Fully expecting it to tip down with rain yesterday, because all the meteorological websites seemed to concur it would (pah! Wrong!) I found myself in the garden all day because it didn’t. Rain. Never listen to weather forecasters, I reckon. You might just as well rely on fairground fortune tellers.
Of course, it didn’t matter because I got loads done. Dead headed all the roses, did some weeding. Mowed all the grass. Watered, because it seemed the weather wasn’t going to oblige. I also planted up a hanging basket of home grown nasturtiums (never grown them before - so easy!), potted on the cucumbers and peppers, and planted out the runner beans.
The tomatoes are galloping onwards in the greenhouse. Oh, what a difference it has made, this greenhouse! I’ve also sown some seeds - radish, rocket, carrots and beetroot - in some pots as I’ve run out of veg bed space. The next Big Garden Job is constructing the raised beds. I made a mock up of one involving lots of sticks and some highly accurate measuring with a wonky tape measure, to test for size and numbers in the allocated space, and I reckon we can fit in eight 10 x 4 feet beds. Is it daft to get excited about the prospect of raised veg beds? Is it a sign that my small world is shrinking further? All I need it less. It’s the little things in life that matter. Isn’t it?
I even ventured into the raspberry thicket that is the fruit cage, in order to yank out all the nettles because nettles, like thistles and any other plant of a spiky, stingy nature, enrage me and therefore have no place in my garden, thank you VERY much. I found the first handful of raspberries - delicious! - and avoided getting myself stung by nettles that were nearly as tall as me. The raspberries need taming. I have let them run wild and they are taking liberties, like unruly children. But I shall let them fruit and sort them out in Autumn.
Andy claimed the nettles in order to make tomato feed. This involved digging out a couple of demi-johns
from his wine making days, stuffing them full of nettles and topping them up with water. Over time, the nettles will rot down in the water, releasing their nutrients in a heady mix of something foul and stinky. A nettle wine, if you will. He has left the demi-johns on the paving in the courtyard, right outside the studio. This is the WRONG place. I shall relocate them later, when he has forgotten where he put them in the first place. You have to be cunning when you are a gardener.
I’ve installed two sets of solar powered fairy lights in the courtyard. They lit up last night, looking very pretty indeed, and it makes me want to add more and more until the space is a veritable wonderland of twinkliness.
A vibrant and handsome chap of a fox has been caught on our trail cam making regular visits to the edge of our garden...
Magnus and Tootsie are still alive...
Sigh...
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Briony
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