Pesky pests

Boy do I have a mole problem. I was going down to do a spot of weeding of the thyme bed below the plum trees and stood back aghast.   The mole has run all the way along the bed, undermining almost every single plant.

Does he need a herb garnish with his worms? So, so irksome.   I tidied up as best I could and hopefully won’t have to re cover this tunnel each and every time I walk past. It’s as if the mole kept coming up for air every foot, rather than staying underground.

To take my mind off it, I went and deadheaded the roses.

That was always the fantasy when I dreamed of a garden.   Now it’s a twice daily exercise just to keep up. We really are too warm for roses here, but I just can’t resist them.   And if the cuttings keep on going as well as they are now, I will have more Gertrude Jeyklls for the courtyard, and plenty more to give away.

The rosa rugosa shrubs up at the hedge don’t get dead headed. I can’t wait to see the hips they produce. Big fat luminous red ones I hope. It will make this hedge more colourful in autumn.

There, that has distracted me from mole damage.   And I just love the way the calabert beds have worked out. It was a risk and an investment to buy in so many shrubs two winters ago.

I lost about a quarter of them in the coldest winter since the 1950s, but that’s a blessing in disguise. I now know what will thrive.   The lavender stoechas half survived, I just had to prune out the dead bits. And they are so quick into flower that it’s worth keeping them on.   The other lavenders have yet to flower, and I wonder which one is the white one down on the flat. I have quite forgotten which it is.

And dare I say that the best plants of all are the santolinas? I love their soft shapes and height.   They are coming into flower soon, and the dirty yellow button flowers are not much to look at. But I can make short work of them with secateurs, and just have the lovely green lush growth to admire.

If the mole doesn’t undermine their roots and kill them.