Vandals!

 I nearly didn't have a blip today. Up at 05:45 to be ahead of the planned power outage at 6am. Down to the cottage to get as much gardening as possible done before the sun reached the valley, then inside cleaning and bed-making. Hurrah! Enough time to spare for my first swim of the year in our modified pool! 'Tastic! Then down to the port to meet the new guests and so it goes, all through the Summer.

I know there is a nest of blackberry ants at the Western end of the bed in front of our house and I have learned not to plant my basil there. But after the sheep were banished from the upper paddock and I was able to bring what remained of my nursery back down from the top terrace I didn't imagine that a plant with a root like a parsnip in a big pot filled with soil more like fired clay was at risk. Well I was wrong! The blackberry ants have extended their tunnels up into the base of the pot and out at the top and begun to dismantle the plant they find beside their front door. I think it will survive