Thank goodness its raining

After 3 days of 20C plus and the ground baked to a hard crust we are glad to wake to a gentle persistent dampness. Not enough to refill the two water butts over night we had emptied in the last few days but enough to soften the ground. We stood and stared for a while this morning and we could have sworn we could see the weeds and grass growing!

We are waiting for the rain to help settle the soil in our latest project.

The area between the house and the sheds was once a horse ménage (a badly built one with rubble and carpets in the foundations) and we flattened it last year and covered in a thin layer of soil and established the grass. It stabilised the sand blowing around but in summer it is like walking across dune grass - it hardens to a crust on top of the sand and then dries out in sun. So we are putting raised beds in when we can afford the wood which is hellish expensive. It will break up the area, provide some broken shade and allow us to concentrate on improving a smaller area of grass over all.

This took 17 wheelbarrows of soil we had saved from various other projects and half last years compost pile to fill this. When the soil is settled we will put in some shrubs we have nurtured from cuttings to give some structure and for this year probably a load of snap dragons we have grown from seed (cheap and cheerful).

Just as we had finished a neighbour came by and suggested a reclamation yard about 20 miles away that might have cheaper timbers. We will explore that option before ordering more wood for the other 5 proposed beds.

Off to the village in a mo, on my bike, to post youngest son's birthday card - he's how old? How did that happen??