Still Planting and Weeding...

18th July, 2017

Gardening in the rain!

Standalone Farm residents

I must admit weather really affects my inclination for gardening and the last few weeks have been busy with gatherings and celebrations!

My mother in law had her 80th in a garden (not ours!) and our contribution was cake-based, using rather tongue-in-cheek a load of recipes from a Prue Leith supplement from the Daily Fail which is a newspaper I won't even burn in the wood burner… however I digress, and I also wanted to mention the sudden changes in temperature which are a disaster for me and put paid to any gardening activity. My dad also turned 80 but we will celebrate that in August when we travel north to see him.

My daughter and I went to Standalone Farm and had a lovely time wandering into the areas we hadn't been in before.

Then there have been celebration evenings and discos in my daughters’ schools; one of which involved copious amounts of glitter…

Garden plants I didn't plant...

So today took us to Wimpole Hall to explore the grounds without entering a farm or big house, something we hadn't yet done and we wanted to see if we could get to the Folly in the grounds. It was a truly lovely day for it and despite family squabbles along the way I clocked 8,000 steps and we only got rained on in the car on the way home. I jumped in the shower when we got home and feeling fresh, I thought I should spend some time in the garden aided and abetted by my youngest. A couple of days ago, I picked up some last minute bargains in the pound shop so Squeaky helped me to add a couple of strawberry plants to my flourishing planters, protected by my slug pellets. An update on the Slugless Pellets is that my lettuces are munchless and my hostas are recovering so that is definitely a repeat purchase. The broccoli sprouts have been nibbled but we have a very plump pigeon chick frequenting certain areas and I think he has come from the chestnut tree.

However, it was sun out for only a few minutes and it started raining! I have admitted to being a fairweather gardener but it was actually refreshing! It also made the weeds easier to pull out. My little one decided to get an umbrella out and hold it over me but after a few dunts on the head I declined her kind offer. Second shower to remove mud and weed residue... but a few drifts of iris and another bulb whose name escapes me and we are looking like changing the front garden into more my space.

I have been enjoying having my new camera and will share some cracking images once I work out how to download them (lots of stages...)