A damp treat

Oh what a wonderful day: it started in the most surprising way.   I woke to a downpour.   Fancy.   In the past week we have had almost 2 inches of rain. Today’s contribution was 10mm and I was delighted.

It did throw my plans out somewhat as the rain didn’t let up until well after lunch.   But it meant I was able to nip into my potting shed and stay captive for hours. There was tidying to do, and putting back all the plants  and generally reclaiming my favourite work space.

Last night I arrived in time to put back all the plants that have been stored in the calabert for the week. They missed out on that drenching, but I had to play safe.

And there was just enough light left in the day to pot up Andrew’s 36 chrysanthemums.   Poor little mites; they were so pot bound and tangled.

I have plenty of lettuce that needs to get into the soil, so I took down the little gems and chartwells to the potager and put them under the two shade proof cloches.   Except with the forecast being for only 22c for the next week or so there’s no need to protect them from sunburn.   I put in a few dozen basils as well. At long last and with the second batch sown, they are romping away.   The lime basil variety goes particularly well with the courgettes.

I’m eating courgettes at every meal at the moment as they are actually marrows. It’s amazing how fast they can grow. You turn your back and you have a monster underneath the leaves.   I actually use a veggie peeler and take off long thin strips and cook them with marjoram and garlic and chillis.   And then finish off with basil.   Delicious.

The potager is gorgeous right now.   All the lilies are starting to come out, and the sunflowers, and the cosmos.   It’s beautiful.   I spent ages dead heading the cosmos, and picking lots of flowers for our neighbour Daniele.

Like me, she loves her lilies.   So after lunch I took up a heaving bucket of sunflowers, cosmos and lilies and had a lovely time catching up on all the news.   Poor Jean Daniel managed to get a horse kick directly in his face from a young one in his stables (not Ulysse I’m relieved to say).

Two massive black eyes and seventeen stitches in his forehead.   Apparently he drove home absolutely drenched in blood and Daniele took him straight to Valence emergency hospital to get patched up.

So it’s all happening here.   I noticed that Artur was indoors when I visited, but by the time I had caught up with news, wandered back to my potting shed to collect my secateurs and gloves, the elderly cat had taken up his usual position in a warm spot.  

His new favourite sleeping quarters are the lovely trug that Pete and Elaine bought me last year.   So much for me collecting tonight’s broad beans and salad in the basket. He has claimed it and looks very pleased indeed.

But no rest for me; things to do. I potted up the sedums in Lynn’s pots that now line the steps up the side of the guest house.   They should get growing now, and will start to look even better soon.   I did yearn for a bit more colour in my plants; but I have to be realistic – watering is always a challenge.

I managed to buy eight, not seven (a simple failure of mental arithmetic) so I crammed the first one on the step with more sedums.

The other sedums I bought were destined for the decorative fountain on the front of the guest house. If I was smart I would detach it from the wall and try and rig it up as a fountain water feature for the two water troughs.   But it looks fine where it is, and now that I can get some succulents in there rather than relying on the thyme to tough it out between rainfalls it should look even better.

And I read that water lilies don’t like to be disturbed, so no bubbling fountain for us. Yet.

The lily ponds (I can’t think what else to call them. In the old days they were the washing machines of the 19th century) are slowly getting covered in ivy. I planted these years ago and they seemed to sulk a bit. But now they are growing. Not necessarily in the right direction.   But with a bit of deft placing of stones underneath the ivy I can sort of push them in the upwards direction.

For those of you who remember these troughs as part of your summer fun, fear not. We still have tadpoles.

I had put on my list ‘deadheading’.   And was inspired by seeing the less than lovely flowers on the santolina plants in the calabert garden.   Andrew’s plants are fat and happy but their flowers are fading to a rather yucky yellow.   So off they came.

Actually there is a santolina I bought from Filippi (Primrose Gem perhaps) which has more fetching flowers. Primrose coloured I suppose.   But luckily the plants look great even with a radical haircut. And it will be more easy to take cuttings.

What else did I manage? Oh yes, I topped up the central axis of the paths in the lower potager with bark chips.   They will need a spot of ageing to ressemble the rest, but that’s fine, at least there are fewer bald patches.

Time to wrap up the day. I cut a bowl full of gertie jeykll roses to bring indoors.   The scent is sublime. Rich and damp and lemony and.. well words fail me, rose like. You can tell I’m tired, I’m lost for words.