Diary Of A Wild Country Garden

One of the wonderful parts of having a garden is that even in the depths of winter you can look out the window and see nature. Even on a freezing cold and windy day like today when, even as a keen gardener, I know I will probably do more harm than good tramping across wet grass and muddy borders, I can look out and see our lovely garden and all the wildlife that visit. For me now the garden and the wildlife are intrinsically bound together. What happens with one affects the other so now I always try to keep both in mind with everything I do. I love birds and get so much pleasure from seeing all the different ones, hearing them singing away so beautifully, having them nest in our garden and all their lovely antics all year. I always want to help them through the often difficult winter months. So at this time of year I sort out all the bird feeders and go to the shops or the farmer's markets and stock up on the b...

Wrapped up warm and cosy, walking with my hubby through the countryside near us, what could be better.  I just adore Autumn, everything seems to slow down, become more mellow, softer, and we are treated to a spectacular show of colour. Reds, greens and golds dominate the landscape. I love walking through fallen leaves, crisp and crunchy underfoot. Glorious in their falling from the skies, a carpet of rich colour. Memories of childhood games and crafts collecting the leaves to make wonderful pictures. The skies here are often amazing. Being nearer the sea and flatter in this part of the country, we are treated to gorgeous sunsets and dramatic storm clouds scattered across the sky. Morning mists hanging heavy, slowly giving way to a glimpse of sunlight breaking through. When the sun is out everything takes on a golden sheen which bathes the trees, houses and fields in a warm comforting glow. Wearing warm sweaters and woolly hats, a walk in the countryside at this time of year on a...

These days I cannot walk past a garden center without checking out the far end of the plant section where they usually put all the discounted plants. These poor plants are generally tired, limp and dry as a bone. All jumbled up together unloved and unwanted. Frankly, I find it very sad that had they just been watered regularly they would probably be just fine right now.  Anyway, usually heavily discounted, I search through them all to find ones that have a chance of survival. Often I find ones with good root systems and given a little tender loving care I take a chance on reviving them.  Today it was the turn of three Rosemary plants and a French Lavender. In particular, the French Lavender was a sorry looking plant half dead and very limp, I wasn't sure, but it had a good root system and urged on by my hubby (a recent gardening convert !) decided to take it home. An hour later after a good watering and re-potting and light pruning, it stands up proud in its new pot o...

I had a lovely surprise last weekend. We went to the farmers market and after getting all our veg and necessary items we wandered over to the plant stalls. I wasn't really considering buying any plants right now. Still, I always love looking around :) I was looking at the beautiful Camellia plants. They are gorgeous with lovely shiny thick leaves and a nice growth habit and the blooms are so delicate looking and beautiful. I think they are as gorgeous looking as a rose but without the thorns. Anyway Hubby is always full of surprises and is not really an avid gardener like me (-yet :) )  So he just said I am getting you one for a present! Choose which one you like. Isn't that sweet of him! I am a lucky lass. No arguments here, well you do not have to say "choose a plant" to me twice! So I started looking at the plants and what colour blooms are available. Hubby leaves this up to me as he knows I know what I am looking for. We already have a pink Came...

Why I Love Summertime Summer is a lovely time of year. In summer we have long days and hopefully longer warmer days and sunshine, vacation time and beautiful flowers. Its quite an easy time of year to love. Life is easier in the Summertime... Vivaldi Four Seasons-Summer Gorgeous music which is beautiful to listen to. You may like to have this video playing while you look through the rest of the page....I find it puts you in the summertime mood. I'm Loving Summer!! What can I say about Summer? In a country where it's not that warm most of the year Summertime is our big chance at some high temperatures, occasional balmy days and warmer evenings....for a little while at least :)  A time where we can actually eat out of doors have picnics and breakfast on the patio.  Summer is a time to wear lovely dresses and beautiful cool fabrics. Maybe even a sun hat! A time where the days are long,...

Spiders, how do people feel about them I wonder... do you love them or hate them or fear them? I struggle with spiders. I love nature and all animals, birds and bugs but I do have a problem with spiders. For some reason I just cannot get on with them. It didn't come from my parents as neither of them were bothered in the slightest by spiders. I think it may all stem from an incident when I was five years old when a massive black thick legged spider fell on me from the ceiling into my bath- what a shock! What was that !! I never moved so fast! Anyway since that day I was afraid of them. However no matter how I felt there was no way I could kill a spider or let anyone else kill a spider. So from that day all seen spiders had to be carefully and gently caught and taken outside to a nice safe place in the garden. Spider At Work Keyring by RaintreeDesigns It's a phobia and can be overcome and after making a concerted effort to face my phobia these d...

Today I looked out of the window close to my work desk and noticed that our garden was filled with birds!  I had heard their calls but was still surprised to see so many. They have been a bit quiet during the bad weather we have had.  Today they were suddenly everywhere - small ones flying and flitting around, woodpigeons and doves feeding on the ground, long tailed tits, a robin and sparrows on every single one of the feeders, blackbirds kicking up the leaves to find food beneath. The bird bath in constant use! The hedge and garden was alive with wonderful birds! No doubt they have come in to find food and water and by their behaviour maybe looking for nest sites... I saw a few birds eyeing up and testing out nesting materials, lifting up the long slender twigs, picking up bits of fluff. Also a few squabbles, maybe over potential good nest sites..  I saw a couple of sparrows checking out the eaves of our home going in and out and seeing off other bird...

As it has not really been possible to do any gardening lately due to the extremely wet weather I am remembering some of the trips we took to other gardens in the  Summer and Autumn.   It  One of these visits was to a lovely stately home near us that has a wonderful walled garden vegetable and fruit plot. It  was rainy so we went into the greenhouse for a bit of warmth and dry and there it was right in front of us! It was not promoted, they didn't make a big deal of it. We would have missed it if we hadn't wanted to get out of the wind for awhile.  The gardener just said they were part of the crop and they had recently brought them in. It was an amazing pumpkin crop! I have never seen one like this in my life. What a beautiful, bright spectacle of colour and shapes greeted us! Some of the pumpkins were so small they easily fitted into the palm of my hand and some were so enormous it must have taken several people to lift them into position. ...

I have two bushes of dogwood in our garden. There are many variants of dogwood. In the summer the species I have in our garden is a large yet unremarkable plant. It does get tiny white flowers and small white berries and the leaves are quite pretty, but there are certainly more beautiful looking plants around.  So why does Dogwood deserve a place in my garden? For me with dogwood it's all about the stems. I grow red-stemmed dogwood as we love the colour red. In the late autumn when most of the leaves have fallen I cut about half of the stems. These stems are now very tall some are six feet high or more. Many are very straight, some are twisted or curved it depends how they have grown. So these stems are cut to size and in winter I use them to decorate our home. Some of the more unusual shapes and curves go into clear vases where the red stems and shapes really shine through. Others I tie up into a rustic bundle and place in a natural wicker basket by the fire. T...