Now you see him
Now you don’t
Peep-bo, Dave!
The Sage supervises
The Sage’s special bricks came from a local grand house, Flixton Hall, which was demolished in the early 1950s. Someone bought these ornamental bricks and kept them for several decades, until the Sage bought them. They have been languishing elegantly in the barn for several more years, and the building of this wall seems the best time to use them.

Since we’re planning to build a lean-to potting shed between the wall and the greenhouse, we’ve only put one in this section, and this was rather an experimental insertion as we couldn’t tell exactly how much room the mortar joints were going to take up. Therefore, as you can see, the top mortar joint is rather deeper than we’d wish and we’ll adjust it for next time. I say “we” but this will be Dave’s and the Sage’s job. I’ll just carry on laying courses of bricks and keep quiet, apart from congratulating them every so often.

You might wonder, by the way, how I get past the nettles to the greenhouse door. There is a door at the other end too. Nevertheless, I must clear away the rest of the weeds. In fact, much of the garden is relatively tidy at present. I’ve sowed several trays of seedlings to start to prepare for planting the new bed in the autumn, or possibly in the spring – so far, hollyhocks, delphiniums, aquilegia and wallflowers. The surplus will be given to Al to sell next year – well, the wallflowers will go in the autumn, but the rest will be potted up individually and overwintered here. I like growing plants from seed and if I can get myself organised I can do this every year. I can’t really manage more plants than I already grow in the early spring – I take up the whole greenhouse already with that, with five benches each ten feet long and another across the furthest end. Some of the benches have two levels as well. But once everything’s planted out, I’ve plenty of room again. I can sow more in the autumn, but I’m not sure I could rely on remembering to water them during the winter. I’m a fair-weather gardener.

Talking of fair weather, the forecast still says ‘light rain’ for tomorrow. We’ll hope for the best – at present, heavier rain is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday so tomorrow may be our best day for getting on.