So, a quick pop off for a whizz around Dumfries and Galloway and the Spring Fling. Bought a big set of chimes for the garden from Melkinthorpe, did not buy any more metal birds from Adam Booth in Kirkpatrick Durham but was glad to see they have appreciated in value.And, up at The Nook, the green grass grows all around around around etc . . . .
The garden is bursting with growth driven on by the muck I liberally applied during the autumn and winter.
One very dry, almost soilless bank is smothered in euphorbia but it does save weeding - except where it has decided to grow up through the paths.
I have concern about whether our fruit has set - there seems to have been a dearth of bees this year. Usually the blackcurrants are humming but - silence.
The house martins have not returned and the swallows seem unable to make up their mind as to whether they want to nest with us or elsewhere.
The rhubarb has exploded with the rain and two days of warmth - well not literally - that is what happens if one eats too much?
It was interesting, in Scotland, that we saw a hare, slow worm, reed bunting and a lot of white butterflies - especially small whites, and wood whites. We found a fabulous wild retreat, Taliesin, near Auchencairn - see at http://www.swcwt.org/index.html
for details.
So I have returned with scraps of paper littered with ideas - different ways of mowing, bench positions and many others. There might even be a concession from my chaotic semi-wild jumble to R's organised, controlled environment, (might be).
Almost a whole row of raspberry canes are dead. Rather than cutting out I am going to grow sweet peas up them and then reorganise in the autumn. I cannot envisage a summer without fresh raspberries, nor later, making raspberry jam so summat wil 'ave to be done, a new bed and new canes, I think.
And therefore I am, off to have supper - porridge - after three days of rich food a la Masterchef.
Tomorrow a walk around the garden and a list to be made.
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