With the ongoing, maliciously fine, largely rainless, weather my mornings tend to start at 4am when the eye of Sauron inexorably finds a chink in the curtains and blasts me on the forehead. I then shuffle all around the bed looking to recover some shade. With the weary repetition of “are we there yet” fromContinue reading “Thoughts from the patio chair”
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And as for the rest….
After a manic fortnight, with much appreciated help from mum and a posse of others who beavered away in atrocious heat, we made it to the garden open day in reasonable shape. The weather gods smiled and at 8a.m, when I got into the pond for a last minute blanket weed clear, it was almostContinue reading “And as for the rest….”
5 Days to go….
The last couple of weeks have been a blur. My step count is tremendous, largely achieved by barrowing weeds to the wood and compost to the borders (combining both weightlifting, an aerobic work out and stimulation of the epidermis with nettle stings – somewhere out there, people are being charged a fortune for this…). IContinue reading “5 Days to go….”
Death by a thousand cuts
I now have less than three weeks before our annual open day and the weeding of the deep interior has commenced…The process is fraught. It has been blisteringly hot recently so I’ve been resplendent in the gardening shorts, an outfit which pairs badly with the nettles and thistles which escaped the first round of springContinue reading “Death by a thousand cuts”
Aciiiiid
If there is an opposite of jaundiced I am that person. I love the season of screaming yellow fields. It’s like living in a Mondrian. It is impossible to convey the extraordinary acid brightness of the three fields of rapeseed that sit just beyond our field, undulating all the way down towards the town. YouContinue reading “Aciiiiid”
Zing!
The garden is suddenly a blaze of colour. Most of the daffodils have gone now (save for the pipit in the rockery and the hot garden and baby duck in the nuttery, both lovely smaller varieties) and tulips have taken centre stage. The ones planted out in the garden have been marvellous this year. TheyContinue reading “Zing!”
All the little critters.
When not digging holes and moving plants around the garden Lyra, Mum and I have been out and about nature duding. It’s all go out there. Down by the river the whin is already in flower and, as it warms in the sun, there’s the first trace of the the familiar Hawaiian Tropic scent ofContinue reading “All the little critters.”
What’s not to A.D.O.R.E
Today we were promised rain on and off and, frankly, I accepted this sentence with no little relief. What with the early Pilates, a longish dog walk, an expandable “hour” in the garden and some spirited evening knitting yesterday, I awoke feeling not a little achey in all (mostly) moveable parts. I resolved on anContinue reading “What’s not to A.D.O.R.E”
New Boot Reboot
In the way of these things, the best gardening days for weeks arrived and both my wellies and gardening boots gave up the ghost. Nothing for it, I ordered some new ones and persevered with the weird sensation that there was a tortoise inside my boot whilst they scoured the country for a teeny tinyContinue reading “New Boot Reboot”
First flush
At last we’ve had some proper gardening weather. The soil has dried a little and the rain has largely held off. It’s still pretty mucky, so to keep the washing down I am resplendent in my boiler suit, but the game is definitely now afoot. I have been out weeding and “reshuffling” like a positiveContinue reading “First flush”