A roof, willows, leeches and mud

Well, we finally have our roof now - and just about time too. The moment it was finished the heavens opened .. and they haven't let up much since .. but it was a lovely spell of sun while it lasted.

Here's a pic of the roof loaded with tiles and below is the other side finished. Next to do will be the guttering.

Just before the rains came we started planting out our willows. There are just prunings from the willow sculptures up in Castlewellan. We thought we may as well give them a go, so we planted them in one of the damp areas and gave them little cardboard collars in an attempt to deter the weeds from overtaking them.

The rain seems to have brought out some new friends - some toads .. and a leech (which the ducks were fighting over). I took pity on it and put it in the pond. Apparently they are meant to be quite rare - thinks Sam. He loves it and has named it Archibald (after Archibald Leach .. aka Cary Grant). He's actually quite nicely marked but you can't really see from the pic below.

Maybe we'll start a leech farm .. could be a new branch of complementary medicine for me .. not sure how popular it would be though (worked in Blackadder if I remember .. a course of leeches was yer only man).

I thought that planting the willows in dips would be a good idea. I'm not sure now - some of them are in mini ponds.

The rain has also hindered my work in the 'polytunnel'. I had been rotivating but had to give up yesterday when I kept getting stuck in the mud. Sometimes I do wonder if I am a bit mad (or at least overly optimistic) trying to grow stuff here. Here's a picture showing the 'path' down to the ducks (the wet and treacheous bit) and the edge of the polytunnel area (to the right).

Here's the 'polytunnel' - crikey - I have my work cut out for me.

I have been cheering myself up by sowing lots of seeds - beans, cabbages, brussel sprouts, herbs, flowers etc and some are already coming up. The 'leggy' tomatoes are surviving ok - but I'm still unsure how they'll support themselves. I guess it's getting too late to start a new batch now (but I have just done replacement melons). Plant pics coming next time.