Little update

 Haven't written on here for so long! To be honest, I forgot all about this blog...is blogging even still relevant? Who knows. Basically, life and general chaos got in the way. Other things have taken up my time. 

Anyway, I might try to do this again, a bit more regularly. 

It's currently very warm and humid, pollen levels are very high and my allergies are being very annoying. We're basically in summer now, the Summer Solstice is actually still a few days away, but nevermind. The garden is full and probably a bit over-grown, but all the trees are doing well.

We've started to get some gooseberries, blackcurrents and raspberries ripening, also a few strawberries. Apples and pears are still tiny, but will hopefully continue to grow. All the roses seem to be doing very well this year, and the herb garden I planted recently is working out well. (I've started using the rosemary to make a sort of potion to thicken my hair a bit....it's really just rosemary and boiled water, but it seems to be helping a bit.) Actually, I should probably make some more soon, haven't got much left now.

The badgers are still visiting, occasionally. There are still lots of birds in the garden, generally being quite noisy. The rooks, jackdaws and magpies are slowly getting used to us, they will actually come down to the feeder while I am in the garden, as long as I don't get too close.

Lazy Gardening

 Happy New Year! 

I have been making plans for our garden. I'm not really a natural gardener....in fact I prefer to leave our garden as wild as possible. However, I like to try to grow some fruit and vegetables each year (not always successfully). The heatwave last summer killed off a lot of the plants and vegetables, sadly.

I planted another tree over the weekend - an apple tree. I doubt we will get any fruit from it this year, it's still quite a small tree, but over the next few years I hope we can use some of the fruit from it. Even if we can't, it will provide a bit more shade in our garden, which is a good thing (especially if we have more very hot summers)! We also have a plum tree, a pear tree and a cherry tree, so will possibly be able to get some fruit from those too, at some point.

While I'm talking about trees...I think the little oak tree we planted last year (the one I thought had died), might still be alive! I think it has tiny buds starting to form. I may be wrong. We shall see.

Also, we decided that the patio section of our garden was too big. So I've pulled up several paving slabs and will use the space as another grassy area, and let the daisies and dandelions grow.

I'm not going to attempt to grow too many vegetables this year, maybe just garlic, onions and possibly kholrabi. My idea of growing vegetables is to essentially plant them and water them. I don't do anything else....no covers or nets or things added to the soil (apart from peat-free compost). If it all grows, then great. If it all gets eaten by animals/insects, then fine. I'm a very lazy gardener.

 

 

My Love of Trees

 We are properly into summer now. The garden is full of flowers and very long grasses (we don't mow our lawn very often, we prefer to let it grow into a sort of meadow). Starlings and sparrows seem to be in the garden most of the time and we get occasional visits from a couple of goldfinches. I did see a few butterflies over the weekend. I think one was a Red Admiral, but I couldn't say for definite, they all flutter around quite quickly.

When we moved into this house, the garden was mostly lawn. Over the last two years, we have put in several raised beds for vegetables and quite a lot of trees. Planting a tree is one of my favourite things to do, especially if I'm feeling a bit miserable or stressed about anything! They are good for the environment and will eventually provide some shade in our garden. I know a lot of people don't want shady gardens, but I think it's good to have some shade, especially during heatwaves (which seem to be getting more frequent). So far, we have two rowan trees, a hawthorn, a spindle, two plum trees (one was already here when we moved in), a hazelnut, a pear and a cherry tree. We also planted a couple of holly bushes and a friend gave me a tiny oak tree he'd dug up from his garden (which I have planted, but I'm not sure it will survive, I think the roots were damaged when he dug it up). I'd like to get an apple tree at some point soon, not quite sure where we'd put it yet though.

All of the trees are still fairly small, but a few of them look like they may produce fruit and berries this year. Tiny berries have started to form on one of the rowan trees and a few cherries and plums have started to appear. I'm stupidly happy about this! Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (the other is winter), and I love seeing all the berries and fruit on trees. Plus, it provides food for all the wildlife.