Longest wonkiest yet

I gave in.   I’ve mown the first terrace below the road. I know I promised to leave it to the horses to eat; but I just couldn’t stand the creeping weeds.   If I could train the horses to eat brambles, nettles, hollyhocks, perriwinkle and verbascums, I’d leave it to them.   But they don’t and they bother me.

I can see this terrace from the kitchen window, from my office window and from the terrace (where I haven’t been since the high winds are blowing the chairs over). And where others might see the expanse of mountains to the horizon, I see a huge patch of nettles growing in the middle of the lawn.

And with my ear muffs on, I can’t hear the wind.   So off I trotted.   And just for fun, I’ve done my longest wonky curves yet. All 150 metres of it.   I was positively dizzy after the sculpting but dead pleased.

It doesn’t show up well yet.   But in a week or so the deliniation will be more obvious. And it feels like a spot of revenge on the creeping vinca major (blue perriwinkle) that is growing up the bank and down the bank but is not allowed to meet in between. It’s loathsome stuff but if I can turn it into a living sculpture then I feel pleased.

One thing I should have done yesterday was cut the asparagus in the bed in the top vegetable garden.   I completely forgot.   Or even more pointedly, forgot to write it on my to do list.   I left it one day too long and they are mighty long spears indeed.   But cooked and then served with the juice of half a lemon and a sprinkle of finely chopped marjoram they are divine. Five minutes from the garden to the saucepan and then ten minutes to the plate.

Tomorrow (all being well and I haven’t gone doolally in the night from the incessant roaring)  I must tend to the plants in the potting shed.   There are chinese veg to prick out.   I’m keeping all the north side windows open and the doors, but it’s a battle to keep them cool in the heat and not blasted by the wind.   I think I’m going to try and start the day with a bit of tending the tenderest of plants. Enough of this striding about behind a mower. Time to get down to the micro managing of the plants.