A little light weeding

weeded lavendersI woke too early.  Only 830pm now and I’m yearning to curl up and sleep.  It was a long day in among the weeds.

Actually the temperature dropped a few degrees today, so it was finally possible to keep going without recourse to hiding indoors at lunchtime.

But I didn’t and I should have done so.

Never mind. I have weeded the lavender bed: a long overdue task. The drumstick alliums are not yet in flower but I am pleased how well they return year after year. Another good bulb to add to the list.

Another plant that returns with regularity is the humble poppy. poppies in potager

I let it self seed in the potager which is a bit indulgent. It is a thug.

But here it is at 630am and you must agree it is fetching.

I don’t get to choose where it will flower.

poppies detailAnd starting next week I will be pruning them rather severely as they really are getting in the way of the crops.  I think there are shallots and parsnips and carrots somewhere under here.

Up at the top vegetable garden I gave all the potato and cabbage plants a good long drink.

A mole has inconveniently chosen a run right next to the cabbages which bodes ill.  But there isn’t much I can do about that. potatoes watered

Artur has positioned himself right next to a mole exit at the bottom of the hedge and just outside the potting shed.  He looks determined to catch it, but sometimes I wonder if it’s just habit.

He isn’t happy with this heat.  Who would when you are wearing a fur coat?  Most of the day he is hiding down in my cold frame which is a foot below soil level and covered with lots of chestnut sticks.

too hotHe won’t be happy when I take all those sticks away; I’ll have to give him a new sort of roof. It’s obviously a bit cooler at ground level.

He did emerge at one stage to either tell me of his mole hunting progress (lots of yowling) but I suspect he’s just grumbling.

He flopped on my lap for a bit but didn’t really have the energy to do more than sigh and growl and then move off to a cooler spot. weeded rocks

I didn’t stay long in the potting shed either. I needed to keep up the relentless weeding programme.

The rocks between the shade garden and the calabert (barn) needed a good weed.  I’m keeping lots of thyme plants and any wildflower that doesn’t bite.  So no brambles or vipers bugloss.

gravel backIt was hot work.  And I’m not showing the rocks in their best light.  Dawn and dusk are best.  But removing the brambles and the invasive festuca glauca grasses felt good.  Well it will feel good when I get all the chestnut burrs out of my hands.   Close hand weeding on a chestnut farm is always asking for trouble.

And to finish the day I put back the gravel in the courtyard with a suitably robust weedproof fabric first.  I must confess I could not find the energy to wash all the stones first.  I feel I have done too much of that boring chore in the past few weeks.