Gardening Dog

I blame the dog!!

My only excuse for not posting for a while is my new puppy, Bailey. A gorgeous red and white Border Collie. He is now 4 months old and will become my assistance dog not only around the house but in the garden. Yes he will be the only other living thing allowed anywhere near the potting shed :) So far garden dog training consists of how many gloves can Bailey bury? Where have all my seedling pots gone? and who keeps eating my flowers? Seriously look at that face, how can I be mad that I have no gloves, pots or flowers. Oh yes he is also to blame for my lack of beans. All was going well until the blasted snails slithered into the raised bean pot, out came the crushed egg shells the snails began to slither off, but oh no who is this? Yes it is the egg shell eating puppy! Yay thanks Bailey said the snails, back they came and nommed all my beans!

The Weather, I blame that too!

Sitting here looking out into the drizzle I feel forlorn. This year ahs brought us garden fiends more trials and tribulations than ever before. My friend June has lost her beloved tomatoes to blight, I have lost my beans, but not weather related. Several other friends have had potato issues, including no signs of life whatsoever to total water logging!! How are we meant to cope? Roses are going mouldy, petunias are trying hard to survive, even my lobelia is no where near as floriferous as last year. Fuchsias though, now they are they stars of my garden and amazingly the Dahlias are just beginning to emerge with the biggest blooms they have ever had, how come with all the snails? hum not sure, I may have to do some research on that one.

Our pond though is positively ravishing, (if a pond can be ravishing) well it is if you are a frog or a newt as we have two frogs and three newts and the pond is only six months old! I am really happy with the results, not only for the new residents but also for the old ones as the larvae is keeping the bats well fed.

Well as it appears to still be raining I had better just carry on planning ahead for next years garden. I have already begun the seed collection, including Aquilegia, Dianthus and Sweet Williams. Collecting seeds has probably got to be one of my favourite things. There is no better feeling, in my opinion, of looking at your garden and thinking I grew all this from my own seeds, a practically free garden, what could be better?

Happy gardening my fellow gardeners

The Potting Shed