After the biblical weather....

........the sun SHONE, for the most gorgeous weekend at last in the garden. Sitting in the quiet garden with a cup of tea and Mirabel Osler's beautiful book, ‘A gentle plea for chaos,’ was utter heaven, before some fierce candlelit croquet at dusk yesterday evening. It’s the best way to play; with a glass of wine and the falling light there are lively discussions about whether the balls actually make it through the hoops or not.

 The middle of the day is too hot for gardening, and I must remember how that feels, but when the heat is a little less I have been clearing the out of control strawberry bed where, for every plant I keep, about 6 others attached umbilically to the parent plant must be thrown away. It would be better to give them away, but for now they’re all going on the compost heap. This year the whole bed has been a rather pointless exercise as the squirrels ate ALL of the strawberries. Throwing most of the weeds over the fence, they are devoured by our very greedy sheep; they love the sow thistles, fat hen and groundsel. In fact every time I go down to the kitchen garden I’m spotted and they race up to the fence in full cry.