An early bird atop the oak across Christchurch Road admired this morning’s dawn sky which presaged a fine day.
And so it was. Warm enough to put the washing out.
My meagre task of the day was to begin the ongoing battle with the triffid invasion from our neighbour, North Breeze.
It is important to tackle the aliens early enough to prevent them from rooting on our side of the ramshackle border, as had this bramble.
When they burst through the greenhouse glass, as they did in the film (see the above link), then we will surely need to watch out.
It is a sad aspect of this jungle that it was once a wonderful garden, where the ghosts of such as
this rose,
this fruit tree,
this camellia,
and this magnolia, battle through to the light.
North Breeze neighbours the whole of the West side of our property, and turns the corner along the North side of the Back Drive,
where, watched by a sparrow,
Jackie was putting the finishing touches (just for the moment) to her creative planting.
Another regular operation she performs, on which she was engaged later, is soil transfusion. Much of the soil in the garden is rather anaemic and needs replenishing. Here, the surgeon has cut out a poorly section, removed the spent matter, and inserted a healthy supply.
She will then sift through the choked plants she has carefully preserved, extracting the smelly allium bulbs, and replant what she wishes to keep.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s luscious lamb jalrezi with savoury rice and parathas. She drank Hoegaarden whilst I drank Kingfisher.