Cat flap / New planting / Pigeon - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Sunday 29 September, 2024

by Rosemary at 7:36pm in Smallholding 3 comments Add your own

Monday 23^rd September

Real autumn feel today; cool, overcast. The trees are starting to change in earnest and the ponies’  coats are thickening up.

Spent three hours at our new Indy Hub, then delivered some leaflets. Festival stuff next. Really need to get a shift on.

Dottie caught a pigeon. Don’t know who was more surprised. I thought she might have peaked with butterflies. Cooper killed it.

Dottie's pigeo, with Cooper.

Tuesday 24^th September

Strangest day, weatherwise. Lovely this morning; so lovely, Lorna and I had a walk along the front in Tshirts. Just after lunchtime, the heavens opened; absolutely torrential rain and hail. Then it went off and the sun came out, although the previous warmth had gone.

A box of plants and bulbs was delivered yesterday. More bulbs than I expected, but at least my spreadsheet of plant orders was correct.

This afternoon, we planted up one of the little beds outside the formal ones. We used Creeping Phlox, in pink, white and blue at the back and Aubretia, in red and blue at the front. We underplanted with miniature Narcissi Tete a tete, Minow and Pueblo.

New bed planted.

The next bed around the formal beds has an ivy covered stump, which we’ve chosen to leave; we planted a rescue Hosta from the planters in the back garden a few weeks ago and it looks just about OK and today we added three Prostrate Rosemary. How apt. There's also one variegated Vinca minor and six more ordered - three while, three purple

Loads of bulbs left; some are for the Stumpery but I need to get compost / topsoil to create planting niches.

Bertie was posing.

Bertie, posing.

Wednesday 25^th September

We had a lovely lunch with the Croziers; great food, great company and it was warm enough to sit out on the terrace. Highlight for Dan was being offered use of Alistair’s big petrol driven log splitter.

We have a good crop of pears on three of the four trees. These are ripe and delicious.

Pears.

Thursday 26^th September

Met up with Karen at Kellie Castle; September is probably a bit late for viewing gardens but we did it anyway. We did enjoy it and identified a few plants we’d like to have here. Thank goodness for plant recognition software. The tearoom was closed, so we set off for Pittenweem in search of sustenance, missed the turning then saw a sign (from the gods) “Cheese Farm & Coffee Shop”. Bingo! Nope, coffee shop closed during Covid and hasn’t reopened. We bought cheese, then retraced the route to Pittenweem, found a lovely wee café, had lunch then sat by the harbour chatting until it got too cold. Braw day.

Friday 27^th September

Aargh, Mickey has laminitis. He’s confined to a wee pen in the cow shed, on bute twice a day. I gave him a bed of Fresh Bed (chopped straw) but he was eating it – huge mouthfuls and it’s treated with pine oil – the vet recommended I move it out of his pen, in case it caused a impaction. That would not have been good. He seems fine – he’s used to being shut in. His big buddy is less happy, but Mickey frets if Smokey goes out of sight. Why now? Feck, it’s nearly winter.

Saturday 28^th September

Another lovely day; bright sunshine and little wind. Dan cut the grass; he’s hoping it’s the last time but I’d be surprised.

Mickey looks much easier this morning. Vet called me to follow up our call last night; he’s to stay in for 7 days, reducing the bute in a couple of days.

Spent a good deal of the day on Festival stuff; mostly fretting about what needs to be done rather than doing it but I now have a plan, which always makes me happier.

Sunday 29^th September

Frost at dawn but another lovely day; first off, I stripped the beds and got the bedlinen washed and on the line. It's almost dry now, 7.30pm, so might be good to go back on the beds later. Dan peplaced the broken cat flap in the front door. It's too cold now to have a hole in the outside door. Not sure Dottie knows how to use a cat flap, but we'll find out soon.

After breakfast, we moved the sheep into Home paddock. Loads of grass there – and they were so good, just followed me through two paddocks to Home.

Sheep in Home.

Then Dan rolled the last bale of hay in for the ponies. I’ve let Mickey out of the wee pen, but they’re both confined to the shed and the race. He was sulking a wee bit, hadn’t eaten much and drunk less. Last thing I want if for him to give himself a colic. He seems to be moving fine now, but they’ll both be in for a week. They couldn’t wait to have a lovely grooming session.

The plan is to do a triple hay run after the Festival and before we go on holiday, and bring down six bales that will hopefully do us most of the winter. Big change from two bales a week.

Dan took himself off to top the rushes in Far Ditch and have a look at said ditch. The stretch along Laing’s field has been cleared by machine and the head greenkeeper asked if they could spray the brambles in our stretch with some chemical. We looked it up on t’interweb and said “no”. It was hideous stuff.

That should be the field work done for this year, so for the first time in thirteen years (all the time we’ve had her), Miranda the tractor gets to come in under cover. She has a wee leak of antifreeze, so John the Tractor will be swinging by to effect a repair soon.

Our gallant wee tractor, in for the winter.

I gave the bird bath a much needed scrub, then got on with some Festival stuff. Just need to get through the final three weeks. My head got in a mess on Friday and yesterday, but I’ve got it sorted out now. Might sleep better now.

I love Blush Noisette. We say it years ago at Geoff Hamilton's garden in Rutland. It was probably about October and this rose was still flowering away. It's such a hardworking rose and has everything.

Type your caption here.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Inverness for the night, calling at the Museum of Highland Life at Newtonmore on the way up and calling in to Birchwood Croft to pick up beef and Sillyflatts Farm to pick up rosettes on Tuesday. Hope the weather is OK.