Another turn around the sun

Thank you so much for all the messages for my birthday on Wednesday. I felt strangely disconnected from the whole experience, and really quite disinclined to celebrate. The mystery of why this might be was revealed on Thursday (I had assumed that it was just because I had reached an age where birthdays became unimportant), when I woke up really quite poorly indeed.

And so this week has been grappling what I might best describe as summer flu. Powering through, but really not entirely at the races. Quite often having to pause and take to my bed for a little nap. I sounded much worse in my head than I did on the podcast this week.

But the slowing down has allowed me a little time to reflect. Mostly on the varieties of sweet pea I want to stock in the shop next year (I have to commit early, as all of my choices have to be registered and approved by the Soil Association). I have one or two that I still haven't managed to source; if I gave you the last of my Suzy Z, could you possibly save me back some seed this autumn? I cannot find it anywhere. 

The blushes and pinks are always my favourites, and although I have managed to throw in some wild cards. I'm very much hoping there will be other people who fall in love with 'Apricot Sprite', but I can't pretend it's not a gamble.

I have also been doing some feverish buying of Niwaki tools. If you replied and said that you wanted some loppers, they are now in the shop, although I don't quite yet have a box big enough to fit them in for posting, so they might arrive in something of a bundle. It has been pouring with rain all today and I wasn't up for wet gardening, but as soon as the sun is out tomorrow and before we head off to the polo, I am going out with my new loppers and bring the damson tree back under some form of control.