Harsh lesson

I learned a harsh lesson today. *Always* take your Go Pro to the beach, Jo. Always. I thought there was no point, as I was intending to blip this picture of the "state of Project Raised Beds", but in fact I missed a golden opportunity for an amazing blip opportunity at the beach. I wasn't going to go swimming, but by mid afternoon I decided that was the best way to end what had been a very pleasant day of gardening and general fossicking in the garden. [Plans to go up to TRACC and use the rower were shelved to another day]. The weather has been generally great in Tain, although there was a short shower at lunchtime. But mostly it has been sunny and warm. Heading over to Shandwick it started to rain, and by the time we went in the sea (four of us) it was absolutely chucking it down. I've never had such a "wet" swim. I would have had amazing pictures of the stair rod drops bouncing off the sea if I had only had the go pro :-( Lesson learned. Always chuck it in your bucket, Jo. The sea was also quite flat, with a very high tide (hardly any beach for our buckets), but with a swell which turned into quite large breakers as they rolled in. Very interesting and a lovely experience to share with some sea buddies.

Anyway, back to the garden, which is where we spent the rest of the day. Another stump, or complex of stumps, for a bramble came out, and Mr A also painted a couple of the more intransigent stumps with some stump killer. We're not averse to chemical solutions in this garden although we try brute force first. I also got out the weed sprayer and sprayed the crazy paving, which is showing disturbing signs of filling up with weeds again after all my efforts. Round the back, Mr A was getting on with finalising the raised beds and then filling one of them up with soil and farmyard manure (which we brought back in the car last week from Fraser Brothers, mmm... nice). I have also painted the picnic table. It's all looking really good.

We transplanted the herbs into the completed raised bed, and carried the planter round the front, before heading over to the other garden centre to pick up a few plants to put in the planter (it's an offence in this house to have empty garden real estate).

And by the time we'd done all that, it was pretty much time to go swimming. A successful first day of leave!