I entirely missed the #gardenjournal challenge earlier in the month - everything seems 'in between' - the irises are dying off whilst vegetables are barely begun and stupid stupid bum slaters have been munching on my beans, so that I don't have bean plants bar six, which is freaking annoying. I've been trying all the tricks to get rid of the buggers but there's a grey ARMY of the blighters that seem to multiply over night like some horror show.

Blah. The artichokes are done, the elder flowers are spraying white flower confetti everywhere, the raspberry patch is netted almost ready to go pick raspberries for dinner. That reminds me, I need to build a decent fence around that patch before the damn thing falls down. Because, rabbits. Shakes fist at rabbits.

I did, however, weed today, and put some straw mulch down - it'd been raining so the soil was nice and soft. Beetroot are now under a nice blanket, as are the six remaining bean plants (why did I plant dwarf ones?), spring onions, lettuce, some tomatoes and some eggplant. The slaters have eaten the stalks of the tomato plants in the raised beds so they lose strength and topple. I could cry.

THe compost soil I put in the raised beds is awful, and nothing in there has been growing and is all yellowed, so I had to buy some decent bags of Seasol compost to add. I feel like I'm having more failures than successes lately. Part of it is that I know I'm going away again in a few months so there' slittle real point. I should just stick to making tons of compost.

The grapevine is going great guns - I do love summer for the vibes this beautiful thing gives my garden!

We also have a new chicken. Her name is Scissors. That's because my friend who dropped her off brought scissors to clip her wings as she's used to nesting high - the last one she brought jumped the fence. When she rocked up there was some confusion when she said 'Ive brought scissors' - we thought it was an odd name for the chook she was also holding, so it stuck. She's a French Wheaten.

The kangaroo paw is surviving well in the pot by the newly made deck. Even the grass tree is beginning to flower.

Have to say the back deck is coming along nicely. I was gifted an old daybed I painted black and covered with a sheet. How cool that Jamie ACTUALLY had a rest for a change.

Me, I feel like I've only been resting because of this hip tendonopathy. It's all getting a bit depressing if I'm honest.

In other news though, the pop top camper is coming along, though I'm worried I won't be able to go anywhere in it, we have found a housesitter for January, BTC has been a journey, I went to a funeral with Mum amd we were both okay, the surfs been terrible, and I'm starting to learn how to create video content so we can Youtube maybe, if I'm able to get my pain free life back.

With Love,

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