I have taken a big decision to invest in a new mower; now to most I know this seems like a trivial thing but a commercial mower costs more than a reasonable family car so for a small business like mine it is a big commitment. I have had various success and failures with mowers in the past some had fantastic cutting results but literally fell apart in transport while other have been robust but unable to cut the finest of grass. 

The courtyard is now taking much more shape I have laid about 25 square meters of beautiful Sandstone and have another 20 meters to go. 

Courtyard wall now complete and materials for the paving now delivered. The garden will be on two levels with two beds and a border running next to the wall which will contain underplanting for the now green Hornbeams. Now all that I need to do is build another (small) retaining wall then run 8 tons of hardcore by wheelbarrow for the paving (did I say all!); my intention is to get all of the hardcore laid in one day which will start on Thursday at 7:00am sharp. 

All of the gardens we look after are now renewing themselves which never ceases to amaze me; the power of nature to start afresh every year is truly remarkable and I only wish that I had the same powers of recuperation. 

I have been trying to recruit another member of staff for many months and having had hardly any response decided to limit our workload rather than continue in what seems like an impossible task. It seems to me that people would prefer to work in the dim illumination of an office rather than carry out physical, hurting labour which I find difficult to understand; I am sure time spent outside in the natural world does ones sprit and body much more good than anytime spent inside. 

Elsewhere the courtyard wall is progressing nicely and I have passed the five foot mark which is a massive milestone and was celebrated with (gasp) with a day spent relaxing with my family. 

The courtyard wall has started to take shape by my own admission I am not the fastest of bricklayers and this is further complicated by the nature of the bricks which are irregular in just about every aspect imaginable. The lime mortar sets of the mellow reds of the bricks and looks right as the boundary of our ancient house. Work will slow in the courtyard as I am now on site 3 days a week helping our team with our workload which pushes all other aspects of running my business to evenings and weekends (not great for family life). 

I do enjoy working in gardens and I find the differences between each of the sites we maintain interesting and nearly always a refection of their owners. 

8th April