ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
Cornwall Hardy Plant Society had Fergus Garrett as their speaker on Wednesday and three days later my head is still buzzing. He talked fast and he packed in so much content, all about what he calls layering, the business of building communities of plants growing together such that a piece of ground has something interesting…
That's both the summer solstice and the calendar midpoint passed. Half way through Wimbledon too and the Brits are dropping like flies. Blight in some of my potatoes too. A very ordinary summer. Picking six things in the garden at this time of the year is about choosing what to put in, what to leave…
Our first NGS opening is on the 23rd but we had something of a dry run with a group from Liskeard on wednesday afternoon. It all went well, which was a relief. Having spent weeks coaxing things along and primping and preening it all, it's hard not to feel a bit flat afterwards. There's plenty…
The weather has had it in for us this week. We hit -4°C earlier in the week then the wind set in. I don't like wind, it makes me tetchy. Another week has passed without me even getting into the garden much, far less doing anything useful out there. This morning it's doing that old…
I just spent the last hour blasting mealy bugs off cacti, at which point the skies opened and I ran for cover. Such a glamorous life. I was expecting to be fencing this weekend, the kind with bits of wood, not swords. Unfortunately only part of what I'd ordered was delivered, so now the rest…
On thursday I was sowing cyclamen seeds, then yesterday I planted up some of the bare space in the front garden. It felt way too early to be sowing seeds and way too late to be planting. I have Cyclamen and Japanese anemones flowering. It seems like the chronological signposts have been removed. At least…
There's a mini-digger parked up on next doors drive, shortly to go into action to remove most of the soil from their front garden, to be replaced by gravel so they can park their vehicles. I'm finding it hard to see it as progress but maybe I'm just a grumpy old codger. Hey ho, where…
Looks like WordPress are pretty much forcing everyone to use the block editor from June. Groan! Better get this six done and start on next weeks right away, see if I can cope with the change. Blustery and not especially warm here, not great for gardening in that the wind takes the pleasure out of…
It started with the Thursday night clap. Most of our neighbours were in on that from about week two. Then one of my sisters set up a get together on Facebook messenger and that has become a Friday morning ritual. Then one of our neighbours suggested we have a bit of a socially distanced street…
I had the bright idea of doing six plants that were self-sowing volunteers in the garden but quickly realised that I have four or five times that number, some more welcome than others. I'll mention a couple. One. Papaver atlanticum pops up where it pleases, producing a flat rosette of grey leaves then putting up…
