Leggy isn't always good!

Ducks love sweet peas!!! Huh!!!

Was halfway through making a 'Free to Good Home' sign (humor) when I realised that this was not the ducks fault, the eternally hungry cretins that they are, but mine. The plants were obviously too young to survive an attack by the white feathered destroyers, and shouldn't have been out anyway. They should have been hardened off and toughed up properly. Hopefully a mistake that won't be made twice! 

When getting the rest of the sweet pea into the cold frame to harden off properly this time, I found some cells with poppies in. They were the remainder from the seed tray way back when i was twisting stems together to make bigger bunches (what a dumb dumb!) and guess what? They were still alive and growing! These poor little beggars were so weak and straggly that I shoved them into a permanently open cold frame rather than throw them in the bin probably out of laziness more than anything else!  But they looked great! Tight little bunches of leaves, not the biggest, but so strong. Comparing them to the big bunches of poppies I put out, there was no question that the house poppies were far to floppy and leggy to survive in the real world! Another lesson - leggy isn't always good!!! 

The ducks are all nesting now. Feel so sorry for the girlies stuck on their nests and trying desperately to scare away anything that comes near them to no avail. But it will be lovely to have some baby chicks around again. Such a cheery sight to see them waddling behind mum, all in a row. We always end up hand rearing the little runts that get left on their own. Sadly most don't make it (we have been through the whole Sex and the City cast in names now and it never gets any easier) but some do survive. We had to hand rear these 3 last year, as their mum was killed by a nasty dog who was allowed to run free by his stupid stupid owner. 

They are all grown up now and still making us giggle! Cheeky minx's!

This mum is nesting in the bastille next to the house, you can just see her little red beak to the left of the pic, trying to scowl through the wall at us. Bless her!

Know Your Enemy......

Sounds pretty obvious, and I really thought I did. I had thought about what would be visiting the garden and put all and sundry into neat little boxes of what would be good and bad for my flowers and veg. 

Slugs bad. Snails bad. Rabbits bad. Dogs bad. Disney bad. Brother Louis bad. Moles bad. Mice bad. Linzi probably bad (no point kidding myself)

Bees good. Worms good. Louie poo good. Farmer John good. Ducks good - 17 of them should keep the slugs at bay.

This seems logical doesn't it? Well, actually, after this week, ducks are now firmly in the bad box. They have systematically savaged my lovely little poppies until there is nothing left of them. I can't even blame rapid disappearance of them on the rabbits because I saw John (the duck, but looks like one of the village locals) in action, ruthlessly pulling at the leaves until the whole plant popped out and then greedily eating what he could, while trampling the other plants he didn't want into the ground.  How rude!! 

He and his mates have also had a go at the sweet peas planted out only yesterday, but thankfully don't seem to to consider them so much of a delicacy!! Thought I would show you a pic of them just in case they decide they are quite nice after all!

You will be pleased to know that I accepted these setbacks gracefully!!! The beauty of nature, is that nothing is predictable, not what pretty flowers will grow or what the ducks and rabbits will eat, not the amount of rain we get, or when the frost stops or when the sun comes...... Its lovely, and what keeps all this fun!

Here is naughty John himself having a  bath in the little brook that babbles through the garden. 

So cute!! You just couldn't stay angry at him for long!!

Into the garden!!! (And nothing's died yet...!)

I hope you all have been having as beautiful weather as we have here! Disney has been making the most of the sun's warm rays. Look at him helping to warm up the flower beds! Bless him!!

Our snow drops are all out in full force now, with crocus' making an appearance, and the daffy buds are finally forming and bobbing in the breeze! I think the long awaited spring is finally here! 

For the first time ever I am noticing the buds appear and growing daily on the trees and shrubs, hosta's poking tentative rolls of leaves up, and all that looked barren and dead from winter slowly starting to rejuvenate. How have I not noticed this the past 26 years? The earth has never felt more magical to me, it feels really special to be aware of and play a part in it for the first time in my life!

The air is alive with bird song, and filled with the promise of what's to come when mother nature awakes fully. Hopefully she will not mind me bumbling along beside her trying to make things grow and be pretty!

But the arrival of warmer weather isn't good news for all of us! It means lots of burst pipes for the boys to fix! Here's a picture of Johnny and his apprentice in action fixing a leak sprung in spring! Liam crawls on his belly behind Johnny in the tight spaces ninja style to save the day!!

Johnny banged his head after that pic was taken. Haha!

With the sun on my back all week, the temptation grew ever stronger to get down and dirty with my plants in the soil! Like most beginners, my keenness will probably end up killing most of what I started off and nurtured all winter, but I accept this cheerfully! The lesson will have to be learnt the hard way to sink in! 

All winter I spent a good few hours (and many bottles of wine) a night, poring over what went best with what, what to plant with what for easiest rotation, what would shade what..... (You get the picture!) I made the coolest plans for my beds ever on my laptop, all neatly labelled and easy to follow.... And you know what? When it came to actually planting, it all went right out the window! 

It was very hard letting go of the little plants that I had nurtured and watched grow bigger and stronger almost daily since November, but after a 'test night' (where I put a few poppies out and they didn't die or get eaten) it was time to shove 'em all out into the big bad world!!! I was like a woman possessed when I got going, stabbing holes in the ground and frantically shoving plants in like there was no tomorrow. It felt good!!!

Have attached you a pic of 1 of the little plug's, isn't it cute? Was very proud of how they came out like proper garden centre plants! I've had nightmares about them crumbling in my hands when I tried to get them out of the pot! 

Got the majority of the poppies out in some of the stone raised flower beds (when I had actually planned to plant them as meadow flowers around our rough garden border - Oops!) and some potatoes planted in the big wooden half barrels. Haven't even remembered to label the potatoes! How rude!!! I only bought 2 types so it shouldn't be too hard to identify when its up and ready to eat!

Above is a pic of 1 of the beds. Not into formal, so rest of it will be filled with a mis-mash of everything I'm growing, hopefully it will look wild and natural! Well.... That's the plan at the minute anyway...... 

Pearls of wisdom......

Had the funniest piece of gardening advice yet, just had to share it with you! 

Our TV Ariel man is another organic veggie grower (they are popping up everywhere, isn't it fab!!) so just had to drag him round my little baby plugs (is that the right word?) when he came to do a job this week. He's very matter of fact, and is a firm believer of growing for fun and not getting too tired down in the science and seriousness of it all. (Trying to adopt this attitude myself, I figure it will save me loads of disappointment when things don't work out how I imagined them to)

On asking the very Geordie Tony if he thought my poppies were sick or why they may be wilting, he scratched his head, poked 1, and offered the following pearls of wisdom..... "Never worry 'bout the poppies man, they could grow on a baldy heed!" Still laughing as I type!! 

Maybe you needed to be there, but hope that that little nugget at least makes you smile! Going to keep watering them and hope for the best!!!! 

Linzi x x