Log walkways, to-do lists and freelance ninjas

Last week I was shockingly efficient. One day I even managed to cross eight things off my 'to-do list' before my morning tea break.  I'll admit, I added three of these things retrospectively just so I could tick them off and one of them may have been 'wake up', but if felt good, OK?

Not wanting to stem this task obliteration drive, I carried on when the kids got back from school by tackling something that I've been meaning to do for ages - the log walkway.

This was my idea to reclaim a lost patch of land, behind the sandpit and under the flowering purple cherry tree which is pretty much hidden and inaccessible. It is also a way to use up some logs we cut which are just a bit too large for the wood burning stove.  This is a wise move, because I have been known, on particularly cold days, to try forcing such logs in, only to find out that new glass for the front of our Clearview Stove is remarkably pricey.

But anyway, back to gardens.

I chose the flatter and shorter logs to form a raised walkway. When I did have to use longer specimens, I buried the bottom third in the ground to make them a little more stable.  We then selected a few shade-friendly ferns and perennials from elsewhere in the garden to create a woodland feel to the space.

The kids love it - mostly because they can move between two areas of the garden unseen (useful for their future careers in black ops or as freelance ninjas).

We will need to keep the log tops clear of leaf fall or else they will become dangerously slippery. Also, if it's a very hard winter, there is every chance I may go and steal the logs back.  Although then I'd have to add 'replace stove glass' to my to-do list again.

Comments

[Helen]

I have several to do lists and thats just in my office - I have do the things on the first to do list as a thing to do if you see what I mean!!!

I'm glad you are thinking ahead for your childrens careers - but methinks you have watched too much Spooks!

[twitter.com/countrygate]

Sadly my three would make too much noise to be in secret opps but I like the idea of crossing things off the to do list.We blagged a load of logs as 'seating area for the gardening club' recently. Have already seen service as step aerobics arena for time pressed mums,debating chamber and stage.

[Esther Montgomery]

Scale in photos is awkward - how tall are they?

If I had a stepping stone path like this, I would be walking up and down it all day and never tick anything off my 'to do' list ever again.

Esther

[JamesA-S]

I was going to comment on your Archie-Walking-On-Your-Head post and was also going to mention (en passant) how your frock was particularly short for visiting Royal Residencesbut the door of that post has already been slammed in my face so I have come here instead.

I also wanted to talk about Cheerleading as I see a solution to your problem. Cheerleaders have to have something to cheer: without it they are just cheering themselves for Cheerleading which seems both self indulgent and confusing. I propose that they cheer your Gardening Club.
Hey,Hey,Hey for the Dibbing,
2-4-6-8 What do we appreciate? Crop Rotation and Green Manures
etc, etc.
They all then get the best of both worlds: healthy exercise, horticulture and rhythmic movement.

To Do lists: almost all of my items are put there retrospectively otherwise there is no movement at all. Some of my To-Dos are so old I have forgotten what they mean - for example' Garden of Nine'. What does that mean do you think?

Nice logs. It is possible - and this may be too technologically advanced for you - to split the logs and make them smaller. I think you can get a Chopping App for your (ancient and crusty) iPhone.

[Roland Paterson]

A very good friend of mine has daily to do lists. At least 3 of the top items will be things he completed yesterday, which he'll cross off to 1) make him look incredibly efficient to onlookers and 2) to make himself believe that he's incredibly efficient.

I on the other hand get waylaid and would struggle to complete no 1 on the list (make tea).

As for logs too big for the burner, have you considered an axe? The kids will enjoy that as much as the walkway.

[Dawn]

Helen - A to-do list of to-do lists? Now that's taking it to a whole new level.

CountryGate - Have now added 'build step aerobics arena and debating chamber' to my to-do list. Thanks

Esther - I was going to strategically position some dolls house furniture in the shot just to impress you with the scale, but then it started raining... In truth they are only 30-40cm high but my children are midgets so it still creates a thrill.

[Dawn]

James - You make a fair point on the dress. I did, of course, check out my Debrett's guide to the appropriate etiquette before the trip, but I may have muddled my metric and imperial scales when interpreting the rules on hem length.

I shall put it to the school that the cheerleaders are henceforth assigned to motivating their gardening peers, althought I may have to remix that chant slightly.

And I don't have a log-chopping app but I do occasionally employ a log-chopping oap in the form of my father with a chainsaw - less technologically advanced but still highly effective.

Am baffled by your 'Garden of Nine'. Perhaps you just can't read your own handwriting and it was actually an oral hygiene reminder to 'Gargle at Nine'

[Dawn]

Roland - I am very taken with your friends pre-completed tasks lists. In my book it's all about the aura of efficiency rather than the actual doing of stuff.

Your parental advice is a little more questionable. Give an axe to my kids? I'm not sure the elastoplast supply would quite cope with that addition to their toy box.

[Plantaliscious]

Love the walkway. Also love the fact that I am not alone in writing things I have already done on my "To Do" list so that I can then cross them off, thus masking the fact that I didn't do the things I was meant to do. Am now off to write "comment on blogs" on my list, my excuse being that it is raining to hard to do the things I should be doing...

[elizabethm]

We have a split approach to list-making in this house. My husband makes copious lists and generally does them and also has an ancient list on our white board, a bit like JAS's Garden of Nine, which is now totally incomprehensible at least to me but which he won't get rid of, claiming he does know what it means. I make a list once a week or so, lose it, and am astonished on finding it a couple of weeks later to see that I have actually done some of it. Most of my life is either too fundamental (make tea) or too accidental (discover last year's tulip bulbs in shed and spend an hour or so trying to sort out which is which and lining up the tiddlers) to make a list. I like your logs though. They'd definitely get nicked and split here one cold day!

[CAPlastic Surgeon]

That log walkway is gorgeous. I'd be afraid of little ones having scraped shins playing on it though. It's a cute idea and a great garden makeover though.