The Systems Administrator came upon me as I was preparing to dig out a third post, and asked why I did not knock them out. I replied truthfully that it had not occurred to me. It didn't sound a very likely procedure even when the SA suggested it, redolent of jarred fingers and jolted shoulders. The SA went and fetched a pick axe, and gave one of the posts several brisk thumps, then lifted it out of the ground, leaving the postcrete behind. He inserted the sharp side of the pick axe into the hole left by the post, leaned on the handle, and the concrete lump broke into several pieces.
So it turned out to be that easy. no digging necessary. I went to find a bucket to put the rubble into, then had to go out. It was late afternoon by the time I got back, and a column of smoke from beyond the house told me that the SA was having a bonfire, something that had been promised once the wind went round to the east. When the SA came in from the bonfire he said that he had extracted the rest of the posts for me, since I was keen to start planting in that area.
I was grateful. Admittedly, since the SA had put the posts there in the first place maybe it was his job to get rid of them once they were surplus to requirements, but I was the one who wanted to use the space, and I don't have a residual frozen shoulder or a permanently dodgy knee. So all I have to do now is scavenge around to find some soil to level the depressions left by the postcrete, and I can plant my young boxes. If I find I don't have enough then with any luck the Clacton Garden Centre might still have some left.
When I was clearing the dead leaves off the gravel in that corner prior to tackling the posts I found a cache of useful young holly seedlings, small ones just a couple of inches tall with only four or so leaves. There are always plenty of blackbirds flitting in and out of the hedge by the blue shed, so I may have them to thank for the hollies. I might lift some of the seedlings tomorrow and slot them in hard against the hedge in the back garden behind the statue of the head of a muse. I should like her to have a plain evergreen backdrop, instead of a view of the rabbit fence, deciduous hedge, and beyond it the neighbour's young trees compete with tree tubes, and rubbish heap. I tried planting some yews that were left over from another project, but the water table rose and they drowned, but since the hedge has not drowned it might just be dry enough close to it.
Holly has a reputation for being a slow grower, but I don't think that's the case, or at least not for plain wild green holly. Some variegated forms possibly are slow, but holly that's germinated in situ grows pretty quickly in my experience. It pops up here all over the place, taking cover under other shrubs before suddenly emerging, sometimes at a height of several feet. One such volunteer is now in the process of being trained into a standard lollipop, though another is for the chop because I don't want a holly there. So I believe the problem gardeners have with holly is that it transplants badly and is slow to get going after being planted out from a pot.
The muse's head is mounted on an upturned black cylindrical flowerpot and the top of her head stands about a yard above ground level, so obviously it's going to take a while to grow any sort of backdrop for her starting with plants that are two inches high. But the seedlings are free, and I'm hoping that they will move better than larger plants would.
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