7 Feb 08

Orchid?

When we planted the onions last week we found these little beauties hiding under some broom. We think they're some kind of orchid but I can't find anything similar in my wild flower book, any ideas anyone?

Btw the onions have survived a week with no evidence of nibbling.

Greenhouse area

Our aim today was to thump enough tyres for the end wall of the greenhouse so we can finish the bond beam on that end. We also wanted to mark out the height for the tyre wall along the front face. This has to be very accurate because the glass front sits on it and needs to be as level as possible.

It was all going really well, we pounded 4 tyres for the end wall, we cut and nailed in the lath to hold the cement, we even cut and nailed in the lath for another end block too.

With the help of a ladder and a long piece of wood we worked out the height for the front face wall and marked it with some rebar and string. Then we went to the other end and started clearing the ground so we could set the level.....then we hit a rock.... a bloomin' huge and very hard rock. You can just about see the top of it to the left of the front three tyres in the pic below. Our pick axe was bouncing off it without even making a dent!

Now this rock couldn't have happened in a worse place because we had planned to build a solar oven into the front face of the greenhouse just where it is. My mind started mulling over how we could incorporate the rock into the greenhouse as a feature, it is a beautiful and very hard rock (did I say that already?). Anyway, we've sort of decided that the solar oven will have to go outside now, maybe in an outside cooking area under the covered terrace bit. As for the rock, we're taking our electric thumper with us next week to see how tough it really is. It may still win and become a feature....

Close up of metal lath which will hold the cement for the end l-block

Bailing wire holding lath in place

Our almond trees do need some serious work to get them healthy again. But they are producing some blossom which I couldn't resist taking a photo of.