The pre breakfast strim

strimmed calabert rocksThe weather is warming up. So that means I need to strim early if I don’t want to expire in the heat from the exertion.

I was supposed to be laboriously weeding the steep bank above the lawn. But even this enthusiastic weeder fancied a change.

And nothing beats the instant feeling of satisfaction you get once you’ve waded into a thicket.

I started up around the top vegetable garden. I want to get a few more rows of cabbage in this weekend and that means I have to find the ground first.  I had put a lot of the vegetable garden to red clover last year and they are doing a wonderful job.  But even a thick ground cover of clover can’t keep back the annual weeds. strimmed alice path

I didn’t have time to even stop and photograph the good work; I was on a roll.  Down to the paths around the potting shed, and then for some mad reason I waded into the duck pond area.

Jungle. A lush jungle.  I usually get to mow in this area (with the blade set nice and high) but it needed a strim first.

I keep plenty of the wildflowers to the edges, but nettles and thistles are chopped down in the middle of the garden.  And I might even get a chance to layer the mulberry tree in the middle of the area – just beside the pond. It has a few branches close to the ground which the deer have missed.

From there, tummy grumbling from lack of breakfast, I cut down all the weeds in the steep bank ready for my weeding (honest) and then finished up strimming all the festuca grasses that link the end of the barn garden and the shade garden.

This is going to be my next landscaping project after I’ve finished the pool garden bank.

Under all these grasses lurks some lovely rocks. Shocking photos. I’ll have to go back and retro fit this blog. But with the sun climbing over our mountain, I know I have only until 930am before it gets too warm to strim. strawberry weeding

And I wanted to have a bit of a go in the east garden as well. I’m disappointed by the second flowering of my camassias which I planted last year all along the east garden. Fifty of them.  And they were stunning in their first year, but very ratty in the second.  I did plant white ones which do blend in a bit too much in the background here. I might try some blue ones just so I can spot them in the long grass.

I can see I will need to do a big mow of most areas of the garden next week or on the weekend.  The poor lawn on the east garden took such a beating from the building work, it won’t be reviving without a lot of rain.

And that was my hefty noisy work done for the day.  A late long breakfast and I was ready to get the rake and tidy up the mess. And it would have been a good moment to take shots of where I had been.  But the sun was just too glary.

planting out lettuceThe rest of the day seemed to have been spent planting out.  By some miracle rain is forecast tomorrow. I won’t believe it until I feel it.  But it did inspire me to get more things out of the potting shed and into the ground.

But I had to build a chestnut support in the potager first.  These salads need shading.  When the season gets going, I can rely on my runner beans and courgettes and nasturtiums to cover these little wooden supports.  But for now it will have to be a shade cloth.  The beans are only just starting to climb.

Weeding among the strawberries was a delight. So fat and juicy and just crying out for a feed. The raspberries aren’t happy.  I must order ones from Scotland next year, I’ve had no end of disappointment with my local suppliers.   And the Glen Moys and Amples, and Autumn fruiters I planted in the first year here were very happy despite the change in climate.  And only came to the end of their life as I couldn’t water them well enough.  The curse of the top potager with its water problems. sweet peas

But that’s sorted now.

I’ve prepared my list for tomorrow; but it’s all weather dependent. It would be thrilling if it actually rained.

In the meantime I have my vases and vases of sweet peas here in the house to entertain and delight in case it’s too wet to go out.