forsythia was named in the film about a flu epidemic, Contagion? I love forsythia anyway, I much prefer it to daffodils - whatever garden I had, there'd be room in it for forsythia. There's also lots of lily of the valley out there, and while apparently it has genuine cardiac effects, its known for every part of the thing being "highly poisonous" according to most authorites. Oops. Better not forage that, then.

I plan to plant my comfrey out there too, I think thats a good use of the area. Otherwise, any of the flowers that I really like, such as forget me nots, or the cotoneaster that managed to accompany me from my previous house - bees loved that plant. And there's an increasing number of self sown aquilegia out there - they are such beautiful plants, and they grow on the clay soil here like weeds. Wonderful ....