We did it

I was torn regarding my blip today.  I spent a good part of the afternoon watching wildlife on the pond, and have photos of damselflies - red and blue, single and double, frogs*, and an unidentified red and black beetle that appeared to have fallen in the water, and to be struggling to find a way out.  But in the end, the finished living roof won the day.

I admit, I was sceptical that we could get it done in one day.  Especially as we didn't in fact get started on it until I got back from the hairdresser at 1.30.  W had been to buy the wood this morning, whilst I did yet another stint of weeding.  

But this afternoon, W worked really hard - I helped at times as a "gofor".  In between, I watched and photographed the wildlife in and around the pond.  The most difficult bit was lifting the two larger pieces of ready made roofing up into the frame - they're quite heavy.  We lifted them first (rolled up) onto the trestles, and then were just able to lift them up onto the roof at the lower end, before rolling them up the roof, and allowing them to unroll down it.

The last job was a liberal dose of water.  We're really pleased with the result.  There's a bit of tidying up to do - the new frame needs a coat of paint. 

There's a little bit of matting left over - we'll keep it alive and think about possible uses.  If we can't find a use for it, we'll offer it at the open garden if anyone wants it.

*we haven't had many frogs in our pond - lots of newts, but few frogs.  Today we saw two.  In fact, W very nearly stood on one that was investigating our work.