Sunny Monday

Not one would describe as the best start to the working week. I left home later than planned due to paperwork 'stuff', and as a result hit the daily traffic grind that is usually avoided by an early start. Three miles out and realised that I had forgotten wallet, phone, diary etc, and so had to turn around and head back home. This takes a big chunk out of the day as it can take an hour to travel three miles in town at this time of day. And so it was that A was met but a rather moody me. The day was scheduled for mowing and hedge trimming etc in Highcliffe but this simply wasn't going to happen now, and so did Tuesdays work instead, which involved getting all of the bedding plants and putting them in.

But first the trailer needed emptying to accomodate the plants, and so a trip to ECO Composting was first stop of the day. I mentioned this place in an earlier post and if my memory serves, it was raining. Today is blazing hot and dry, so much in fact that they have their sprinklers on to reduce dust.

It really isn't the nicest place to go, but their principal is good. It is a place where absolutely all commercial green waste from two counties is brought, from the man with car and trailer, right up to the double articulated lorry bringing rubbish from the local council tips. All timber is also recycled, along with surface soil from construction sites. The timber is mashed and shredded in vast machines, the soil is sieved in even larger machines that get constantly loaded with ten tons at a time, and the green waste, such as mine, gets moved along a series of vast compost heaps, being turned periodically by large diggers as it breaks down to a reusable compost that is then sold on for re-use in gardens. These are just a few pictures that A took while I unloaded.

Eco Composting also have a very large shredder for tree trunks and roots etc, all of which get chipped up and stained various colours for use as bark mulch. The various types are seen in the picture below........anyone falling asleep yet?

I mentioned yesterday about the fact that although we like to get our own personal stuff from small, specialist growers, plants for the business have to come from large nurseries because of the quantities involved. We had three large properties to plant with bedding plants later today and so visited the first of two nurseries to collect our order number one.

This nursery is vast, the pictures below being of just one of seven glasshouses. 'Can somebody help me find the order for Four Seasons please?'

This is where our stuff was kept.

Hmmmm, trailer is full, have to pack some in the van with the tools and machinery.....

..............and in the cab........I hope A can still fit in!

And so it was that everything finally got squashed in. It was a scorchingly hot afternoon, and gallons of water were needed, and not just for the plants! We both got home about 5.30pm totally knackered and so cracked open a bottle of red wine and slobbed out for the evening.