malko po malko

This may not look like much to you, but every inch of that soil has been dug over by me and then raked back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to get the millions of stones, bricks, bits of ‘stuff’, old shoes, old socks, miles of old string and bits of plastic, old bottles and even more stones and rocks and bricks and bit of cement.  No wonder I am completely knackered !!

I’ve got a man busy building the frames for new grape vines and climbing roses that I already have here to plant, and that will be happening as soon as he has finished. You can see the start of the job in one of the pictures. In some of that newly sifted  dirt I’ve managed to put in masses of grass seed and a nice sized patch of coriander and another of basil and dill.

Had another lovely coriander moment.  Ye who have followed my blog from the beginning will know that coriander in this country is not for the likes of us…it’s strictly for the animals.  It’s grown everywhere. The Bulgarians let it go to seed and then it is cut,  dried out, bundled up and fed to their animals in the colder months.

Illiecho, the man doing the metal work down the back yard, asked me what I had planted.  I told him трева – ‘treva’ (grass), босилек – bosilec (basil) and копър – koper (dill) all of which clearly met his approval.  I then pointed to the larger area and told him that was my ‘кориандър – coriander (coriander).  He immediately screwed his face up and when I told him that I eat it, he looked horrified , just like Ivan did all those years ago.  He started to tell me the animal story and I replied ‘az narm – I know’ but told him that it was very good to eat.  I explained that it’s eaten when green, not after it’s gone to seed like the sheep do, and he almost looked convinced that it might be OK, but after a nanosecond of thinking about it, he just shook his head and said ‘Ne’.  It does make me laugh.  It’s like your asking them to eat a toxic substance and the very thought horrifies them.

Thanks to a friend, Shirley, I have also discovered a new ant deterrent.  The little buggers will walk away with an entire box of grass seed overnight and I’ve tried all sorts to stop in happening. This is a granule that I’ve added to the soil along with all the seed I’ve planted, so fingers crossed I will actually get something out of all my work.

My first year here I must have lost hundreds of dollars worth of seeds to the wee bastards and I actually couldn’t work out why things weren’t germinating. One day, after planting a small area of grass out the front, I went back later in the evening to put the sprinkler on and noticed that the ground was kind of ‘moving’…it was all my new grass seed being relocated !!   I followed a couple of the trails and found heaps of seed under lumps of cement and the like. I went back with my dustpan and broom and got as much back as I could…Hristina found me doing this and after having a good old giggle about it, she then explained what I had to do.  I’ve tried sprays and stuff like that, but even then you have to be on the lookout all the time.  I’m hoping these granules will make it a little easier.

Saturday Morning: and rain has stopped play.  Illiecho was making good progress but because of the weather, he’s had to move inside. He’s going to make up part of the construction in his garage and bring it here to weld together when the weather improves.

I was also making good progress, but didn’t quite get everything thing in.  I have two more fruit trees, the new grape vines and some climbing roses to put in as soon as the weather improves.

Now, to something completely different…I took a day off on Thursday and went in to get something done about my teeth.  As I grow older my teeth are starting to look more and more like an old dogs, but whitening in Australia and Scotland has always been far too expensive for me.

I spoke to Dimitor, my dentist here about getting it done, and for the princely sum of $145 aud I now look as flash as a rat with a gold tooth.  My teeth are gleaming white and I couldn’t be more pleased. It took about an hour and I look like a new woman.  It’s no wonder people are taking ‘dental’ holidays to Bulgaria.

Something to keep in mind if you’re coming here for a holiday perhaps …

And Goosey and Lucy ???  Well, they’ve emerged from their house and have had a lovely feed of wheat, but don’t seem to have noticed the HUGE bath of water I’ve put there for them.

And this morning I was awoken by a small chorus of honking !!  Oh dear, I hope my incoming guests have a penchant for a touch of the rurals  🙂