Another Brick

The rain fell all day yesterday causing flooding in many places but thankfully not here. Instead my garden got a great watering, and the pond filled up to the top again. I wish I could say the lawn revived after the drenching it got, but alas not. A combination of red thread and leatherjackets - those nasty looking grey things that live under the grass which they chomp until they turn into craneflies - daddy long legs - has created dead-looking patches all over the place. But I'm chilled about it. It'll recover. The morning started wet again but it cleared quickly and we got a decent walk. Then I set to work laying my new paving slabs, and this area now looks rather too smart for somewhere that is pretty well hidden from view. But it pleases me very much, and is yet another spot I've been waiting for the right time to organise. The mole likes this space, and I'm sure he'll disrupt my neat surfaces at some point. But I'm chilled about that too! Hugo wasn't keen on the wind and spent most of the day indoors in his bed. Some companion. Monty Don doesn't have this trouble with Nigel.

This used to be mud, and bags of stones and sheep manure

Looking up towards the compost bins

Behind the summerhouse, old sods turned to black gold

This evening I surrendered early to extreme pressure first to feed the boy and then to walk him. It's not that he nags, or whine, or scratches doors or anything. He just stands beside me as I work or sit, and the minute I flex a toenail he races up to the house looking expectantly back at me. If I don't come he repeats this, sometimes capering and spinning instead of just running. His disappointment each time is tangible. So I fed him and took him to our favourite place, and he made up for being so sedentary all day. We came face to face with a muntjac at one point, and I was hugely thankful that I had just put the lead on him. Muntjacs can be extremely aggressive, and I didn't want to witness an encounter between him and my gentle boy. But the reason I had put him on the lead was that we were coming near the rabbit field and I didn't want a repeat of yesterday's incident when he was anything but gentle. It was his fourth kill including the wood pigeon and I'm fed up with it. It's not swift and it's not silent. By the time we headed up the last slope back to the car I was feeling really tired after the day's exertions, but it was worth it. I'm thrilled with what I achieved. Bring on tomorrow.

Convolvulus finally flowering after severe frost damage last winter

Can this glorious thing really be a gladiolus?

The bottom bed, finally under control