Monday 22nd July

If you keep a note book - jottings, remarks, quotations, recipes, notes, sketches - and if so, do you ever re-read them? I'm having a great time re-reading the first of my notebook swap series with an old friend. It starts in June 2022, a time of sun and cloudless skies and heat and days spent in the shadiest spots in the garden...

I read that my friend had been enjoying her roses, but there was the never-ending dead-heading...

When I glanced out of the window this morning I noticed that the old rose in our front harden needed dead-heading. It was drizzling, but only slightly so I got on with the job. (I'm finding that the only way to get all the little jobs completed is to tackle them while I still remember. There's a 'house cleaning hack' labelled 'do, then clean', ie as soon as you brush your teeth, clean the basin, etc. This could be 'if you see a job, do it' or similar)

While searching for a suitable tub for the clippings from the water-filled heap behind the veg patch I disturbed Snail-opolis; a whole city of snails! I've moved them all to the garden waste bin to await collection. That rather explains the beans, peas, Florence fennel, potatoes etc.

The Last Bean Standing is still there! A couple of days ago I surrounded it with a little heap of Sarah Raven's slug deterrent. Yesterday I found several slug or snail trails making it clear that there had been a number of attempts on The Bean, but they had all abandoned their attack after traversing just an inch across the pellets. This gives me renewed hope for future seedlings.

Dead-heading was not forgotten after all this distraction. 

Where there's a will, there's a way;

Transporting items up and down the stair lift has proved problematical. There is a safety feature (grr) which means it won't go unless I am strapped in with the seat belt. Managing this while holding the inogen portable oxygen concentrator AND the books or clothes I want to carry was just tooooo much. Solution; a canvas shopping bag which will hold its shape, with sturdy easy-to-grab handles. I'll pick it up with one hand as I go past, and at the top I can set it down while I release myself from the safety (grrr) belt.