Uninvited guest.

      

                                       

 There was a visitor in the garden today. A dark-eyed rogue perched on the bird table nibbling in a charming manner.

Great table etiquette - a little of this, not too much of that, all eaten in a very tidy way.

He saw me approaching and at first ignored me, but eventually leapt into the cherry tree from where I thought he would scoot across the other gardens and disappear.

After a few seconds a bushy tail appeared around the tree trunk and shook vigorously in my direction. 

Having failed to frighten me away, a small face peeped around, decided I was no threat and returned to his feast.

While I was charmed by the novelty of having a squirrel in the garden, my partner was not and ran up the path clapping his hands and shooing it away.

He's right of course.

It's a rat with a tail and will only steal the eggs and nestlings from any bird nests in the spring.

But for the moment I don't mind if he makes an occasional return and shares the bird seed with the starlings and sparrows....as long as he doesn't tell his friends.

 

It's the little things that count.

 The garden is full of colour.

 

Dahlias, pelargoniums, petunias and begonias are all strutting their stuff and flaunting their gorgeousness.

 

Cannas are at their finest with striped and gaudy foliage and frilly petalled blooms glowing at the tips of the stems.

But the flower that stopped me in my tracks this morning is very small, inconspicuous and soberly coloured.

I discovered it while watering the pots in my conservatory - a tiny purpley-mauve earthstar at the base of a 'Milky Way' aspidistra.I've never seen one before and it was one of those rare gardening moments where all you can say is 'Oh!'

August Bloomers

Scarecrow

This is the guardian of the veg constucted by a fellow allotmenteer.

Note the piercing eyes, embracing arms and fetching attire.

I don't know about the crows but it scares the **** out of me.

Disappearing act

   Occasionally in the evening I like playing hidden object games. A bit like jigsaws or crosswords, totally pointless but satisfying. And a good reason for not doing something more virtuous - housework for example or sorting out the gas bill.

   In the garden, however, playing hidden object games is a different matter.

   Where is that trowel?

   I know I have at least six and possibly more. I'm always buying them from boot sales and two came free with magazines. But the only one I can find is the plastic one that hurts your hand and won't make a decent hole in the ground.

   Where is my new garden fork?

    It's a lightweight one that was a bargain in the sales and was definitely put back in the shed last time I used it. It has been replaced by the heavy fork with the broken tine that I was going to throw away eventually...

   And just where is that extra large pot that was going to be a home for the hosta this year?

   Oh yes - found it. At the back of my pot store filled with 3 inch pots. By the time it's been emptied and another space found for the hundred small pots I'm hot and cross and my time for relaxing and garden pottering has gone.

   One day I'll clear out the clutter and have one of those sheds where everything has a labelled, outlined position, garden tools are put away after being wiped with an oily rag and there are no mysterious disappearing acts going on as soon as I shut the door.

   Until then I'm stuck with garden hide and seek.

   

Invasion

The tiny cricket that was evicted from my son's room yesterday was not the end of the story.

Today Big Mummy appeared in the spare room.

Looking for revenge...

Salad days

At last the sun shines and the temperature rises bringing the first crops of tomatoes and cucumbers. I forget just how good they will taste.

The cucumbers sweet and crunchy and the tomatoes juicy and tangy - a little salt and summer heaven has arrived.

The best tomato croppers are the cherry types and baby plums. Their flavour improves as the summer goes on especially if kept on the dry side. Two new varieties I'm trying this year are Rosada - a cherry, and Harbinger - a traditional type. They are competing against favourites Sungold, Sweet 100 and Chiquito. I also have Golden Santa, Roma and an unknown variety which appeared in a pot with some flower seedlings and I didn't have the heart to discard.

Sadly my favourite Marmande - a lovely beefsteak tomato which is delicious grilled till soft and squidgy and liberally sprinkled with black pepper - will not be enjoyed this year. Last year 

my lovely healthy plants succumbed overnight to blight and disintegrated into a sorry mess of blackened foliage and fruit so I didn't sow any this spring. [ As expected - no blight this year, as yet....]

Cucumbers are Cucino and Boothby's Blonde. They are both small types and I'm trying them in the greenhouse and outside. You can never have too many in our house and they make a fantastic accompaniment to a spicy curry chopped into chunky pieces and mixed with yoghurt.

A surprise success in the garden was from one tiny potato tuber left over from the main planting at the allotment. 

Put into a large flowerpot with some multi-purpose compost and watered when remembered it has yielded enough spuds for two meals.

Best from the allotment at the moment are the sugar snap peas - Zuccola, Romanesco calabrese and  Purple Teepee dwarf  beans. The calabrese should really be grown as a late summer cropper but I tried it early as an experiment to avoid the cabbage white butterfly. So far so good.