Category: Yardening

#1404 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather, YardeningLeave a comment
Drying Washing in the Yard 2025 ©theoldmortuary

We have not yet hit the giddy heights of drying washing in under two hours, as we can easily do in the Summer months. But in just under a week our washing lines have gone from support for our festive winter lights to drying an enormous load in eight hours.

The progress in our yard in one week is madness. We have gone from rain every day since Christmas to no rain for 10 days.

We were definitely late to start yardening jobs this year. 10 days of dry weather has kicked our yardening backsides. There have been some winter casualties, drownings mostly. All consigned to compost over the last weekend. One miraculous recovery.

We have had a Palm tree for about 10 years, he has moved, in a pot, from London to Cornwall and now Devon. 10 years in survival mode, never really thriving but surviving in a pretty lacklustre way. He was planted in a raised bed two or three years ago and just sat there, moodily surviving, not really bothering to make roots or friends with any other nearby plants.

Over the weekend I cleared the debris from an unplanned Pampas Grass . Hiding under the fringes of the Pampas was a glorious and vigorous palm tree. Solidly rooted into the ground and probably a foot taller than when I last saw him. There is no horticulural logic to this. He has been living in a bog for the last 6 months, his only source of nutrients is our dog poo, coffee grounds hygienic/organic dog poo disposal system.

Further tidying up will prepare him, for the first time, for some proud yardening  photos. Not something I ever imagined doing.

#1401 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Yardening1 Comment

Another blog hijacked by a chicken. See previous blog .

#1387 theoldmortuary ponders

Janner must have told Argyle there were rich pickings in our yard and that scaling the expensive fence extension that we built was a world of wonder .

Argyle researched her great escape earlier in the week.

What Janner had failed to mention to Argyle, was Lola.

I can’t add much to fill a whole blog. Lola buried her face in Argyle’s ample bottom. Our neighbour came round to collect his chicken and not much more can be done. Our wall extender is as high as it can be legally. Only the climbing plants can ‘accidentally’ increase the defensive barrier. Only steroids would make them grow faster.

The sun and a hill are not on our side.The sun arcs across the sea to the south of our East/ West yard. All the tender young shoots of the climbing plants turn their faces to the sun and grow towards our neighbours yard.  Delicious nibbles for adventurous chickens have been available since early April. On the chicken side our eight foot wall/fence combo is only about 4 feet high. The massive  18 inch,thick stone wall is an easy chicken hop from their much higher ground level.  It was also an easy bunny hop but the large lop eared Dutch rabbit that hopped avoided capture by our dogs and made good its escape  across our subterranean garage and was never seen again.

Only yesterday I was congratulating myself that the wall extension and climbing plants were at last providing greater privacy in our yard. The secondary consideration beyond livestock control. Pride came before chicken invasion.

I sense a sketch might make this all the more understandable. Top to bottom our yard probably drops about 10 to 12 feet.

Looking South from our French Windows. Chicken not to scale.

#1400 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Pandemic ponderings, Yardening1 Comment

When is a back yard like a nightclub?

In April after a long wet winter.

I had thought my tinkering in the yard yesterday would amount to no real  aesthetic improvement. In daylight I would say that is definitely the case. But last night with the winter lights taken off the washing line, and hung amongst the greenery of climbing plants things did not look too shabby.

The mildew covered slabs just have a bit of unwanted texture that only consistent  sunlight and a good scrub will remedy. Not unlike the sticky carpets of nightclubs and pubs.

I have always liked places of the night. I was an early adopter of going to nightclubs, and knew with first hand experience at my grandparents pub, what the morning after the night before looked and smelled like. All this when smoking indoors in public places was entirely normal.

The morning after the night before in my yard has filled me with horror.

Just before writing this I was googling how to trim Pampas grass. We were sold a tiny one in error about 3 years ago. Over this last wet winter it has thrived and looks like a monster in the small raised bed where it was planted with the other intentional small grasses.

Suddenly there is a time limit to a big yardening endeavour.

“Typically before April”

Already and unknowingly I am on the back foot. There are also no signs that our Pampas has done any dying back during our wet winter.

That is going to be a very dull blog some time next week.

The next google might be, how to dig up a Pampas once it has been trimmed.

#1400 is a big number. #1400 is the number of blogs since I moved on from #Pandemicponderings the original daily blog that recorded the Covid-19 experience. I never intended to be a long term daily blogger. I was just caught between a first blogging course and the follow up which was greatly delayed by Covid-19 restrictions.

So from the drama of Covid-19 to the mundanity of daily life. I turn up here most days and some days not a lot happens.

©thealphawomen club

A lesson worth learning I think.

#1394 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Books, Film, Yardening1 Comment
Crepuscule in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’

Crepuscule is a bare root rose that I planted last year. I thought the name was clunky and ugly until I learned that Crepuscule was a French word for sunset. 

While I was away in December my bare root rose decided to put out her first ever flower.

I was both thrilled and concerned. What is beautifully acceptable in the early summer in Sydney is not the norm in a wintery Stonehouse. She also has a very high standard set by her Australian Cousin.

A new found love of growing roses brings with it some tough decisions. My bare root rose should be concentrating on growing roots not blooms. The secateurs were deployed to Crepuscules first efforts at budding and blooming. A Tragedy, some might say.

Which leads me tortuously to last nights outing to see the film Hamnet. On the day that awards and accolades have started tumbling in from the Red Carpet Film and T.V Awards Season.

I don’t often go to films of books that I have read that don’t seem to naturally lend themselves to a Screenplay. Hamnet was just such a book. Deeply enjoyable and dense but a bit of a tricksy read in parts. I couldn’t quite see how a screenplay could replicate my reading experience.

I shouldn’t have worried, Chloe Zhao the screenwriter and Maggie O’Farrell the original author and now co-screen writer did a brilliant job . Pruning and distilling the original text into something that worked brilliantly for me on screen.

Most times I put books and films of books into different filing systems.

Hamnet joins Perfume by Patrick Suskind as a film that I regard as accomplished as the original Novel. I imagine it works just as well for those who have not read the book.

Pruning and distilling at its best.

#1365 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Yardening1 Comment
View from the Studio window.

The first early darkness of GMT in the studio/work room. We have installed winter lights. 4 years in, living in this house, and the yard is where we want it to be. Even last year the yard did not spark joy when illuminated in winter but the curious weather of 2025 gave us an enormous growth spurt of our container and climbing plants from September until now. We picked a fresh strawberry yesterday and there are still tomatoes ripening.

The loss of natural light in the afternoon is sad but an urban jungle illuminated  by festoon lights is going to be something to look forward to as my afternoons get darker.

The upstairs room above the studio has a deep window seat, a fabulous place for reading books. Largely ignored in the winter it will become the favourite place it often is in Summer.

The window seat also has  really heavy curtains so it becomes like a glass walled hide-out.

Of course seeing our winter yard in the dark, gives a different perspective and already I have spotted a corner where another container tree  might find a home. A Mimosa perhaps?

All this and I didn’t even turn on the old mortuary neon light!

#1325 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Gardens and gardening, YardeningLeave a comment

I realise I have never shared this beautiful passion flower making its way up an external staircase.

No particular reason to share it today. It has been a very rainy day and it is exactly a month since I took this photograph. In that month our weather has downgraded considerably. Passion flower plants are clinging on for dear life in the wind and the rain. A month ago this passion flower was at risk of being scorched on a hot metal staircase.

My own passion flower who was an early bloomer avoided the really hot weather of our summer by appearing and fading in June. Yesterday I unfurled its tiny, curling, climbing tendrils and put it on a path of my choosing rather than the harum scarum route it had decided to take on my washing line.

Actually all the climbing plants were redirected  to my aesthetic desires rather than their own urges yesterday. Roses were pruned.  Growth and direction for 2026 was the name of my yardening passion in a couple of  rare dry hours this week.

Gardening however has taken a real back seat this week. Gardening is done at a tennis club not far from home . But Weeding Wednesday was redesignated No Weed Wednesday to allow the gardeners to celebrate a significant birthday, 60 times around the sun of our gardening guru. 20 people gathered for crisps, cake and conversation. The weeds can grow for another week or maybe longer if this wet weather persists. No Weed Wednesday could become an Autumn/ Winter passion

#1350 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Yardening1 Comment

A late ponder, #1350 was started at 13:50 BST. Late because domestica started early today and involved car domestica and a visit to the vets. All routine stuff but we added peripheral domestica to the core tasks. At 13:50 we are officially in a lull. I could be packing for our weekend camping trip but instead I thought I might celebrate my climbing rose who is just poised at the top of a small wall. Almost ready to begin her career as a Defensive Planting Rose. Once she nips over the wall she will be free to cover our garage roof and hopefully her nasty little thorns will discourage the neighbourhood cats from taking trips to our yard to take a dump in our pots.  She has 14 rosebuds ready to bloom. She clearly has a different objective, putting beauty before Warrior Queen. The only creature she has stabbed so far is me as I gently train her towards my own specific needs , quietly tying her growing shoots towards the top of the wall. Maybe I should have discussed the plan with her.  But her blooms are lovely.

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Yardening1 Comment

Woman and Snail, both doing a balancing act.

Summer is officially here and a job needed doing. We have a large parabolic sun parasol. Something was not quite right with the parasol last year but we put it away regardless. In my experience over-wintering a problem never improves the situation.

Me and the parasol resolved our differences after a few hours of relocating the base and replacing some nuts and bolts. All a question of balance and diligence. I think last year the parasol base was not level which caused a slight imbalance and nuts and bolts do need attention at some point.

On balance all is well that ends well.

Balance was certainly on the mind of this snail who really had no need to take himself along the yard-long stalk of an Agapanthus. Snails do not eat Agapanthus blooms.

On balance all was well that ended well for the snail too.

#1341 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn YardeningLeave a comment

Yesterday it rained and a scrappy old rose that persists in the tropical bed in the yard put on quite the show against the water butt. I am not quite sure why we allow the rose to continue. A misplaced belief that it marks the spot where someone unknown, a previous owner of this house, had buried a beloved pet. It is a very old gnarly thing that has survived against the odds. It blooms throughout the summer, but not really in a meaningful way. The buds are neat and a fresh bloom can be beautiful, as this one is. But within a day the flower will open fully and fall apart. Just looking tatty and ugly.

The bush is mostly hidden beneath ferns. Out of sight and mind. Apart from yesterday when this perfectly pink bloom properly perked up a wet summer morning .