With the heat comes the wind. The garden gate which I built last month helped considerably to cut down the wind around the pool, and some of the plants are thanking me for it. So a door on the other side of the conservatory, the entrance from the car port, was also called for. Again, no B&Q nearby, so it was another test of my bush carpentry skills. I nearly got it right first time, but I found out that if you hang an arch topped door in the middle of the opening, i.e. set back from the front edge, it will not fully open. With Wendy´s help, and despite a gale blowing through the gap, we re-hung the gate correctly and it does the job nicely.
I set David up with making the car turning area by the car port and building paths to either side of the greenhouse. No path bases are needed here as it is rarely wet and never frosty. Just mortar some stones in a line and dress with gravel. He made a nice job of it.
We have been thinking long and hard about whether we should have a swimming pool. We know where it could be built, between the patio and the field entrance. It is not just the expense, but a question of how much we would we use it ourselves. We are still in two minds (or is it four minds?). In the meantime we need to do something with this area, so with David´s new found expertise at building paths, I set out some sinuous sexy curves to lead from the patio down to the field entrance.We planted a few shrubs by the paths and we will add some tough and drought tolerant succulents to cover the area.
The warm weather has brought the plants to life and there is colour everywhere.The blood red geraniums (or pelargoniums) we have put into large planters to sit on the patio. The purple bougainvillea is full of flowers and the white agapanthus has decent flower heads. And this in a little over a year. It is amazing how fast everything grows.
While there are many pests which attack the garden plants here, lots of aphid, various species of mealybug, caterpillars, scale insects, mice eating the seedlings, the two biggest problems have to be the wind, followed closely by the dogs. The pests I can do something about. Removing excess parasites by hand or using soapy water and neem oil helps, and natures´predators do the rest. Setting traps for the mice is still a daily task. But to deal with the wind will take time, We have planted many Eucalyptus, Casaurina, Schinus, Coccoloba, and palm trees all around the boundaries, particularly to the windward side and these will eventually afford some protection from the wind.
The dogs are another matter. I regularly find trampled plants. When Goofy spots a hiker walking past the end of the finca he takes off like a rocket, followed by Pongo trying to keep up on his little legs, but both flying through and over my plants as if they weren´t there. At least they have not yet been in the pond, though judging by this picture which Wendy took, it was a close thing.
We have been avoiding putting the dogs in the car recently. They love going for rides, sitting on the back seat and watching the world go by through the windows. The problem is the amount of dog slobber left on the inside of the windows after a doggie ride. And the seat gets in a mess too. A large cage ordered in the UK arrived last weekend and we though it would be nice to put the cage in the back of the pick-up and take them down to the beach for a swim. Getting them to jump up and into the cage however was not straightforward. In the end the only way was for me to climb inside the cage armed with very tasty pieces of sausage. As we all know, Pongo will do absolutely anything for food and he was no problem. But Goofy was wary. Eventually he reasoned that if I can sit inside a cage, and Pongo, and we seemed to be alright, then he could too. Though it got a bit crowded.
Then it was just a case of me squeezing out and off we went!