KEEP OFF THE GRASS

Because it is so waterlogged.

Cut back phlox, Michaelmasdaisies and rue - being careful not to get rue sap on my skin, to avoid blistering.

Then - I thought let me dig up the Sweet Cicely and move it freeing the bed by the back wall - HA! The thing is a thug, its roots penetrating the subsoil and beyond. I removed what I could but the only solution may be a weed killer. I suppose it is a wild plant and therefore tough but . . 

And then we move on through wet November -

RAIN!

Birds and animals do not seem to mind  the bad weather. All go at the pond - 

But occasionally, very occasionally at the moment, the sun creaks through revealing flowers still out and missed apples still on the tree.

And, even though the garden is relatively bare, if you look there is interest - backlit grasses, contrasts in green and texture in shrubs,

 

 

the bark of a cherry tree or the strange healed wound on an ash.

The water pouring from the back field has not only filled the stream but emerges at every possibility as a spring, here the stream is nearest, the spring beyond.

I have emailed Sarah Raven to complain about the non-germination of my sweet pea seeds but heard nothing yet. I have potted on R's euonium.

And still the white camassia bulbs wait for me to decide where they go.

R has cut back the shrubby clematis and I have dug up the disastrous parsnips, lightly forked there bed and top dressed with horse manure.

Now I love strimming (!) but when you have a good gardener like S - well - 

Tuesday and more rain - cup of tea.