Sunday 2 June 2013

POSSESSED OF A NEWT

Well, 4 actually.
Went to S and had a tour of her garden. She netted the newts for us, popped them in water in a soup container and we brought them home and released them into the top pond. No taddies in the top pond.

I am pooped - just trying to eradicate the lovely (ha ha) Carex pendula from the bottom pond side. Could not dig it up - it is a thug and seeds all over the place. So this is where I have to humbly bow my head and concede that I used a little Round Up. Otherwise we would have had to get a JCB in.
I have weeded the nearby bed and removed two wheelbarrows full of horrible buttercups - they have roots that grasp the soil like talons.
R weeded the small bed beside the Wendy House, muttered something and declared she does not like gardening.

I have also weeded the seed bed but germination has been disappointing. The wallflowers and sweet williams are ok but the calendulas and other things are few.

On Thursday I bought some new Wellies at West Cumberland Farmers to replace the ones lingering in Herefordshire, 3 tomato plants on the market and some sequestrene and tomato feed at the local garden centre. One of the Fatsias and one of the Skimmias are struggling - too much lime in the soil from the hard core put down when the house was built. I use diluted tomato feed everywhere - house plants, garden, everywhere.

Another 5 lbs of rhubarb is in the freezer
and the plants have had a good feed and a soak. The hose pipe is out as there does not seem to be any rain in the offing.

The new fence I put in earlier in the year to hide the veg beds and cold frame from the house is too garish - new wood - so I have bought, risky as hardiness up here questionable, a passion flower and pink clematis armandii. They are probably ok down to about -5C but . . .  They are evergreen and, hopefully, will hide the fence along with the climbing rose already there.

This morning I looked out of the bedroom window on to the roof below and there were 4 tree sparrow fledglings, a tree sparrow feeding them and one cock house sparrow looking a bit confused.

The Cow parsley, Queen Anne's Lace, Adder's Meat, Bad Man's Oatmeal, Eldrot, Keeshion, Gypsy's Umbrella, Kelk . . . many names in many places . . . is filling the road sides, spreading into our garden - we do not mind - and R has a vase of it in front of the wood burner (not on). The flowers do shed all over the floor though.
It surrounds the post with our gate button and a tiny sign to the house. It is part of our countryside though, it was, at one time, connected with the Devil.

The important thing with the garden at the moment is to keep on top of it - of course failed - or at least try to. I suggested to R that there should be a gardener in the Cawthwaite Project, http://cawthwaite.com, especially as one of the writers is a gardener. Perhaps I could get the writing team to do some work experience at The Nook - weeding and bramble clearing?
I have a feeling that will be greeted with scorn.

So to a cup of green tea - R has us on some sort of diet where we do not eat for 24 hours - I think it is called starvation or something.

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