I couldn’t resist. My new electrician turned up with a digger. He only needed to dig a couple of holes but I had paid for the thing for the whole day. So could he….
Well yeah, sure, way more fun than wiring. And out came at least half a dozen old tree stumps and a whole lot of volunteers that planted themselves in the wrong places.
It looks pretty bad right now, but soon it will be just fine. I’ll be able to re-establish some visual axes and keep bay laurels and all from undermining walls. I’m more concerned about this mess. I sprayed what smelled like fish emulsion all over my veggies, only to find out that I was supposed to avoid the leaves. Oops. The tomatoes and potatoes didn’t mind, but every squashy melony thing took a serious beating. You’re looking at Sugar Baby pumpkins. We’ll see if they come through.
The butternut squash didn’t get fertilized/blitzed to quite the same extent, so they should be fine. It looks like nothing will take out the tomatoes.
When I pulled out the bushes, I worried about demolishing habitat. In fact there were no nests in those bushes. There are plenty of other nesting areas, plus of course I have put in nesting boxes. In addition to the hoopoes and all that we see, it looks like the barn owls have returned. You can see a feather, top one below, and I startled something when I stepped into the garage the other day. I’m thinking barn owl. I think the other two feathers are from a crow and a little owl.
So things are settling in. If I can figure out how to get that fertilizer under the leaves, all will be well.
At Home in France 
A digger for a whole day…just too much temptation! Beats boring holes in the stumps and pouring in diesel by a long chalk.
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It’s not just that. Julien is going Green on me. I used to push him to make environmentally sound choices. Now, no worries on that score. When I brought up using the digger on the tree stumps, he halted operations for ten minutes, so he could expound on the horrors of stump-killing chemicals. But, you know, boys and toys. They ripped those plants out of the ground ASAP, then walked off and left them. I think they’re going to sit there until a new toy turns up. He wants to rent one of those trucks with a bed that tilts. Okay, whatever, but I want him to fill it to the brim with those trees and all the junk that has collected in every available location. No more excuses!
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So men….play with the toys and leave the mess…
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What an exhilarating feeling to be able to dig up a whole field! Fun, fun, fun ….
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Yup. Those were two happy guys. Demolition is always the best part of any job.
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An excavator that has been paid for is simply more temptation than any mortal man can resist. Great job digging and with luck, maybe disposing will follow but no guarantees. My best tomato plant is just over 2.5 meters tall and inundating us with tomatoes. The cukes have also gone wild and finally the Japanese eggplants are coming on line. The veggie cages have worked well-no pesticides or insecticides or other chemicals needed.
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Ah, shop talk. I’ve missed that. Yes, my walls have been rescued from a whole passel of demon weeds. And since the next expense will be the big truck needed to haul everything to the dump, I’ve been pruning like crazy. The Wild Wood is still pretty wild, but at least it no longer deserves to be called the Briar Patch. It turns out I have apples and hazelnuts growing in there!
I hope we’ll soon see a demonstration of how one cages and indeed harvests tomatoes from a plant taller than oneself. Taller than most selves, anyway, though not taller than most rats can climb. My tomato plants make up in sheer population count for any height deficiencies. A packet of okra seeds somehow morphed into cherry tomatoes. Julien kept pulling off suckers and poking them into odd corners here and there — and they grew! So far I’m not seeing the San Marzanos or any other cooking tomato, could be Julien’s sleight of hand though I have no proof, so I have to figure winter will feature some very odd pasta sauce. Jacques and the owls keep the mice at bay. There must be something else eating the snails, as I rarely see any.
I do have cooking pumpkins and maybe a Big Max. Funny how the ones that made it are the ones his wife, the chef, will want to play with. I see one eggplant. It looks happy, though it is not yet feeding us. All the greens have bolted. I’ll have to set up a roadside stand to get rid of the excess butternut squash. Plus maybe a starter stand for the summer squash. The potatoes are fine, though I can’t get excited about growing potatoes. I wonder whether you can eat the plants, as a knee-high bush produces only a couple of actual, oddly-shaped, not very big russets. They’re not like the steak house baked potatoes of my childhood but, well, French russets, I guess it figures. All the other stuff — beets, onions, carrots, little mystery veg — they’re out there, doing okay. I’m new to kitchen gardens that are more than a joke. I like having one, but I’m not yet sure what to make of it.
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