Do you remember those halcyon days when the TV highlight on a Sunday evening was watching ‘One man and his dog’? Well yesterday afternoon I partook in a version of an event such as that, with me playing the part of the sheepdog!

Since the departure of the horses from Moyns Park at the end of last year there has been the arrival of sheep on the estate, grazing some of the paddocks. At the moment there is a large flock in one of the fields halfway along the drive, and as I passed on my way home yesterday, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a single sheep the wrong side of the five bar gate. I stopped and approached the gate, and with that off the sheep toddled down the side of the field, staying close to the fence line which is adjacent to woodland. I decided that I needed to make a wide arc around the witless beast and herd it back up the hill to the gate in true “this is Bess, an inexperienced dog barely out of training. She’s still got a lot to learn!” style. Well I actually managed it, but how was I going to open the gate to let the stray in without letting the rest of the flock out? Because wherever Houdini went so its mates followed, so by the time I had got it to the gate there they all were….bleating their heads off and barring the entrance! It was clearly a two person job, so I phoned Alan the farm manager to come and be the shepherd who stands with the gate open while the dog does all of the hard work. Meanwhile the sheep had taken off and was waaay down the field and had become rather skittish, so every time that I got anywhere near it the stupid creature tried to dart off into the woodland, so in my desperation to prevent it from disappearing forever I had to dash through nettles and brambles to head it off, gathering numerous stings and scratches for my trouble. Anyway, to cut a long story short I eventually ushered it back up to the gate where my not so glamourous assistant (who was remarkably free of any stings or scratches…but I’m not bitter) managed to unlatch the gate and allow its safe passage. I limped home and applied a soothing balm to my wounds, proud of my work, for which I didn’t even get a tummy rub.

There was a little bit of rain early in the week, but nowhere near enough of it, but better than none. However, whatever benefit that it offered was soon removed by that nagging strong wind that has persisted for days, drying everything in its path. Friday and Saturday were lovely summer-like days, and the nights have been uncomfortably warm for this time of the season, baring in mind that today is the first day of meteorological summer. As of last night I’m down to a 4.5 tog duvet on my bed, but I wish that I had made the change a couple of nights sooner. It’s hard to believe that it’s June already – another year is galloping by.

I didn’t tell you last week, but during my time away from you the duck’s nest in the compost heap was cleared out overnight by something or other, with not even a fragment of eggshell left behind. There is a crow’s nest in top of the oak tree that towers above the compost bins, and the contents of the eggs would have been an easy meal for its own young, but there are other predators that could have been guilty of the crime.

A more positive tale is that of the Blue Tits that have nested in the void of the roof of the potting shed, just under the pan tiles. The hungry chicks are extremely vocal at the moment, impatiently demanding another feed from the all you can eat buffet provided by their overworked parents – that sounds familiar! I should think that the young birds will soon fledge, leaving time for a second brood, if they have the energy.

I did an exploratory dig of the new potatoes during the week, and will be eating the fruits of my labours very shortly. I wanted to see what the state of play was, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered given the very dry conditions. I will be adding them to the shop next week. I am going to have to cover the chard that I transplanted a couple of weeks ago because something has got a taste for it and is in danger of ruining the whole planting. I got the celeriac and parsley in last week, both are protected by a mesh cover.

I am delighted with the size and quality of the pointed cabbages, and this week I will also be picking cavolo nero, which is also looking very good.  The courgettes in the polytunnel are not yielding as well as I was hoping, so they are very much in the ‘limited’ category in the shop. There are plenty of red or green oakleaf lettuces. I lost the shirt off my back on last week’s lemons, they were huge! I have no idea what size they will be this week until they arrive, so I have hedged my bets and increased the price, but it still won’t be enough if they are the same as last week – I hate having to buy stuff in!

The basil plants in the greenhouse are growing really well, so next week I will probably make some pesto – a proper taste of summer.

This morning walking Nellie I happened upon an area of grassland that was dotted with the Bee Orchids shown in the photo above. There were lots of them and they looked wonderful. At a glance they really do look like a bumblebee visiting the flower.

Well I wish you a good week, make some elderflower cordial while the blooms are at their best.

Phil