Old Barrel

Tuesday, 14th June 2005

barrel
Drawn with an Edding 1800, 0.1 mm

We've usually got bedding plants - often pansies - in this half barrel but it's gradually rotting away and we're going to replace it with a group of smaller pots. Should we:

  • break it up and use the staves for a habitat pile?

  • or sink it into the ground as a small pond down in the meadow area?

If so, it will need lining if it's to hold water.

 

Bean-nibbler #1

rabbit
rabbit
rabbit

I've been sitting at the dining table, drawing the barrel through the patio windows. I'm surprised to see a rabbit appear on the lawn. Barbara opens the back door and it runs off but she has to go halfway down the garden path before it dives under the hedge and goes back into the field.

Bean-nibbler #2

runner beansOne by one the runner bean leaves are getting nibbled. If the plants Barbara put in pots on the patio are going to stand a chance we're going to have to put them out of harm's way. I carefully inspect the plants and pots for any hidden slugs or snails and put them on the patio table.

As Bill Oddie was saying on Springwatch the other night, slugs and snails have taste buds in their feet so if they come to something uncomfortably distasteful, like a copper band, they'll turn back. I'm hoping that the legs of the patio table, painted green will be suitably off-putting. Next Page

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk