Silence in the garden

Not much has been going on in the garden this past week as my mum has been visiting and I'd feel a bit rude going outside and getting lost in chores out there.
I've been out to deadhead a few roses etc and to water a few plants in the polytunnel but that's about the extent of it.
Mr TG on the other hand has made a start on turning over some more of the land - he completed a huge area in the spring which is now laid to grass but had to give up once the summer hit and everything was growing quicker than he had the time to clear.
It's all go now that Autumn has arrived though but I don't envy him the work involved with rotovating, weeding, raking, flattening etc of these areas.

I've been assured that this will look just as green and lush as that in the background soon enough. Once it is though he has to continue right down the land to that tallest tree to the far left of the picture - rather him than me!

My daughter got me a few more goodies out of the skip at work, it's always touch and go as to whether they will survive but I've had brilliant results so far. It's also a bit of a puzzle working out what some of the plants are because they're removed of all pots and ID tags before they hit the skip.
I currently have a cold frame full of plants with no name - I can ID some of them but not all of them

There's a couple of quite big Fuchsia in there, a Dianthus cutting that I actually managed myself and a heck of alot of what looks like Mint though I'm not sure what sort. Also there is some kind of perennial plant that I can't ID. (it's to the right hand side of the Fuchsia that's in the top left area ).
Here's a couple of what I think are Mint, I'm wondering if the flowers help to ID it.

On a completely different note, MrTG, Leanne and myself completed the Baxters Loch Ness 10k yesterday. Leanne managed a personal best time of 1hr 4mins and I managed a pb time of 1hr 11mins - Mr TG got the same time as me simply because he was my trainer, I feel sorry for him sometimes because he could easily run a 40 min 10k but he insists he's only in it to help me so I'm grateful for that because it really is down to him that I manage to get round.

Winners, Spring colour and the dregs of summer

*Free Seed winners:- Pack 1 goes to Sue Garret of 'Our plot at Green Lane Allotments'.  Pack 2 goes to  'Stella on Age' and pack 3 goes to Snowbird of 'Gardens & Wildlife'.
If you gals could email your addresses to me at lindaclaxson@btinternet.com I will get those packs of seeds out to you straight away. Thank you for taking part and I hope you enjoy your seeds ladies.


It is so nice to be able to potter around the land knowing I'm on top of all the urgent gardening chores, it makes such a huge difference to motivation.
My mum is flying up for the week tomorrow so it will be nice to be able to show her around, especially as there's been a huge difference since she was last here. I'm a tad concerned though because in our last conversation she stated that she wanted to help dismantle pallets when she comes up - I tried to explain just how hard pallets are to take apart but she insists that she's capable and stated "I took an entire chair apart by myself you know" by way of proof of her ability. I have to admit my mum is agile and certainly doesn't act like a 70 something year old and she may well have another 30 years left in her judging by the past females in our family but still, dismantling pallets? I think not mother!

Anyway, today while I pottered and mused over the changing of the seasons (though summer appears to have decided to show its face again the last few days) I decided to put together a bunch of flowers to put in my mums room while she's here.
Pretty much all the cut flowers are spent now and the garden flowers are on their way over too and I'm not exactly the most imaginative when it comes to these things (I stick to basic cut flowers only) so I really had to think outside the box to get a pretty looking bouquet (to me, thinking outside the box means using flowers other gardeners would probably use as the norm).
Not too shabby looking me thinks - this one has Coral Bells (who knew that would work!), the very last cosmos flowers, Montbretia, Himalayan Honeysuckle, Verbena, a rose from my patio rose, a 'Nostalgia' rose and a stem of Hydrangea for greenery (the stem is actually Black on this variety - maybe 'Zorro'?)

After making one bouquet I decided to try for another (actually I cut these bunches the other way round. The top one was cut second, this next one was cut first.)
Hydrangea again, Verbena, Coral bells, 'Virgo rose', red rose, Cosmos & Dianthus.

I also checked out that Asiatic Lily bulb that was about to flower - the one I had thrown on the waste heap without realising. It's now fully open and rather than leave it where no one will ever get the pleasure of seeing it I cut it and added it to one of the vases.
Pretty huh? I'll be digging those bulbs back up pretty soon.

I got a lovely parcel in the post from Thompson & Morgan. I wasn't going to bother with the free Allium offer in Gardeners World magazine but I've been stocking up on spring bulbs lately and thought it would be great to go from zero Alliums in the garden to 100 and they arrived today.

Now I just have to plant those little bulbs of goodness and wait for them to spring into this

Top left - bottom right:- Purple Sensation, Caeruleum, Ostrowskianum, Roseum, Sphaerocephalon, Neopolitanum.

First line of defence - chickens!

The fish in Mr TGs pond were extremely active yesterday - a highly unusual sight for this lot. From early morning till late evening they were chasing a particular Goldfish around like a posse of mad men, this flurry of activity though caught the attention of Saffy, our Birman cat.

Now before y'all go "Ahhhhh what a beautiful puddy cat", beauty is as beauty does and there is nothing beautiful about the antics of this cat. Bought as a house cat along with her sister they were the cutest kittens we'd ever laid eyes on - too cute even for here cos you'll lose yourself in their cuteness. Oh ok, here's the cuteness, but don't be fooled

Drunk cat and Devil cat.

Anyway these cats turned out to be THE most destructive house cats I have ever had the displeasure of owning - they could (and did) strip a house of its wallpaper over night. They also had a killer instinct second to none that saw them bringing back live rabbits to the house, thankfully these were wild rabbits, not someones prize Angora 'Mr Squiggles' rabbit - see where this is headed?
Anyway, like I said the commotion in the pond got the attention of Saffy and twice I had to run downstairs and chase her off the garden - though chase is hard to do when the cat just lays on the floor and wants you to rub its belly!
The third time this happened, I chased Saffy off but saw her lick her paw, that's when I realised she'd actually been dipping into the pond the entire time. I figured I'd remove her completely (No, not kill her!) and then let the dogs out cos she'll steer clear while they're out.
So there I am carrying her to her sleeping area in the shed, telling her off while she looks all cute and stupid and then I almost stepped on a ruddy Goldfish! The little moo had snagged the biggest fish, carried it round the garden, dropped it at the shed door and gone back for more - typical senseless killing from a cat.
I dropped placed the cat on the floor and picked up the rather dirty Goldfish which surprisingly started flapping away in my hand, so I legged it back to the pond and held it in the water figuring it would die anyway but nope, it started gulping, then flapping and then sped off.
It didn't look too agile, in fact it looked drunk as a skunk as it banged into things and kept laying on its side and I did feel terrible for it when the rest of the fish resumed their chasing of it. I did consider taking it out and putting it elsewhere to recover but then I figured while it's being chased it doesn't have time to think about dying - logic!

It's the big Goldfish in the middle being mobbed.

Poor thing!

I watched the fish for half hour or so (ssshhhh, I didn't admit to that) but it seemed fine so I decided to work on defences because the cat was surely going to come back now it knew what to expect!
I decided on a two pronged tactic, the first line of defence being a posse of hens led by the notorious 'Big Momma' who was up on a murder rap a few months ago (reduced to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility) and head Honcho 'Romeo' who's name is deceiving.

Should Saffy make it through this first line of defence I had back up installed on the garden in the form of 'Atlas' who is a bit doddery now and prefers to ignore the cats but has done enough chasing in his past to warrant a reputation

And Huntly who would most certainly enjoy capturing a cat and forcing it to be his best friend cross dribble cloth

Suffice to say the fish were safe for the rest of the day because Saffy is too lazy to access the pond via the other 3 unmanned garden fences and as for that fish, well it's still alive - amazingly. once the water had cleaned it the scratch or teeth marks from the cat are evident but by the end of the day it was whizzing round as easily as it was before Saffy played tag.

On a relevant note, I decided I hate the pond, it's not big enough or deep enough and that next year the whole thing is being re-done. Mr TG agreed - of course!