A QUESTION OF BALANCE

Is the garden regimented or wild, organised or left to its own devices? I have let the grass grow in many areas but this does go against my desire for order. So, encourage the wild - rabbits,  squirrels, pheasants toads etc etc and grit one's teeth as the blackbirds eat all the soft fruit? This is not easy.
And the moles are back - I give in.

 
And to encourage wild flowers the long areas have to be cut in late summer - and the cuttings need to be carted away to prevent the soil becoming too rich and grass dominating. The maple at the edge of the grassy banking, the rose Rambling Rector scrambling over the flowering currant in the grass on the top slopes.

I am reading Woodland by Oliver Rackham my son gave me for my birthday - this makes the dead branches on the old ash tree seem not too bad. His descriptions of the interaction of all living things - trees, animals, fungi make me realise how complicated everything is and how dependent we are on our symbiotic relationships.

Sunday we went looking at gardens, Abi and Tom's nursery at Witherslack then Fernhill Coach House - a riot of roses and orchards - the plants bursting from the earth, clambering over each other - wonderful. I was recognised (after my wife was) and greeted with, 'I remember when you came to deal with my mother-in-law's prolapse'!

Note the eclectic mix in the study - a didgeridoo on the left, poppy from the Tower of London on the right, the odd book and all in retro furniture Ladderax.

As some of you know, when not gardening I mess about with a bit of photography. So I had the idea of changing some of my images in a more artful way - 

But what should I call this derivative form of print? 

Then R had the answer as it is neither photography nor art but a combination of the two - I was a bit deflated when she suggested PHART!

Tuesday - not a breath of wind and it rained slightly overnight - but all is very dry. Watering continues when I can get the kinks out of the hosepipe. Anyway, a day out as the electricity is being turned off all day.

The blackcurrants have been viciously pruned - all the older wood gone and the blown spinach consigned to the compost heap.

Yesterday my sister was 80! (This is about twenty years younger than I feel when I get up and creak in the morning.) 

The deutzia, heavy with fading flowers, is losing many of its leaves - I think due to lack of water - so out I go again with the hose. Good thing we have our own borehole.

Tuesday afternoon and we have had a small shower. I have fixed some sort of electronic device to the water pipe from the borehole to soften the water - we will see if it works.

Now with big open doors into the garden small surprises come into the living room like this grasshopper. And this cheeky tree rat was going in the trap and taking out the peanuts without setting it off - till now - gotcha! However they were here in twos so one more to go, before the next invasion. 

 Pheasants and a cock sparrow outside the kitchen door hunting for fallen bird seed in the cracks in the paving - we know the cock pheasant is there by his continuous burbling.

Elsewhere the philadelphus has been superb, its scent coming in through the kitchen windows.

And what could be better than a glass of wine, some good crisps, a better book and sitting in front of our view on a warm evening.

The geraniums and catmint need cutting back, and so on and so on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .