Non-gardeners may wish to give this post a miss. It’s been a very outdoors-y month here. The weather has been very dry and sunny, although a spell of frosty and windy weather mid month was a bit of a shock.
I’ve been entertained by a pair of robins building their nest at the back of my shed. You can tell I don’t use the stuff in that corner much. They have a handy entrance via the hole in the wall seen in the first picture top right. The robins tend to come into the shed and polytunnel regularly so I wasn’t surprised. Once I’d spotted the nest at the beginning of the month I stayed out of the shed as much as possible so all pictures were taken at a distance. The nestlings have now fledged and can be heard cheeping at their parents for more food in the damson trees.
The ducks have also made themselves at home. Chester has decided that they are beneath his notice and the ducks totally ignore him, so no problems there.
Robin’s nest in the shed.. ..,between the spray bottle and the ground cover 4 visible nestlings Ducks demanding food Food delivery If we’re feeding them we can name them… meet George and Mildred Farmer Tempest Chester watching ducks with his blind eye Totally ignoring each other. Wildfowl park – Pheasant, pigeons and ducks Too hot Inspecting seedling progress Still too hot, so I have my personal assistant follow me around and provide shade
Here’s the usual round up of odds and ends. I’m putting this here instead of at the end so that anyone who doesn’t want to look at boring plant pictures can then ignore the rest 🙂
The weeds are tough here – grow through stonens Picking Elderflowers for the first batch of cordial I found a garden helper. Very misty one morning. Visibility about 10 yards. Stroll to the tide bell https://www.mablethorpe.info/time-and-tide-bell Social distancing is easy on the beach
We had to turn lumberjack during the heavy winds, as one of the larger willows split it’s trunk, and was threatening to come down onto the flower beds. We just took the weight off the tree to begin with, you can’t really tell from these pictures but it was blowing a gale.The remains have since been tidied up to a nice stump, with new sprouts already several feet tall. It’s hard to kill a willow.
Damage Top removed More wood for the fire and the shredder
Wildflower bed. This is the first bed to be put in to the back garden. I’d like a wildflower meadow, but I think the nettles and grass would outperform any wildflowers without assistance. So I started some plants off with mixed seeds and have given them a clear piece of ground to get started in. It’s a bit of an experiment to see if it will survive without any additional assistance this year. This is probably a bit unfair given how dry the weather has been
Before turf removed roughly dug Ready to go Required: Tray of seedlings , a seed packet Plus a gardener Finally a good watering in… End of the month
In the productive part of the garden it’s been a busy month. All of the beds are now planted up. First welcome harvests of salad and strawberries being picked. Definitely moving to summer activities. A big project was putting a fruit cage around the redcurrants, as last year the blackbirds got them all, and I’m rather fond of redcurrants. Don’t worry, I’ve left a few bushes uncovered, and they are welcome to the blackcurrants, I’m more generous to them than they were to me!
Blossom still going strong until the frost and winds mid month Potatoes buried ahead of the frosts Gardening spectators Polytunnel still full of overwintering plants Some of the self seeded marigolds and nicotiana I’ts a shame I’ll have to remove these Nicotiana sylvestris to get summer crops in Early lettuce coming on nicely Getting ready for a day’s planting Veg plants hardening off And there’s more… Path through the fruit bushes to the orchard Starting the anti blackbird protection Redcurrants protected And the whitecurrant too First strawberry of the year. Delicious View across the aliums
The flower garden is definitely moving into summer too. The tender seedlings and dahlias are mostly planted out now, and the newly seeded areas are mostly coming through. A few losses due to moles and drought, but Ihave indoor sown plants to fill gaps. There has been a lot more watering than I’d usually like, but it’s just been so very hot and dry that the baby plants were really suffering without it. Most of the perennials are doing really well, and those that were planted last year haven’t really needed extra water
Snow in May – Cow parsley Herb and lavender bed – plus lawnmower! Wildlife friendly area Geum Late tulip They call this the poached egg plant – I wonder why? Lilac Moved hardy kiwi fruit Perennial Cornflower Geum Astrantia Hawthorn A mass of poached eggs New annual flower bed sown in April Roses in containers waiting for somewhere better to live, First picking of sweet peas Foxgloves Dog rose Mediterranean corner with summer pots out Perennial bed
That’s it for this month. I hope everyone is keeping safe, and that we’ll soon be able to welcome visitors again.
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