Islands beginning with "G"......

Just returned from a short visit to Guernsey in the Channel Islands (UK) visiting relatives. Clearly my family have a thing about small islands….. Guernsey is approx 24 square miles but has over 70,000 inhabitants! That compares with about 21,000 inhabitants in the whole of Orkney, most living on the Orkney Mainland. Gosh it felt so crowded in Guernsey, lots of houses close together. It is a lovely island and my family really enjoy living there – and the climate is much warmer in the summer than Orkney. But I was still glad to get home to the peace and tranquillity of Graemsay!

I was only away a short while, but what with having been very busy just before my departure the garden weeds have run amok. I’ve been trying to spend a little time each day working on a “control” programme for them. The “eradication programme” is still a dream…… However I am delighted with my border – once it’s tidied and looking respectable I must post some pictures. The shrubs are coming along nicely, and the perennials are doing well too. Unfortunately so is the cow parsley, buttercups, daisies, camomile and a plethora of other “weeds”. I don’t mind a few daisies and buttercups but did have to rescue some of the plants as they were threatened with strangulation.

Fortunately my neighbour, Mick, is still happy to cut the grass with his ride-on mower, so I can invest all my gardening efforts into the borders. The walled garden was sprayed some weeks ago, and has died off nicely. Once there is a dry spell the dead grass will be burned off to hopefully reveal any remaining stone edging etc. It’s unlikely it will get planted this year, but would be great to have it ready for Spring planting next year!

Here are a couple of photos of the walled garden – which is approx 100 foot x 100 ft.