General Posts Page

August 2026 and it is dry. Not as dry as the Australian novel of the above title of course. Thankfully we store most of the water off the house and outbuildings and even the grey water from upstairs sinks, bath etc. With careful watering of the newer and more tender plants the garden is surviving.… Read more: The Dry

During the current heatwave it is pleasant to get out in the garden early. We use rain and grey water most of the year but supply is running low so I thought I’d use a hose for a change to help things along before a likely ban comes in.

A couple of clips here that I am not sure about (nothing new there). The first (ignoring the Tits) is obviously a young bird. At first the second looks the same, not sure how to get at the food then suddenly works out a way. Then all becomes clearer on a new clip of the… Read more: Blackbird or Thrush?

This is quite long but very entertaining. And there seem to be strict sitting times for the feed by bird type. A few minutes later.

Between Ruth and I we’ve accidentally ended up with a theme.

We’ve crept into May and the temperatures are swinging with the change of wind direction. Some glorious sunshine but not enough rain. Trees swapping from blossom to leaf and everything looking crisp before it all becomes too overblown.

13/04/26 Pleasant weather after a cold start. Ruth, Simon and I all pottering. Some sluggish bees about and everything changing fast. Between us we created a log pile from the defunct arch, mended a boundary fence, potted seedlings trimmed back a willow arch, cleared beds of weeds and mulched more tender plants, Cleared the debris… Read more: A Good Garden Day

It is nearly 20 years since I moved into this house and there were old, unused, nest boxes here then. Those were put up by Ruth who arrived here 10 years earlier. Despite that we’ve put up several since. One was hidden in a conifer about 20m away from where I film with an old… Read more: Nest Box – Finally

It has turned from reasonably cool to excessively warm and back to cool again in a week. Today has been warm in the sun. After finishing the arch replacement a well deserved ramble to take in the garden’s other pleasures.

Having watched a program on solitary flower bees and having recent logs lying around, I thought we’d give making another bee intended log pile/ stumpery a try. I did manage to overheat a small drill with my usual gung-ho approach. First I had to remove all the suckers from the Hazel, then split some of… Read more: Garden Fashion

In 2015 I made an arch from pollarded Sycamore branches, to mark the begining of the main steps down the garden. I didn’t expect it to last long. A bit later I added a carved sycamore owl to it. The insects were boring holes in to it already. 2026 and high winds have finally brought… Read more: End of an Arch, Start of Ellie 2

I’ve suffered from social anxiety all my life and usually feel sick before I go anywhere social. It troubles my illusional self image as a person who is cool and under control in most situations. Only age has allowed me to see that getting hyper when I was very young and the consequent drop the… Read more: Post Party Positive

On Monday Ruth was clearing one of the longer vegetable beds (they are all actually mixed flower/veg beds). We’ve got into a habit of treating brassicas like Purple Sprouting and taking heads of, leaving the plant to do its own thing, unless we need the space. During the clearing it became clear that the cabbages… Read more: Unexpected Harvest

No pretty pictures, but a fully enjoyed concoction. In the roasting tin – 2 tbsp olive oil, desert spoon turmeric, tsp saffron, desert spoon mint, ground black pepper.Winter vegetable mix – equivalent of two medium main crop potatoes (whatever type of potato is your favourite), medium size cauliflower, same of broccoli, 2 carrots. I have… Read more: Saffron,Turmeric and Mint Winter Vegetable Roast

We woke up late this morning and opened the curtains to a really miserable day. Not looking like a day for the planned gardening. As we sat in bed drinking tea, the rain started to clear and a strange light appeared down in the valley. Slowly it spread up into the sky and, equally slowly,… Read more: What a Day

I happened to pass the window where the camera phone is set up when there was a rush of birds. Some bits are speeded up others slowed down. Originally they were there for around six minutes after I pressed the button.

This is one of those experiments that crept into my brain and worked first time. I make quite a lot of variations of a cauliflower, broccoli, potato mix from dry to moist, from roasted to plain cooked vegetables, from full vegan to a combination. I used cheese this time but you could add more nutritional… Read more: Turmeric Cauliflower Cheese

After a complete absence last year all the apples and pears have swung into full production this year. A pity that I no longer make alcohol and neither of us like crab apple jelly and that’s just one tree.

Sadly one of our cherry trees had become dangerously likely to split because of bark inclusion. It generated a lot of wood of one sort or another and a pile of wood chip for the garden paths. In amongst that I’m managing to find a toad and lily pads inside the tree remains. To be… Read more: Goodbye Cherry Tree – Hello Toad

A clumsy fingered mistake edited to remove some gaps in activity.

Some flowers on the edge of going over, some here, some on the way. Time for planting out the more hardy, tidying up paths and edges and sitting enjoying the shapes and colours.

First the apparent bird swap. This is unedited apart from picking it out and slowing it down. On this one, some chopped out, some slowed down, some speeded up and a wider view than some of the others. The Pigeon plodding round and round amuses me. About 5 minutes.

They disappeared for a while but two young females have re-appeared

A collection of what has been found in our garden over the years. Ruth is always there somewhere.

We’ve had snow, sun, storms and the surprise appearance of new rails in what was the shunting yard. Firstly storm Darragh versus Ellie the wind vane a tenacious trunk tale. They have been slowly removing more remains from the yard for years, then trees grew up, then they were cut down and the last rolling… Read more: Winter winds and rails return

Ruth is visiting her Grandchildren and I am pootling as usual. A few flowers are still hanging on and the Winter Jasmine is coming into its own. We didn’t get round to picking the apples on the slippery hillside tree, so we are getting near the end of this year’s store. We had a few… Read more: December 2024

This is quite a shock when the woodpecker arrives alongside the little birds. This Acer is always spectacular and changes quickly. Some of the trees have lost all their leaves and the Maple and Hazel in the background are still changing. At the same time there are still flowers. Elsewhere there are various paintings and… Read more: Woodpecker, Autumn and a shunting yard without rails

For a lot of people part of the joy of a garden is wildlife. Ours is certainly built to attract it, though the birds always seem to ignore the bird boxes in favour of the scruffy hedgerows. We also have bird feeders. The arguments for and against are difficult to balance, but we have them.… Read more: Garden Birds

November 2023 and it has been wet, but today it looked good. Ruth, Simon and I set to. First off was reducing the lawn yet again and planting some grasses, kindly donated by some friends. The other two are currently planting spring bulbs in the middle of that lawn. Next up was to re-fix a… Read more: The rain stayed away

Amidst a chaos of building work, a day of path clearing, pruning and bed sorting alongside a harvest that was edible and one that spreads plants to other gardens.

Ruth was away for a couple of weeks, so I was in charge. These are some of the photos I sent her as updates. The weird mixture of rain and drought has led to some giant plants, virtually no apples and an absolute glut of red roses. The Heron surplanted the usual crows and magpies.… Read more: A Strange Year

Although most of the leaves have now gone, some are still clinging on to green. The weather is cool and damp, rather than cold and the sun was so warm the other day that I couldn’t leave milk outside while we had a cup of coffee. There are quite a few flowers around, some early… Read more: Flowers linger into December

The strange weather continues with some trees going into leaf drop routines early and others late, giving an extended display. We have a confused hazel that has green leaves and catkins, when most trees are now bare. Fungi all over the place, as usual and I improved a table top in time to match the… Read more: Weird Autumn

Like someone scratching an itch, I keep getting drawn back into chasing Samuel Scott. I have unearthed some more links to the story and have altered that part of the story:

I’ve been doing the equivalent of ‘no mow May’ for a very long time, by leaving patches with daffodils, snow drops, daisies and buttercups, but for the past few years Ruth has been working more seriously on meadow planting sections of the grassy areas. Yellow Rattle is one of the ingredients of this style of… Read more: Waiting for Rattle

Winter is here, so it’s time to sort out structures, prepare for next year and enjoy the subdued colours. The platform down the hill has a new floor and roof, the old sycamore is becoming a totem with an owl at the top. Paths and steps have been repaired, beds have been weeded and mulched.… Read more: The Doings of Dull Days

It has been a funny year of course but work is well underway preparing for winter and next year. 100m of hedges cut, trees trimmed, meadow beds cut, scarified and extra perennials and seeds added, more cuttings started. Manure has been hauled and is waiting to rejuvenate beds, pumkins have been collected and stored, late… Read more: This Year

End of the season and these sunflowers have decided to hide