Guerilla Gardening.

First a couple of photos that I took in the garden. This waterfall has decreased in size over the years as the stream has gradually filled up with stones washed down from further up the valley. I thought this photo almost had an oil painting feel to it.

This osteospermum is definitely flowering out of season.

These are not guerrillas, just the boys all togged up for an airsoft session. The guerrilla is in fact me, there is a phenomenon in some cities of guerrilla gardening where concerned citizens creep out under the cover of darkness and plant up featureless traffic islands with something more inspiring than grass. Next to my garden is a piece of wasteland about 50' x 50' belonging to my neighbour. We have asked him several times , if we could buy it but the answer has always been no. Initially he wanted to keep the option open of access to a neighbouring field which he hoped to buy but that is now woodland. A massive bramble thicket grew up with trees on his field boundary that have grown 20' and 30' high. Bad for me because I like the view but good for prospective buyers who might prefer privacy. He then used this ground to dump heaps of rock and subsoil from some building work so I have taken advantage and used it as a bonfire site for brambles and branches. There is also a handy ditch which I have been filling with garden waste. In return I have cleared most of the brambles and whenever I am pruning or clearing garden plants I take the effort to plant them in the hope that some will grow. Naughty I know but it's so much nicer than a bank of brambles and bindweed. I also put in, just for fun, a thicket of raspberries which I'm sure the birds appreciate. And if he drives over it all with the digger then it won't matter anyway.

Part of the waste ground with 2 kinds of hardy geraniums, nasturtiums and garden lilies.

It was a grey windy day with the wind blowing from the east, .... down from Siberia? I fixed up a curtain over the inside porch door to stop the draughts, usually the new part of the house shelters the front door from the prevailing south westerlies and the front door is open most of the time. Gemma came down last night and the youngsters all went to have lunch at The Honeymoon, a local Chinese restaurant which does an all you can eat buffet lunch for £6. It's very nice food and with my boys' appetites it's excellent value. They did invite me along but as I'm watching what I eat it would have been too much temptation. I ventured into the garden to take some photos and then decided that it was time for the nasturtiums to go as they were looking rather wilted from the cold. Better now than when they go all slimy from the frost. The nasturtiums and as many seeds as I could collect went 'next door'.

Last night there was some freak weather at Ottery St Mary, just east of Exeter. They had 5ft of snow and hail as well as 4ft of flood water. Follow the link below for more details.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7700167.stm