WASHED OUT !

There were fairies at the bottom of my garden,
Till they were washed away by all the rain.
Now there's not one single fairy in my garden,
Because every one has been washed down the drain!

Fairies are not the only thing that has been washed away or damaged in some way by the dreadful weather of the past week .When at last I had the time, the energy and a long enough lull in the rain to take a walk around the garden it was heartbreaking to see haw mush damage has been done.

Structurally the green house is now no more than a frame and a growing tunnel measuring 12 feet x 3 feet had also been totally wrecked. Tattered remains of the brand new fleeces which only last week were put out to cover the strawberries are caught up in trees and fruit bushes and a number of cane structures have been demolished.

Our poor apple tree in full flower at the beginning of last week has, due t the heavy rain not been pollinated and many of the flowers are torn to pieces so it seems likely that the apple crop this year will be poor. Slug damage is dreadful as the wet weather has been wonderful for them and as I has been unable to go around with the evening slug bucket they has made free of just about everything.

Even so I managed to pick a large bowl of mixed salad this morning to accompany our evening meal of home baked pizza. Salad Burnett seems to be immune from slug as indeed is the red sorrel and the red mustard greens planted late last year. Many of our green salad plants including the sheep sorrel have been well and truly munched by my old adversaries, let us hope that the hedgehogs come out of hibernation soon to do a little munching on the slugs!

Standing in the dishevelled garden I wondered where on earth to begin,and wandered about for a while feeling tragic,then I took a peep in to the potato growing bags and saw the healthy young growth of the sprouting potatoes, earthing up was the first thing to do.
Scrambling nets were needed for the sweet peas ans the wild part of the orchard was full of forget-me-not,bluebells and cow parsley and alive with small birds foraging for food.

Sweet scented woodruff and lilac lifted my spirits and I went to work happy again, it is useless to rail against the weather and although it will mean a lot of hard work before things are again set to rights at least the grass is lush and green so the rain has done some good after all.

Our chairman telephoned this morning to give the final total for the fête, an astonishing £360.00, a miracle under the circumstances and once for which we are all very grateful.
Many more bird boxes and bat boxes can be purchased and I hope to start a scheme whereby local schools can sponsor a box in their grounds and have the pleasure of watching the birds do their thing.

For the moment the wind has abated and the rain has stopped and I hope with my whole heart that things remain as they are giving my the time I need to clear up the garden and sow some seed.
Shortly before dinner I found half an hour to go out in to the lanes with my camera and for once nature co-operated whole heartedly. Herons disported themselves close at hand,flowers pose prettily in places that I could easily reach on my scooter and birds sang in every bush.
Much refreshed I returned to the cottage my mind calmed by the sight of so much beauty and I promised myself that I should redouble my efforts to save these last few green spaces for them,come what may.