OPINIONS

 

Cut that tree down, trim that hedge, organise more and pop goes the wild garden (or is wild garden and excuse for doing nowt much?)

And autumn approaches - hips on the roses, some small and some more luxurious. 

Some flowers are flourishing late in the year but we are still waiting for the Michaelmas daisies.

The sedum line the paving by the house, the blue clematis released to flower by the removal of the bay tree.

But someone is right as I cannot do it all any longer, brain is fading, body shot at, and someone else is fed up doing all the weeding, seeing the ravages of slug snail, mouse, pigeon and - well you get the idea.

We have lit our first wood burner of the year end as the weather cools. Plants have arrived - tulips from Sarah Raven and some ranunculi and hollyhocks from Farmer Gracey.

They need to be planted.

Down in the veg beds are moribund redcurrants  (they only feed the birds anyway), asparagus going brown and wispy, and one cannot eat the holes in the Cavolo Nero. 

The gardener sweeps around with his strimmer but wet grass does not mow easily.

Algae is back on the pond, the Tutsan is berried up ready to seed all over the place and the ash trees behind the bottom shed have the plague (and are just next door).

So on we go, and on and on and on . . . . . 

THERMOSTAT DOWN/UP AGAIN

 The garden is flourishing, perhaps too much? Our white birches stand tall at the far end of the garden as do the swathes of uncut grass.

Time for the strimmer?

There are long shoots and tangled thorny clumps of bramble in the wood and the bottom hedge will need laying, perhaps this winter. Unlike the blackberries in the lane hedges the ones in the woodland might flower but do not bear much in the way of fruit.

But we do have apples and pears. I have been up in the far lawn and cut out two twenty foot high osiers that have been flattened by past storms. I used my small hand chainsaw. The chain can come off and I have to be sure I put it back the right way around.

One gnarled old willow is sprouting vigorously and there are signs of ash dieback in some of our mature trees. To remove them would be very expensive so we watch and wait.

We may not have many butterflies though yesterday I noted a few gatekeepers and a couple of small whites. We do have plenty of buddleia flowers if they are hungry.

I do like plants that sow themselves, well some like the feverfew and mulleins and woundwort. Others seem to grow well even in the untended areas - yellow loosestrife and acanthus. The former is, of course. a wild plant. The red flower on the left is good(?) old Lucifer.

And then there is the gunnera getting bigger and bigger.

Not far away is the pond and wild plants - greater willow herb (though this seems everywhere this year), the fat pods of the yellow flag, meadowsweet and thistledown.

So much going on and so little desire to do stuff. Anyway it is raining again.

GETTING TRENCH FOOT

In fact storm Agnes which will amuse my sister as it is her first name though she never uses it. In fact she is Mrs Agnes Brown and I am sure she wishes she had got copyright on her name before someone in Ireland had the idea of pinching it.

So sodden everywhere, no mowing, gardener scraped moss and liverwort off the hoggin path today, last damsons picked and the badger has been back.

From the trail camera by the bird feeders. It showed the usual rabbits and pheasants and other birds (and a r*t actually trying to climb the cherry.) Do not tell R. She hates them.

The storm came and missed us, going up over Scotland, just a lot (more) rain.

My cousin H came today with her friend M and taking them around our neglected patch made we see it through other eyes. Never mind, just call it a wild garden. Too much for me now I have to admit. And R has plans afoot perhaps to reduce workload?

That was yesterday so a dry day today and out with the mower only to find it is so wet I cannot get the machine back up to the house from the lower garden. In the end manage a long way around. Much of the garden unmowable. 

The council are rebuilding the road in the village so getting out and in is a long way around too.

And now it is tomorrow and raining again. At least it fills the water bin - the council garden waste bin - as we recycle all it has another use.

So to fruit and pears and apples aplenty.

One big one we took yesterday to P along with some pears.

And there are contrasts like the dying ash tree over the far wall and the rose A and P gave us that lover the trellis by the shed.

And we have light coloured flowers to dispel the gloomy clouds - 

Japanese anemones above and Anthemis below. R and I both want more Anthemis - they have flowered well this year.

But one cannot escape the approach of autumn - Virginia creeper on one of the sheds colouring up and Sedum spectabile coming into flower.

Parsley is still doing okay as are the yellows in the back bed where R would like a load of topiary.

And it is still raining and weighing down the poor Annabelle and Sunflowers,

R upstairs on her bed, warm and writing, time to make her a cup of tea.

BACK HOME

Here is a stone carving of me reclining in undergrowth. It is a bit like looking at clouds and seeing shapes. This was on the walk from Rocklcliffe to Kippford. If you cannot see the head do not worry, it is a bit Easter Islandish.

And we were surrounded by swallows, R almost trod on a slow worm, we followed a hare along the road, a red squirrel scuttled up a tree and two roe deer skipped into the woodland brush.

No, not here at The Nook, we were away for three nights in southern Scotland and no sign of a swallow or martin here. In fact all the trail camera saw in the last ten days was grey squirrels, pheasants and RABBITS!

And we are home and R has been weeding the veg beds whilst I am slowly dying of manflu - however I think I have now given it to R.

The gardener has been and strimmed the top banking - to come back to do the bottom one.

I am debating as to whether I should have the Russian sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia, dug up because of the war.

On the other hand it is not its fault Russia has a madman as its President. The war is only because of his failings at home and trying to distract his people from his mismanagement. 

Thinking about that - when are we going to Invade Europe Liz?

Forget the mess- the roses are still blooming.

The Conference pears are coming ripe - lift the fruit and if comes away easily it is ready. The only trouble with these pears is that they have a rather tough gritty skin but they are self-fertile trees so only need one.

Perhaps I should dig up the potatoes - perhaps not, I cannot face seeing all the slug damage and scab and so on.

It will be time soon to lift the cannas and store them for the winter. I should do the same for the dahlias but with a good compost covering they have survived last winter and are flowering well so the same again I think.

Occasionally things that flower in the spring do so now - like this Clematis armandii -

Elsewhere the Hydrangea Annabelle is getting too big? - right by the backdoor it has now moved on from white to green, more or less, but is overgrowing the sarcococcus next to it.

I can sit in my study and look up into the magnificent old ash tree outside (hope it does not fall on us) and think what a disaster dieback is. I hope the tree is a tough old thing.

And there are definite signs of autumn around, not least with the Acer Sango-kaku which is already turning.

In the spring I put in half a dozen Cosmos Purity, not all in one mass but here and there to lighten up corners. Now all I have to do is the same as with the dahlias - deadhead. Then we get more flowers.

Son came round last night - I have the get a new iPad as on my old one (R's old one) the glass is broken. I took it to a repairer and he said it was too damaged. Then I though I should replace my thick phone (a Nokia) with a iPhone - Aaaaagh!  Oh! For the old days when our telephone number was 329.

The sun is out, perhaps I will just check the trail camera first and see if there any damsons left.