Another week flies by. Where does the time go? I do not want to worry you, but we really are nearer to Christmas than not. What a thought…
The hours have flown because it has been a busy few days: not least filming a ‘show’ garden in Scotland’s highest village.
Wanlockhead is 1500 feet up and I now know that growing flowers at such a height is tricky, but not impossible.
It is not the height or the cold – just think of all those flowers that bloom in the Alps.
The wind does the damage
No, it is the wind that does for most varieties of plant. Even on a sunny day it can whip in off the hills and cause havoc in the borders.
The answer is to create shelter belts. To divide the garden into ‘rooms’ by means of planting hedges.
I like that idea. But with a hedge you have to have be a patient soul.
Back at home, meanwhile, my own wee plot is coming on rather well. All that work during last year’s lockdown is evidently paying off.
I am not boasting when I say that my edibles are incredible. Well, incredible for me.
Incredible edibles, if I may say so …
The veggies are growing like mad. And tonight, we are tucking into home-grown Pak Choi; which will be chopped up and stir-fried with a mix of sesame oil, ginger and soy sauce.
It is all very oriental. And all slightly vegan. Which will thrill the chief (not).
To keep everyone happy I may have to slip a few slices of ham onto a side dish.
The Italian kale is dark green and nutty. Then there are the little yellow courgettes – delicious raw in a salad – and the baby squashes that are slowly ripening in a raised bed.
There are also the sweet peas.
It is perhaps not the thing to say when this will be read by expert gardeners. But for the first time ever, I have grown sweet peas that have produced more than one flower.
How I did it, I do not know, but the proof – and the pride – is here. They smell delicious by the way.
Not quite so perfumed, however, is the littlest MacNaughties who decides to roll in something nasty on the lawn.
So, at the tender age of five months our new puppy has had his first bath. And he hated it.
Bath time was not a happy time
Bennie the Norfolk Terrier was popped into the Belfast sink in the boiler room for a quick once over. But it was a half-hearted affair.
Because Bennie fights, well, like a terrier. And spends the rest of the morning looking reproachfully at all the humans in the house.
When he retires to his cage to sulk I decide to try the biscuit bribe. It almost always works. And it did.
By lunchtime Bennie is back in business. Trying to chew the chair leg. And the MacGregor’s tartan carpet.
No worries, we’ll keep the chief sweet with an extra slice of ham…
