Gardening again – 20 May 2024

Quite a busy day. Lots done for a change.

Today started with a visit to the doc’s, well to the practice nurse who confirmed what my optician had suspected, that my sugar levels were high. Not enormously high. A reading of 87- 88 is considered safe. My reading of 89 is considered high. One point over the limit and you are caught out! That doesn’t seem fair to me. However she was quite nice about it and gave me three months to put my house in order, with lots of sensible food suggestions. Unfortunately Jam Doughnuts weren’t to be seen anywhere in that list.

Back home and after lunch we drove up to Home Bargains and got two 50L bags of fairly decent compost. Drove home and started filling a tub for the new rhubarb plant, Victoria, with the sodden compost. I think they must have had it soaking in a paddling pool before the put it out for sale. I used Monty Don’s technique for repotting where he puts the plant, in its old pot, into the new pot, fills the compost around the pot, almost burying, it then removes it, takes the plant it out of its original pot and puts it into the cavity he’s created in the new pot, of course, it fits perfectly. Really smart Mr D. Even although the compost had been wet, I gave the plant a good soaking.

While I was doing that, Scamp was pruning some tangled weeds and roses from under the apple tree. She’s determined that she will limit it to two fruits on each branch this year to reduce the strain on this old tree.

It was too good a day to waste, so we sat in the sun for a few hours, reading and drinking lemonade (no additional sugar lemonade.) Dinner was the remains of Saturday’s chicken with pasta and a rich tomato sauce. Dinner was a bit later than normal because we both had good books to read and the sun was lovely and warm.

PoD was taken in the garden and is a Primula Japonica which is a candelabra style Primula with concentric rings of white flowers running up the stem. How many rings? I’ll tell you when it stops producing them.
I just photograph them, Scamp is the one who grows them.

Today’s prompt was for A Cloudy Sky. We have our fair share of cloudy skies in Scotland, but thankfully for the past week it’s all been blue skies and fluffy clouds. However, the weather folk are telling us to be prepared for wet weather and strong winds from Wednesday. If it comes, I’ll console myself with the knowledge that the garden will love the rain.

We do have some plans for tomorrow, but it depends on whether the weather holds.