OUT AND ABOUT AND BACK AGAIN

It is always interesting when other people go around the garden to see what they like. When S and K came K loved the tall osiers in the top garden, the patch of yellow mimulus in the lawn and the selective mowing with different heights for grass and paths.

Going out and about, the honeysuckle in the hedgerows is stunning at the moment as are the wild roses - yet not as abundant as our Rambling Rector roses which are out of control and a devil to prune even with thick gloves.
 

We went for a walk in Eggerslack Woods the other day and the weathered limestone in there is fascinating. We have very little exposed rock in the garden and anyway R does not much like rockeries - a bit too fiddly and artificial? 

Then when we were down on the shore the wallpepper, sedum acre, was bringing a golden glow to the shingle. Wild plants can be as dramatic and stunning as cultivated ones. Someone on Flickr suggested I paint a face on the stone under the plant.

The house martins have occupied a third nest, there are fledglings everywhere, the spinach has bolted and the horse flies are rampant so I mow with long trousers and long sleeves.

One of R's favourite plants is this white campanula or bellflower. It seeds itself around and produces a blast of white when the garden is in the June hiatus - after the May flowers and before the summer ones really get going. 

Another self seeder is the Sweet William (Stunkin' Wullie, or Stinking Billy in Scotland)(After Butcher Cumberland (William Duke of Cumberland) and the Battle of Culloden). Each year I sow a little of the seed and as it is a biennial get flowers the next year. For some reason we are now down to only two varieties and it may be time to increase the choice.

You have not mentioned squirrels I hear the cry - well the trap is out again, and one for the rat. 

This is a view of a squirrel on the hanging feeder outside the kitchen - cheek!

All the rat trap has caught is a blackbird and a jay - both released, ruffled but not harmed. I just wish the greedy pigeons would stop setting the trap off by landing on it.

Cannot catch the rat though - it has bolted like the spinach. I have sown some more parsnips and hope the odd one will germinate. K brought me some exotic seeds so we will see what I can do with them - Alliums and Cardiocrinum cordatum.

Weather set dry again so watering with new hose attachment as I broke the old one.
R has a cold and I have been to the dentist for an hour in the chair on my birthday - what a present!!

FAUNA EVERYWHERE (WHAT FOOTBALL?)

No time for the football in Russia, too busy in garden, anyway not too bothered to watch a bunch of multi-millionaires chase a bag of wind and fall down stricken at the slightest hint of a touch.

Not all things in the garden are welcome - yes, weeds and honey fungus - but R's favourite - brown rat. Just seen one coming out from under the shed by the feeders.

Having said that the cock pheasant almost takes seed from my hand (birdbrain)(the bird I mean), the goldfinches are ploughing through the nyger seed, the jay is whizzing about, I have heard a yellowhammer singing in the top of an oak tree along the lane. and there are pigeons fighting under the window.

This is Chicken of the Woods (I think) just down the lane. Clean well, 3 minutes in boiling water then use as a risotto or curry.

Welcome to fledgling world - chaffinches, assorted tits, woodpeckers, blackbirds, dunnocks, goldfinches, tree sparrows and house martins to name but a few.

 








Then there are the multiplying squirrels and even they are fighting over peanut rights. I do not know whether this is a pair - which I suspect is the truth - or separate individuals. They are stroppy at the best of times.

And now the rat is chasing the larger squirrel away. When we are extinct will rats inherit the earth - they would need much smaller cars.

The poppies are over - how they were on the right with a visitor at the bottom and a hosepipe - left there lazily after all the watering in the hot weather.

And so to cutting back - Sweet Cicely, aquilegias, oriental poppies - and taking it all to the compost heap. They will come again with a second flush in the autumn.
The white willowherb is spreading on the top banking but we do not mind as we like it - not quite the thug the pink one is.
The hesperus matronalis 'alba' is also over and n needs trimming for more flowers later.

Finally we do have a few beetroot seedlings, the severely pulled part of the rhubarb patch is thriving and the asparagus has been fed and left to build up its strength for next year - oh yes, and the crambe keeps delivering despite trying to fall over in the gale we have just had.

And finally, finally, one of the rambling rector roses is thirty feet up the big ash tree outside my window - pictures next blog.

Oh! The squirrel is trying to prize open the top of the sunflower seed feeder and failing resulting in much tail twitching and thrashing with frustration.

Having, oh sorry, finally, finally, finally, after watching a program on David Hockney I have downloaded the brushes redux app. No promises of a masterpiece but I will have a go. Mind you if it is a disaster this is the last mention you will get.

Later -

Mmm! done with the finger on the iPad from memory - could do better.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

First a weather update after 7 weeks of almost no rain, it has finally rained, probably not enough but it has.

I have put in some sweet peas given to us by J and planted the rest of the courgettes and a couple of Squash and some purple sprouting broccoli.

When I am tired and working in the wood or by the veg beds I will go and sit on a seat made from an old felled tree trunk under a field maple given to us by our late friend Sue. Having cleared the grass, goosegrass, bindweed and buttercups from under thew redcurrant hedge I did so.

But not for long.

My legs were stinging and on standing I found I was crawling with red ants - in my wellies, in my pants. Fortunately there was no one to see my leap about. The ants had made a nest in the rotting trunk. And I lifted the plank on the top of the log to find a toad, seemingly totally unbothered by the ants. 

In June the woodland is a wonderland of colour, paths winding through waist high red and white campion, pignut and buttercup, woundwort and sunlit grasses. It is full of tree seedlings (which need to be removed) and ones I have missed - hawthorn, hazel and holly. Later the wild angelica flourishes and the not quite so welcome hogweed.

And at the far corner is a rough lawn, a glade of sunshine with an old beam as a seat - no ants. A good place to meditate - if I ever find time to get around to doing it. Quite what to do with this area I am not sure - a piece of sculpture? Or is that too pretentious for a wild place?

All the wild flowers self seed and I will cut most of it later in the year with the scythe when seed is set. Originally I raked off the cut plants but last year I just left it lying on the woodland floor - and this year the flowers seem better than ever - so - hooray - I shall not have to do the raking - one of the tougher jobs. The scything is about rhythm, the removal of stuff laborious. The wood is a haven for birds and animals, badgers, foxes, rabbits, mice and, of course, grey squirrels have been seen there on my video cam.

A little lower down is a very different area planted with the white birches, more open but just as beautiful in its own way.

ps. Another denizen of the wood sunning himself on my shed.

And this rabbit got more that it bargained for from another bunny.

Suddenly I decided I had had enough of a large broom bush on the lower banking so it is now on the bonfire heap. It was crowding out other more choice shrubs. Of course as I have cut it back hard it will not regenerate from the stump unlike some plants.

It is time to try and tame the wilderness, scythe in hand . . . 

A DISASTER STRIKES AND THEN . . .

There is something special on a sunny day after hard gardening and a shower, sitting outside the kitchen in a recliner eating cheese straws (that K brought last night) and drinking a rather good bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, well not the whole bottle (but it is early yet). We can see the ferries setting out for the Isle of Man from Heysham twenty miles away across the bay as house martins whirl over the pond.
  Anyway, to the disaster.

Our lovely Prunus Shirotae is in trouble with wilting brown leaves and dying twigs. It could be the drought but I suspect we have a fungal disease here. So sad.

  And the veg sowings are disappointing, carrots ok, some parsnips and spinach but the rest useless so have sown more beetroot, chard and topped up spinach and carrots. Here's hoping.
The variegated plant with the foxglove on the left is also a vegetable, horseradish. If you think peeling onions makes the eye water try grating the root of the horseradish!

Here is one of R's favourite plant combinations, catmint (nepeta) and Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla).

The oriental poppies just get better and better - the tall one is the splendid Goliath. The early day lilies, the smaller yellow ones are coming into flower and giving a splash of colour.
  The rosa rugosa hedge at the top of the garden has finally reached a decent height and though most of the flowers are pink there are some white ones too. Lower down, by the lawn, the beauty bush, kolkowitzia, is smothered.

And this is a time for the perennial geraniums, especially the blues on the dry banking below the house. When they are finished they will need shearing back to allow new growth to come.
  Another similar coloured plant is the knapweed, centaurea montana, in semi shade and very dry soil under the spreading branches of the big sycamore where it seems to thrive, which is good as not much else does.
   It is very early but the first red currants are ripening with all the sunshine - and the blackbirds are gathering for the feast. I must get some new netting to try and keep them out.
 
And then another disaster -
This brick is supposed to be a loaf of spelt flour bread!
Did all the usual and put it in the oven then forgot about it for two hours! Carbonisation courtesy of the Aga range.

I woke this morning, June, and found myself singing 'In The Bleak Midwinter' and wondered why. Then it dawned on me that my mother, who had sung professionally as a mezzo, had sung that song and that must be why I like it. Sadly there is no recording of her singing but inside my head (and I presume other heads).
  R has taken a dislike to the rose Grouse, a ground cover plant at the back of the house. She has decided to tidy it up, something I am definitely avoiding. It is one of the thorniest things I have come across. It will be scything the long grass for me.

And it is crambe time, the giant ball of flowers is back.

So to mowing, clogged mower with the longer grass, battling the clegs (Horse flies) - got one, they got me three times.

Tuesday and it is raining, no it isn't, a few spots and then it is gone.

Now, there are some moments in life that transcend others - like when your specialist says you do not need any more CT scans for your cancer - Phew!!
Time for a beer or few too.