The War Of The Weeds.

Despite the threatening clouds this morning it's been a dry day with lots of sunshine in the afternoon. So I've spent the whole day weeding and weeding and more weeding. The ground is still quite wet so most things come out quite easily. Apart from the yarrow which has a club root that can be 6-8" long and if you break the root it grows again. The best tool for getting it out is our longest biggest screwdriver.

One of the trees that overhangs the chicken run is covered with pale green catkins, I think it's a kind of willow. The colour made a nice contrast with the dark green leylandii hedge.

My first weeding job was this stone lined ditch that directs the groundwater that pours out of the hillside into the pond. On the wet (hill) side are lots of astilbes and primulas which thrive in the very wet conditions. On the dry side are heathers and golden marjoram. As I cleared away old growth and dug out weeds the air was filled with the scent of the marjoram. I love aromatic plants. They are so evocative of hot Mediterranean summers.

The heathers were filled with the sound of the bumblebees and I finally caught this one in its aerodynamically impossible flight. While I was taking those photos I could really smell the heather which I hadn't considered having much of a scent. Later in the afternoon I got stung by a bumblebee as I was clearing some long grass. I don't mind getting stung but the last few times I got stung by a bee I had a significant reaction and I was advised to keep anti- histamine tablets just in case. Either because it was a bumble bee sting through my gardening glove or because I took a tablet and applied ice (a bag of frozen green beans), I have been lucky and there has been no reaction. The bee flew away so hopefully they're not like honey bees which die if they sting you.

This flowering currant looked very pretty against the blue sky.

The skunk cabbage keeps producing interesting shapes which I can't resist photographing. The kingcups are at their best attracting smaller bees to their shining flowers. If the weather is dry tomorrow I'll be torn between gardening, with the sounds of the birds, the wind chimes and the stream or getting on with clearing up all my school paperwork. At least with only Peter and myself at home there is the minimum of cooking and tidying to do. I'm working my way through the basic housework and even washing curtains to hang out in this lovely weather.