stupid annoying rain

A rabbit or rabbits are still working their way round the edge of the further rose bed.  The lawn was littered with bitten off Camassia stems and bits of Kerria japonica.  There were more of them than when we walked around the top lawn yesterday afternoon and the Systems Administrator was cautiously optimistic that the rabbits might have been eradicated from that part of the garden.  Not so, alas.  We haven't seen one on opening the curtains for the past few mornings, but I'm afraid that just means they have got more cautious and are doing their damage at night, or very early in the morning.

I picked up the fallen stems, and started cutting down the remaining ones to give a clear view of the roses, since the Camassia have now finished.  I deadheaded a couple of rose bushes, and planted out an Alstroemeria and a seed raised plant of Melianthus major that were sitting in the island bed left over from yesterday.  It is disheartening planting new things when the rabbits are liable to eat them, and my little pots of Arctotis and Gazania are still sitting in the greenhouse getting rather drawn because I haven't had the heart to spend a morning dibbling them into the gravel, but rabbits don't seem to like Alstroemeria, and Melianthus major smells so strongly of peanuts I'd be surprised if they fancied it.  What do I know, though?  Maybe rabbits like peanuts.

And then, just before eleven, it began to drizzle, not enough rain to soak into the soil and do the garden some good, but just enough to make the gardener damp, and earth stick to everything, and applications of bone meal stick to the foliage of the plant you are trying to feed.  A stupid, annoying amount of rain.  According to the Met Office the chance of rain at that point was only five per cent but there you go, it was raining.

I went indoors for a cup of coffee and sat with the cats and wondered whether the rain was going to pass or accept that it was now raining and change my clothes and settle down to do something else.  When the Systems Administrator got back from Waitrose and Tesco, because Waitrose did not have any kitten biscuits or cat litter, the rain radar settled the question.  A broad band of showers lay behind the initial rain, not due to pass until three, after which it might be dry for the rest of the day if more showers did not build up.

It is infuriating, with so much to do in the garden, on a day when I have not arranged to be anywhere else.  It is very bad luck too for all the people opening their gardens this weekend.  I said as much to the SA, who was more concerned that the cricket was delayed.  If it dries out later I'll be out there until mid evening, which is why I am writing my blog post now.