Restoring the gravel bed .

                                  Yesterday I turned my attention to this .

                              In earlier times , 2008 , it looked  like this  !

It actually looked really nice  for about 15 years , I would regularly rake the  gravel and would not let any seeds germinate in it , nor allow any fallen leaves remain on it for long . Then in 2014 , I was not able to do it after a  long recovery from a big op . Now fully recovered ,but struggling to catch up with it all in the garden which I love so much .

More Ivy ...sigh .  Stinging Nettles  . Just look at those brambles ! 

                              Then there is this Wild Strawberry .....

.......which I fell in love with at a local boot fair and had  thought how sweet it would look growing next to my Agave . It seemed like a good idea at the time but now I am sorely regretting it . A nice plant in the wrong place . It has a become a terrible rampant thug ! 

                                   Under the watchful eye of the Robin ....

                                        I slowly fill the wheelbarrow .

I don't like to use chemical weedkillers , so it really is a very slow job , on my hands and aching knees . 

I sit back to stretch out my aching back and take a moment to watch the Robin hopping about , very boldly now , in front of me .

I lift out a couple of the rocks that surround the Agave , to remove more Wild Strawberry plants and find a couple of Agave pups . Delighted ! I carefully pull them away and put them aside to pot up later on .

As the sun sets I put away my tools and leave the other half covered over with a tarpulin and a sheet of black plastic .

Cleomes on the garden seat , waiting to be planted out .

I,ll be getting back to it , later today .

Pottering about in the garden .

                                                     Crinum powellii "rosea"

So what do I mean when I say that I,ve been "pottering about in the garden " ? .......
 In the ornamental garden we have two huge clumps of Crinum powellii that give us a beautiful display later on in the summer . It really is a lovely thing in full bloom with the bees buzzing happily around it . I want to move some of it to a couple of other places in our garden .
 Also I had promised a friend a bulb from it .

 So I thought  , today's the day !  I shoved my fork in ..but would it budge ..no !

 I tried again and managed to get this piece off , but the main good strong roots snapped off ... grrrr...cross with myself !  It has got a few tiny roots..if you click to look more closely  ...sigh ! Stupid me !

I have potted it up and hopefully it will grow stronger new roots ....think I'll leave this job till later on in the year ,when we've had more rain . We haven't had any rain for about a month here the ground is so dry now and the water but is empty .

          So then I decide to tackle that very slowly withering Agave potatorum . (  Look , I just had the urge to dig ! )

 It very satisfyingly ....came up and rolled into my wheelbarrow , which I had ready laid on it's side . All I had to do was shove the wheelbarrow together with the Agave , up with my foot.

 I couldn't get a photo though whilst doing this, but here it is in my wheelbarrow . No idea what I,m going to do with it now ! I,ll think about that later .

                                              I rescued the last few pups .

We are slowly re-working the gravel bed . Now to take out the smaller Agave Americana behind . It isn't happy there .

                     The Acer "Bloodgood" is over shadowing it too much .

 So up it came , with very poor roots too and I have replanted it here in a much better place . It looks a little lost at the moment , but should grow much bigger than the Agave pottertorum did eventually .

           Ooh ! At this point ,I stood up and stretched out my poor aching back !

 Stretching out my back and my hands aching , I look around and admire the Tree Ferns unfurling and the Gunnera manicata leaves pushing up .

I give my hands a good wash , go sit in the Summer house with a glass of lemonade and do a bit of stitching ...and have a think about which Agave baby ,up in the greenhouse is going to replace the old one . I have a nice Agave ferox ..or a Dasylirion wheeleri ..or a wicked Aloe ferox ?