THE JUDGE IS OUT

R is out judging the Rusland garden competition with her friend J. 20 gardens to judge and, if her opinion of what I do here is anything to go by, she will be fair but clear. (I have to be a little careful what I say as she seasons my food sometimes!)

So to kick off here is our Brachyglottis, or one of them in full flower. Why they cannot keep the old name of Senecio - well, I suppose it is not botanically correct, but easier to use and remember. Actually it is going over now so R will have to do a hatchet job on it. She loves the topiarish side of things but has a tendency to overcook it.
I have still not planted out the 20 or so cuttings I have (they are now small shrubs) - not good enough for a garden judge I would think - let alone our "wild areas". It is useful to have such parts of the garden because I can say the tangle of bindweed and goosegrass was intended for the sake of wildlife!

We have a brown rat! Of course this is not really a surprise with stables next door but to see it peeping furtively out from the skimmia under the feeders by the kitchen was not a delight. One has to admire the dexterity of rodents' hands, be it mice, voles, rats or squirrels - paws not hands I hear the cry. I stand corrected.

The wasps have stripped the big shed of a wafer of wood - photo shows the vertical scrapings.

The buddleia are coming out and, suddenly, so are the butterflies - phew! I thought all we were going to have were a few small and cabbage whites.

There are - small tortoiseshell, red admiral, peacock and, down by the hedge, a gatekeeper.

We have a butternut squash plant, the one survivor from the seeds from the supermarket fruit. However it is becoming an enormous thug and I am trying to restrict its spread with netting over alkathene piping - six feet in diameter and not a flower in sight. The courgettes, on the other hand, are prolific. They have loved the warm spell (and my watering and feeding.)

I think I will give up on the purple sprouting broccoli - too many caterpillars in the head. I will come out and I can use the ground for something else.

We have eaten our first carrots but the currants are over.

Anyone up here, South Cumbria, who wants to visit a wonderful garden centre/nursery and have a biccy and cuppa coffee, go to Abi and Tom's at Halecat in Witherslack. Turn off for the Derby Arms and follow the signs.

This morning is a blackcurrant jam day after feeding the birds and picking odd remnants of raspberries.

While the judge is away I am going to have a jammy time.

I cleared 20ft of the stream yesterday scattering a handful of froglets but it may be time to seek succour from M - our occasional helper.

I have just finished a smaller version of my self-indulgent doodle and poem book, The spontaneous Line. (If that title is not pretentious what is?)

It can be found at -

http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/4487224-the-spontaneous-line

Well, I must steel myself to the . . . stove and start the process of jam making - in  a minute - first, time for a coffee and a Crossword.