footpath – derrickjknight

Undermining Mole

Today is the first of three carrying an Amber Heat Warning, covering most of the south of England. This particularly applies to those of us over 65 or with underlying health conditions. We are advised to stay indoors or keep in shade.

Although the heat and humidity seems as if we are in a sauna, our

garden is shady enough for Jackie to continue working and for me to

wander around with my camera.

Even the bees seemed somnolent.

As usual each image in the galleries bears its title when accessed with a click on any one.

For the last three or four days Jackie has been forced to reset the footpath through the Weeping Birch Bed, making it more like a line of steps. Firstly she discovered that a clematis planted against the remaining tree stump appeared not to have survived. Upon investigation she found there was nothing beneath its withered roots. That’s right, nothing but an empty cavern. This was the same for the stone paving. There had been, however, a number of molehills heaped upon the soil. In his frantic search for a mate earlier in the year the burrowing suitor had undermined a large part of the Bed.

The Head Gardener found herself perforce building a terrace.

With another 30 photographs being added to my iPhotos I felt bound to cull a few. This meant that although they will remain in the posts, those featured in

Primrose And Champion

and in

Obstacles

were deleted from the library collection.

I read more of ‘England in the Later Middle Ages’, before dinner, which consisted of garlic and herb, salt and pepper, and tempura prawn preparations on a bed of Jackie’s colourful vegetable rice, with which she drank Rheinbacher Weissbier while I drank Breachfront Californian Merlot 2022.

Paths And Plants

This morning’s iPhotos culling involved all but one image featured in

The Listener Setters’ Dinner

and all from

Leaving London

While catering with beverages for those working on the garden I photographed a few plants, each of which bears its title in the gallery.

In addition to everything else that they achieved, Martin refurbished a footpath in the Rose Garden

while Jackie continued clearing the Heligan Path.

This evening we enjoyed more of yesterday’s fuseli Bolognese meal with the addition of tender broccoli stems and the same wines.

Animal Repellent

For lunch today we joined Helen, Bill, Shelly, and Ron at Camellia Restaurant in Everton Nursery. My choice was beef steak casserole with plentiful vegetables. I drank water.

In order to combat the suspect squirrel Jackie has purchased and installed a solar powered Motion Activated Animal Repellent that emits a high-frequency sound which small animals do not like but is inaudible to humans.

It does seem to have proved effective in deterring the squirrel.

She has also been clearing the mole’s ejected soil from between the stones of the footpath through the Weeping Birch Bed. This has been a daily task. We will see how successful this morning’s effort has been tomorrow.

This evening we dined on gammon sandwiches and tomato salad.

Spade Sceptre

Today the air remained stock-still until late afternoon, with the result

that the crab apples hung in portrait format.

There was very little damage from yesterday’s storm.

Jackie righted a heavy pot which had been blown over and straightened the Nerine which had bowed under pressure.

The white begonia remained lowered to the ground; dahlias and hydrangeas were undisturbed.

Jackie has removed a large cluster of mushrooms that threatened to choke Rosa Siluetta Lavender encircling the Weeping Birch trunk, and began clearing the footpath to the tree beside which the chair has lost a leg and will be converted to a plant stand elsewhere.

We jointly transferred more spare paving to bear a temporary throne to replace the rusted chair for The Garden Queen to strike a regal figure clutching her spade sceptre.

Afterwards she began planting up the large pot positioned beside it.

The Summer Wine rose continues to cling to Martin’s Arch.

Just as Jackie finished her planting a heavy shower watered it in.

This evening we dined on flavoursome baked gammon; succulent ratatouille; boiled baby potatoes; firm carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, and tender runner beans with which I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2022.

Cordyline Australis Leaves

We have three large Cordyline Australis trees in our garden. This one is in what we call the Palm Bed from the days when we didn’t know the name of the tree.

Especially when beset by the fiercely blustering winds we are still experiencing, these antipodean arboreal specimens shed their leaves littering the garden with powerfully woody material more suitable for the Efford Recycling Centre than for our compost so that is where we take them. I tackled these in two stints each in excess of an hour – one in the morning and one after a good lunchtime rest, including dozing over The Antiques Road Show.

Their concentrations are on the beds containing them and the adjacent paths.

I couldn’t quite reach every piece on the West Bed, but, by sitting on the bench visible in the second picture in this gallery and stretching across with a grabber I did clear the Cryptomeria Bed.

I cleared the Brick Path;

the gravel path beside the tree in the first picture above;

and the footpath leading into its eponymous bed.

They filled four bags which I added to the growing pile for the next dump run.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome shepherd’s pie (always better on the second day); potato slices roasted in olive oil; pure white cauliflower; crunchy carrots; and firm broccoli – vegetables fresh from Ferndene Farm Shop are always in perfect, full flavoured, condition. I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2022.

Anna Lane

Early this morning I watched the recording of last night’s rugby World Cup match between Wales and Australia.

Later, wishing to keep our new car cleaner than our Modus workhorse when transporting garden refuse to Efford recycling centre, we bought a polythene dust sheet from Milford Supplies, then took a forest drive.

Anna is one of those ageless Lanes that, on our wandering, seems to have a characterful identity of its own. So narrow that should any vehicles encounter another head-on, unless they were prepared to

leave tracks on a slightly wider section of verge, one would be required to reverse quite some distance.

As I walked I idly wondered what I would do if I met a moving car. Maybe I would be lucky like the pheasants above and do so on the one spot where I could tuck myself in.

There is just about room for a slender motor to span the central lawn running down the middle, which is why the grass is such that many gardeners would me proud to mow it.

It is hoped that no-one would be suicidal enough to reach the permitted speed limit, albeit obscured by healthy sward, emblazoned on the pock-marked tarmac.

Jackie parked at the Sopley end of the road enabling me to walk along to photograph samples of the contents of the narrow, banked, verges.

Does anyone ever use this public footpath, I wondered?

I refrained from showing any other example of the food and drink containers lobbed from car windows, but MacDonald’s gets everywhere, doesn’t it?

This evening we dined at Lal Quilla, with its usual excellent food, and friendly, efficient, service. My main choice was Lamb Taba Shaslick Jalfrezi; Jackie’s a tasty chicken dish; we shared pilau rice and peshwari naan, and both drank Kingfisher.

Careful Preparation

This morning I published https://derrickjknight.com/2023/07/12/livia/ which I finished reading yesterday.

The stiff breeze that sped through the plot on this sunny day was such that I was pleased that Nick Hayter, who, with his customary care, spent several hours preparing the crumbly pebbledash west wall for painting, was working on the lower levels of the scaffolding.

First he removed the old drainpipe that, at an angle, spanned the centre of the wall;

next he scraped off the crumbliest material

and coated the rest with a liquid fungicidal solution.

Jackie had spent the morning completing her clearance of a footpath through the Palm Bed. She had filled two compost bags with debris. After lunch I bagged up more and transported all to the collection on the Back Drive. I had taken my camera in order to photograph the footpath, and was diverted by

a variety of day lilies en route.

This evening we all dined on pork barbecue spare ribs; rice by Jackie and Becky; and Becky’s salad with her own dressing. Mrs Knight drank Hoegaarden; Ian and Dillon, Peroni; and I, All Out 21 Merlot.

To The Lawn Bed

Yesterday Jackie cleared the bank outside the Back Drive gate, leaving brushwood on the gravel path for attention today;

this morning she worked on removing the stump of a scentless and rarely flowering philadelphus, while

I cleared the Back Drive debris;

and further strengthened the arch spanning the Phantom Path by inserting supporting angle irons that she had recently begun. On this day of sunny intervals it was difficult to walk through the garden without admiring the

Brick Path looking towards the house,

or through the Gothic arch now festooned

with mina lobata.

Later, the Head Gardener completed the task of extracting the philadelphus stump, and that of

a leycesteria in the wrong place;

filling in the holes and covering the gaps with broken pieces of marble which once bore the much abused wood burning stove that we inherited from our vendors, thus completing the

opening of the view from the West Fence to the Lawn Bed. The last nine photographs are Jackie’s.

This afternoon I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/08/28/a-knights-tale-23-corporal-punishment/

This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy pasta arrabbiata; crisp broccoli, and tender green beans, with which she drank Dolomiti Pinot Grigio Blush 2020, and I drank more of the Faugeres.

Robin Visits Woodpeckers

The sunniest, coolest, part of another day of developing humidity was before we left this morning to visit Mum at Woodpeckers. Jackie took advantage of this to carry out an early spell of gardening.

I nipped out to photograph her Head Gardener’s Walk clearance, which she had completed yesterday evening, and she showed me the solid lump of hellebore root which had never produced flowers during our time here, that she had prised out of the soil and was too heavy for her to lift.

Mum was on very good form, conversing with wit and humour, especially when we commented on the haircut she had received just before we arrived;

and when she instructed Jackie to quarter a serviette offered because she had forgotten to bring her tissues. After each use the sections were neatly folded, possibly for further application later when they had dried out.

My mother can see very little now, but did struggle to catch sight of a fearless baby robin that darted overhead, paused in a small tree, perched temporarily on a rail in her eye-line, dived on an ants’ nest beneath, returned to the rail to digest its prey, then swooped across Mum’s shoulder, to repeat the process at will. Jean could see the flash of action. She could also hear the building work across the road and ask what was being erected.

More gardening was undertaken this afternoon. My contribution was extensive dead heading, and breaking up the hellebore roots pictured earlier. They were indeed too heavy to be carried in one dump bag, so I distributed them among several.

This evening we dined on roast beef, horseradish sauce, boiled potatoes, crisp Yorkshire pudding, crunchy carrots and broccoli, with meaty gravy. Jackie drank more of the Sauvignon Blanc, and I drank more of the Shiraz.

Safe Distance Enjoyment

When a dull day began to brighten up we drove into the forest for a while.

Constantly changing skies,

reflected in pothole pools,

swept over the moorland bounding Holmsley Passage and its footpaths.

Sun-tipped ponies pastured on grass, bracken and holly on the borders of Burley golf course.

The forest car parks were all full to bursting. Overflow vehicles lined streets, lanes, and lay-bys. Nevertheless, visitors largely kept to their own discrete clusters.

Nowhere was this more apparent than at Rockford Sand Pit where family groups enjoying scaling the sandy hillside largely maintained social distance from each other.

This evening we dined on Mr Chan’s excellent Hordle Chinese Take Away fare with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank MV Reserve Malbec 2019 – a present from Shelly and Ron.