Births, Deaths and Marriages...

It's been a busy few weeks.

There has been a Birth. A Wedding. And many many Deaths...of my plants. Grr.

My partners Niece gave birth to her second child, a beautiful baby boy a few weeks ago. It amazes me how cool, calm and collected she is. Motherhood really suits her.

Her Brother got married a few weeks later at Highclere Castle which is where Downton Abbey is filmed. It was an amazing day, and was so nice to see the family. Highclere Castle is stunning, and I did sneak off to have a peep around the gardens while the Bride and Groom were having their photos taken. Well worth a visit if you find yourself in Newbury. Just the drive up to the castle was beautiful!

And the deaths. Ohh the deaths.

The constant wet weather has meant constant slugs and snails. I don't use slug pellets so have been out every morning and evening picking them off the plants by hand. Which takes a long long time. We put them in a bucket and take them to the woods. We have had some funny looks from dog walkers while we are emptying the bucket but I can't bring myself to kill them so off to the woods they go...

I have built a new pond and am pleased that a few frogs have already moved in. Hopefully they will eat a few of the slimy plant munchers.

Some fencing blew down in the wind and I still have not put it back up yet.

I planted up the new border at the back of the garden but again, the plants have all been attacked by the slugs and snails.

I grew so many things from seed and only have a few left.

I almost lost hope and patience.

But today was a good day. I got a lot done, and picked a few bunches of flowers for the house.

Tomorrow I need to plant some Raspberry bushes and Artichokes and Angelica which I have been growing on in the Greenhouse - thankfully away from the slugs and snails!

Hopefully the rain will stop for long enough so I can turn the compost heap too, not something I like to do in a downpour but it really needs to be done soon.

It's just been work work work in the garden lately so it would be nice to have 5 minutes to just sit and enjoy the garden this weekend. Hopefully in the sun.

This was the sky as I started packing up ready to finish for the day...

Goodnight.