Ravendale House

One of the last things on our minds when we moved here 10 years ago was sewage, but time and circumstances have dictated that over the years we’ve become quite an authority on septic tanks and drains.

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Today I had a bonfire, or a ‘burn’ as we like to call it. A long overdue burn if truth be told. Over weeks and months I pile all the debris, prunings, cuttings, broken branches etc. at one side of the compost heap and then when I ‘m ready have the burn at the other side. This avoids me burning alive anything that might have made it’s home in the tangled mass.

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Today I cut round the stepping stones in the lawn. As I’ve mentioned before a back breaking job that I do several times a year with the aid of an old bread knife. It’s a job that plays havoc with your hands and is one of only a few where I always wear my gardening gloves.

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I had an unexpected visit from a neighbour this lunchtime. She just lives round the corner, but I only met her for the first time yesterday when I rescued her cat. Anyway, after she’d told me that ‘Precious’ was fit and well after her adventure, we went on to discuss the lovely weather and the fact that we couldn’t put off cutting the grass for much longer.

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When we bought Billy the shed last year, it was a bit late in the season. I was busy doing ‘end of year’ stuff, so although we put lots of things into him, I didn’t exactly arrange it very well, as I always seemed to have more important things to do.

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When I decided to uncover the gunnera on Friday, I had checked the weather forecast for the next few days to ensure we had no frost in store.

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It’s that time of year again, that exciting time of year when each morning you come downstairs and the first job is to go into the kitchen to see how many tomatoes have germinated overnight.

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A few years ago we bought a small gunnera in a pot from the local garden centre. We’d seen one several years earlier, planted in the grounds of a garden centre in North Yorkshire, it was majestic and I loved it, so it found itself on my ‘plants I would like list’.

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I wrote yesterday of the importance of keeping your grass edges neat and tidy to give the overall impression of a well kept garden.

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Today I planted the first of my potatoes, 36 Arran Pilot. They have chitted better than any of the others so are more than ready for planting out.

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