Summer in the garden

I'm not a gardener but I love my garden. It's at it's best in the Spring, probably because I put in most work in the Autumn and Winter. In Spring it's full of daffodils, followed by masses of Bluebells. By Summer it's pretty welldoing it's own thing and gets a bit out of control and by Autumn it's jungle clearance time.
I love nothing better in the summer than to take a blanket, book and a bottle of

wine and watch the butteflies and bees on the Aquilega and Marjoram and Buddlea.

This year it was going to be different. I was going to GROW VEGETABLES. It started off alright.In the Spring the lettuce and radishes and spinach flourished in the cold frame and the beans and peas shot up in pots outside the backdoor. Then the slugs discovered this new gourmet restaurant and said 'Thankyou very much', but didn't even leave a tip. The cat made a bed on the onions and chased the frogs, who were suposed to eat the slugs, into next doors garden. Evan the mint,which has been around for years and I thught was indestructable disappeared. I did have a bit of success with potatoes in animal feed sacks.

I tried crushed egg shells, coffee grounds and lawn clipping around everything, but the slugs obviously hadn't read the books which say these are meant to either be a deterrant or fill them up so much they haven't room for the really tasty stuff. y the time someone sugested seaweed the was nothing left to put it around, so I can't say if this would have worked or not!
A friend uses 'slug pubs', but I hate the thought of fishing out drowned slugs, similarly I'm not sure what to do with any found under grapefruit halves_ I suppose I could throw them next door to join the frogs!

Meanhile the Honeysuckle, Clematis and Jasmine were rambling out of control, the Rosa Rugosa were growing tall and treelike, but not producing as many flowers as usual, and thev Willow tree was going mad forming a roof over the far end of the garden.

So I carried on lieing on my blanket reading my book, drinking my wine and watching the bees on the Aquilega, Marjoram and Budlea.