Shieldbug and a couple of gardening mishaps

I bought a clematis and other plants yesterday so spent the day preparing beds and planting. While gardening I spotted this shieldbug which popped in to be today's blip.

The bed that the clematis was going in hadn't been touched for many years and a clematis needs a very big hole. I got a little way down then encountered what I thought was solid concrete and found the same further up so phoned F for advice. He arrived with a metal bar and discovered that the "concrete" was a mass of big stones and bricks so I borrowed the  bar and spent hours digging them out.

Eventually the hole was dug and filled with compost and soil. Though the plant had been soaking for a long time it was very tight in it's pot. I gave it an extra squeeze to get it out and snapped one of it's two stems!

The second mishap was when I was digging in a different place and the prong of the fork went through my shoe. It could have been worse as it has bruised my toenail but not broken the skin.

I must be careful when I cook my tea. Perhaps I should go for a salad.

If anyone is interested, my son Shropshirelad (an occasional blipper) has been fascinated by The Battle of Waterloo since a small boy. At the weekend he went to Belgium to the bicentenary celebrations of the battle and has uploaded two photos of the event.