Bali here l come ….

Fascinating Musings

Season 1 – Tuesday – 18/04/23

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Music – Stay Positive

Bali Palm Trees Sunset

I am tired, and both Suze and l are shattered. The weather turned in our favour last Saturday, so for the entire weekend, we worked long hours at the allotment, playing catch up to a list that gets longer by the day.

The poorer weather we experience, the longer the delays and the more comprehensive the gaps become. I will write about it – l might – if l can find the time and energy to. We are not short of jobs, but we are short of time. Whilst the weather is better and the daylight is longer, you continually check the weather forecasts almost every four hours as it changes that quickly.

Working outside as we are and now heavily reliant upon dry weather, you become almost addicted to checking the Met Office for the latest updates.

Can you do this today, and will the weather allow you to?

Today’s weather is overcast with sunny spells, but a rain shower threatens and has been threatening to interrupt our day, and yet every hour or so, it is there and not there and then there again. Why is that a problem? Because we are working on a difficult task which started yesterday at our client’s garden at the Butchery, which requires dealing with a lot of soil that we need to keep dry. But we are out in the open working with the ground, so that rain showers can spoil that.

Suze will be working on that this afternoon, and l will be working on another job and only helping her when we need to shift the soil from the back of the house to the front.

It’s been seriously tiring work this week because we now have to almost run around like organised headless chickens trying to fit in as much as we can given the excellent weather and NOT knowing when it might break and start bucketing down again for several days at a time.

Looking at the forecast for the week, everything is cloudy or sun-dappled [Now apparently], Wednesday is sunny all day. Ish, although Thursday might have light showers. Might. Friday is looking clear. Ish. Saturday might be awkward. Might. Sunday might also be wet. Might. Monday is overcast. Probably. But these can be different in the next hour or two. There is nothing concrete.

What is concrete for us, however, is everything we have to do. But there is a difference between what needs to be done and what can be done. This week is a living testament to that.

We need to be able to finalise the front of the Butchery, but there are significant issues afoot with that, and they are painstakingly time-consuming for Suze, who is the green gardener and the pruner. The front line of Viburnums and Hebes have a tortrix moth infestation, and it is not a mild attack but a significant infestation.

This takes much longer to sort, never mind the repotting of the plants from old containment to new or the new soil mixes requiring to be crafted and blended from fast-draining ancient soils to free-draining soils now.

It’s a complex and slow task, so dry weather is essential.

I am luckier this afternoon as l am tidying up the greenhouse for a neighbour. I welcome the break because l have been physically hurting from digging soils since Saturday. I know Suze is hurting, also. Her neuropathy is playing havoc in her hands and feet, reminding her that sure and fantastic news cancer is in remission, but side effects are always present.

Tomorrow l am at the reserve in the morning. Yes, l am still there, sorting out the sales items, which reminds me l have thirty adverts to create. Also, l am working on the new Gazen Salts marketing team, where l volunteered my services. But l am still indecisive, and l have not heard anything more regarding the Jubilee Garden Centre Project.

Tomorrow afternoon l am starting work on the sieving off one of the smaller worm farms. Suze is busy elsewhere.

We might still be working on the client’s garden or worms on Thursday. Friday will be more worms. Saturday and Sunday, back at the allotment planting, digging, sieving, etc. But we need the weather to hold.

We could both do with a break, but that time isn’t here yet. So Bali will have to wait for another time.