WHATEVER THE WEATHER WE WEED (AND RATTUS NORVEGICUS)

Of course the title of this blog is a big lie - I rarely go out weeding in the rain.

Tuesday - one minute it is 28C, humid and we are cooking, then Wednesday morning - thunder lightning and a refreshing breeze before torrential rain. And now the sun is out - 24C but not so sticky.


We are at the end of the soft fruit harvest, last raspberries and blackcurrants - something unseen finished off the gooseberries. The new potatoes, grown in a Monty Don sack (well, sort of) are delicious and last night I cooked - really I did - salmon with our own dill and carrots with our own coriander - and the potatoes.


I have been lifting spirogyra (green algae a bit like hair) from the pond. It seems to be thriving again after nearly dying out.

We have had a full moon and, no, this is not a live hare but a rake one by Gillian Still.

By Friday the morning is a pleasant 20C but after lunch it begins to spit with rain and drive us in. The sky has been full of swallows and martins - 50 to 60 at least and the swallows, now the young have fledged, are thinking of building another nest.
There is small corpse on the laving- a sparrow I think - and a bit maggoty. 

There are many things to clear away the dead and rotting detritus of the natural world including fungi. I found these in amongst pine trees - perhaps Amanita Rubescent, The Blusher. However as I am never 100% certain I shall just photograph them. 

Up in the wood the evening light is a delight when it shines through the grasses and herbs. Soon I will have to bring out the scythe and clear it all - I do not mind that, it is the raking off and taking away that is so tiring.

The trees that seemed quite small  when we arrived ten years ago are now huge like this - one of our ash trees.

If I walk there it is very like a huge church with arches and a vaulted ceiling of branches and leaves full of birds and small insects. The wood white butterflies circle in shafts of sunlight.

One of the joys of being interested in gardening is visiting other peoples places, getting new ideas and noticing that hey have nettles and brambles growing at the back of borders too. A recent visit to a garden in Barbon produced this gardener in the mixed vegetable beds. 

While we were at Barbon R bought a white delphinium (they have a few plants for sale)(and we had tea and cake) and this is now in flower in our garden.

At the end of last year I cut out the oldest wood from the philadelphus belle etoile. The result has been a fine showing of its scented flowers.

Now for the video camera update - it is working - in 3 days I managed 629 videos, one bird and one black cat! Think that moving leaves setting it off!

And I went to look at how the big grasses were doing - stipa gigantea and such - and they were clad in bindweed and goosegrass (cleavers) - sigh!

Yesterday, in the local supermarket car park, we watched a moorhen leaping three feet into the air and picking blackberries which it gave to a nearby chick - not seen that before.

So end of blog.
Almost.

Rates norvegicus, the brown rat in all its splendour under the bird feeders having a mid morning snack - not R's favourite creature.