Pied Piper

Mushelle, the girl with a mushroom for a head, says “Come follow me to http://www.offtheedgegardening.wordpress.com where you will find the useless and useful, some facts and a few fibs, deep thoughts and tall tales, with the odd joke and acrobatic move thrown in.”  In truth she didn’t actually speak those words because she hasn’t got a mouth.  As luck would have it she is also a master of the Vulcan mind meld and that was the gist of the message.   If I were you I would do as instructed, you wouldn’t want to get her angry, very messy!

Adieu

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” T S Eliot, Little Gidding, The Four Quartets

“Live Long and Prosper”  Vulcan Blessing

The Kindness of Strangers

One of the best things about being a gardener, up there with cake and unusual suntans, is the propensity of fellow gardeners to share.  It could be plants, cuttings, seed, even advice.  It is a knee jerk reaction to admiration of handiwork, can occasionally become an obsessive trait, it is what we do, we like to “pass it forward”.  A few weeks ago we were visited by Torrington Tina and her husband, an appreciative and knowledgeable partnerhip.  She left with some cuttings of myrtle and salvia in her handbag and promised to return with a special euphorbia that she had in her possession. This morning I was thrilled to find at the bottom of the potting shed steps, in a rather high quality plastic bag*, a wonderful specimen of Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii. So kind, thank you very much it will be very happy here.

*other department stores are available

Scabious

Just what it says on the tin.  Scabious, in a rather fetching sky blue.

Rules

Rules are to be challenged.  This post is especially for the nurseryman who, when asked for advice of apple varieties for our conditions – coastal, north east facing, suggested I move house.  Did I take any notice? Of course not, after all it isn’t my house to move from.  Here is our first crop of Orange Pippin and very beautiful they are too.

Happy

Things that have made me happy today:

1.  We won the tastiest fruit/veg cup at the Village Show,
2.  An envoy from The Gatehouse told me that the garden has personality (hopefully not psychotic),
3.  A Swiss visitor said the garden was a haven of peace (mind you I wasn’t actually in the garden when she made this assessment),
4.  It has started to rain (only a dribble but to be honest we will take anything).

The Show

Again, The Show.  Again, the long and painful preparation.  Again, the soul wrenching pressure.  Again, tantrum and tears.  Again, the vegetable monster is the star of the show.

Official results are yet to be confirmed but we did well, as did Mr Mush whose courgettes pipped ours to the post.  Obviously wonky vegetables are not a la mode this season.  Our bijou carrots were also not to the judge’s satisfaction, he has obviously not read the recent paper published in Veggie Weekly by Professor Doug Compost “Small is Beautiful”.  All I can say is Game On, same time, same place, next year!

Series GP – Baby Peregrine

This photo shows the fledgling peregrine I spoke of yesterday.  Taken by Betsy Bee, this photo shows our young pretender sitting in one of the Monterey Pines which stand guard over the cliffs at Damage. A rare treat.

Portent

If one believed in such things as portents then my day began with a strong one.  Rounding the corner by the Old Mill into the early morning calm of the bay, a young peregrine falcon was perched on the sea wall surveying the horizon.  For ten stretched seconds I sat and watched, too fearful to reach for my camera, before he flew off across the water.  Wildlife featured highly in our garden day; bees of all denominations, hoverflies, butterflies, slow worms, woodpeckers and of course the juvenile robin.  All this was enhanced by a boisterous troupe of brummies, humans who were fun, appreciative and paid, our favourite type of visitor!

Wow Factor

It is time to unveil the photo that has been kept in reserve for when circumstance, both unforeseen and otherwise, means there are no words to share.