-
Garden Diary – All the B’s, Bees, Butterflies & Blueberry cake
I’m pleased to report even more bees & hoverflies this week, in fact more flying insects of all kinds including butterflies. I’m so happy in my summer garden with buzzing wings all around me. The blueberry bush has cranked up production this week and once it gets going there’s no stopping it! I’ve made two lots of cakes including one evening after work. All a bit tiring but worth it at the weekend when we have it for breakfast. After a really slow start the garden has finally caught up with itself this week with much more colour from the flowers and yummy things to eat around each corner. Happy…
-
The Garden is Calling!
I’m sure you all think I’ve deserted you over the last few months but I just haven’t had a minute to let you know what’s been going on in the garden. Truth is, the bare minimum but every now and again I feel the garden calling! The house renovations continue at a slow pace, sometimes two steps forwards and one step back! But it will come to an end – one day! And I will be able to devote much more time to doing what makes me truly happy and relaxed – gardening. In the meantime I’ve just about kept my head above water with the gardening jobs, although we…
-
Cosmos – Lost and Found
I say lost and found, as when I first started gardening a long time ago… I always grew cosmos, but then I discovered perennials and gave up growing annuals for years. Last year though I rediscovered what wonderful plants annuals are and particularly. 2021 – Cosmos came back to the garden It came about as I created a small wildflower border last year, I bought a few packets of annual seeds including cosmos. Coincidentally a friend had also grown cosmos last year and gave me some of her seedlings – it was meant to be! Gosh I really had forgotten how lovely they are; how big they grow; how prolifically…
-
My Wildlife Pond – Dragonflies, Frogs & so much more!
I know I bang on a lot about the pond but… It really is so hard though, to describe quite how much pleasure the pond gives me. And it’s one of the few things that makes me stop! I’m always thinking that I’ll take a coffee outside and have a sit down. No sooner have I finished my drink, or sometimes before, than I see something that needs doing, which of course leads on to something else that needs doing, resulting in little or no sit down. But when I crouch by the pond it’s hard to drag myself away, watching all the creatures living in there. Even the builders…
-
The garden is full of life
Birdsong for better or for worse As soon as you enter the garden at the moment, your ears are full of birdsong. Admittedly some are more pleasant than others, as we do get gulls regularly squawking overhead, despite being rather a way from the sea – even as the crow (or gulls) fly. Talking of crows, we also have rather a lot of them too, Jackdaws mainly. I think it’s because of the huge old trees we have around. You really can see where the saying ‘Noisy old crow’ comes from. And of course wood pigeons, that go on, and on, and on. But despite the not so pleasant cries,…
-
Last week of May
Moths & Butterflies – Welcome and not so welcome I saw my first ‘Mint Moth’ this week, of course I didn’t know what it was but as I managed a quick snap shot it enabled me to come in and google it. Not surprisingly they like mint plants! As well as thyme and other herbs. It’s only small about 2cm across and it’s unusual in that it flies around in the daytime. The downside of beautiful butterflies and moths is at some stage they have to be a caterpillar and caterpillars eat plants. With the exception of the cabbage white caterpillar eating my brassicas, I do just tolerate plant damage.…
-
The Frogs have spawned at last – But there’s a problem!
Finally the frogs have spawned. They are really late this year, but then who can blame them. You’re not going to feel too much like romance in a pond covered in ice and snow now are you? They arrived back on the 19th February when the weather was quite mild. I have absolutely no idea where they all go to each year. When they first emerge from the pond the garden and greenhouse are full of little froglets, they seem to stay for the summer then they are gone. Only to return the following February. Bad weather stops spawning I thought we were on target this year for the usual…
-
Pulmonaria – Perfect plant for a shady border
If you are looking for, a ridiculously easy to grow; hardy plant; with beautifully coloured flowers; a long period of interest, and something that grows in shade, then look no further. ‘Pulmonaria’ – or its rather unpleasant common name, ‘Lungwort’ – is the plant for you! When most perennials haven’t even started to wake up, and only the small snowdrop and crocus bulbs are out. Pulmonaria’s have shot their little flower spikes up and are flowering profusely. I hadn’t come across this fabulously good value plant until we moved here in summer 2013. There weren’t many flowering plants in the garden considering it’s size. A few nice bulbs, some grasses,…
-
Frosty Week – A Winter Wonderland
Well, hasn’t it been pretty! The weather forecasts were right, it’s certainly been a frosty week! And so, our year of extremes has continued. From heatwaves and dusty, dry gardens, to more rain than we know what to do with. And now freezing temperatures, lasting longer than we are used to. I certainly brought my chilli plants inside at the right time, and got those lovely lemon trees into the greenhouse in the nick of time. We do have a small tube heater in there, that just keeps the very worst of the cold off, so I’m hoping everything will come through. It has been looking pretty frozen up though!…
-
The Geese are back in town! – Autumn is around the corner!
I am now awakened regularly by loud honking first thing in the morning. Not from a car, but because the geese are back in town! I’m not at all annoyed, I love hearing them and lie there smiling. They fly over the house three or four times each morning; I never know if it’s the same flock going round and around or if it’s three or four different flocks. The Canada geese return to us each year in late August, and it starts with just a handful. You’re suddenly aware of that distinctive honking sound, and sure enough there’s a small ‘V’ formation in the sky. By mid-September though, there…
