The garden looks wonderful for the first time in years and what do I decide to do? Dig up a big patch of it to put in a pond. I am certifiable I know but when you have a calling to do something, you just have to get on with it. Ponds are good for gardens as any gardener knows. They’re home to frogs and toads that eat garden pests, they offer wild animals and birds somewhere to drink and they just look lovely. I have put ponds into all my previous homes and even did one here when I moved in although it has subsequently sprung a leak and is now little more than a muddy hole. The new one will be in a much better location and is going to be made from better quality materials.

While I’ve been digging, Archie has been ‘helping’ by keeping the hens away (except Sherri who is totally fearless and doesn’t care if he’s dashing towards her with a glint in his eye. She just carries on regardless, getting under my feet and generally making a nuisance of herself. He’s been sat behind me with his own little bit of ‘buried treasure’ – a hide bone that has been hidden in a cupboard since Christmas. He’s made no attempt to eat it, he simply sat with it between his paws for the whole afternoon and has subsequently carted it back into the house where Rosie has stolen it!

We went to the nursery and bought a really high quality pond liner that’s made from butyl (if anyone who reads this cares) and should last us a lifetime. I had to smile when the man in the shop told me that the best under-liner I could use was old carpet…..you should have seen David’s face. He was clearly thinking ‘oh no, don’t say that, she’s a menace in the garden with the old carpet already’!!! It’s true, I do exercise the Bob Flowerdew (UK old hippy TV gardener) method of weed control by using pile side down old carpet with gravel on top. I was smirking my head off as the guy was explaining that it’s the best thing to use.

We then spent half-an-hour with a hosepipe laying out a rough area for it and working out where it should go in relation to paths, trees and dogs! Having decided where to put it, I decided it wasn’t too late in the day to get my spade out and make a start. I took off the turf in the area and it was hard work. Mind you, ranch rabbit now has a lovely turfed ranch again. He is a terror for just eating the grass away so completely that he completely kills it. I’ve re-laid his patch a number of times now. It doesn’t seem to have perked him up much since his wife died on New Year’s Eve he’s been a bit down.

Now there is a ten foot square hole in the lawn so there is no turning back and tomorrow I will be digging for England so I can get the liner in and water in it by the end of the day. The water can settle and detox before next weekend and then I can plant both the inside and outside of the area so it’ll look good quickly I hope. I’m so looking forward to having a pond again, it’s worth the effort….I just hope I can get the digging done tomorrow.

David wandered out late in the day and observed my nonsensical nature of my garden schemes with a comment’ it looked so nice too’. I only hope I don’t completely spoil it!