Wildlife on Our Doorstep

I have always been in awe of nature, appreciative of all the blessings along with the trials it sometimes brings. The mesmerising waves crashing on the shore, the changing of the leaves from rich greens to a patchwork of oranges and reds, watching and listening to a thunderstorm or breathing in that evocative smell of the first drops of rain after a dry spell. However, since moving to our smallholding I have become so much more aware of the variety of wildlife around us who allow us to share the land and weather. Taking a moment to look up and down not only rests our tired muscles but gives us the chance to observe the beauty of wildlife and learn more about the world around us.

This beautiful Damselfly was having a little rest in the polytunnel; thankfully I don't think it tends to eat the brassicas quite as much as the caterpillars so we were happy to take a photo and let him be. (I did have to do some reasearch to confirm it is a Damselfly and not a Dragonfly.)

While we were moving some old coal sacks we can across this little nest of chicks. There was a Robin nearby so we assumed it belonged to her, covered it up again and left. Unfortunately when we went back a few weeks later they had all died. Although we had found it by accident and tried our best not to disturb it, we may have upset the parents and sadly they abandoned it.

This is our Midden, it's a large pond like area which historically collected and filtered any animal waste and rain water from the byre. It still fills up with rainwater and provides a home for many insects and animals. Unfortunately it does suffer a little from blanket weed and algae when there is reduced rainfall but generally it seems pretty healthy. The frogs returned this year and produced a lot of frogspawn which we watched become tadpoles and then teeny tiny frogs - lots of tiny frogs.

There was an really interesting piece on Countryfile about the cleansing abilities of mussels and oysters so after some further investigation we thought we'd give it a go. Above you can see our 6 native mussels which will hopefully help to keep our midden cleaner.

M decided to put them in a bucket of water from the midden overnight just to make sure they were still alive. The water was murky when they went in and almost clear by the morning. In fact we were then able to see this little newt who had also got scooped up.

M got in his canoe to put the mussels in the midden, placing them gently into the water and returning the newt safely back home.

While he was in his canoe M went to check on the duck house but it was completely empty. However, about 2 feet away was this little nest. We later saw Mrs. Duck snuggled in here among the reeds, she is really well hidden and camouflaged and (keeping our distance) we can only see her with binoculars. She has been doing a great job and this week she was out on the water with 8 gorgeous little ducklings swimming behind her. Now we just need to hope that the foxes and heron leave them in peace. We're trying to keep really quiet and only watch from a distance so may be able to get some pictures soon.

There is a little alleyway between the byre and the barn and this gap in the barn wall has become home to a nest of 3 chicks.

We think these are the chicks from the wall, they flew the nest, only making it as far as the chicken yard where they stayed for a few days. 

Although we haven't seen any deer for a while we have been aware of their presence in the woods and this week we saw this chap in the next field. It was hard to get a photo of him before he lay down in the long grass to hide so this is the best I could do.

We had an abundance of House Martins last year and they made a real mess of mud and poo under the porch at the back of the house. This year we have managed to deter them from nesting in the exactly the same place but thankfully they have found new homes. It looks like they are nearly finished and ready for occupation. The House Martins also seem to love the midden, diving down to the surface and flying around the for hours. Sadly they are really fast and any photos I've taken have always come out fuzzy so I'll just have to enjoy watching them without recording it.

It's lovely to have a distraction from all the work sometimes and to watch the beautiful colours of the Gold Finches, the numerous Robins, little Wrens, Buzzards, Kestrels and what we think may be Willow Warblers to mention a few. Along with the evening Bats and Owls we have plenty to keep us busy when the day's work is done.

The rain we hoped for arrived; the veg, fruit and flowers are all growing well but more of that next time. We were also able to make the most of the wet days to tackle another room in the house; after the kitchen makeover last year it has taken some time for us to summon up the enthusiasm and now it's time for the living room revamp. M has been extremely busy but as it is presently in a state of evolution I thought I'd leave you with this beautiful picture of a bumble bee in a pumpkin flower. Hope you are all enjoying the long sunny summer days and the nature we share it with.

Flower Power

I love flowers, from when a plant is first potted up or sited in a border I am as always amazed and delighted to see how it grows and develops. As the days go by the plants get stronger, flower buds appear and eventually (all going well) we have blooms. The whole garden brightens and in every corner there is something else to investigate and admire. Well, that's how it looks on Gardeners' World anyway. (Warning: there may be quite a few photos in this post!)

For years we have been vegetables growers through and through. Yes, we have also had some flowers but the majority of these have been shop (or nursery) bought while we have usually only sown Marigolds and Lobelia with the occasional Sunflower. However, this year I was determined to try to produce enough flower plants for all our pots and the beds in the garden. Last autumn I sowed these gorgeous Ladybird Poppies and they have been one of the first summer flowers in the garden.

I may have got slightly carried away with seed sowing as I had ordered lots of new seeds in a sale at the end of 2016 and it didn't take long until the greenhouse was filled with little plants. I never really managed to count them all but as an example we had 120 Lobelia plants in total.

First up were the hanging baskets and troughs. The ones above were bought as complete baskets last year but we were really pleased with the plastic container so we kept them for this year.There are Geraniums in the centre surrounded by some trailing Lobelia and Ivy, with either Verbena or Petunias. I think there might also be some little Voilas in there somewhere.

The basket on the left has some Alyssum Snow Cloth (already in bloom and with a lovely scent) with Lobelia while the right basket has some Petunias, a Geranium and trailing Lobelia. As a change M decided to try some moss and sedum around the basket to hide the brown coir which is a nice change from poking Lobelia through it. All the baskets were hanging in the polytunnel for a couple of weeks until we could risk putting them outside.

At our old house we had 2 of these window troughs which we always planted trailing tomatoes in as we had the weather for outdoor growing. Here though we have decided to use them for flowers. They have a mixture of Petunia, Antirrhinum, Voilas and Asters with Marigolds and Lobelia (again!) Above you can see one just planted up and propped up next to the Kale in the polytunnel.

This is the same trough just 3 days later. I can't believe that it's possible to see so much growth in such a short period of time.

It's not unheard of here for our pots to remain untouched for some years before we take the plunge to empty them out, rescue what we can and repot them. This was our next challenge and one which we had been procrastinating about for weeks.

It was as predicted a massive job which took a couple of days. This is most, not all, of them finally potted up and back in the garden. We had been forecast rain so temporarily put them all together to get a good soaking.

We also have 2 very old stand alone troughs which we cannot find liners for anywhere. M managed to use some old carpet as a liner and last year they were filled with violas and cosmos. I also put some sweet pea seeds in but it was too late for them last year, they've started to grow again so I'm hopeful they may make it up to the trellis and produce some flowers. 

This year we have filled them with Pinks, Cosmos, Salvia, Verbena and of course Lobelia. 

 After all (most most) of the pots were done we were able to switch our attention to the garden. Last year we didn't really have any bedding areas but M has been very busy, creating a bed to the left of the lawn and another bed and 2 rockery zones in the gravel area.

The garden has certainly changed and this time we kept count of the plants (from seed), a total of 176 not including the pots and baskets! As I am unfamiliar with most plant names I made my purchases based on what looked pretty in the catalogue; I feel this may lead to a rather mixed colour scheme but hopefully it will look ok. At least by the end of this season we'll have a pretty good idea of what we love or hate.

A quick update on the Peony: it is still growing although I doubt if it will flower this year.

This post has grown larger than I had anticipated so I'll speed up here with a quick summary of what else has been happening.

This Aquilegia came as part of a perennial pack last year, too late to be planted out then but has had some beautiful flowers this spring. I'm not sure if it's 2 plants but the purple and lemon flowers appear to be on the same plant - strange.

The Rhododendron which didn't flower last year finally showed us what it could do. I think the application of some food seems to have helped the leaf colour too as it is now returning to a deeper green. We must remember this for next spring.

One other project we have embarked on is that we have decided one small area of the woods will become the 'white garden' with predominately white flowers. We've made a start by planting some bulbs, mainly Iris and Gladioli and in September we'll get some white Daffodil, Tupil, Alium or Crocus bulbs for autumn planting. In the meantime we found a lovely white Astilbe and managed to split it into 2; they are surviving well and should flower in the next few weeks.

The experimental cut flower bed has been planted up and despite the slug and snails' best efforts the plants are growing. Only time will tell whether we actually have enough to take indoors but I'm pretty happy so far. (We've also sown wildflower mix on the old, unused, pig enclosure so photos to follow later on that trial.)

One last little beauty; the Dahlias made it through the winter and now the frosts have gone they are outside drinking in some lovely sunshine. I hope you've enjoyed this jaunt through our flowers and that they bring you some joy on a sunny day wherever you are around the world.

Fruit and Veg.

Well, what a busy couple of weeks we have had; all our craft projects have taken a back seat as our attention has been completely focused on the garden/smallholding. Time to take a breath and have a look at what's been going on.
 

As an amateur gardener, a lot of what I know was gained through trial and error, combined with a healthy amount of searching through gardening books and the internet. However, what I do know is that water, warmth and sun provide the perfect growing conditions for many plants, both edible and non-edible. 

We have been so fortunate to have had warm sunny days with just enough rain at the right time and oh how our plants have started to flourish. So much so in fact that this post is all about edibles and I'll dedicate a separate entry to all the flower planting in and around the smallholding.

Where to start? Mmm, potatoes I think. One of the best examples we have of how the plants are sprouting is the potatoes. We have 3 varieties planted in this bed and also in the large tubs and wooden planters on the right hand side. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, just after we had earthed them up.

This photo was taken only 5 days after the previous one and shows how quickly the potatoes have grown. It seems even more obvious looking at the potatoes on the right, now peeking over the top of their planters. Now they need to be earthed up again, I'm sure we only did it once last year but I suppose we'll be glad we made the extra effort when it come to harvest time.

A very helpful contact on Facebook advised that we could earth up our potatoes with grass cuttings. I was always dubious about using grass as it has a tendency to end up as a green slime but this Guardian article made us think again and give it a go. If it works it'll save a lot on the amount of compost we use.

We have been both surprised and delighted with the developments in the polytunnel. M constructed some supports for the tomato plants and in they went; I'm hoping we get a good harvest again this year as the freezer is starting to look a little empty. The only slight downside of these wonderful growing conditions is that they are also perfect for weeds so there was quite a bit of weeding to get on with.
 

You can see the growth here in just 8 days. The brassicas, squash and pumpkins are certainly thriving in the extra heat and are coming along nicely in the right bed. In the left we have Kale closest to the camera with small Pak Choi only recently sown. Above the Kale is Swiss Chard and in the top bed are some cauliflower with beetroot sown on either side. In the orange pot to the left of the door we have a Gherkin, a first for us.

M was keen to get a Fig tree for the polytunel and we picked up this (very) little plant for about £3. It may be some time before it bears any fruit but it is now in situ in the polytunnel enjoying some TLC.

The peas and beans have got off to a slower start due to some prolonged dry periods but they are staring to recover and we have flowers appearing so hopefully they will survive through to harvest.

The latest addition has been the first batch of sweetcorn; hopefully the last of the frosts have passed and these will establish quickly. There's still room for the second batch when they are ready to leave the greenhouse.
 

This is an old apple tree we have called Jess' tree as she loves to gather the windfall. We performed quite drastic pruning on it last year to lift it off the ground and remove some crossing branches. So we have been delighted with the abundant blossom this year which proves we did the right thing. 

Some of the original trees in the orchard did nothing at all last year but we have been pleasantly surprised that some blossom has appeared and look forward to seeing if we get any fruit and if so, what type it is.

I thought I'd show you a little picture of our 'Orchard', taken when we first arrived here about 20 months ago.

Followed by how it looks today. The rough overgrown area in the middle of the first photo is where our veg beds are now. It amazes me how much it has changed in a relatively short time.

Our orchard trees are still very young and quite stick-like but we have had some blossom and the beginnings of fruit. Last year we had 5 apples from the orchard so anything more than that will be wonderful (although to be fair they did taste amazing).

There's so much to share at this time of year that I feel I may have gone on a little too long so I'll leave it here. I hope wherever you are your gardens are growing well and you are getting the opportunity to enjoy some summer sunshine.