Badgers, Blackbirds and a Robin

Hello Friends!

Thank you to all who left such uplifting comments on my last blog entry, so encouraging and kind. Heartfelt thanks from me to you.  With my back gone into spasms again, they have carried me through some painful days.

One thing I miss with our current state is friends dropping by for a chat and a cup of tea.  I know it will be a long time before I can invite anyone safely over my threshold again.  This saddens me, for I am of the ilk that as soon as I open the door and see a friendly face, they are beckoned in and, before they have taken off their coat, the kettle is on. When they are able to visit, it seems it will be during fine weather only and we will sit out, two meters apart, in the garden.  I don't even know any more about the safety of offering a cup of refreshing tea and slice of home made cake.  Do you?  Thank goodness for the garden!

Here's a wee visitor, always welcome, no social distancing required.  A Robin goes about gathering bugs to feed the chicks waiting on a nearby nest.

Speaking of sitting in the garden, I have now got a new Public Enemy Number One.  A badger.  My lawn is not the most pristine, it is more pollinator friendly than well manicured, but even so, the last thing I want to see when I throw back the curtains of a morning is a big pile of earth alongside a big hole where a badger has dug in the night.  There's not a lot I can do, and frankly I consider it a privilege to have a visiting badger, but also know this will cause big problems for me down the road when the vegetable plot is back up and running.

And so, I wonder how the rest of the garden grows?  Since I last wrote, the growing list of foes now includes blackbirds who do battle with me over ownership of the soft fruit, especially the raspberries and rstrawberries.  The raspberries are not so easy to protect, but the strawberries are now covered with a horticultural fleece while I search for some old netting.  Horticultural fleece is good but not great. It's great at helping to keep things warm, especially in winter, but it doesn't let the same amount of light, or water, in and has to be removed and replaced after watering which starts to get faffy.

This is the noise outside, all day long, from sun rise to sunset, when the fledglings have left the nest.

Blackbirds Warning Call

I did not expect a lot of strawberries, as the plants are new, but since I started picking a few occasional fruits this seems to have encouraged a whole raft of new flowers!  I can now look forward to more fruit in a few weeks and right now I have the pretty sight of ripening berries and those oh so delightful pink and white flowers!

Fresh picked strawberries camouflaged on a strawberry patterned tray for fun.

I have also picked a few raspberries.  Slow to begin, but once you start picking they come in thick and fast! The more you pick, the quicker the next fruits ripen up!  The more I pick, the more the blackbirds bolden and attack me!

This one didn't even make it into the bowl!

Each evening, around 6:45, everything comes to a halt.  Downton Abbey is being shown, from the very first episode, and even though I have them all on dvd, I still stop to watch.  In these current days of uncertainty, when those first, familiar bars of music from the opening credits begin, it's like coming home to an old friend, and the biggest, warmest hug imaginable.  Just what we need.

After Downton, I go out and water my pots if it is needed, which at the moment is nearly every evening.  I love watering.  Standing, as the evening sun still warms the world and bathes all in a golden light of gloaming, gently pouring the life giving water on plants that will nourish my body and soul, it is a time to reflect on the day as it says "goodnight", and a time for gentle and calming meditation.  Few jobs in the garden bring me such joy as watering.

My favourite Rosa Mundi

I work hard to be water responsible, and only water where it is needed.  I do not water the lawn, if it turns yellow, it turns yellow.  Grass recovers quickly enough with a light sprinkling of rain. I do not water the main borders either.  Most plants have a way of finding what they need, but occasionally, if it has been a particularly prolonged dry spell, or if I have planted something new, or moved things around, I will water just enough. The plants in my raised borders are pretty tolerant of most conditions and hardly ever need watering.  For pots and borders I try to recycle grey water, but sometimes a five gallon watering can full of water is a heavy thing to lug.

A few weeks ago, on Gardener's World, Monty Don said it was not too late to sow some tomato seeds, so I followed his lead.  Mine are not as far along as his, and I think this may be down to not having a green house, and also that we took a serious hit when the temperatures dropped by 20°F overnight.  Still, I am continuing with them, ever hopeful they will pull through and yield some fruit.  Few things are tastier than a fresh picked, sun ripened, still warm tomato in a summer salad.

I also threw caution to the wind and sowed the last few seeds of two varieties, Marquee de Provence pumpkin and Uchiki Kuri squash.  I also sowed an old pack of assorted ornamental gourds.  They have two chances, and cost only a few handfuls of compost, so nothing to lose, and if they grow then I will have some, hard~to~come~by in my area, ornamental gourds for autumn decorating.  I have not had those in years, as no one grows them locally.  I am still waiting for them to germinate, and I fear the fickle weather has not helped any.

What happened to Summer? Just as things should be warming up, and they did for a few days, we saw the unexpected return of winter with very unseasonably cold and windy weather.  This set back all of our plants and seedlings again, not just mine.  It rained, light and steady, all day and into the night, so the ground has had a gentle soaking, thankfully, and that may save the water for a day or two!  This year, everything was coming along well, and I had started to put things outside when that drop in temperature came , and now my front porch, as well as my back porch, is full of things I am trying to save!  Gardening is nothing if not a constant challenge of wits!  Today and tomorrow we have 45mph winds, and when I went out to pick a salad selection of leaves I couldn't keep them in the bowl the wind was so keen and strong!

Repurposed old freezer baskets to help move things in and out for hardening off when the weather is fine.

I do not have a greenhouse, so all my indoor sowing and growing on of plants happens in my utility room.  It has a lovely big, sturdy shelf and a big window that should let in plenty of light, but neighbouring tall Sycamore trees in full leaf lessen the light by some considerable degree and my plants are often leggy until I can put them safely outside.  Still, it is all I have, so I work with it.  I am grateful to have it.  Now, though, it has to be cleared away every couple of weeks as it doubles up as my grocery sanitising area.  Who would ever have thought we would be talking like this?  All the more reason to focus on getting a small greenhouse, or garden shed with a suitable shelf for potting up, protection, and growing on!

I sent to Suttons for some more seeds, all things that can still be sown, and which will harvest this year.  I read here, Marks Veg Plot, that he grew carrots in pots.  I have a lot of these Long Tom style pots sitting around {it's the consummate Pack Rat in me}so I am giving it a go.  Nothing to lose.  I have some fresh carrot seeds, along with two more types of lettuce, Little Gem and All Year Round, which should provide lettuce into October; parsley; dill; garlic chives; and borage.  I am replenishing all my out~of~date seeds.  There is low availability right now, I guess lockdown has got people out in their gardens, which is no bad thing at all!

I will be looking like a lettuce, but then I do love, and enjoy, a delicious salad bowl every day.  I love to make a main meal salad, with a couple cups of leaves as the base, then add whatever I have: parsley, spinach, tomatoes, diced onion, spring onion, shredded carrot, shredded courgette, diced cucumber, beetroot, a handful of thawed frozen peas, kidney beans, cheese, home made croutons, some seeds, and a home made dressing.  Yum!  It's a favourite meal in the cottage.

Do you have a favourite vegetable or fruit you love to grow and could not do without?  It's hard to pick just one, isn't it?  The superlative flavour of home grown, plot to plate in minutes, how do you pick just one?

Until next time
Stay safe. Stay well.
Deborah xo