While out in the garden over the weekend I was busy working up a sweat when I noticed Button lazing in the sun beside me, and Red Hen sitting preening herself. So I read them both the riot act and insisted they did some work. Serves me right...... Button clearly put herself on carrot-fly deterrent detail...... Not for the first time it would seem - I'd been wondering why one side of the fleece covering over the carrots was sagging.... I have now found the answer!
Red Hen wasn't much better - she was eating all the worms which do so much good in the earth and turning her beak up at all the slugs! So I abandoned her to her preening once again and settled for beer traps for the slugs. So *that* is why I was to be seen wandering around the garden with a can of Tennent's lager in my hand!! Well at least the slugs will die happy...... Though I had to ensure that the bowls were secured under the netting otherwise I had visions of tipsy hens and a boozy Button on a Saturday Girls' Night Out bonanza!
Anyway - the garden is coming along slowly. I'm pleased with it so far as it's the first year for the walled garden. The grass has settled down nicely and I just *love* my new ride-on tractor mower! The veggie patch is planted up with peas and beans, potatoes, onions, carrots, shallots, courgettes (or they might be marrows - I lost the seed packet!), radish, lettuce, chard, spinach and strawberries. Some things are doing better than others - but that's gardening! There's a *lot* of grass at the moment and eventually I hope to add some flower beds to it, but for now it needs to be "easy care" and I need to save my energy for weeding what I have!
The flower border has some sticks which I'm hopeful will turn into trees (willow, rowan, birch, ash) as well as shrubs and perennials.
Note: For those of you interested in reading about other remote parts of Scotland, you may enjoy this website : Kilchoan "is a remote Scottish crofting village at the westernmost end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, a two-hour drive to the west of Fort William."
Your walled garden must be a real bonus right now. Lovely and sheltered for your plants. It's a little bit chilly right now at 9 degrees. I have a friend in Australia who is experiencing their winter temperatures of ten degrees!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for mentioning 'A Kilchoan Diary'. May I add a link to direct my readers to your blog?
ReplyDeleteLearner Gardener - I know it's ironic isn't it that winter in other countries is warmer than our summer!
ReplyDeleteJon - I'd be delighted if you put a link to my blog. I understand you are the main contributor to the diary -I've really enjoyed reading it, and the photos are wonderful.