Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' luvelies, It's a glorious morning here at Long Mizzle. The sun is just starting to fill the top patio, where it will sit hot all day. I'm not one for basking in the sun, much preferring early mornings and evenings, when the light is sweet and magic.  Happily I don't have to rush off anywhere, and project 'Marie Kondo the living daylights out of the wardrobe' will just have to wait until later. Here are some pictures taken last night, at around 9pm, once the sun had dipped down behind the hedges and fences.  Sometimes I am serenaded in the garden by a little pink Ukelele playing wandering minstrel -     The minstrel's services will be paid with apples - Unfortunately I lost three dahlias by leaving the tubers in the ground over winter: 'Heatwave', 'Spanish Dancer' and 'Totally Tangerine' all gone. I suspect they got too wet and rotted - lesson learnt! The orange 'Pooh' type are positively unruly though. Dahlia 'Ma...

 Hello m' slim shadies, After a two day heatwave shattered UK records, my trusty Glass Storm Barometer warned me that a storm was imminent. The next morning I woke to a drastic drop in temperature, thunder and lightening. Climate change has officially arrived, just as the scientists said it would all those years ago. Sadly environmental scientists don't rule the world, knobbers do.  Above left - barometer in fine weather | Above right - rapid ascension of blue liquid in snozzle means approaching storm (see monkey blog post here for more detail). If it pees, batten the hatches! Below: Down by the morning cool, Penryn Marina  Whilst the holiday makers were rollicking in the sun on the beach, I was crunching on ice cubes, taking shade where I could. Obviously all the parasols had sold out, so a little improvisation was required for the top patio -    Approaching storm after the heat -  Very little gardening happened during the heat . Contrary to what Monsieur...

 Hello m' stormy teacups, Seems like I've been working too hard lately. As my old kindly boss used to say each day at elevenses "Let's get our priorities right and put the kettle on" ...and get out into the garden! (I added that last bit) Long Mizzle is recovering from Storm Aurore. She whipped up the English Channel with a reported tornado and 60 mph winds. At one point, the Trachycarpus Palm was bent right over, the leaves almost touching the ground. A tree surgeon friend of ours tells us these were some of the only trees to survive the hurricane of 1987 (the one Michael Fish famously dismissed), on the estate he manages in Sussex. The lower leaves get incredibly scraggly looking, so I trimmed them off. Soon our ladder will be too short to manage this though.  Spot the new addition to the upper terrace? Give us the netball and move aside kids, watch and learn!   We were lucky -  the only damage really was some battered sunflowers and one toppled Aeonium pot. ...