Greenhouse #atozchallenge

This year I decided I wouldn’t do the AtoZ blogging challenge. Who was I kidding? One week in and I’ve decided to start and catch up at the same time. This is the last of my catch-up posts. Can’t quite believe it. Lunch over.

From tomorrow I’ll be back to I and the rest should follow in order.

What can I say.. I love having a greenhouse. Always have. I put a nice patio chair in there and, early in the mornings, sit and journal and ponder my gardening, day, week and life. My greenhouse is a bit haphazard but produces some amazing plants.

There are years when I’ve not managed to reach it very well as the garden’s got rather overgrown then years like this one when I can spend hours in there before others stir.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

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Fox #atozchallenge

This year I decided I wouldn’t do the AtoZ blogging challenge. Who was I kidding? One week in and I’ve decided to start and catch up at the same time. These catch-up posts are very short. Sometimes. This one is. More time to ponder and enjoy the sight of the fox wandering around in the garden. Just in case I’ve not mentioned it this is an urban garden in a very urban light industrial setting.

 

I’ve not seen her for a while and not got the best image but there’s a rather elderly looking fox which regularly visits my garden. She drinks from the gravel trays I fill with fresh water for the birds.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

 

Echinacea or Elder #AtoZchallenge

A few years ago my elder tree fell over. Thankfully it didn’t hit the greenhouse and fell into my garden not my neighbours. It was on a very windy evening and I’d not realised how fragile it was. I left it for a year then removed much of what had been the top and left the trunk. It’s a great feature of the garden. Whilst it means you have to climb over it there is another route to the end of the garden. The ivy on the trunk makes for a lovely seat and it gets the early morning sun in spring.

I’m looking forward to the flowers as I love to batter them and have them for breakfast.

When I came to post this I realised I didn’t have any pictures of my Elder tree in Flower or berry and I found this lovely picture of my Echinacea instead. Whilst many of you will be used to using Echinacea as a cold remedy here’s what the plant flowers look like. I love sketching them and their shadows. Must do that again when it flowers this year.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

 

Doves #atozchallenge

This week there was a moment when there were eight collared doves wandering around my garden and patio. It’s that time of year.

Here’s some pictures.

Sorry for the short post. Trying to catch-up with myself during a lunch break. It’s amazing how quickly you can write these if they’re short with a few pictures.. Hope you’re A-Z’s going well. Please comment on mine and I’ll pop over when I finish work.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Cherry tree #AtoZchallenge

This year I decided I wouldn’t the AtoZ blogging challenge. Who was I kidding? One week in and I’ve decided to start and catch up at the same time.

Here’s my C. Six days late.

My cherry tree is a bit of a dispute patch between me and my neighbour. It got a bit big for me to cope with. They kept cutting their side which meant it got a bit one sided. We both became worried it would fall. Recently we had a hilarious day with me trying to climb their ladder as they helped me cut my side too. It’s good when neighbours work together. There’s lots of blossom but it may be it’s last and it might be replaced by a young bramley apple tree.. (see A for the explanation of this one).

Now, if it was a morello cherry tree like those on the other side of the street I’d have to find a way to keep it but as it is only the birds get to eat it. It makes for a gory day or two later in the year as the blackbirds and starlings have a gorge day and there’s cherry juice everywhere which I find amusing to watch. At the moment it’s as if it’s snowing in spring. Once the cherry blossom is pollinated by bees and other insects, the petals float down. Add a bit of wind and you get a simulated snow storm which is beautiful.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Hazel #atozchallenge

Planting a species rich hedge in a town garden may have seemed like a good idea but it brings with it a huge responsibility. I inherited such a hedge from the previous owners, it was one of the things I liked about the garden, a real sense of countryside, I’ve got my own proper hedge.. How mistaken was I.

Some of the huge responsibility is that of maintenance and I’m not the best at maintaining such structures. It’s not like I can ask the local farmer to trim it while he’s driving past, or hope deer graze it to keep it down. I’m not sure how many deer inhabit this industrial estate I live on. And I never invested in a billhook to lay such hedge, maybe I should have but it’s a bit late now.

This hedge is more like a line of trees. There’s a whole variety I could talk about but specifically I get a funny satisfaction of having my own hazel coppice on rotation. This reminds me of the time I put a full sized garden into a small space for a butterfly display, as you do, the gardeners told me I’d never manage it. Everything grew to fit the space and no more and it was perfect. Ok I can do this, a mini hedge with perfect sized hazel coppice. If the rotation’s a 7 year one and I’ve got 7 trees for example, must go and count them, I’ll be fine, one a year.

What hadn’t occurred to me and has only recently dawned on me is that I’m providing a steady diet for any mice in the neighbourhood.. Hmm..

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

 

Blackcurrant #AtoZchallenge

This year there was no sign up so I didn’t and decided I wouldn’t do it this year. Who was I kidding? One week in I feel like I should be catching up.

Here’s my B. Seven days late. While it’s tempting to complete all the late ones and post in one go I think I’ll post two a day for the next week. The one that’s due on that day and the one from the previous week. Well my blog does say I’m random.. We’ll see. I’ll do what I can. It’s amazing I’m getting anything posting since I’d decided not to participate this year. What am I like, don’t answer that.

Ooh this could have been about my less than successful attempt to grow a bramley apple tree. I used that story for A. Are we covering blackberries as I spend my life torn between letting the garden become overtaken so I can have apple and blackberry crumble fresh from the garden.

No, B is for blackcurrant. I’m sure I’ve told this story before. My memory of growing up is that the blackcurrant bush in our garden didn’t do so well. The poor thing never fruited. Each year I’d be wishing it well so I could bake a blackcurrant tart and each year Dad would inform me that, yet again, it had been a bad year for blackcurrants. How gullable was I?

Move forward thirty years.

My garden had one blackcurrant bush which has seeded and I now have many blackcurrant bushes. I’ve never had a bad year for blackcurrants. I’ve learnt that they fruit on last years canes. If you remove all of last years canes you won’t get any blackcurrants, that’s quite a hard thing to do each year. (Please don’t quote or follow this guidance, there’s proper horticultural advice out there, I’m no trained horticulturist and these are my own views. I may have remembered this completely wrong.)

My dad was a much better gardener than me and I’ve finally realised he probably didn’t like blackcurrants! It makes me smile each time I think of what he did to make sure that bush wouldn’t fruit. In those days we topped and tailed the blackcurrants, something I wouldn’t dream of today. I take any stalks off which have managed to stay on as I harvest the fruit. Each year I get enough for a pie, some for the freezer and share the rest with the birds that live around here.

Since I only have one pic of Blackcurrants in fruit, they’re not out yet here’s a pic of my bluebells which aren’t out yet either and I’ll update you later on what they look like when they’re in flower. I’ve suddenly come up with lots more B words I could have used.. Blackbird, Bee, Buddleigh and Bean.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Apples #atozchallenge

This year there was no sign up so I didn’t and decided I wouldn’t do it this year. Who was I kidding? One week in I feel like I should be catching up.  

Here’s my A. Nine days late.. 

I don’t know what it is about apple trees. I keep buying them, then realising I still have no bigger garden for them. I don’t research my buying enough, the cheap ones from the local supermarket. I think they’re all supposed to be bramley apples. There’s a vision I have, of walking out of my back garden, picking some blackberries from the brambles that sneak our from behind the shed and a few bramleys from my apple tree, and making a crumble for afters on a Sunday.

These trees are struggling but seem to find their niche, one’s become Espalier without me doing much, one’s happy in a tub in the sunniest place in the patio and, as I speak, two are wondering where their places will be. One’s survived the winter in it’s wrapping and the other’s got no intention of being left for even one winter without being planted.

I’ve learnt a lot while on this venture. Who knew there were different root stocks that apple trees were grown on. People keep telling me which I should have bought and even suggesting I start again as my apple trees from the supermarket came with no information about root stock. Abandon my trees? Can’t do that. Even though they’ll never produce bramleys as they should, they still deserve a life however reduced that may be.

 

No more apple trees. And find out a bit more before venturing on any other visions I may have. It’s good to learn along the way but maybe this time I’d have fewer apple trees if I’d got the right one on the right root stock in the first place. There’s a tree in my neighbours garden which drops more than enough apples into mine each year but not bramleys.

I’m still convinced, regardless of root stock, one day my vision will happen with one of my own trees. 

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about gardening, Lynne style.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge, look in the comments on the letter of the day blog or like their facebook page. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.