It wasn't the rats

It wasn't the rats - the next day I noticed lots of great tits twittering in the trees above the portacabin - the baby birds had left the nest and are flying around! The rats did eat my ducklings though!

Last night we took sleeping bags and lay on the trampoline outside watching the stars come out - and the bats flying around - they go so fast - no way of knowing what sort of bat they are.

Today I took pity on Betsy (yorkshire terrier cross - stray) and bathed her and cut her hair - she looks quite a different dog now - she's got legs instead of moving around like a mop (bit like Dougall in the magic roundabout!) Everything's a bit lopsided as she wouldn't keep still - but she's much cooler. I call her 'shorn' now. I found two fleas - dog fleas are much larger than head lice - and they jump! They also drown - thankfully. I remember once a teacher telling us about fleas - she said she got one once and the only thing she could do was fill a bath with water, take her clothes off one by one and shake them over the bath. Funny how things stick in your mind. That was of course why cinemas used to be called 'flea pits' because you picked up fleas from the horsehair seats (my mum told me that.)

The polytunnel's up but it's too hot to go in it! Forecast is cooler tomorrow and rain on Friday so should be able to plant things then. I've never grown melons before so it will be interesting...

I need a longer hosepipe to reach the polytunnel - don't fancy lugging watering cans across there.

Tried making some comfrey organic plant food. Evidently you cut up comfrey leaves and put them in a large bin with a little hole in the bottom. The bin needs to be raised off the ground. Put a jar under the hole and as the leaves decompose the organic solution drips into the jar. Dilute with water and use as a foliar feed. Unfortunately, I didn't read the instructions in the book first and did it from memory - I just put a load of comfrey leaves in a bucket and filled it with water. I'm sure I've read that somewhere - will have a look at my other gardening books.

The baby rabbits are 6 weeks old today - 9 of them - I've moved them to their own cage. They can go to new homes now but I prefer to wait until they are 8 or 10 weeks old.

Going to have a look at twitter now