SQUATTERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LATE SPRING

R checked her diaries and calculated that the spring/summer is running three and a half weeks late. Let us hope autumn is not early.

Unfortunately there have been consequences to this - the house martins finally arrived only to find that a pair of tree sparrows (the ones with the brown head (male)) had taken up residence and were well on with their brood. They can be heard chirping away from below.
The swallows still have a choice of nests - three to be exact - but do not seem interested much in any.
We have fledgeling great and coal tits emptying the feeders at high speed.

In the garden it is weeding and mowing and trying to find time for ideas. The alchemilla is great ground cover but getting out of hand. The redcurrants have set and are now well protected with netting.

Alliums, oriental poppies, granny's bonnets are all out in profusion but the seeds I sowed in the cutting garden bed are slow to germinate. The first asparagus has made an appearance and fingers are crossed, butter ready. Broad beans are through and sweet peas beginning to recover from planting.

The garden is still full of birdsong and I hope the late season will mean we have that for longer.
The promise of something white is growing - the white rosebay has spread on the upper banking and the crambe is in bud.
I planted three Azaleas - the yellow smelly ones - by a woodland edge path and the aroma when one passes is glorious. Just above, on an ash branch, we have hung a big set of wind chimes, albeit not quite high enough as I was never a boy scout so the the knots got confused - running slips and so on. You can only hear the gentle sounds when near but the chimes are hidden from view by a beech hedge (had their first trimming) so they come as a surprise.

It  is confession time. Despite all affirmations to the contrary we have not got around to dividing the primroses so less clumps but bigger next spring. The butterfly in the picture is a wood white, one of few insects in the garden.
Today it is sunny and warm with just a shallow breeze. One can almost feel the leaves soaking up the sunshine.

My butternut squash are ready to go out but I need more netting for the alkathene hoops. I have put in sweet peas where the dead raspberry canes stand forlorn and sad so if all goes well we will have a house full for the summer.

So many jobs to do now and so much lethargy!
R is already helping with the weeding and some of the buttercups are enormous - obviously liked the manure I covered the beds with in the winter. They look so succulent they could be eaten - not really of course.

So, off to put the mower away and get the shears out to clear grass from the trees and shrubs on the banking.

Phew!