MORE BANTER A LA JARDIN

There are moments in gardening when the spirits lift. When we first moved here four and a half years ago I had had several damson suckers given to me by my sister-in-law K.

These were bunged in at the periphery of the garden and left to their own devices.

So, yesterday, I was trying to kill the weeds growing up through the cattle grid when this caught my eye. We have damsons - albeit not quite ripe yet.

Like the first eucryphia flower and going today to get the blood test and opening the envelope and finding the result was NORMAL! this produces elation.

So, into the garden and the scent

of Lilium regale, its (or her?) huge white flowers pumping heaven into the air. Not a masculine plant, I think.

I am sitting at the computer listening to the dulcet tones of a strimmer. PM has arrived and is doing the banking!

Then the tuneful buzz is ruptured by the plaintiff mewing of the solitary buzzard up in the ash trees. After a while the sound of our feathered tree cat is irritating.

So to a problem - where to put all the mowing, dead-headings, strimmings and so on. The compost heap is overflowing and there seem to be mounds all over the garden.

Soon drastic action with Monty Don sized heaps will have to be created and hidden somewhere - not too far from the house but not too near. The two current heaps are too small - 4 feet (1.3 metres) square as in the one shown.

It is lovely to sit in the sun - yes sun! - and listen to the sounds of the four stroke motor slicing weeds and grass but I will have to get out and do something.

I did not win the Euromillions lottery again!

Thus I cannot have a full time gardener to do all the bits I would like someone else to do. I could just sow seed and take cuttings and tinker.

I wonder how much R would charge me if I asked her?

On second thoughts - far too much - and she would not have time to write.