Having said this, as quickly as the grass grows, the flowers come back too. There’s also lots of our garden where we just leave the long grass to flourish, and that is a veritable haven for wildlife. Just as I was putting the lawnmower away yesterday (it is a powerful, heavy petrol mower which it needs to be to cover the lawns we have here), a small brown toad about the size of a 50p piece tried to hide underneath it and had to be gently rescued away into the long grass where it waddled away (for anyone who doesn’t know – the way you can tell the difference between frogs and toads is that frogs hop but toads walk).

Here are some of the flowers in the garden at the moment.

Laburnums in full flower

Cherries starting to form

Wild orchid near the pond

Water Lilies coming out of bud

Wild rose bush

Our pond

This is all well and good but it is really too hot here at the moment and I could really do with an afternoon of genuine Argyll rain (don’t tell the tourists I said that though).

The trouble with our garden (beautiful as it is), is that it is so huge that everything takes a major effort, and anything which needs bought for it costs a lot of money. By which I mean for example, that replacing wooden border edging which would cost £100 or so and take a day to put in in an ordinary suburban garden becomes a bit more of a challenge when you scale it up to over an acre (that is just the fully domesticated piece – the full property is over 3.5 acres). And garden programs on TV don’t really cover the kind of problems you get in rural Argyll – things like a tree is threatening to topple and needs properly felled and cut up, or sheep getting in, or deer eating the magnolias, or badgers destroying your lawn.

Anyway, today I cleared a load of last year’s vegetation and cut back a load of brambles. Pruned the clematises and honeysuckle, removed all the plants from the decking and hosed it down ready to be re-stained, fixed the summerhouse door and painted most of the inside of the summerhouse. Phew…

But while I was standing doing the painting, the sun was out and the rain pouring into the pond at the same time, and all I could hear was the rush of the Donich and the low murmuring of the frogs in the pond. And I though – this is a bit of alright….

First we went to the Galloway Wildlife Park. We’ve been many times and how many actual animals you see is variable. Today was not a good day for them because a) there is loads and loads of vegetation equating to loads of places to hide b) it is really hot so the majority of creatures just want to do what our cats do and find somewhere to curl up and sleep in the shade. So about the best thing we saw was a tortoise (pictured) which didn’t seem to mind the heat. When I was a child these were common household pets but you don’t see them any more – rightly so as they were treated with huge cruelty while they were being imported. Anyway the wildlife park is generally great fun – but hot afternoons in July are not the best time for it.

Then we went to Kircudbright (pronounced Kircoobree) which is a scenic coastal town renounced for its artists. Looking very fetching in the sun today and quite busy. We then went to see Broughton House which is an NTS property with a stunning garden (some pictures on this post). Finished up in the gardens at the centre of town with a ‘Cream of Galloway’ ice cream. So a pleasant afternoon.

We still have some nice ones in July though – the hydrangeas are looking lovely, as is the buddleia. I’d always thought of the latter as very good for wildlife – though apparently it is less good than I had thought as under some circumstances it can actually be detrimental to butterflies by out-competing native plants which provide food for butterflies in their larval stages (R got this from BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28196221). Anyway – it smells lovely and the bees are all over it. We certainly are not short of bees here which is good.The water lilies are still magnificent as well – even though I say so myself I’ve never seen such fantastic ones in a private garden before.

Today’s pictures also seem to incorporate Schrodi who took a bit of time off hunting to meet us at the gates when we came back from our walk. He is an absolute devil for mice and voles at the moment – on average he is bringing in at least two a day. Yesterday I picked a jumper up off the floor and discovered an (unhurt) baby vole underneath it. I picked it up in both hands to rescue it and then discovered that I had shut the door behind me and couldn’t open it again without releasing the vole. While I was yelling for R – who was quietly oblivious listening to music in his office – the vole was desperately trying to escape by repeatedly biting my fingers – luckily it was too small and young to make much impact. When I finally got R to open the door I released the vole in the garden and it shot off at a rate of knots – hopefully the wiser from its near-death experience. And the same afternoon Tora got in on the act by bringing in a large (dead) field mouse….

On the positive side… Every morning for the last week I have had enough strawberries for a bowl with yoghurt for breakfast. The peas are doing quite well and I tried the first pod today – a bit small but very sweet and lovely. The first tomatoes are set (only on the few plants I bought in in case the seeds didn’t grow – but the seed grown ones are in flower now). We have many spring onions and too much salad (R does not like it). I’ve had quite a lot of ‘snowball’ type turnips which are great peeled and eaten like an apple – only the inside ones survived though – something ate the ones which I put out in the veg patch. Also lots of herbs and it is great picking them in handfuls just like Jamie Oliver. The first courgettes are just coming through as well along with the squashes – and if they all grow we will have lots. Outside the stuff is doing less well but the potatoes look ok as do the onions. I wasn’t expecting much from the gooseberries and currants I planted this year – but I will have a few handfuls at least.

On the negative… My beans had lots of flowers but don’t seem to be making any pods. Perhaps they didn’t get pollinated in the tunnel but it is odd if that is the reason because the peas right next to them seem fine. Outside did not go well at all early on – none of the sprouting broccoli made it and the turnips and sprouts have only had a few survivors. But the stuff I planted in May has done much better – I suspect at least partially because the slugs had other things to eat by then.

So lots and lots of lessons learned for next year – the two biggest being a) don’t start too early – it is a waste of time and effort, and b) don’t plant more than you can easily take on – a lot of my stuff has suffered every time I have had a big test and been too busy to devote TLC to them.

Also – self-sufficiency is a long way off for us – I’ve put major effort in and we have been nothing like self-sustaining in anything so far – except perhaps herbs. Next year I need to put better consideration in what to grow and be a bit more selective. Also if I worked out how much the veg we have had cost per pound it would be the most expensive I have ever eaten – we could have bought it all from Harrods and had it delivered for the money it has cost us

The water lilies and irises are coming out. The cherry (I think) tree in the hedge is in full blossom. There are bluebells (or as R calls them ‘those purple flowers’) everywhere. The polytunmel is nearly full and I have transferred most of the tomatoes to the greenhouse (still haven’t managed to get it repaired but less important for the next few months). The only thing not doing that well is the outside vegetable plot which has potatoes, onions and the fat slugs which ate the turnips, broccoli and sprouts.

We’re going to be very busy over the next few weeks (including some days on site in Glasgow) so sadly will not be getting as much time as I like to spend out and about. So a little time for quiet reflection on how beautiful it is here.

In the cultivated formal garden to the front of the house, the two magnolia trees are out. The pieris is like a bonfire all along the borders -I honestly had never seen it any larger than a house plant back in West Lothian – but here it seems to grow into a tree. The azaleas are out around the patio and while we were away, the primula have finally started to open. Also the heather is a fantastic show of purple and white and there are more bees and butterflies than you can shake a stick at.

This afternoon I planted the tomatoes into their final home in the greenhouse. I seem to have overdone the numbers a bit, as even though not every plant survived, I still have nearly seventy. And 30 assorted pepper plants, 6 courgettes and 8 squashes. As apparently one courgette plant provides for a family of four, and as in our little team we have myself (likes courgettes), R (not mega-keen on them), Tora (obligate carnivore) and Schrodi (likewise), we may be going to have a bit of a surplus. The beans and peas are also coming through strong in the polytunnel.

Outside is more of a mixed bag. The first early potatoes are looking good and the second earlies are now coming through as are the onions. The sprouting broccoli has been almost totally eaten by something and there is no sign of the carrots I planted growing at all.

Nicest of all are the wild flowers popping through everywhere. I think we are going to have a magnificent bluebell display shortly and there are foxglove seedlings all over the place. The primroses which first put in an appearance back in early March are also still going strong. Perhaps the most beautiful and delicate though is the violet, and we are starting to see clusters of these as well.

Our other visitor is a large sheep which showed up for the first time yesterday afternoon at the bottom of the front garden. Schrodi saw it and his tail puffed up like a brush; for a moment we thought he was going to go for it even though it is ten times his size. He thought better of it and this morning it was gone, however this afternoon it was back – and today it has worked its way round the back and is greatly enjoying the grass there. I have always liked sheep (I used to have a pet one called Crackers as a child) and it would certainly keep the lawn cropped, however I think it would be death to the concept of growing any vegetables – quite apart from the fact that it must belong to someone who may be missing it….