The Culprits

 I watered the shrubbery which we planted in the Spring a few days ago and thought it needed a good weed. So yesterday that was the allocated job. However I soon realised that the deer had nipped off the new shoots from many of the plants. The last straw was when I discovered that there were no leaves at all left on the Cotinus!

With the rain this year the shrubs had established well. We have not seen any deer this Summer and I can only assume that three weeks of no rain has forced them down to the river to drink. Unfortunately they have to pass the deer equivalent of a McDonalds en route and can't resist a BIG SNACK.

It is no consolation that we caught them on camera, it's a shame that it doesn't have a loud klaxon attached. I guess we are back to netting until the plants are big enough to withstand the regular snacking.

PS It would seem Mr Fox checks us out regularly now just in case there are any goodies.

How to create a Bonsai !

 Having selected a suitable specimen, plant it in the open ground until it is about 6 metres tall and the trunk has thickened nicely.

Then, completely strip all of the bark from the trunk of the tree.  You might be able to get your friendly local deer to help you with this!

You will then have to wait to see if you get any 'advantitious' budding on the lower part of the trunk.  If you do you will then have to dig up the 'stump' ... hopefully with roots !

I was out mowing when I noticed that the trunk of the Larch seemed very pale.  Upon investigation 'someone' had broken off all of the lower branches and then stripped the bark away.  Normally, when a tree is 'ring-barked' it will die.  However I asked google and it showed me a video of a nice old Dutchman who  had tightly wrapped the bare part of the trunk of his favorite tree with clingfilm and it had survived and was growing again with new leaves the next spring.  So, nothing ventured, nothing gained ...

... although bolting horses and stable doors does come to mind !

Let's Play!

 Unbelievable ... still flowers, still green grass and nearly into September !  But the seasons are slowly moving; a foggy start to the day and so a heavy dew on the grass which highlighted a host of small cobwebs scattered over the lawn.

Liberated from the demands of watering this morning, the Head Gardener went out to play, secateurs in hand.

Gardening isn't all hard work!

One Mystery Solved

 I mentioned a while ago that we had bought a wildlife trail camera to try and find out what creatures visited our garden in the night. I also said that if we managed to capture any decent images we would share them with you. Well in reality any images have been few and far between. Our very first sighting of anything was when we scattered the remains of the Jambalaya from our "Bit of a Do" (after 3 days we couldn't face the left overs any longer). A rather mangey fox came to have his fill every hour throughout the night right up until the early hours of the morning. 

 We had no further success until last night when we captured a fox in fine fettle. There have not been many sightings of the rabbits lately so may be he has been dining well.Whether it was the same fox as before we have no idea.

We are sure that a badger visits infrequently as we see the results of his digging but so far we have not been able to verify his visits.

We imagined that we had hoards of nocturnal animals roaming the garden but it would appear not.

Bloomin' Marvellous

 At the end of the July Garden Video I implied that I would not subject you to any more photos of the garden this summer. Well just ignore what I say, as here are lots more. It's not my fault, it's the weather! According to the forecast summer was due to start yesterday but until then we have continued to have a lot of rain. I must say that I'm delighted (whispered very quietly as those sentiments are not widely shared). As a result of the rain and lower temperatures the plants and flowers have flourished and the garden looks like a "proper" English garden and is consequently generating favourable comments.

Gardeners can rarely say that they are sarisfied with the tesults of their labours but I must say that "today"  I am proud of my efforts. Don't worry I will be moaning again tomorrow as usual.