Deer - Plan Z

In Cahors there is a garden centre which I visit frequently as they often have large consignments of plants which they sell very cheaply so I called in yesterday to see if they had any " choisyas" left from last week's promotion. They didn't but they had some pyracanthas which are also on my wish list. I bought two for the long bed in the back garden. However on the way home I began to reflect that as they were 5 feet tall and very prickly they would be ideal as a hedge on the boundary of the front garden, the main thoroughfare for the deer in the front garden.

So I rushed out this morning in the pouring rain to find out how many we needed and .... off to the garden centre! They always sell out very quickly so we could not afford to delay. Buying 25, even better price!!

I know John is not himself at present but any resemblance to Benny Hill is purely coincidental.

Brrr!!

You can see the reason why nothing much is happening here in the South-west .... it's too Brrrrr cold. We are having the same cold spell as in England, albeit not quite so severe. But it doesn't make us feel inspired to get cracking. This, combined with the fact that I'm just feeling exhausted from the Chemo, means that there really isn't much to report. Not that it's stopping the gardener too much .... there's a lot of leafing through books for inspiration, a lot of organising of seeds for the next year's campaign and a lot of taking of cuttings for next year's bedding out. She's managing to stay cheerful!

Good News

John has been really poorly this week. He is exhausted all the time, cannot get comfortable wherever he is, he can only eat very small amounts and anyway everything tastes horrible despite my continual attempts to prepare something to tempt him. This seems to be the norm for anyone undergoing chemo therapy but it is frustrating for John (although he's too tired to remonstrate now) and I dont like to watch him looking worse each day.

However today he saw the head of the nephrology department, the man who is in overall control of his case. I casually said to John how old was he, envisaging a grey haired gentleman in his late fifties, none of it, he's about 35!! John said he was very thorough and told him that they were very pleased how his body was withstanding the treatment. John then went on to enquire when they would know if the regime is having any effect, to which his reponse was "Oh we know now it is working". As you can imagine that news bouyed us tremendously, even though John still looks and feels horrible.

We do appreciate the support from all you Blog Followers and are sorry that we are in a hiatus regarding The House Project. Never mind, I am using the time usefully to consider future developments in the garden. I have made a detailed study of plants suitable for our micro climate and ordered thousands of seeds!! Meantime I have just completed planting 500 tulips ( well they were 500 last year but they have multiplied to more than double that - as my back knows).

Happy Gardener

The winter migrants have arrived early this year. Plants have invaded the bedroom!

It's a complicated story how this has come about. Last Thursday a couple came walking up the road and were looking at the garden and at Sue's plants in the porcherie. I went and had a chat with them and, in the course of the conversation, Monsieur Gardener described how he successfully took Lavender cuttings. I imparted the information to Sue and initially she was sceptical. But .... extensive research on the internet showed that he was correct ... and Sue found out that they require bottom heat. So, into the bedroom they came! And, today, Sue was 'rectifying' the rest of the cuttings.

Can you see that smile? She does enjoy her gardening!!!

Is this the Cavalry?

We're in a spell of wet and windy weather and so, the gardener can't get out to play. She has therefore been kept indoors and, for the last 2 days she's been painting for me.

Yesterday was fine as she was doing the walls, but today, she started on the ceiling. This was quickly found to be not good for the dodgy neck. So, the cavalry quickly showed itself to be Dad's Army! The cavalry had to call for reinforcements and I found myself stopping my work on the tiling to finish the painting.

Fortunately, The painting only took till lunchtime, so I was able, finally, to finish laying the tiles in the en-suite of bedroom 3. Phew!

Oh Dear....

.....not only am I getting grief from you English for not blogging often enough, but we had JJ phoning us up from Paris wondering if things were ok as we'd not posted for a week!!!!!

If truth be told, we haven't blogged because not much has happened. This week I had an injection at Toulouse and since then I've been fatigued, hence a lot of sitting about. But, even if you're not fed up with hearing about my illness, I'm fed up with talking about it.

Last Sunday, before my weariness, we called in a small Plant Fair in a nearby village. The reality turned out to be 2 stalls of plants and the rest were Bric-a-brac stalls. Nontheless, Sue managed to find plants to buy. However, you do come across the strangest collection of old boys at these do's.

To bring you up to date with the house, I've been trying to continue with the tiling in bedroom 3, but my boss wasn't fully happy with my work (she's been trying to be kind and saying that it was because I don't feel well). So I've been having to do some rectification work before continuing. Oh well, we'll get there in the end.

Meanwhile, Sue's been busy in the garden; weeding, splitting and moving plants, taking cuttings, tying in roses .... all the myriad things that gardeners find to do when plants stop growing.