Holidays over, it's back to reality, starting with last night when I went to lock the chickens in their house, and found a newly gnawed rat hole in the corner of the door. That was disgusting and rather tedious, and means it is time for a campaign of rodenticide in the pot shed next to the run, in case rats are living underneath. I don't like using them, but we can't have rats around the chickens.
Back also to the plant centre. They've had some deliveries of trees and shrubs since the last time I was there, which is always interesting, and I kept an eye out for what was new as I did my share of the watering. More of that needed doing than I was expecting, but I suppose yesterday was sunny and fairly breezy. Given the forecast for the rest of the week we shouldn't need to do much tomorrow. By the time I emerged from the staff room after my lunch it was raining, and it looks as though that is due to continue until further notice. It was cold as well, not what we need for trade.
One couple drove from near Norwich because we had a particular Viburnum that she wanted. She was given our name by her local Nottcutts, and was rather hurt that they wouldn't order one in specially for her. I explained gently that they might not even have a supplier who grew that variety. I can think of several other reasons why they wouldn't order in a plant they didn't list, like that they wouldn't have a stock code for it on their computer. Having driven all the way from Norfolk she bought a couple of other things as well, and pronounced herself pleased with the place, while lamenting that it was so far away. I suggested that she could do as some of our other customers did, and make a day of an occasional visit, combining it with a trip to the Chatto gardens.
Another couple who had travelled a distance, though not so far as Norfolk, had just come from Beth Chatto's. They were on the second year of a total garden redesign, and wanted advice on choosing trees. They'd already done their homework, with a list of species they liked the sound of, a roughly drawn plan of their garden that made sense, and a fairly clear idea of what they wanted the trees to do. They invited me to sit at their table in the cafe, and we had a long and civilised chat about their list, while I suggested a couple of others that might do for two beds near the house, and a point on the boundary where they wished not to see the next door bungalow. It was much more fun than standing in the greenhouse weeding trolleys of peonies, and they seemed genuinely grateful for the advice.
A man shopping with both parents and his small daughter turned out to be choosing trees for their fiftieth birthday present to him. When he was out of earshot his mother muttered that it seemed a funny thing for a present, but it was what he wanted, and I assured her that trees were great and would be an excellent gift. He was considering a birch with brown bark, and I was able to draw on my memories of the beautiful Betula albosinensis var. septrionalis I'd admired at Edinburgh Botanic and describe to him what it would look like when it was bigger. However, he chose Betula nigra in the end. The Chinese red birch has glossy reddish bark with horizontal lines of lenticels (the pores through which the stem breathes) and you could almost mistake it for a cherry, while the river birch has very shaggy, peeling bark, which he preferred. The Norfolk couple were also eyeing up Chinese red birches, so I ended up describing the joys of the Edinburgh tree again.
I discovered the fate of the pea chick, which was not eaten by the fox after all, but drowned in the formal pond. That's a shame, for it was a nice little thing. Large formal ponds with more than a small drop from ground to water level are potentially very dangerous for wildlife and pets, which if they fall in may not be able to scramble out again. In a small pond then if you put in a ramp a struggling creature will probably find it, but in a large area of water the victim is unlikely to discover the way out. Even cattle water troughs can be a hazard to birds, and the Barn Owl Trust appeals to farmers to install floats in their troughs, so that any owl or raptor that falls in while trying to take a drink can get out again. In your own garden a water butt can be deadly. Ours all have lids, though we would do that in any case because of the cats.
I was pretty cold by the time I got home, and it was almost dark, while it wasn't properly light this morning when I got up. It's a slightly gloomy thought that the days are shorter than the nights now, and last night we lit our first fire of the autumn.
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