Winter Solstice

I started blogging earlier this year by counting the days to our Open Garden event and now, we're counting the days to Christmas and beyond to the end of 2010. A time for reflection and for looking forward. We went recently to our grandson's Blessing service in Essex and one of the contributors, a Sunday School teacher, explained the Church year using a wooden puzzle. The line that has stayed with me is 'for every ending there is a beginning, for every beginning there is an ending'. Of course, that applies to every part of life not just the Church year, and especially life in the garden. So while today, the winter solstice marks the shortest darkest day of the year, we can with confidence look forward to another happy growing season as the days gradually lengthen into, hopefully (!) a really early spring.

The snowy image at the bottom of the images above was taken in January this year, but could easily have been taken in November or yesterday. The other images were taken at about 2 o'clock this afternoon while the thaw begins under a pale grey sky. I wanted to find signs of life beginning again and I did; a few daffodil bulbs just beginning to show, first flowers on the viburnum, many grape hyacinth leaves already about 4 inches high, rhododendron buds on both the large and small shrubs as well as lots of dandelions still!

The ravages of heavy frost and snowfall are obvious as you look at the garden, but there's still just enough snow left to hide the worst and all in all I don't think it looks too bad considering I haven't done anything to it for weeks now.

With 2010 drawing to an end I think we can look back fondly on another gardening year; a mixed one of course bearing in mind the vagories of our climate, but one that saw the first Sandgate Open Garden that was such a success locally. Who knows what 2011 will bring, but I'm sure whatever it is we'll all deal with it and can be sure that the garden will weave its own magic again. Look out for the date of the next Open Garden!

Happy Gardening Christmas!!!

Final flourish

"....no shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!

With apologies to Thomas Hood for missing a very large chunk of his poem, but I just wanted to prove him wrong. The garden does look a little battered and weatherbeaten but there are still plants giving their all and when the sun does shine the flowers do too. The images above were taken this week on a sunny and exceptionally warm day. There again, it's not such a rarity for the weather to be as mild as it has been at this time of year. I well remember bonfire nights when our then little children stripped off the mittens, scarves, coats and hats I'd dressed them in, because it was November for heaven's sake, only to find the evening balmy and warm as June.

So I am enjoying the final flourishes that some of the plants are giving - in particular an enormously tall cosmos which is coming out in many many flowers in various shades of pink. It stands well over 6 feet tall and I have staked it against the onslaught of the wind.

My exalted echiums have germinated well and I have potted some of them on. I have also put to bed the tender Plectranthus plants I was given some years ago and which I almost lost entirely last winter. This year I am leaving them in the only completely airtight greenhouse, up on the bench and will add a blanket of bubble wrap as temperatures drop. As a precaution I have also got a few bits in water here in the kitchen in the hope of roots sprouting so they too can be potted up and nutured indoors.

Even as I write this we are, once again, being battered by strong winds, surely the most noticeable 'climate change' in this region. Or is it just that we live so close to the sea and are therefore more susceptible?

I must admit to being less than enthusiastic about the garden in recent weeks and having spent several days filling the garden bin with cut down aster stems would like to eradicate them! Not really, they fill all sorts of gaps but I hink I'll try chipping them instead as they take so long to break down in the compost and the bins just aren't big enough.

So the growing season has drawn more or less to a close and it's time to settle down to long dark evenings by roaring fires and dream about the crops to come next year. I have resolved to keep it simple by concentrating on veg that I know I can grow well and plentifully instead of, as this year, filling the beds too tightly and reaping very poor harvests. Back to beans, courgettes, beetroot, lettuce and tomatoes for me with a large sprinkling of sweet peas. Let's hope spring comes early!

A suitable case for treatment

7.45 a.m. 17 September. Anyone watching me as I climbed up to the garden on the Friday morning when these pictures were taken would have been fully justified in thinking I was indeed a suitable case as I flailed my arms before me in Spotty Dog fashion. Hardy gardeners among you will know, of course, that the reason behind this bizarre behaviour is the time of year and the propensity for spiders of all shapes and sizes to spin their tiny, almost invisible stands from one side of every singe pathway to the other. As well as between plants, in open doorways, from window frames ... I could go on. My arms therefore clear the way ahead avoiding that slightly worrying feeling of being caught fly-like in a web. There's always the one that I forget though, usually a very fine and intricate one spun between tomato plant leaves that gets me as I bend for that oh so enticing last little fruit. Or the ones that appear (or not!) across the open greenhouse door - just when I stop being Spotty Dog and instead arm myself with a watering can, it gets me right on the newly shampooed hair. This time lasts only for a short while and even this morning, chilly and damp as it was, there was little need for any flailing as I climbed to the top garden. Instead the spiders all seemed to have decamped to the summerhouse to find shelter amongst the floor cushions. So it was out with the broom and a brisk brushing sorted that out, at least for this morning.

Asters are the predominant blooms in the garden at the moment; they are the late summer/autumn equivalent of forget-me-knots for us, carpeting large areas as they do. I can happily uproot any that are in the wrong place, safe in the knowledge that more will spring up elsewhere. The star of the flower bed however has to be the Kaffir Lily, now blooming in striking Barbie pink - for which you'll have to take my word since I didn't have my camera with me and it's now raining so I don't intend to return aloft today! I'm very pleased too to discover that the broccoli plants I've kind of nurtured (or was it planted and then totally left to their own devices?) are, at last, beginning to actually sprout little purple bits. I will let you know if we get enough to eat - would make a nice change from tomatoes and courgettes.

Twilight intensity

There's a very calm atmosphere in the garden this evening and the low light level only serves to intensify the colours of certain flowers such as the apricot/orange rose that's currently in flower in the little garden near the house, and the cosmos that are now in full bloom in a variety of shades of pink. My nicotiana, that were supposed to all be lime green, have turned out to be a selection of muted shades including burgundy and pink but even they seem more colourful at this time of the evening. In general the garden is very lush, a bit damp and a little overgrown or overblown at the moment so I do need to pay it some attention soon. A few weeks of visitors, grandchildren and various other commitments have meant little work in the garden but we did cut the grass the other day, and that instantly improves things. With the michaelmas daisies and sedums in full bloom autumn is definitely on its way and I shall soon be putting into effect all those ideas currently simmering away in my head. A bit of moving about, potting on, taking of cuttings and some new bulbs are all in the offing - just need the energy to get going!

The local wildlife, mostly squirrels, are currently enjoying our sunflowers of which only one remains totally intact, and have already started to attack the sweet chestnuts many of which were blown down in recent winds. The telltale empty husks adorn the steps up to the top level. Nearby is my chocolate flower, something I plant each year with varying success. This year's plant has done well and I will repeat its position next year - I haven't yet managed to keep one for a second season. I have also today been given some echium seeds, together with comprehensive instructions as to how to plant and grow them on. Given that they came from a very special source, I must give them close attention to ensure success. It is hoped they will be popping up all over the village - hmm that's a lot of responsibility.

After the rain

The jury's out as to whether or not we're going to have any cobs from our sweetcorn, at least ones we can eat. We have the flowery bits at the top, and the shaggy hairy bits at the sides (sorry hope that's not too technical) but as it's already nearly the last week in August, and given the leaden skies, I'm not too optimistic. I'm rethinking our veg beds and probably have to admit that more sun is required for longer each day in order for crops to thrive. How to achieve this is what I'm thinking about since the veg area is largely surrounded by trees and a high fence, both of which cast great shadows. Maybe I'll just keep to those things that do well like beetroot, salad leaves, runner beans and courgettes. We have the new asparagus bed so will, of course, hang on to that for the next three years (!) until we can taste the first spears, but other fancy veg might be jettisoned. We are really enjoying our potatoes though and I'm still harvesting those as and when required. I am leaving them in the soil for as long as poss to avoid any chance of them going green in storage. So, definitely more of those next year too.

The rest of the garden is looking good, with sweetpeas still flourishing and despite the stems getting shorter and shorter, the blooms are still wonderful and so so fragrant. Cosmos are also coming into their own, as are the dahlias with tight orange and vibrant red blooms gracing the borders now. My newly acquired euphorbia melifora cutting has established well and is upright and strong and this inspired me to acquire a few more euphorbias, all five of which are now planted in the borders and for which I have high hopes of success next year. A cutting of evening primrose, kindly given to me by my friend Mary, also appears to have taken well so fingers crossed there too.

In recent weeks the garden has come under scrutiny from a variety of friends visiting for the first time, from Wales and Derbyshire as well as some more local who've not been here before. All complementary comments (five 'wows' from Kathy) have been most gratefully received! For a change I too have been visiting other gardens - some for the first time, others repeat visits, but all of which have given me inspiration to think ahead to possible changes I'd like to make in our plot. I have a plan to devote more of the large flower bed to big grasses and shrubs, making it more manageable - at least that's the theory. But that would restrict my space for sweet peas which I really can't do without, so more thinking is needed. Whatever the outcome, I know the garden will continue to give me pleasure, as well as a reason to get up and move, regardless of the weather.

Today's harvest

Blue sweetpeas, sungold and marmande tomatoes and just two courgettes: the sum of my harvest today. The crops aren't actually that prolific this year, so far, but we are enjoying the potatoes and still have lots to dig up, plus there are already more cucumbers than we can eat, so we're giving them away whenever anyone calls! We've also eaten several servings of purple beans that sadly go green once immersed in boiling water, three runner beans(!) and some, but not lots, of mange toutes.

The gardening programmes and magazines all say that August is the month for sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labours. Not so in our garden, it seems to me that the work just goes on and on and on and on......... The little downpours we've had recently have made everything including the weeds grow apace and everywhere I look I see thistles, ground elder, nettles and bindweed. Hopefully visitors who only see the garden every now and then don't see these things but rather the overall picture which is quite colourful. There are gaps now; having cut back the hardy geraniums there are spaces where they had been flopping over, so I'm going on the look out for something to fill these areas and am thinking of euphorbias. One of the Open Gardeners kindly gave me a cutting of the honey spurge, euphorbia melifera, and it does really well in their garden which, like ours, faces the sea on the escarpment. Fingers crossed ours flourishes and I'll soon be in the position to pass on cuttings from it myself.

The beautiful dark blue/mauve hibiscus in the garden near the house has started to bloom today - wonderful, but a presage of the end of the season I feel, as are the michaelmass daisies that have started to open on the hill. Hey ho, it's just a few weeks to Christmas!

Ouch!

A long time ago one of my brothers, and I'm so much younger than them that I don't know which one it was, stuck a fork through his foot whilst digging in the garden. This was much talked about during my childhood and I always thought that it was a pretty silly thing to have done. Hey ho, this afternoon I discovered just how easy it is and my (new this season) right Hunter welly has the bloodstain on it! I was working on the slope behind the summerhouse, doing more cutting back and weeding, all at an angle of course. The fork was more to help me stay upright by acting as a prop than to actually be used for digging so it was when I altered my position that I managed to stick it through the top of the welly. Only one spike went through, fortunately, but it was enough for the blood to come upwards through the boot. Just as well they're 'blood red' ones.

I wonder, can I use a cycle puncture repair kit to mend the boot?

Short back and sides for all

A few days ago whilst gardening under lowering skies it felt almost as if the summer had gone and autumn was already approaching. After the strong winds and heavy rain the grass was covered in leaves and broken off bits of tree and a lot of the flowers had been badly battered. So it was with a heavy heart that I started to cut back, tie up and try to salvage what I could and today all seems very different. We're back in summer again with glorious warm sunshine, and to prove it the sunflowers have started to bloom. What joy. A dose of mower (not to cut the grass, that hadn't grown, but just to remove the dandelions and fallen debris) and it's a different place altogether. So summer lives on, the first flush of blooms have all been trimmed back in the hope of a second flush and it seems a short back and sides is a good thing for all. Just as well since I too am off for a trim tomorrow - at the hairdressers that is!

Quintessentially English

Cucumber sandwiches, strawberry sponge, cups of tea and straw hats in the garden; just how traditional can you get? The only thing missing was the vicar, but we made up for that with our two special guests; both eminent ladies of the community who had expressed a wish to see the top part of the garden that their wobbly pins wouldn't let them reach by the normal route. So it was time to set to and clear the pathway to the rear gate and after making sure the twitten was also navigable we brought them in that way. Both were very taken with the garden, the view, and the tea time treats. A very enjoyable way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Quote of the day

"It's better than going to a National Trust garden" said by Melanie as we wandered through the Gardeners' Gardens this afternoon. The final phase of this year's inaugural Open Gardens in Sandgate was for us all to meet up at one garden and wander our way gently through the village, calling in on all the other gardens which, of course, we gardeners didn't get to see on the Big Day. And what a treat for us in every one. So many secret places, such hidden gems, quirky adornments, fascinating collections, planters, tiles, pots and everywhere we went the most glorious plants. A couple of weeks further into the year and almost every garden was bedecked with the most wonderful array of roses of every kind, colour and scent. So maybe the lesson for another year is to wait a bit before holding the garden day. That's for another year though (and I hear many suggestions for improvements, lengthening the event, incorporating other things etc) and it can all wait. Just for now it's good to reflect on the success we had, the £488 that was raised for the Chichester Hall and the great community spirit that prevailed on the day. Plus, we've still got lots of the growing season left to enjoy - at our leisure!!!!!!!! To emphasise that point today's images are of the first agapanthus, purple (very stylish) bean and some great poppies amidst the stipa. Happy gardening.

Sunny days

What a difference a bit of consistent sunshine makes. Everything in the garden is suddenly blooming; roses, dahlias, aliums, hardy geraniums, penstemons, honeysuckle, hebes, peonies, marigolds, antirhinums and even some sweet peas! I cut the first three blooms this morning to give to my friend as part of a home grown tuzzy muzzy and by this evening there are half a dozen more flowers almost out to replace them. Such a heady scent there's nothing to beat them and they will always be my very most favourite flower. There are still a few gaps in the garden but overall the impression is one of lushness and plenty. I treated the garden, well me really, to a new penstemon this week 'Just Jayne' who sits just beautifully in front of a self sown magenta poppy and compliments it perfectly with her magenta bells. The aliums are still doing really well too this year and I have a mental note to self to plant even more next year - no work involved in them!

The veg beds are coming along and our autumn sown onion sets are nearly harvest ready; their tops have turned over spontaneously so just a little while longer to fully ripen and then I can plait myself an onion garland hopefully. Not enough to take to my bike with, but there's always next year....

Pressure's off

but the work goes on. A gentle potter in the garden this morning, nothing strenuous at all, just a bit of tying up and potting on. The wind has battered a few things and it would be nice if it abated, but there are wonderful cerise pink poppies just beginning to flower now and the newly planted pink cistus I put in the border on the way to the pink bench is flowering very well. I was a bit concerned it wouldn't have enough sun, but as yet this doesn't seem to be a problem.

Something has eaten a few of the sweet peas, a great shame, but there are enough plants still on each wigwam to give a good show I think. I am looking foward to picking my first bunch but it'll be a while, as will eating the first courgettes - they don't seem to be growing at all. David will be pleased!

Great Success!

The sun shone, the visitors came, and it seems we've raised some much needed funds for the hall too. Thank you to everyone who visited our garden, we're very glad you seemed to enjoy yourselves. No-one tripped, no-one fell down the steps, and everyone seemed surprised and pleased with what they saw. I haven't heard how the other gardens got on, but I'm sure they are as pleased as we are with the turnout. We couldn't have asked for better weather, so a big thank you to whoever organised that. Here are a couple of pictures: the lady in blue was our first visitor and kindly allowed me to photograph her, the other group was later in the afternoon but I was talking too much to take anymore pics. Am going to have a little rest from gardening for a couple of days but then it'll be back to work and I'll keep blogging to show you what's going on in the beds and borders!

1 p.m. in the garden

Just 35 minutes now to the off, can't do anything more, thank goodness! Enjoy everyone.

Sunday, 7 a.m. in the garden

A little overcast so noone will be going to the beach today, instead they can come and enjoy the gardens! These pictures were taken at 7 a.m. this morning, which is just about the earliest I've been in the garden for a very long time! It was very peaceful and calm and everything's more or less upright and where it should be. Just the final path sweeping to do and then enjoy.

Final tweaks

Everything is set fair now for a good event tomorrow afternoon. If anyone reading this hasn't yet got a ticket for the Sandgate Open Gardens event and wants one, you need to go to the Chichester Hall in Sandgate High Street which will be open from 1.45 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Each ticket has a map inside showing the locations of the gardens, all of which are within the village of Sandgate. Most, especially ours, are uphill so good walking shoes are a must. There are lots of seats around the gardens, and along the way to them, so take your time.

We're looking forward to meeting and greeting friends old and new at this inaugural event and beg your understanding that this is the first time, at least for us, that we've opened the garden to the public. It's our garden, not run by the RHS or National Trust, and visitors will have but a snapshot of its life, but we hope that it will be enjoyable for us all.

Not long now

Haven't been up to see how the garden is yet today, but here are some pics from yesterday after the grass was cut. There's not much more I can do now before the Big Day other than to hope we have some visitors!

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow....

in an English country garden? Well, lots, and it's not in the country but by the sea. Still all looking good for a great day on Sunday - she says with baited breath and everything crossed. Just looking at the five day forecast it was for heavy rain today, so, will the big round yellow sun that's still on for Sunday actually shine? Only time with tell and since none of us can influence the weather in any way it's too boring to go on about so I won't mention it again.

I have dahlias, lupins, alliums, geraniums, iris, hebe, papaver, chocolate cosmos, nigella, roses all in flower at the moment, together with the remains of forget-me-nots, aquilegias and honesty. So, not a bad bit of colour and lots more to come, and hopefully a lot of that will be from the shirts and dresses of all our visitors on Sunday.

Is it too soon to hope?

Just looked at the updated 5 day forecast and there's a big round yellow sun for Sunday!!!!!! Yeah!!!

5 Days and ever watchful

of the changes in the weather. Today was really really warm in the garden once the rain had stopped and I've spent a very productive afternoon on hands and knees clearing the bits from the crazy path that have grown back in just over a week. So why do things you want to grow not grow as quickly as things you don't want? Hah!

I did a bit of reaching too and the long border (pretentiously so named after the one at Great Dixter!) is looking much tidier as a result. The tulips have all finished now and with them and the forget-me-nots cleared out the other plants look much better. There are gaps, but they will be filled eventually although perhaps not by Sunday, this will be, after all, just a glimpse at this and all the other gardens not the full story. You'd need a film for that hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe that's the next project?

Where's the High gone?

It's disappeared from the weather map! Still can't do anything about it and the plants will look lovely all covered in raindrops.

Am absurdly pleased to have two followers of this blog and I'm only married to one of them! Thanks Helen.

A good day's work

Well, the weather was much much better than forecast so we made the most of it and were busy busy in the garden yesterday. Much pressure hosing, weeding, sweeping and general titvating has left the garden near the house looking bright and cheerful. The back of the pond - always a dodgy area - was again knee high in couch grass and, once again, I teetered on the tastefully placed but everso slippy cobbles that surround the back edge and pulled out as much as I could without actually falling in. All the while, that poem from on the boys Ladybird books kept buzzing round in my head 'when Daddy fell into the pond.....' only of course I substituted 'mummy'. Still, I live to weed another day without being muddied or having trampled any of the three remaining goldfish to death. Must put on the 'to do' list that that area needs a complete overhaul, take out the useless membrane that's suppose to stop weeds growing (does anything stop couch grass?) and replace with concrete or something similar. Or maybe we just hope the goldfish move on and then we can fill in the wretched pond which is more trouble than it's worth.

I'm eagerly watching the 'High' on the BBC's weather map. Fingers crossed.

Just a week to go

Seven days now until the big opening. Too hot to do much today so left it until the afternoon before doing any work and began with the lovely cooling job of pressure hosing the decking. What a marvellous machine, and what a difference, all bright and light again now and, hopefully, less likelihood of anyone slipping on green slime should the rain come down next Sunday. I have to say that the forecast doesn't look too bright, at least for the part of the week that the BBC are forecasting for at present. Still, they often get it wrong and we often escape in this little corner.

I'm using up the woolly pellets well having now tucked in mange toute, sweetcorn as well as all the various bean plants. The replacement runner beans show no sign of nibbling so I'm thinking the pellets are the answer. Plus they make themselves into a mulch so should cut down on both weeds and watering too.

I shall be busy in the garden for at least part of everyday this week whatever the weather - just hope people turn up after all this effort.

Two Days without lifting a spade

which is great but I feel the need to get out there tomorrow and start on the final countdown to garden opening day. After visiting The Salutation gardens in Sandwich on Tuesday I searched online for their seemingly amazing slug repellent wool pellets and ordered a 20 ltr bag which arrived this afternoon so I'm hoping that the speed of the delivery will be matched by the effectiveness of the product. If the perfect little lettuces at The Salutation are anything to go by it should be money well spent and now that I have that, and the beer traps, I'm thinking this will be the weekend to plant out all the seedling veg crops currently taking up bench space in the greenhouses.

The tomatoes that I planted in their ring pots about three weeks ago are growing very well, and there are even a few little flowers to herald the first fruits. Plus we have one, burgundy coloured, big dahlia in bloom in the back border. So much for everything being late this year.

Many hands make light work!

A big thank you to Melanie, Michael and Philip who've spent a very productive day on bended knee or with spade in hand to clear the paths and steps so well. The paths have never been so clear all at once! Look forward to many people walking along them and I'm on path patrol for the next 12 days to make sure they stay clear!

Pitter Patter

Raindrops! all over the place, marvellous and it means I can take a break from the garden, which I have to say is looking very pretty at the moment. Eleven bags of assorted sized pebbles later and we now have a 'beach' area to finish off the summerhouse's setting nicely. Just need the nasturtiums to really get going and it will all settle in well. Might have to get a slimmer watering can to fit under the tap of the water butt now, but that's not a problem. We've also pruned the prunus this weekend - fingers crossed it will flower again next year - so the view from our bedroom is much lighter and brighter, and, more importantly, the tree looks lighter too. So, the list of jobs to do before the big day is gradually deminishing and after tomorrow, when we're looking forward to having three extra pairs of helping hands, there will be even less to do. Two weeks to go but still only two tickets sold, so if anyone reads this(!!!), and would like to buy a ticket, write on my wall and let me know. Sandgate's Open Garden Event is on Sunday 13 June from 2 - 5 p.m. with 8 gardens, one artist's studio open as well as tea/coffee, cake and crafts at the Chichester Memorial Hall. Tickets cost £3 for adults - children (under 15) are free.

Crazy crazy

I once met the man who laid the crazy paving around the front of our house; he did it when he was a teenager and I'm sure had no idea of the amount of weeding it would require all these years later. He sells books for a living so it obviously didn't inspire a career in hard landscaping. The cherry tree, which was probably just a sapling when the paving was laid, is now creating much uneveness amongst the crazy slabs, but it looks beautiful in blossom so is forgiven. The slight or light rainfall we must have had in the night, and again during the morning, has left the garden generally looking lush and the sweetpeas have definitely benefited from it. They are beginning to be big enough to entwine around their supports. Aliums are doing well too; some already in bloom and others with huge buds just waiting to burst forth. I'm telling them to hold on for another week or so though so they look at their best on 13 June.

Making headway

Today was good, a light breeze to make it easier to work and we now have seven full bags of garden rubbish waiting for a trip to the tip. Everything is bulking up nicely with hardy geraniums starting to flower along with the iris sibirica (?) and one beautiful pale blue flag iris blooming in glorious isolated splendour on the path up the hill. I've photographed that one since it might be the only flower from that clump this year as I kind of moved it earlier in the spring and I'm not sure it was the right time to do that.

The body count is growing in the beer traps, but no slugs as yet. A few snails, flies and a couple of woodlice so maybe it's the snails who've been chomping on my beans. I've planted more bean seeds and have extra plants ready to fill gaps if needed.

I'm hoping for rain tonight so I can have a day off tomorrow!

Sensory delight

What a scorcher today has been. I chose to garden on the hill today, which was a good mix of heat and dappled shade when needed. Lots of couch grass to get out, again, and two large garden rubbish bags later the area looks much better. Borage has self seeded all over the place and I have had to be tough and pull quite a bit out for fear of having other, more cherished and carefully placed, plants overwhelmed. You can almost hear that growing it's coming on so quickly. And talking of hearing things, the back drop to my day has been the sound of beach activity, power boat motors, buzzy flying things and glorious birdsong, all topped off by the aroma of freshly cut grass and barbecues from neighbouring plots. As I left to return to the house for dinner I looked back to see the large flower bed glistening in the early evening sunshine, still warm, still covered in flying insects and the haze of pink, mauve and blue from the aquilegias and iris was just wonderful. If only we'd opened the garden today!

A postscript: David and I have just made our slug beer traps - thank you for that tip Ian - we had to use Stella, that was the only beer we had but hopefully no more of the beans will succumb, the little pests will have a pleasant end, and David's beer sacrifice will be worth it.
If only we'd got chickens!!!!!

22 days to go

It's war against the slugs! My fault for saying, only a few days ago to a friend, that we weren't troubled by them in our garden! Ha! Three runner bean plants eaten overnight so now it's a fight. I'm armed with organic pellets and coffee grounds - and I'll use them!

Only 24 days to go

Lawns all neat and tidy again now and the first of the iris are in flower, am confident that there will be even more before the open day so should be a big splash of colour, even if it rains.

The back is aching and the knees are giving out, but we carry on in good spirits.

Sweetcorn is showing in the pots now and all the celery and broccoli plants that I bought as plugs and potted on seem to be thriving. Something's eating some of the sunflowers and an ant bit my arm today!