Blimey, doesn’t time fly. I last did a bit of musing at the fag-end of July and here we are now shuffling our way towards autumn. So what’s been happening that’s prevented me taking up my pen? Not a lot in all honesty though it’s mainly been the weather - too nice to waste time indoors. Oh, and the cricket…six test matches and a host of T20’s and ODI’s which meant keeping an eye on the telly every so often. Perhaps the best thing is to tell you what happened domestically, locally and horticulturally in the hope I can make it interesting.
Let’s start on the home front: the paddock’s annual haircut. The trick is to spot a fair-weather window and go for it. This year I was lucky: I began the cutting with my wonderful Tracmaster on August 31 and three days later the debris had been raked up and burnt and the job was complete. The only fly in the ointment was some fool from afar that thought my bonfire was a forest fire and called the local brigade who arrived - bells clanging and hoses at the ready - for, embarrassingly, the second time in a fortnight. Two weeks earlier another of my bonfires had prompted a dog walker to alert the Newhaven brigade and they too had turned up hoses in hand. To spoil their fun I’ve learnt now to email them with my bonfire’s map reference and warn them I’m about to make smoke.
We also had Sophie and granddaughter Bay staying here a couple of times. Bay, besides being enchanting most of the time, has decided she’s an artist. I’ll leave you to be the judge..here are some of her offerings:
She’s also a quick learner. She now knows what a helleborine is, and where fluff comes from:
Locally we’ve had problems with the Environment Agency once more, who have allowed the shingle to build up at the exit of the Cuckmere River and are refusing to allow the local farmers - who have the money, equipment and willingness - to clear it. Which means, cometh the rains, the water will be unable to get to the sea, will back up and flood the valley. Just like last year. So that’s something to look forward to.
But before that happens, this is what the Cuckmere Valley looks like in summer. Who needs Tuscany?
As for the garden during the last few weeks, it’s been mixed blessings. The echium pininana, having delighted us and the bees all summer long, finally fell over in the wind, the dahlias have struggled in the drought, the squirrels have nicked every one of the 35 walnuts (though I’ve retrieved six of them while weeding, haha), our olive crop is intact, some of our second crop of figs are beginning to ripen, the raspberry beetles have eaten more raspberries than we have, the cucumbers have been prolific but the courgettes have sulked and the days are getting shorter and foggier.
But today it’s rained for the first time in weeks so Rosie’s been preparing for her next exhibition in the greenhouse (her sculpture exhibition was a sellout) and I’ve had a chance to do this. And not mentioned Boris once.
