Sunday 29 April 2018

A Miscellaney

Spring hasn't so much arrived as popping in for short visits; one minute glorious sunshine, the next biting winds and cold rain
 
However, in the midst of this climate confusion we have some small glories.....
 
The greenhouse is finally in production with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and masses of beans - borlotti, dwarf French beans, red and green broad beans; as well as the inevitable chard and beetroot.
 
The greenhouse now comes complete with its own fertility goddess.
This wonderfully booby and frankly cuddly lady is a copy of the famed Venus of Willendorf
It was immensely fun to crochet and just seemed perfect for overseeing the ongoing productiveness of the greenhouse - I expect truly magnificent seedlings and bumper crops this year!
 
Outside in the herb beds we have shades of green in as its fluorescent new growth.  You can practically see the plants growing as you gaze into this gorgeous colour.
 
 Clockwise from the east we have Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum), Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor), Lemon Balm (Melissa officianalis) and Golden Hop (Humulus lupulus).
I'm wandering up the garden several times a day just to stare at the colour. The woodruff only went in last summer and is already on it's way to taking over - it will need strict management and keeping firmly away from the salad burnet and hop but I'm hoping it and the lemon balm will cancel each other out; I have to say though it is gorgeous and perfect ground cover.

The apple is in blossom and looks just wonderful.  I think this must be about the most perfect mixture of pink, white and green to ever occur and I cannot stop sighing over it.
 
I was wandering through the village the other day and I was taken with the texture and beauty of these wonderful lichens on a hawthorn hedge covered with rain drops.
 
More lovely lichen accompanied by deliciously delicate ivy leaves.
 
Now on a more serious note - would I be cynical in thinking North Korea's sudden rapprochement with South Korea has less to do with Trump's imagined diplomatic skills in peace brokering and more to do with the sudden geological instability of North Korea's primary nuclear testing side due to its missile testing programme?
I'm grateful for anything that stops nuclear testing programmes but frankly I'd rather it wasn't because radiation pollution and collapsing mountains had made the area unusable.
 

Thursday 19 April 2018

Blue skies smilin' at me.

 Nothin' but blue skies do I see.
 

 
 Real tulips from Amsterdam.
The prison bars are rough horsetail, a native UK wild flower and cousin of the Equisetum that can be a real plague but this one isn't as prolific.  This one has an exceptional ecobunny pedigree, having been given to me by the county ecologist years ago.
 
 Lawn reclamation begins.  We have raked, mown, hollow tined and brushed in sharp sand. 
Now we wait for a bit and then the reseeding begins. 
After some thought we're not sure if we will pave between the veggie beds - watch this space.....
 
There is a cat in this picture - honest.
 

Monday 16 April 2018

Finally...

Spring is here!
 
Dutch tulips are blooming.

 Wild Garlic.
 
 Heavenly snakeshead fritillary
 
 The magnolia has flowered in anticipation of some bees or butterflies - fingers crossed.
 

Positively Japanese inspired blossom
 

 Tomatoes and peppers planted up
 
Vegetable seeds planted
 
 A beautiful relic of summer past
 
This is the sad state of the grass between the veggie beds after a winter of rain and snow so we have bitten the bullet and have plans involving bricks or pavers - cost will probably dictate which; the rest of the lawn will be hollow tined, scarified and dressed with loads of sharp sand and seeded. 
We may even cut down the large yellow conifer just beyond the second bed on the right as it is getting far too big for the garden.  We inherited it when we moved in and on reflection it was a mistake to keep it as it's slowly creeping across the lawn.  I'm hoping to plant a flowering currant and a ceanothus in its place, under planted with spring bulbs - much better for the bees.

Wednesday 4 April 2018

Raindrops keep falling ....

Well the weather is finally warming up but the rain continues unabated.
After two days of being stuck indoors I girded my loins and waterproof (ish) coat and went for a walk.  Miraculously the rain stopped for a while and I took some photos to try and wring out some small moments of beauty amongst the dampness.

 The picture sadly can't convey the gorgeous aroma of this blossom - delicious.
 
 This handsome fellow was trotting around in the middle of the road, obviously realising we all needed the visual boost of his beautiful plumage on this rainy day.
 
 
The rain had started again but left a field of diamonds on this hedge.
 
It all helped distract from the fact that the garden is a swamp and nothing has been done in the greenhouse yet for fear of plummeting temperatures and trench foot from wading through aforesaid swamp.