Monday, December 08, 2008

how does your garden grow?


today provided ample blog-fodder, dear readers. in order to explain events today i will have to rewind a little. i hope those more distractable among you are able to keep up.

you may remember before himself's operation there was frantic activity involving mick and martin the builders. among other things they constructed a raised bed. this was for the knit-your-own-vegetables project, which is part of the money-saving drive. anyway, the raised bed has been sitting there waiting for herself to fill it with soil. she came home from work the week before himself's operation grinning like a cheshire cat (wash my mouth out!)

"i've met a man in the street and he is going to bring us some soil!" she said. it transpired that this was not quite as insane as it sounds. the man in question lives round the corner and has a lurcher so he can't be all bad. herself decided on him supplying the soil, not because of the lurcher, but because he has a truck which says that he is a landscape gardener. he came and had a look and a price was agreed for the work.

however, before the soil arrived, disaster struck in the form of a water bill. it seems we now have to pay for water in accordance with how much we use. regular readers will be aware that my boy likes to take his time in the shower. in addition there is a lot of hosing up after young dave. and the peeps are always washing clothes. so the water bill was huge. it ate up all the money herself had earmarked for the soil, so she had to tell the man she met in the street that it was not going to happen.

fast forward to the last time we saw the snake-charmers. they have a large garden which they have great plans for. they also have a large pile of topsoil which they don't want. herself, ever the resourceful one, said she would take it off their hands.

today was the appointed day for the collection of the soil. young dave and i were put in the back of the car. my boy was put in the front. he is off school with mysterious queasiness and dizzyness and general out-of-sorts-ness. the trailer was hitched up to the back. i had assumed that we were off on one of herself's wood-gathering expeditions but no sooner had we moved off than we pulled up outside the snake-charmers' house. the wheelbarrow was taken off the trailer, the trailer was unhitched and pulled off the pavement onto the drive and herself disappeared from view.

she soon returned, pushing very hard on the wheelbarrow, which had thoughtlessly acquired a flat tyre. in the barrow was a huge pile of soil. herself shovelled the soil into the trailer, while young dave and i watched in growing disbelief. it was quite obvious that the walk was not going to be for a little while. the operation was repeated at ever-increasing intervals, as herself got more and more tired. eventually she ground to a halt and my boy was collected to help hitch the trailer back up. they tugged away at the bit that attaches to the car but it would not budge off the ground.

herself went in and fetched mr snake-charmer. he doubled-up with laughter at the sight of the stricken trailer. then the three of them tried to lift it but it still would not budge.

"why us?" wailed herself, "i only want to grow a few vegetables!"

the trailer was left where it was to await a time when mrs snake-charmer would also be available. my boy also pointed out that removing the wheelbarrow from the top of the pile of soil might be helpful.

those vegetables had just better appreciate all this effort...

14 comments:

flutter said...

Oh I bet they will

Unknown said...

Oh, this made me smile with remembrance.
Off school unwell, when my mother discovered that the builders demolishing the house opposite ours, were about to move onto the grass tennis court. She just happened to want to grass over a large flower bed or two. We spent the next two days lifting it and wheel-barrowing the turf over the road while Pa did the evening shift!
I had forgotten this episode until I read your post.

Patience-please said...

Good thing I live so far away. I can kill a plastic plant, I swear! Good luck!

Woman in a Window said...

Does anything ever go smoothly? Just wondering. (And yes, the vegetables will be worth it! Oh, so good.)

Catofstripes said...

Hope you've managed to secure the top soil now. It will be worth it.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry Joker, I'm having a hard time writing because I'm laughing and shaking my head:)

Anonymous said...

You make me laugh so hard! Just think how extra good those vegtable are going to taste after all that hard work.
XXXXXX

DJ Kirkby said...

Lucky veg! As for the mystery illness that has struk 'the boy' be reasurred that there is indeed just such a virus making the rounds this holiday season. It lasts about 2 weeks and takes a couple more weeks before the person feels completly normal again. xo

Casdok said...

Im sure the veggies will! Lol!

Anonymous said...

Do you want to come and sort my garden? Least you do get things done.
We had to have a bulldozer in to get the mess in ours cleaned up. The idea was to put down a matting then build things up. Well that was 7 months ago we had the 'dozer in, no matting, weeds building.

Sigghss!

Lynanne said...

Doh!

I admire your green thumb aspirations. Good luck with the veggies! I can't even keep a cactus alive.

Maddy said...

Eeek! Pampered organic veg indeed. We also had a thoughtless flat tyre on the wheelbarrow, I'm quite sure it was a conspiracy.

By the way I was sadly disappointed to see that you were purposefully omitted from the photo. I have every confidence that if drool was an issue you would have been more than willing to hang a 'signed / word' around your neck. Please make sure that you make your protest known prior to next year, there again, quite possibly, by next year, it may be that a gentle song may be acceptable / alternatively sign 'happy birthday' to a different tune, I'd recommend a Mario ditty.

Best wishes

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to wish you a Happy Holiday! Sending love, peace and joy to you all.
XXXXX

contemporary themes said...

You never fail to make me laugh! And laughter I need!

Blessings! Hope your holiday was a great one!