Oh, My Days!

 I bought some art prints for the bathroom. Bambino Bobble Wilson thinks they are most charming. 

 Having been perched on an old tree stump for a week or so, on Friday the sun dial got a brand new plinth. His Lordship Malarkey was out walking Nell and he stopped at some random little independent garden centre and sent me photos of the four different plinths they had on sale. One was too plain, two were too fancy and one was, like Goldilocks, just right! I stated my preference and he purchased it and bought it home.  It was bloomin’ heavy. At least it isn’t going to rock over in a high wind. The two hedgehog statues were adopted by me from my late Auntie Pollie where they used to stand guard by her front door. I can’t remember where the duck statue came from but I’ve had it for well over twenty years. And the chicken, which is made from a chunky metal, was a gift to Andy from work colleagues when he left to move from Kent to Shropshire. I have sown cosmos and calendula in the little border around the statue/sun dial square, which is in the middle of the raised bed area, and...

 One of the walks Nell and I often take involves a two minute drive up the road from home to the nearest village where we park in the village hall car park. We walk through the village and onto a lane, at the end of which is Bridge 72 on the Shropshire Union Canal, also known as the Hawksmoor Bridge. This is it this morning: Lovely pink cherry tree in full blossom which reminds of the cherry trees at my old primary school. The bank from the bridge to canal is on the steep side and I plan to take a tea tray with me when I am very old so I can slide down the bank which will likely be safer than trying to walk down it with my elder lady legs and risk falling over and breaking myself. But that consideration is for the distant future. At the moment, I can descend the bank quite happily and Nell pulls me up on our return.  As I walked this morning, there were cows to the left of me… Calves to the right… And here I am, stuck in the middle with Nelli-Poo… The towpath travels several m...

 What lovely weather we enjoyed today! Jokes are often made about Bank Holiday weekends inviting in horrible weather, but in my part of the world we had blue skies and sunshine all day which meant - you’ve guessed it - gardening time!!  I hadn’t planned to do gardening today. High on my list was cleaning the car, giving the kitchen the once over with a damp cloth and sorting out the tableware in the dresser. However, when it became clear it was gardening weather, out I went to crack on.  Mr and Mrs Swallow were being most industrious. Mr Swallow returned from a few days’ absence a couple of days ago with a lady swallow in tow. He was showing off with great extravagance and loudness, shouting, ‘Look at this superior nesting accommodation!’ And I think Mrs Swallow was marginally impressed but said something along the lines of, ‘Well, it’s okay I suppose, but I want a few improvements made before I move in,’ so for the last two days they’ve been swooping in and out with beak...

 When we visited the stately home craft fair on Mothering Sunday, Heather got chatting to one of the stall holders who was representing a company that made toilet paper from bamboo. It was all very eco-friendly and non-profit making, and the sample I was given withstood several nose blows without being reduced to a ragged and soggy mess, which was good. Anyway, Heather parted with her email address in order to be entered into a prize draw competition and was given a free loo roll as a ‘thank you’ which she took home as a gift for Oli, who was thrilled. I think he was probably even more thrilled with the chocolate brownies Heather also took back to him, but he is a polite chap and receives all gifts with equal gratitude.  Anyway, a couple of days ago Heather discovered she had won second prize in the prize draw and will soon be the proud recipient of a box of twenty four - yes, twenty four - bamboo loo rolls! How exciting is THAT!??! In the greenhouse, there are now thirteen to...

 The tonne bag of gravel arrived just after 8 a.m. The delivery driver very kindly parked it right next to the back gate which meant I wouldn’t have to barrow it half way up the driveway which was what I’d anticipated. He saved me a lot of huff ‘n’ puff ‘n’ back ache, that’s for sure. We shared a bit of gardening banter, mostly about potatoes, and then he was off on the rest of his deliveries and I was faced with some hefty manual labour.  Armed with wheelbarrow, spade and rake, and my Health and Safety training about bending from the knee to prevent back injuries, I set about re-gravelling the courtyard. It was a bit faffy because the courtyard space is dotted with paving slabs which required some delicate arrangement of gravel around them, and this is when I learned that gravel often has a mind of its own and sometimes needs a jolly good stamping on to make it know its place. Periodically, I gave myself a break from shovelling and raking to get two loads of laundry done and ...

 On Tuesday evening, Darling Daughter and I went to the cinema to see the musical ‘Six’ on satellite. I didn’t know what to expect, really, but it was very good and something I would happily see again.  Yesterday, I was in Head Gardener mode again because it would be rude not to take advantage of this consistent blessing of fine and dry weather. As the Damson Cottage Estate has taken shape over the past almost nine years (I know! Where did that time go??) I am glad we made the decision to divide the plot into dedicated, if somewhat pretentiously named, sections. This means when I have a gardening day, I can decide what section I am going to work on - the Mediterranean area, the Orchard, the Vegetable Garden, the Soft Fruit Garden etc etc - rather than spend time buzzing randomly from one area to another as I did when it was a blank and open canvas. Yesterday, then, I decided that the lavender bed next to the garden shed needed attention. It’s called the lavender bed area becau...

 Pootling around the greenhouse this afternoon trying not to fret about poor, poor Prince Harry and his lack of security court case (pah!) I thought, ‘What is it EXACTLY about gardening that makes one so, well, happy?’ I was tucking seeds up in their new composty beds - courgette, cucumber, purple sprouting broccoli, dwarf French beans, basil - patting them down gently and watering them so they settled, and it was just such a lovely thing to be doing. The air was warm and still, the birds were singing, Nell was only grating slightly on my nerves with her excitement that a watering can was in action. It was just so…nice.  The seeds I sowed two or three weeks ago are doing well. I can announce there are now FIVE emerging tomato plants so all is not lost. But it’s the lupins that are racing away with 22 out of the 30 I sowed all emerged. I haven’t stopped to consider if twenty two lupins might be too many. Gardeners can never have too many plants.  Look at this dear little t...

 Announcement! The first swallow of the year appeared above the skies of Damson Cottage on Friday! I spent the whole day gardening and at 10 a.m I heard a familiar trilling, looked up, and there it was - swooping above me, and I am SURE it was saying, ‘Hello! I am returned!’ Of course, I greeted it with equal and great enthusiasm.  ‘Hello, swallow! How wonderful to see you. Congratulations on arriving safely home!’  I wondered if the swallow was one of the parents from last year, or one of the nine babies. Anyway, it’s been hanging around the house, perching on the TV aerial and singing away, waiting patiently for the return of more of its family before the ‘Battle For Laundry Nest Ownership’ begins in earnest. I feel very joyful at its return and am looking forward to hosting many angry baby swallows as the season progresses. The gourmet mushrooms are progressing at great speed, too. Here is the Status of Mushroom this fine and dandy Sunday morning: My brother wanted to ...

 I started my gourmet mushroom growing adventure (!) on Monday and have been carefully following the instructions, which basically means misting the substrate three times a day using my little Victoriana-style spray mister thingummybob. The kit is sited on the kitchen window sill which was the best place I could think of that offered good daylight but not direct sunlight.  Anyway, just as I was getting to the end of Day Four in the Big Mushroom House, and wondering if anything was going to happen, and if I was going to be the first person EVER to murder a gourmet mushroom crop before it had even got started, I spied this: A baby mushroom!! I can’t tell you how excited I was, but then today has been pretty non-eventful. I did move the bed this morning to vacuum underneath and tried not to look at the remains of a very large spider which may or may not have crawled over me whilst I slept. Instead, I gave thanks that Bambino Bobble Wilson was fulfilling his Chief Spider Assassin ...