Don't Leave Me In The Slow Lane!

Oh dear, I see from the last posting that Google seems to have selected a colonic irrigation advertisement for its commercial spot...Well, they said they would chose appropriate sponsors! Not much news on the gardening front, as it's pouring with rain. But I did have a very exciting and eventful trip to the post office this morning---to post my application for a new drivers' license if you recall. Well, it transpires that I would have been better going to the post office in the first place and not bothered with the on-line facility at all. The counter lady explained that she could have done the whole thing for me in two minutes for £4, AND she would have happily overlooked the fact that I'd gone a bit mad since having my last licence. As it was I had to pay £9.10 to send everything off in a special envelope (guaranteed next day delivery, except under the present strike conditions when there are no guarantees at all, evidently, but the fee is the same). A friend has e-mailed me to say that Monty Don suffers severe depressions but still drives. This news comforted me until I realised that I personally have never witnessed Monty Don driving anything more powerful than a lawnmower on his shows...What if I'm limited to this for the rest of my life? Then I switched on my computer to discover I was advertising colonic irrigation to the world...

Virginia Creeper Crashes in Heavy Winds!

Wouldn't you know it? It all happened again last night. Frogs in the living room. I'm learning about frogs, I can tell you. And the first thing I've learnt is that they don't learn. Not one whit. You would think by now they would have some association in their tiny brains between being put in the plastic bucket and returning to the pond. But no, they leap out of the bucket to behind the bookshelves where it is almost impossible to dislodge them. And the squeaking! You would think I was hurting them instead of just gently nudging them from behind with a rolling pin (hot tip that). Anyway, reading through yesterday's gardening tip, I think I may have confused you by mentioning big bulbs. Yes, you do want big bulbs, but if you have a small garden you definitely want small daffodils, otherwise they will look silly. Also, try to find daffs that have a scent. Again Spalding bulbs are great for this. My priority for the garden, after the wildlife features is scent, as this is what I enjoy most about flowers. (I decided long ago that all flowers look nice, but only a few smell nice). So all around the fences I've planted heavily scented climbers and bushes. Except of course where I've gone for autumn colour! I piled in two prize winning Virginia Creepers too---one of which I planted (rather cleverly, I thought) in the grass collector of an old lawn mower I found in the shed. Very much 'in the vernacular' as Gertrude Jekyll would say (yes, honest!). But I'm afraid Mr 'In The Vernacular' keeps falling over as lawn mower collectors are not very stable. He's gone over again this morning after heavy winds in the night and does NOT look happy. So much for being clever...