WHAT IS WILD?

The ducklings are down to ten from sixteen 😟. It was going to happen - I mean if they all survived the world would be plagued by ducks (perhaps better than humans?)

As we try and tame chunks of our garden the pressure for rewilding grows. This is back to my dream of being rich, buying up land, fencing it off and letting it go. Here we have the constant dilemma of how much to we cultivate, how much to let go (with a little management to curtail the spread of brambles and ivy) though age and its limitations play a part.

Red campion (and the odd white one) Wild Garlic (damsons) and bluebells thrive with a little gentle management and the camassias have naturalised.

Recently I have reduced the grass cutting - large parts of our mown meadow are allowed to grow longer. This may suit the voles but we also have MOLES! producing mountains of soil which then needs to be shifted or spread to avoid damaging the mower blades. Parts of the far garden are grass and a patches of brown earth - unsightly but a free supply of new soil.

The paving is done and soon I will have to make the flower beds to border it. There are choices - a band of chippings or soil right to the edge? 

The manure and mole soil is waiting.

Of course there are some planting in the wilder areas like azaleas and rhododendrons and the horse chestnut leaning over the wall from next door is full of candles now the sticky buds have burst. The chestnut has sown itself (with a little help from wildlife) and we have a few young trees here and there. 


Hazel and holly also spread as do the wild roses.

I suppose we should leave it all to natural succession but that would mean impenetrable undergrowth and the wild flowers would be pushed out. Further down in the garden the apple and crab apple blossom is now out. 

Below is the Bramley.

We have one water lily flower -

So now it is Thursday and raking the rubble out of the new beds, digging it over and then applying plenty of the horse manure and the soil taken from the many mole hills. Planting will come later when it has settled a bit.

Saturday - it has not rained so mow, mow, mow after clearing yet more molehills. Cut back the old Stipa gigantea which I had forgotten to do, begun building the new beds, moved the pots of lilies and four box balls (well not quite yet but will be soon) onto the new paved area outside the extension.

So to a plethora of yellow, orange and red - summer is coming and the blues are receding - 

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