Bodnant Garden and Steam Trains

Last week I went to Wales. My parents had hired a cottage at Beddgelert in Snowdonia and asked if me and Orinoco wanted to join them for a few days. Orinoco was busy with work so I went on my own. It was quite a long drive down from Scotland but the look on Mum's face was worth it.
On Tuesday we decided to go to the NT garden at Bodnant. We started off with a coffee in the pavilion when I persuaded Mum to have a wheelchair so that she would be able to see more of the garden (Mum had a stroke a year ago and finds it difficult to walk on slopes and cannot walk far even on the flat). I am so glad we did. To get to the entrance we had to go down a long sweeping slope under the road, then a very steep path past the gift shops to the entrance. Mum and Dad are both NT members, so I was expecting to pay the entrance fee, but the nice lady said the "pusher" gets in free! The gardens are wonderful but apart from the top level they are anything but level!
There is one part of the garden called "the Dell", we went down a very steep slope with me digging my heels in and clutching onto the handles so Mum wouldnt go flying! Coming up was great fun - Dad reckons it was a 1:3 hill! I pushed Mum and Dad pushed me!

It was an exhausting day but Mum enjoyed it so much.





The next day was a wee bit wet, so we decided to go for a trip on the Ffestiniog railway as at least we could see the scenery and stay dry.

The following day we decided to go on the Welsh Highland Railway. This currently runs from Caernarfon to Rhyd Ddu, but next Easter it will run all the way to Porthmadog where the Ffestiniog railway runs from. This runs through Beddgelert and in the morning Dad and I walked up to the station to see how works were progressing.

In Caenarfon we had 2 hours to spend, so we took a gentle walk round the bottom of the castle but the wind was very strong nearly knocking us over. We caught the train back, and I had a Welsh beer on the train back - very nice.
On Friday morning I set off early back to Scotland and got home late afternoon in time to take the junior golf.
A lovely wee break and worth the drive.
Wx

Strulch

What is Strulch?

Strulch ® is a light and easy to use garden mulch made from wheat straw for organic gardening. A patented process is used to ‘preserve’ the straw so that it lasts for up to two years and gives an earthy brown colour.

Strulch has a neutral pH and can be used throughout the garden on borders, raised beds, around cultivated fruit and on vegetable plots.

• Spend less time weeding

Strulch reduces weed growth by up to 95%

• Save water

  Strulch helps retain moisture around plants

• Improve your soil

Strulch enriches soil and its structure

• Use all around the garden

  Strulch is suitable around flowers, shrubs, fruit and vegetables

• Save time and money

  Strulch, the mineralised straw garden mulch, lasts up to two years,spreading the cost, saving water and fertiliser, making your plants grow healthier and stronger and giving you more time to relax.

Well, that is what it says on the tin! Does it do it? I will have to see as this is the first time I have used it. It does smell nice and is easy to use though.
To me the advantage is having something that will improve my soil as well as supressing weeds etc as the main area I have put it needs a lot of nutrients put back in the soil.

Wx

Busy Weekend

WOW what a busy weekend I have had.
Yesterday was our golf club's Ladies Open. I was part of the organising committee, so I tee'd off at 8.30am so that I could enjoy my golf before facing the rest of the day. There was a fair bit of dew on the ground, so we knew that we would not have the advantage that the rest of the field would get later with the ball running on and on. My golf was not exactly the best that I have played, but I did do a stonker of a drive on the "longest drive" hole - just a few yards in front of the green and it remained on the fairway - something unusual for this particular hole! Well, my drive held all day and I won a bottle of bubbly for that. Then on one of our long par 3's I landed my drive just about a yard from the hole and I put it in for a "magic 2" which won me some more dosh!

Luckily we had no hiccups during the day, and the weather was fantastic - very very very sunny and hot.

Today I decided that I needed to spend time in the garden as I had bags and bags of Strulch to put down but I needed to weed and tidy up the beds first. Bed #1 has a dry stone wall around 2 sides and the lawn around the other 2. On the lawn sides I had once put lots and lots of stones to try and keep the weeds down, but this didnt work and looked untidy. I used some of them to build up the bottom part of the wall so that the soil does not overflow onto the pavement. I then turned over the soil and removed lots more weeds. I then mulched with 3 bags of Strulch. Earlier in the year I removed 3 potentillas from the bed and now just want to leave it for a while to renourish the soil.

After lunch I then weeded and de-rocked another bed and Strulch'd it. Last year my neighbours and I felled 2 trees between our houses. We had to leave 6ft stumps as the fence had been built round the trees. Well they were re-growing, so I had to remove all the new growth - hopefully one day the re-growth will stop. I then continued my weeding of another bed and my retaining wall garden.

This was all followed by a body exfoliation, shower and feet up watching the box!

Going to work for a break tomorrow!

Wx

Nice Manager, compost and worms

Well what a difference.

I had to go to the garage yesterday as the car had not had a service book, so when they serviced it (first service) they didnt have anything to stamp. I took the new service book in and the manager got it stamped for me. Then he gave me a luggage cover for when the 3rd row seats are down, and when he put that in for me he noticed I had not got a carpet to cover the luggage space when the seats were down. So he went and got me one. What a nice man, and he did appear very genuine. Restored my faith in car salesmen!

Now to the garden.
I got a new compost bin on Tuesday, I had several of the "dalek" style ones, but they are very difficult to turn the compost in. Then came an offer thru the door for a big one under Waste Aware Scotland. I took them up on the offer and hey presto a few weeks later it was delivered. It took a bit of putting together, but once constructed it fits in well and looks "weathered" and not plasticey at all. I put the contents of 2 of the "daleks" in it, and it isnt even half full! Fabby.



Worms.
I have now sited my wormery on my new decking outside my back door. Warm, but not in full sun so the worms should like it. And I believe they do. They seem to be very active. The other night I noticed a dark stain under the tap at the bottom of the sump. I got a bucket and opened the tap...... and got a bucket full of lovely worm juice to feed my plants on.

No pix today, maybe I will get some for my next blog.

Wx

added piccie of compost bin