Now we're cooking

Yes, dear reader, I do acknowledge the somewhat defeatist tone of your humble gardener’s last entry. Well, we can put all that behind us today.

A trip to the garden shop yesterday may not have borne fruit (fortunately the blackberry bush guarantees that outcome in a couple of months), but it has scented the property with the sweet smell of success.

I’m not exactly cooking with gas here (impossible as there is no gas on the island), but tonight I will be cooking with my very own herbs.

No, I can’t fool you. This is not a photo of the garden. This is the patch just outside the kitchen door. And, no, that is not some sort of cool, makeshift barbecue pit you spy. At some point in my absence someone decided to pile (I can’t say “build” as there is nothing to bind them together) bricks which had been lying around forever into a circle “feature”. You wouldn’t exactly call this a “feature”? No, neither would I. Doing something about this so-called feature is just one of many items on the long list of Things I Really Must Get To At Some Point.

Anyway, in view of the exciting news that deer don’t like herbs, I decided having some close to the kitchen door would be more convenient than having them way down the side of the house in the garden – especially while doing and undoing the wire fence stretched across the entrance remains my only “gate”. So, the herbs have been re-potted and are currently residing near the back door while I assess whether they can actually get enough sunlight there to survive. If the answer is no (which it very well might be) the herbs will be moved to the garden, by which time, I sincerely hope, there will be a proper gate.

And what, you ask, is with all the oyster shells? Well, I vaguely recall someone once telling me that oyster shells (of which, for some reason, there was a surfeit scattered around by the back door) are good for gardens. I even more vaguely recall this is because they keep slugs and snail at bay. Of course, this exceedingly vague recollection may be completely wrong – or, indeed, I may have imagined this long ago conversation. Only time will tell. (A further advantage of keeping the herbs in pots where they are is that I will never be planting anything edible in the surrounding ground (as it’s almost entirely rock), so slug and snail pellets can be scattered in abundance. (I do want to be an organic gardener, but as I decided in Walthamstow, there are some limits and slugs and snails are those limits.)

But wait, the excitement doesn’t end with the herbs!

I also purchased a ceanothus. I have always loved and wanted one of these, just never had anywhere to put one before. Wish I could say mine looked like the one above already, but that photo was stolen from the internet to give you (and me) a thrill of what’s to come. Mine actually looks like this:

Two very important things about this ceanothus. First, it makes me very happy to have something which will be absolutely beautiful marking the grave of Jenny and Clancy. Second, some research reveals that ceanothus are both deer-resistant and bee-friendly. These are two things I want very much to build into the garden of my dreams (or the garden I end up with).

Although I have discovered that deer repellent exists (no surprise there, I suppose), I am determined not to resort to this unfriendly (and no doubt toxic) product. There are trees galore and lots of undergrowth on my property and as far as I’m concerned the deer have an open invitation to munch on these. One of the loveliest sights on the island (as far as I’m concerned) is looking out the window and seeing deer wandering in your woods. I just want them sniffing over the fence and deciding there is nothing of interest to be had.

Bees, on the other hand, I want to have in abundance. I could (and those who know me know I often do) dig out a soap box to climb on and deliver a toxics diatribe here, but I will spare you, suggesting instead a read of this Guardian article.

Of all the brain dead toxic chemical-related things mankind has done since the mid-20th century (and there have been so, so many), pushing one of the most important creatures for food production on the planet to the brink of extinction has been our greatest crime against ourselves. Ever heard of pollination, you frigging idiot in a lab coat? Do you get why fucking up bees is a bad, bad idea? Clearly these guys had shares in McDonald’s and Burger King, ‘cos they’ve done everything they can to force a meat and wheat diet on the world. Bastards.

Oops, slipped onto the soap box without intending to do so.

Anyway, anyway. You can see why bee friendly and deer resistant is going to be my mantra at the garden shop, wherever possible.