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”

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.”

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”

Light and Sound

I’ve hardly been in the last few days. Despite the odd shepherd’s warning morning, the weather has been dry and fine and whatever indoor chores were originally on the list were firmly relegated to the back burner to make more space for rambling with Lyra in the morning and manic gardening in the afternoon. IContinue reading “Light and Sound”

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”