The forlorn hope

First words spoken this morning as I took my cup of early tea out to the newly installed fenced in potager. Oh shit. Actually it was a bit stronger than that, but this is a family show and we can’t have you sputtering over your screens.

Not a single salad leaf has been left. And every one of the Swiss chard plants has been cropped to the ground. Fence torn in three places. Ripped to bits. Daisy is probably wearing half of the netting as an exotic turban. She must have been an angry deer when she found her way blocked after such a feast because that fencing takes a bit to rip.

Am I angry too? Cross. Resigned. I love Swiss chard. I grew it from seed. What will we do for lovely stir fries now?

Too busy to repair the fence right now. And besides. What’s the point. I suppose she is just going to tear it down again tonight. Wish I had a web cam to watch her doing the damage. Pesky pesky deer.

Harvested 10kg of potatoes just to cheer up as well as more beans and peas and then set about putting all the lily pots in the shade under the wisteria. No point having the deer develop a taste for lily buds while I’m away.

Decided that the only safe place for all my juicy onions was up on a few pallets on the first floor of the gite. They may get mauled by rodents, but surely it’s more secure than just leaving them out in the barn?

Potted up lime basil and other small seedlings in the potting shed. So dispirited I didn’t even write down the names and numbers of what I potted on. I just assume now that Daisy and her friends will find the little unfenced flower garden on one of their nightly perambulations and eat their way through the lot.

Drove over to St Michel this afternoon to slosh a lot of water over the flowers I planted up at the Protestant church. To my delight (and relief) they are doing rather well. Even the verbena is flowering it’s leaves off.

Last job I was putting off: I decided to mend the fence, and added an extra bit of netting over the peppers. Not sure what they will turn to tonight now that they have eaten every single Swiss chard plant and all the lettuce.