The first photos of the season. New phone with not very good camera. The garden’s looking a bit bare at the moment. Still, in a couple of weeks there will be leaves on the trees and the plants will have grown a bit and the new ones will look a little less “planted”
NOT conflating the aberrant with the norm like BBC
The bilingual blog about all things British
Love, theatre and ideas
British Wildlife & Photography
Why Scotland should be an independent country
Thoughts about Scotland & the world, from a new Scot
Bipartisan dialogue for the politically engaged
Impartial Informative Always
We Provide The Facts, You Make The Decisions
Exploring Rhymes, Reasons, and Nuances of Our World
Mark Doran's Music Blog
This site supports Scottish Independence
A comic about history and stuff by FT
The embittered mumblings of a serial malcontent.
an irreverent look at UK politics
Your Source For The Coolest Science Stories
The greatest WordPress.com site in all the land!
Nature + Health
http://netbij.com
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Had good spy about yer
Garden no visible immigrants
Or Windrush generation ..
Wos gonna say immigrants but
At the time of windrush they
Were all British subjects same
As any British mainlander.
Anyway the home office will
Give your garden the all clear
TODAY !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ruddy was round this afternoon and cleared the place out, Niko. She was dragging away anyone who had a slight accent… She even went off with the next door neighbour by mistake becasue he’s just back from Turkey and has a bit of a tan.
Still Munguin dropped a pan of British Bisto gravy on her from one of the Castle towers, and the upshot is, I think they are deporting her tomorrow.
LikeLike
Your little Bhudda looks lonely , but content . For early in the season the garden looks good . Ours needs weeded and a cut although the rhubarb has started pretty well , looks like the slugs and snails will feed good this year .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bhuddah gets a lot of company. Munguin goes down from time to time to chat with him, and there’s a stone tortoise just over from him.
It’s so damp I’m thinking that there will be a big crop of slugs this year… have to watch the tender new pants.
LikeLike
Ruddy can come clear the Spanish slugs out my gairden any time she likes. I get quite sluggist where they’re concerned. Yet another pest imported courtesy of inadequate controls. My once pristine 10+ varieties Hosta collection now gets annihilated to the extent that I’m considering not having them any more. They’ll go in the compost cos giving them away would further spread the slug misery to other gardens.
I’m hoping the cold snap snecked the slug population at least a little bit so things may get a decent start early on before the numbers inexorably rise.
I used nematodes last year and they worked well. It’s the only thing I’ve found that works on Spanish slugs. They work on native slugs as well but not on snails.
Eaten to death by worms, what a grisly end, moo-ah-ha-ha-ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Use salt on slugs and watch the little buggers swell and pop , great science experiment for the kids .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beer in saucers all around the perimeter works for me. Occasionally the slugs and snails get there first and alas, they take a sip, get drunk, fall in and drown.
LikeLiked by 2 people
LOL. I bet they have to be quick off the mark to beat you to the beer!
LikeLike
Ouch
LikeLike
Fortunately I don’t see too many here. But I hate killing them.
Hostas are a martyr to slugs and snails.
LikeLike
Your pants are tender and damp?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Course they are… Isn’t everything new, tender… and everything in Scotland, damp?
LikeLike
Dunno about the horticulture, Tris, but Munguin seems to be ace at growing chairs – I counted 5 anyway. Are they self-seeding? – sorry, self-seating?
LikeLiked by 3 people
People have to sit, andi.
LikeLike
Kind of wish I had a garden. All I have is a rather pathetic windowledge or three. Maybe, in sixth months I’ll reveal it! Right now I’d be totally embarrassed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Window boxes can be fantastic.. There’s one person who lives in the next street who always has a fabulous display.
LikeLike
Wow. It’s SO green. My wee plants are still huddled underground and haven’t yet poked through the mud to see the dull grey light of day.
I notice too, enviously, that you’ve photo’d your garden on a dry day. I believe there are parts of the world where this climatic event are not uncommon.
I’m not much bothered by slugs ; they like it damp, but they’re not great swimmers. Actually though, rather than go down the nematode route suggested by Greig, think hedgehog. I know, they like to roam and need space (and don’t like dugs) …but if you can, they’re better fun than nematodes ( I promise). Talking of dugs an’ slugs…please don’t set your dug on the slugs. It’s something to do with lung worm.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s getting greener by the day… and this morning the sun is shining!. It is VERY damp though. I’d love a hedgehog, but we worked out that even including next doors garden (separated by a fence) there’s not enough room. All the way around (apart from next door) it’s high walls.
Slugs picked up and put in a pot then taken out into the country. 🙂
LikeLike
So you have a Tory immigration policy on black slugs then Tris…?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now you come to mention it, Conan, I did get the idea during one of my regular tête à têtes avec Theresa.
But I’m open-minded. I do the same for Green or Brown or even White slugs. And it is for their own good… there’s loads of lovely things to eat out in the country.
What was what the Maybot said anyway…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice looking garden……a bit of greenness in the middle of the big city. I like Jonquils……always among the first blooms of Spring.
There seems to be almost universal condemnation of slugs here…..not to say a certain amount of sadistic violence. The only species of critter never to have appeared among the animals in Soppy Sunday. Insufficiently handsome or cute I guess. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
First, they came for the cats…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wish they would come for the cats. They left 3 gifts in the earth last night covering up plants in the process.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha ha,,, We’ll have to put that right then Danny. Otherwise there will be complaints.
All animals can be cute or handsome though in our opinion. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tris……I love your attitude, but cute or handsome may be a challenge with slugs.
I have a friend who refused to try escargot, declaring snails to be nothing but slugs who carry shells around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can always rise to a challenge to find a cute animal, Danny.
I think your friend is pretty much right about that, but the French certainly seem to like them…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trispw.
Utterly off topic. I’d like to copy and paste this here, else it dissappears. If your not happy about that please delete.
Firstly, from the Herald:
“Donald Trump uses Scots musician’s Tweet to reignite row with porn star over ‘affair’
Martin Williams @MWilliamsHT
Senior News Reporter
Scots musician shrugs off abuse after helping reignite row between Trump and porn star
A SCOTS supporter of Donald Trump has helped to break the US president’s silence over allegations he had an affair with an adult film star.
Mr Trump mocked a new police sketch of a man Stormy Daniels says threatened her seven years ago to stay silent about her claim she had an affair with the president in 2006 saying it was of a “non-existent” man who threatened her.
HeraldScotland:
It came after freelance musician and teacher Shenna Fox from Lanarkshire, who goes by the Deplorably Scottish handle posted a tweet that appeared to indicate that the sketch resembled Daniels’ ex-husband.
She posted a side-by-side comparison of the pencil sketch with a photo of Daniels’ husband Glendon Crain, a fellow adult film star and former heavy metal drummer and commented: “Oops! This is awkward!”
READ MORE: Porn star Stormy Daniels seeks Donald Trump’s answers under oath
The president, who has denied the affair, retweeted Ms Fox’s tweet and commented: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
HeraldScotland:
“Welcome to the playing field,” her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted in response to Mr Trump.
The Scot’s tweet led to online speculation that the porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filled in details from her own memory of the man who has been her partner since 2010.
But it also led to some online abuse of Ms Fox, who voices support for Trump to over 22,000 followers.
One tweeted called her a “dumb c***”.
Ms Fox was philosophical, saying: “It’s the dark side of social media and if you put yourself out there, you have to be prepared to take the abuse.”
HeraldScotland:
She said she is now staying off social media over the next few days as she needs to “stay focused” for a weekend choir competition.
Mr Avenatti also claimed that ‘FBI search warrants were “uncovering EXISTING documents and recordings showing con job after con job pulled on REAL people and very REAL American citizens (who didn’t know it)”.
That was believed to be a reference to longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who has locked horns with Mr Avenatti in recent weeks.
READ MORE: FBI raid Trump’s lawyers offices and seize documents relating to porn star Stormy Daniels
The FBI raided Mr Cohen’s home and offices earlier this month seizing business records, emails and documents.
HeraldScotland:
And in a further digs at the president, Mr Avenatti (above) wrote: “In my experience, there is nothing better in litigation than having a completely unhinged, undisciplined opponent who is prone to shooting himself in the foot. Always leads to BIGLY problems…like new claims (i.e. defamation). LOL.”
READ MORE: Lanark choir gets special invite to sing for Donald Trump in New York
He added: “Warning: As the walls close and reality sets in that the most damaging witnesses, secrets and evidence are no longer protected, fully expect the following: sheer panic, personal attacks, tirades, and distraction. But none of it will change the outcome in the end…”
The adult film star is suing Mr Cohen for defamation and fighting Mr Trump’s lawyers who are seeking at least $20m in damages from her for breaking a 2016 non-disclosure deal.
The tweet about the sketch came hours before a second day of meetings between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Topics include trade and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
HeraldScotland:
She has filed a lawsuit to scrap the agreement, which her lawyer believes is invalid because Mr Trump did not sign it.
Ms Fox, who has previously spoken of playing for Trump at his Turnberry golf resort and striking up a friendship with his security chief Keith Schiller, was part of The Lanark & Carluke Choral Union that performed for Mr Trump at a special event in New York three years ago.
They performed at an international concert held at Carnegie Hall to celebrate Martin Luther King Jnr day.
READ MORE: Trump lawyer denies intimidating porn star Stormy Daniels
But Mr Trump was so impressed that he invited them along to Trump Towers to sing for him.”
Secondly and to save repeating myself, thirdly, from me:
(1) ”
“We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.”
So, reasonably then. should your readers.
This is utterly unconvincing paperwork as journalism.
There will be more to follow……
Assuming, of course that the Herald’s “User Agreement” is not a one way street. Which may be a stretch.
More to follow.”
And
(2)
“On the other hand:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scottish-donald-trump-supporter-convicted-10687526
I trust you will allow this link, otherwise you are being disingenuous, and I would hate that.”
For folk that don’t do links she would appear to be a person of few moral scruples. In other words a Donald Trump wannabe.
Just sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Scoop!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bloody hell… what a weirdo!
LikeLike
Since then,I have modified my comments on T’Herald in a more aggressive way. It will be ‘interesting’ to see whether they are in favour of ‘free speech’ or prefer propoganda.
Deletion in three, two, one……
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see from the pics that Munguin is very much into container gardening. My own little plot is full of containers – drinks cans and wine bottles. I don’t bother too much with plants though as I find Mother Nature supplies them in profusion. My early dandelions are the talk of the neighbourhood.
LikeLiked by 3 people
LOL … it sounds a treat… au naturel.
LikeLike
Very nice. I have to say Tris really has a way with rocks and boulders!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Cats find them awkward to get between to use the earth as a toilet. So we had to develop a skill of placing them strategically. Still somehow they manage.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s always the option of converting to a Japanese Zen garden. Often composed purely of rocks and raked gravel or sand that is intended to represent ripples in water and……..”imitates the intimate essence of nature, not its actual appearance, and to serve as an aid to meditation about the true meaning of life”……and miscellaneous other oriental meditational bull c***.
My own theory is that Zen gardens originated with the cat problem in Japan, when the ancient Japanese gardeners simply gave up on green flowering stuff altogether and replaced it with kitty litter……which we know must be raked daily anyway. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
LOL, yep. There must be millions of cats in Japan, I think!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s more or less what I’ve done with mine, for different reasons. Four Jack Russell terrierists making escape attempts put paid to my lawn, and one of them to the Japanese Maple saplings. Yes, he ate them.
I got ill and retired, mowing what was left of the lawn was too much for me, so the garden hut was torn down, tools and lawnmower given away, and nine tonnes of gravel chips replaced it. The lawn, not the hut.
There is still vegetation; a berberis and firethorn hedge, several cherry trees and around two dozen planters so it still looks pretty enough on the three days a year we get to sit out in the sun. I have as many chairs as Tris but they are all arranged around a table, rather than artistically dotted about the garden like Tris’.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am not artistically dotted around the garden, Conan!
But it makes sense not to have a lawn if you don’t really need one.
How could anyone eat a Japanese Maple sapling? They taste awful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A puppy tug game. He used to proudly trot in with bits of stick that used to be four foot saplings.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mowing takes a lot of the fun out of having a big lawn in the summer. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or all the fun really…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, Danny, “lawn order” takes the fun out of a lot of things.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Andi……For sure! 🙂
LikeLike
Few warm days down here (Leicester), which have brought on the tomatoes I grow for the wife on a bit too soon. Fussy bloody things (Lizzie/Katie Belle) but they’re so sweet that Sungold tastes a bit tart apparently.
All I know is I have to get the seeds from France (its an English breed but nobody here sells it) and if they touch leaves then those leaves shrivel (not oedema).
PITA but once they go outside its easier.
Colder weather next week, lets see how they harden up. I’m going for a plant outside (in a sort of hydro setup) at the end of the month. Last ground frost date has been about the start of May here so we’ll see. Got 3 plants spare so if it goes tits up then….
Tomatoes end of July outdoors – maybe….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Vestas, there are many varieties of tomato I’ve found to be trouble-free and need no cultivation skills – to name but a few – Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, M&S’s, Waitroses’s and the continental cultivars – Lidl’s & Aldi’s. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Munguin is partial to a tomato or two…. 🙂
LikeLike
When are you open to the public?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, all year round, although a visit is probably best in late May, when hopefully things will be looking more settled.
Very welcome anytime, Marcia.
LikeLike