Well...slugs, naturally! Lots of them and so disgusting did they look, that I couldn't bear to photograph them. I did wonder whether the birds would appreciate Slugs Marinated in Bitter, and might look later at the slab where I laid out their bloated corpses to see if there were any takers (not to mention watching out for inebriated birds attempting to take off across the field).
So, I topped up the Slug Pubs and then helped Kevin to move the mini Stonehenge from its location under the twin conifers that will be coming down in short order and put them on top of the landscaping fabric to help hold it down. We also moved the potting table and various pots and buckets across to that side of the garden to give us a clear run at our soon-to-be raised bed area.
We are waiting for the spares kit to arrive so that Kevin can service the Mantis rotavator, and we've decided on a white picket fence with an arch to divide the plot - something like this, although the pickets are likely to have rounded heads and be a bit taller (I'd love these pointed ones, though, if we could find them):
The pond will be just the other side of the fence, which gives us the opportunity to put in some taller planting - at the moment, there is nothing other than Creeping Jenny (masses of the stuff) and some saxifrages with the odd perennial geranium trying its best. The pond marginals are pretty much non-existent otherwise and the edge of the pond is mostly hidden by wild strawberry plants. Once the conifers are removed, we'll be able to move the pretty flowering cherry that Kevin bought me years ago as an anniversary present - it is beginning to resent being in the (very large) pot now and will do better once it can stretch its roots out.
However, the weather forecast for next week is not promising (rain, much like the last couple of years) so we'll turn our attention to the master bedroom, which really does need redecorating. We have the paint, just need to get cracking!
