Monty Don clearly has a huge garden at Long Meadow which requires a huge amount of gardening. Monty seems to spend a lot of time making TV programmes and attending shows. He frequently talks of what "we" do at Longmeadow. Now, is this the royal we (or the divine we...see above) or does he have a host of minions to do the spadework? If so, I do wish they appeared on the programme now and again. The dog gets more praise than they do!
We noticed that - and I am sure he has a lot of "help" at Long Meadow. Still at Easter we should remember that JC had his disciples too.
Yes - we have a variety of anti-squirrel devices - and also some feeders specifically for them. During this wet and cold spring the birds have needed masses of food help. We even have herring gulls landing on our feeder platforms. (and Mrs L of course feeds them their own stuff anyway). They are very big birds and when a dozen of more all turn up at the same time our poor cats and dog hide.
Mme Yorkie is getting more and more annoyed with the number of feeders.... an d now i am to blame for a rat in the garden!
Rats and mice are everywhere - you just seldom see them. Unless you leave cooked food around you will not attract too many rats. I have given up complaining that we spend more on bird and animal food than on our own.
I often wondered how Monty managed a garden that size on his own. Seemingly he has two helpers on a part time basis. If you read any of his books you find that he did have a head start by employing machinery to clear the site, and bought in huge amounts of compost. He is a workaholic, something that contributed to him having a stroke, but he also has said that as someone who has suffered from deep depression to get his hands in the soil is the best medicine he knows. On the subject of rats they are around here because of the farms. A decent food supply from the barns when animals are kept inside during bad weather. Comfortable places to create nests and bring up young. Attached to the side of my house is a lean to extension where we keep our bikes, but it has underneath it an exit to the drainage system, such as it is. I kept finding dead rats in there, so it is called the rat trap. They would come through the drains, manage to get through the covers I need to inspect the drains, but couldn't get back. I have now much better covers and haven't seen any for several years. When my parents kept chickens in the 1950s they would get trapped and bumped off, and some of them were the size of a small cat. The ones we have here are much smaller.
Had to wade through the swamp this morning to move a squirrel feeder. Apparently I had fixed it too low and our squirrels did not like it so I have had to move it to a higher location. Odd that because the squirrels seem to have no problem stealing nuts, seed, suet, you name it from anywhere high or low even if they have to be upside down when it suits them.
Quite windy here today and only a little rain overnight - hoping it keeps this up so that my boggy lawn will drain and I can actually walk over it without churning up mud
Just back from the fields, and the green lane I have to walk along is very wet as the grass has grown very rapidly. What annoys me is that a local farmer has churned up the entrance to the lane with his van as he comes to look at his sheep. Last summer I levelled it all out so that I could cut the grass, and now it full of deep water filled ruts. The tractors are getting larger, so wide that they will not fit into the roads, cutting up the verges and bringing mud onto the road. You only need to go into a town car park and you can see which cars come from the town or country by the amount of mud on them.
red or grey? Red should be fed, grey should be shot (well not really but they gobble the bird feed I put out).
One nice summer evening we had a fish supper on a bench in Bridge of Allan and a rat appeared in the small garden in front of the bench, was surprised to see one in a town but was quite happy to see it. It started snowing on Monday evening and continued for at least 36 hours on an off. Horrible wet stuff which only amounted to about 2" in the end but it has made the garden mega wet again and we really can't do anything at the moment. Why do we never see Monty's wife, or is she in the kitchen freezing everything he picks? I do wonder if he gets help cos I know if I had a garden his size I would not keep it under control if I worked at it 24/7. He did employ Alice Fowler once and that gave her a break so why not give others a chance?
Grey unfortunately. Supposed to be red on the Isle of Wight but they wont swim across to us. Fish supper - my brother in Ballater now uses that phrase. Oddly I think Monty's wife appeared for the first time I remember last week - just a shot of her in the background. He does get help for his garden - far too much for one person - especially as he travels abroad a fair bit.
Whey hey - cut my grass his morning. Full on sunshine, quite warm and a bit of a breeze so out came the hover and hey presto - done. Had to be careful of the boggy bits but cutting it will help it dry out - especially as we are forecast sun today and tomorrow.
Cabbages planted, a couple of rows of peas sown. Peas can be sown from March here if the soil is warm enough. 8°C minimum soil temperature. It was nowhere near warm enough last month, but it has warmed up quickly and tomorrow it is expected to reach 25°C. I grew some rhubarb from seed two years ago and looking at it there will be enough for a first picking very soon. Weeded all around it and a feed of stable manure should keep it growing.
I need to add some additional soil / compost to my beds before planting but need the grass to dry a bit so the wheelbarrow does not churn it up too much. If I remember correctly Yorkie is into rhubarb - does he not live in or near the Yorkshire rhubarb forcing triangle?
There is a pub south of Leeds called the Rhubarb Triangle that I have been into a few times. It is still grown in the area, but these days in sheds rather than the open fields.
We have had one lot of rhubarb from the garden so far with more to come. It grows in a raised bed....more of a rhubarb rectangle than triangle
I don't know why I do this to myself but this morning I have ordered half a dozen 600x600 paving slabs for a path by my greenhouse - I guess |I will see my hernia return if I don't watch out. Those big think ones are soooooo heavy. MIffed as no Monty Don this week thanks to the Commonwealth Games.
Well if you don't ask for a fish supper they don't know what you are talking about! Still watching Gardeners World recordings from last year so will be a while before we see Monty's wife!
