Judas tree leaf

I bought the Judas tree in 2005. It didn't get planted out for quite some time, and I was afraid that it wouldn't 'take' when it did. The first few years it seemed to struggle, but has now grown magnificent, with a spreading canopy of leaves that will, in a month or two, turn yellow and orange. In the spring it has delicate pink.buds. Today I finally freed it from the brambles and nettles that were growing underneath, and the foliage of other other, overlapping trees. I had a go at snipping the overhanging laurel from next door. I need a ladder, though. Or maybe chainsaw training. Then there's a ghastly privet hedge that we inherited. I pruned it, but it still looks spindly. I even climbed a tree to cut down a branch, making sure not to sit on the offending limb. I also freed up "the last wilderness" from nettles and brambles. The St John's wort can now be seen in its autumn colours. There are two enormous tree-piles at the end of the garden, but I jump on them to keep them down.

I've left a little wild patch behind the spare kitchen in its tarp (!) because some creature lives there, on a bed of straw. It did cross my mind recently that an actual.person could have been living at the bottom of our garden, possibly using the rickety old shed and the 'woodland/green room'. We would never have noticed, because the garden was so overgrown that we could not get to the bottom without s lot of clothes-ripping and swearing. He or she or prefer-not-to-say would have had to share the space with badgers, though, and the owls are bloody noisy. Then there's the 4 am cock-a-doodle-do! from next door's rooster. I can think of quieter spaces to sleep.

Did you know that, in the noughties, a man spent a considerable time living in the Odeon cinema in Cheltenham, behind screen 4? Unfortunately that cinema is gone now, though the building remains.

Apart from gardening and getting my market stall kit together, I haven't done much today. The sun was inferno-hot, but under the trees I was cool. Was supposed to go and see GG, but we ended up playing phone tag and never actually speaking. I was happy to be at home in my filthy double-thickness clothing. We loaded the car for the tip trip tomorrow. Twenty four bags of green waste! We have to empty them into vast containers when we get there. We were right to do it early, because later it started to rain heavily..We haven't heard that sound for so long, it was a welcome relief. I can feel smug now because if I don't get any gardening done tomorrow because of rain, or pressure of time, I will have done a triple shift today.

Oh, and if you ever see those ants that live in plastic sacks buried in the garden, don't touch them, ants or the sacks. Check your clothing for stowaways. Cover the sack over and say a little prayer. Above all, remember , you don't want to be stung, or bitten. Similar to fire ants in their intensity, these creatures really mean business. If you've never met one, you're lucky.

At least I still have the use of my fingertips. Ants very nearly stopped play.




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