Peas #AtoZChallenge

Most of my AtoZ has been about plants on my patio and I could easily have done the whole theme on the patio but no. I’m heading down to the Vegetable plot. Mind you they’re currently in the greenhouse.

A2Z pea shoot

The spot where the peas should be planted out is currently under piles of bramble and buddleigh cuttings. The bigger the pea shoots get the less time I have to get their final resting place ready. I know, what am I doing sat here writing? Better go get busy in the garden, what a shame. 

A2Z pea plants

There’s something about picking your own peas fresh from your garden. Mind you I say that about all the vegetables I grow. It’s been a few years since my veg plot’s been functioning, I’ve been telling myself I let it have a fallow few years.

This is the year, the year for peas.

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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Ox-eye daisies #atozchallenge

Many years ago someone gave me some plants. I put them where I thought they’d be best and waited to see what would happen. It didn’t take long they gave a great show that year and for maybe the one after but within no time they moved. They preferred the light on my patio, I think they got more water there and they seemed to like less soil. In amongst the patio slabs, they grew giving me an amazing show each year. They’re there again this year and I’m looking forward to seeing them when they flower.

A2Z Ox-eye daisiesThey’re ox-eye daisy’s. They self seeded where they were happier. I’d not picked the best place for them but that didn’t matter, so long as they can get one seed year they’ll find the better place and continue to thrive.

My AtoZ Blogging Challenge is all about my garden. 

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post why not see what others are doing too during 2017 AtoZ Blogging challenge. I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Noisy (gore warning) #AtoZChallenge

We’re not completely back onto the murmurations.

My garden’s very noisy. Normally, during the day the birds compete with the traffic from the dual carriageway which is, unfortunately, within earshot. The day they work out how to effectively silence the noise from roads will be amazing.

A2Z starling bath

The noise I prefer in my garden is that of the birds. From 4am when the dawn chorus pipes up to later in the day when the starlings are having their baths. It’s rare but I did hear a less happier sound this year.

A2Z Wildlife isn't always fluffy

The sparrow hawk who, last year, loved dove went for starling for supper one day earlier this year. Whilst it’s all part of nature and if I will encourage and help some then seeing their predators is also something I treasure, this was a heart rendering sound and definitely not a nice thing to watch. I tried to intervene but the sparrow hawk flew further away with it’s meal.

At the moment, with British Summer Time I can catch the Dawn chorus in full swing at 5am. I sit on my patio all wrapped up with my first cuppa tea and enjoy the sounds as they wake up all around me. It changes around 5:20 and sounds like it begins a bit louder further away. Someone else has woken up. It must be like that as dawn starts around the globe. Thats an odd thought.

A2Z woodpecker crop

A final thought on noise. Whilst I have woodpeckers visiting daily at the moment I’ve not heard their traditional drumming.

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.

Mornings leading to Murmurations #atozchallenge

Sshhh, I want to tell you a secret. Mum’s the word..

In the mornings I have this routine.. most mornings.

AtoZ Starling 

I provide breakfast for some very hungry visitors. I feed starlings. There, I’ve said it. That’s one little bit of self sacrifice towards the natural world that lives around me. And then when I see the mini murmurations that fly over my back garden from November – February I think to myself. ‘You know, you’ve probably helped that happen.’ It’s a little thing but if each of us did our own little bit towards keeping a wonderful natural environment around us imagine what a difference we could make.  I’m sure I’ve taken some photo’s of the local mini-murmurations but you’ll have to imagine them as I might have just watched them and remembered them in my mind.

A2Z starlings hanging around

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.

 

Leylandii or light #AtoZchallenge

Lawn would have been an obvious L but I’m not a big lawn person and my lawn’s disappeared (more about that if you’re still with me at Y).

Yesterdays blog post went on a bit didn’t it? Sorry about that. Maybe that’s why it’s not yet got any comments. Here’s a slightly shorter one and I only have one picture to illustrate it.

When I bought this house I bought it for the garden. I noticed the leylandii hedge and quizzed myself how I’d cope with it. It was one garden away so not an immediate neighbourly dispute issue. Life went on. Some of it got cut down, then being less sheltered and supported, one tree broke a bit of my fence when it fell in the wind one year. A couple of the trees were left and carried on being home to many birds and, in winter, one of the roosting places for the starling murmuration.

AtoZ light

A few weeks ago I came home and Wow. Someone had let the light in. The remaining leylandii had been removed. What they gave me was a glade in the forest. this picture is where I’d normally have had dark green, It never occurred to me to take a picture of it because I didn’t realise it wouldn’t be there anytime soon. When butterflies came out of hibernation this year they used the open glade to meet, greet and mate which was a pleasure to watch. My view’s changed, I’ll get used to it. There’s still other places for the starlings to roost and other birds to nest. Life and homes move on and, in a garden, there’s lots of changes each season and, sometimes, each 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.

Kitchen garden #AtoZChallenge

There’s something about walking out of the backdoor and picking your own herbs for your meals. Whenever I see herbs in the supermarket looking all forlorn I wonder why people don’t buy the potted live versions and grow their own. You need little space as many can be grown in pots.

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My patio is, I guess, my kitchen garden. It’s got rosemary, chives, strawberries, sage, oregano, thyme, mint all within easy reach of my backdoor and kitchen. I could write a post about each one of these.

A2Z Mint

I struggle to grow borage, no idea why that is. I also seem to struggle to grow Thyme. Having said I’ve got it on the patio I couldn’t find it to take a picture. I think I keep putting it in a pot with oregano and the oregano wins out. I also keep getting confused between my oregano and marjoram.. I’m obviously not cooking as much as I used to. Need to change that.

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Actually, I’m not sure many of my herbs are particularly healthy, looking at them as I write this. Maybe I’m not using them enough or maybe it’s just the post winter blues. They’ll feel better soon, as the weather changes and I’ll move them to better places on the patio for them.

A2Z echinacea (2)

Chives, on the other hand are flourishing. Even after my friend helped clear up my patio for me recently without me having been explicit enough about what plants I cherish, the chives re-grew through the paving slabs as good as ever.

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I’d better say something about my rosemary.. The thing is, I’m not a ‘traditional’ gardener as you might have noticed. I let plants grow where they want to and one year I let a few too many hazel trees sprout up where I shouldn’t have, right in front of the amazing rosemary bush that had been in my garden for many years. This bush had provided numerous rosemary sprigs for some amazing roast dinners over the years. It was too late before I realised it had been too dry a year for both the hazel and rosemary to survive. Although I quickly removed the hazel, I think the shade had been too much for the rosemary and I’d left it too late. I know, it’s very sad, Rosemary died. I now have many new rosemary’s all wondering why I’m keeping them in little pots that they’re not very happy in. I don’t want to repeat the mistake and haven’t decided where to plant them yet.

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What herbs do you grow and have you any tips to help me keep my thyme in future? My Sage is doing ok but I think will benefit from being used a bit more. Oh what a shame, now what goes well with sage?

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.

Jasmine #atozchallenge

Both the winter Jasminum nudiflorum and summer Jasminum officinale survive the frost on my patio. They never grow much though and I think that’s more to do with not having something to grow on than anything else. I must get them something to train themselves to.

A2Z Summer jasmine leaves

It’s spring and I don’t have any pictures of my summer jasmine in flower, the pic above is of it now in leaf. Let me see if I can find the picture I took of the winter jasmine in flower a few months ago. It’s the first to flower on the patio each year. Here you go.

A2Z Winter jasmine flower

I love the idea that I can walk out onto my patio and smell jasmine.

A2Z Winter jasmine leaves

Then there’s this other plant. I’m sure it’s a jasmine but I’m also not sure. And come to think about it, I might have got the identification of the other two inaccurate too. Feel free to tell me what you think they are though I realise the images here are perhaps a bit more arty than descriptive. Oh well, what does it matter what they are? They give me pleasure, they’re staying alive and I’m trying to make their lives better each year.

A2Z Unidentified plant

A quick look at the Royal Horticultural Society web pages tells me I’ve got the identification of the two correct and that there are many winter and summer cultivars but, looking at the pictures, I now think the third might not be jasmine at all. It probably needs moving, re-potting and given something to grow on, then, when it flowers, I can re-identify it. Unless you clever readers can tell me what it is from this picture?

Jerusalem artichokes is a plant I also wanted to write about today but It’s dark, my artichoke seed packet’s in the greenhouse and I can’t remember if they’re Jerusalem or Globe. It’s the first time I’ve tried to grow artichokes. The seedlings look fab don’t you think and I’m looking forward to seeing what they turn into.

A2Z artichoke seedlings

Pictures on the internet tell me I want my seedlings to be globe artichokes not Jerusalem so they wouldn’t have fitted here anyway. They’re the ones I’ve enjoyed painting the shadows of. We don’t all have veg patches to provide food for our stomachs. Mine is as much, at times, about food for my creativity. Ahh, but that’s for another post.

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.

Ivy #atozchallenge

There’s a part of my garden that’s covered in Ivy. It’s welcome there. It’s not welcome when it tries to move onto and into my fences and my greenhouse. Where the ivy’s covering the fallen down Elder tree trunk and a large part of my *cough* lawn, it’s welcome. 

A2Z ivy

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.

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.

A2Z greenhouse

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.

A2Z seedlings (2)

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.

A2Z There's a greenhouse in there somewhere

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.

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.

A2Z fox 

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.