I am reading an excellent book from the library

Its on Amazon Books. Make a nice gift.
I always thought shepherds sat around all day making sure the sheep stayed in the same field !

I can remember seeing a programme about a shepherdess on television and it was a really hard life and to me seemed to be a lonely one especially during the lambing season, I think that was in N.Wales...

To us gardeners the interesting thing is that Emma talks in great detail about the work farmers do. Her parents are both farmers, she grew up with it.
Should be on the school curriculum.
These T/V programmes are piffle.

I was surprised that teams of sheep shearers who travel the world doing that job get £400 per man per day.
Four of them sheared 900 sheep in a day.
Also her half blind dog Fly as a trained shepherd dog was
worth £1500 when she had to sell him to pay her debts.

I seldom read fiction. Fact is much better.

Emma has taught me a lot I hadnt thought of before.
Just as farmers know the individual personalities of all the animals they care for, so we should know the needs of our individual plants and improve their lifespan.
All plants should have a good nutritious base for the roots to feed on. Not the peat based compost used by the growers shoved into an unimproved topsoil.
We should all collect nutritious Beech leaves to rot down for 2 years for moisture retaining top dressing humus in summer. Every garden should have a wire netting cage for this.
We should all give the right foliar feed to our plants every 6 weeks from April - August. Not the hosepipe that washes the goodness out of the soil.
We should all keep a notebook in the greenhouse/shed to
record how we look after each individual plant. It is so easy to forget over the winter.
I am going to make a new one. All named plants in my garden will get a page to themselves. Proper records kept.
Thank you Emma.