Summer’s end

Well let’s just fling some photos in here and see what happens.

Tis the end of summer and that means a last mow.

I say that every year, but there is no rain in sight and the growing season seems to be retreating.

And my mowing duties for 2018 may be on the wane as well. I do love a tidy grassy bit.

And best of all, it gives you angles to look at from different parts of the farm.

I mowed some lower terraces late last month. Did I show them to you? (Pause for a senior moment and a rummage in my files.)

The mighty Viking wading through the high grass. And lurking brambles and blackthorn and broom.

Goodness, doesn’t the ground look parched. The grass cuttings are like straw. But useful for the edge of the dry garden next to the fence. I’m sure you have seen this. How mortifying.

May I blame it on jet lag? I have just come off a 23 hour trip to the other side of the world.

What I wanted to show you was how well the viburnum tinus are doing. Here they are in the barn garden and putting on good height and girth and heft.

I am deciding on the planting scheme for the oak bank and I think I will go with these sensible but handsome beasties.  A small investment but a good look for this space.

But this photo is a reminder that on my To Do list for when I return – prune the large and fluffy and waving in the wind one on the lower side of the barn garden path.

You can just glimpse it next to the trunk of the apple tree here.

Well, yes, thank you for that unedifying shot. I think I had best quit before I make a fool of myself and show you something silly like my bespoke mulching trousers.

Or all the small fragile plants that have to endure a month without me.

Divided irises, nepeta, sedum cuttings. Even the ballota hirsutas I rashly tried to propagate. What am I doing leaving all this?

Sigh. I’ll stop.