Guest post: "Oh What the hell!" - by Jilly Harrison

Well, here I am in Tom's guest bed (hope it's king size as I do move around a lot), you may be asking yourself what the heck is she going to write about with a title 'What the Hell'!

Let me explain, I have a lovely farmhouse in Southern Brittany, France, typical chocolate box type, really pretty, just the type of place where people want to come for their holidays, it would be ideal to have part of it as a Gite to let out for people to come and stay and enjoy, sigh, but hey hang on, I do have a Gite I let it out for people to come and stay and enjoy LOL.

So, I have 10 hanging baskets along the front, really pretty with trailing petunias (surfinias), geraniums everywhere, including upstairs in my 'Mary Poppins' style window boxes, a decorated bicycle with hanging geraniums etc., really lovely, and lots of other lovely flowers dotted around, and of course a veggie patch to the rear.

I hear you saying 'she's showing off now' but it's damned hard work as you know, and I do not have a perfect garden, I would if I was out there 24/7 but of course who could! I suppose you could say I am a fair weather gardener, when it was so hot, my hanging baskets needed watering twice a day, as they are a bit too high to be comfortable to water easily, I use a footstool, but often I was too hot and couldn't be bothered to find the stool, so watered them haphazardly as couldn't reach properly, so of course water didn't reach the plants properly and just ran out WHAT THE HELL!

Needless to say I was too hot to dead head my flowers so would try and do them in the evening, but Keith my partner would say lets have a glass of wine about 6ish outside, lovely and relaxing, so of course never did them WHAT THE HELL!  Consequently, some of my plants died, tried to revive them with water when I realised it was probably too late, note to myself must try harder next time.

Our veggie patch at the back is rather open to the elements unfortunately, and more often then not I could not be bothered to weed as either it was too hot or too windy, also watering was a pain as had to open the barn door to get to the hose, so some of the time I didn't bother whoops, lost some veggies this way WHAT THE HELL!

NOW it's getting so much colder, it's going the other way, too cold to do much out there, I really cannot garden when there is no sun, I really can't! the garden is crying out for my attention, so decided to try my best and last week dead headed a lot of my tagetes as I thought this is silly not to as there are so many lovely buds still to come! but when I went out there to start I found the dreaded mole had done it's deed, there were these large mounds around them and everywhere else in the garden,! so I thought WHAT THE HELL can't be bothered, but I did dead head them, felt so proud of myself LOL, (please someone tell me I was good will inspire me to do more dead heading)!

Now one of our cats always wants to poo right by my tomatoes as were (pulled them all up now), the area is half gravel and half weeds, and above is one of my hanging baskets, I usually pick it up with a spade and throw it across the road in the land of someone who is really nasty and uncoperative, (got to get my own back) but that's another story. But it was rather cold one day last week and I couldn't be bothered to do it, I was giving my plants a water as they were desperate, when yes you guessed it....I trod on the crot! (French for poo/shit) and I though bugger WHAT THE HELL!

I grew some red cabbages, I love red cabbage my mum is Dutch and they always use red cabbage for so many recipes, was so proud of my home grown cabbage plants, took them round to the veggie patch to plant them, when I realised it was too weedy to plant, thought right I will do some weeding tonight and plant them (it was hot then) did I heck, yesterday I went round there, they were still sitting in their trays as weedy as anything half starved, too late now 2 months on to plant so chucked them in the farmers field (don't like him either - yet another story) WHAT THE HELL!

I have just over an acre of land a lot of it is grass and I have my sit on mower, I absolutely love going round cutting my grass, the sound and smell of cut grass is so relaxing, problem is the battery is dead (needs a new one but too expensive at the mo) and I need someone to jump start it from a large battery charger I have, you have to sit on the tractor otherwise it will cut out, can't do this by myself, so the other afternoon it was dry enough to give it it's last cut of the year, but there was no one there to help me start it, so of course I didn't do it and now the grass is too wet and horrible to cut WHAT THE HELL!

Today is chilly but beautiful with the sun out, so I am going to try my best and plant my spring bulbs I so proudly bought a few weeks ago in time, (not like me), but I can feel a WHAT THE HELL coming up as the clouds are gathering and I might just not do them!!

A friend dropped me off some strawberry plants yesterday, that's really nice of him, but even though I want and like them, I don't think I will get them planted as I'm beginning to lose interest in gardening due to it being colder, WHAT THE HELL but I must try!

It's getting really cold now as I said, and this morning there was ice on the windscreen aagghh hermit time coming up! once my plants have become culprits of the frost then THAT'S IT I will then become a GARDEN HERMIT and I lose total interest in the garden 100%!  I then turn to the computer and all my favourite gardening sites, and look at what I can do different next year, cheers me up when I look at my flower photos as well!

Well I've ranted on rather a lot, hope you weren't too bored, I wonder how many of you are similar to me would love to know!  I really do love my garden, but as mentioned before, I really am a fair weathered gardener, and if the temperature is just right and no rain or wind and there is sunshine, you wouldn't get me out of my garden for anything!

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As Jilly was keen to assure me and all readers that despite her evident s love of the fine sunshine, finer French countryside and finest wine, at heart her number 1 love is gardening. This is evident by the fact that she brings gardeners together through her passionate writing on her website, and by hosting a bustling Facebook page.

Click here for Jilly's Facebook page and once you've joined that, take time to indulge in her website, which can be found here http://www.lamaisondesfleurs.com

Jilly is the latest my distinguished company of guest writers to pour forth and share instinctive gardening emotions with us all. Head over to my guest bed to wallow in sorrow, immerse yourself in love, feel the heart wrenching but happy pain of hopeless romance and more...