Toad in the hole

Watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse this morning, I noticed that some of the growbag compost had been disturbed and piled up at one side of the planting hole.  My first thought was that the blackbird had been rooting around in there again, but when I bent down to sweep the compost back I realised that there were two eyes looking at me ....

Biological control for slugs

Well, there won't be many slugs causing damage in the greenhouse with that little fellow hiding in there!  It's a nice safe place for a toad, well hidden and pleasantly damp (indeed I had watered him without noticing).  He has been there all day so he's obviously quite comfortable, and doesn't even seem to have minded my photographing him.

There's no shortage of birdlife in the garden either.  There are at least two juvenile robins, one getting its red breast more quickly than the other (presumably younger) one, and the little one has taken to appearing whenever I'm outside for any length of time.  He's very trusting and comes right up to me; I thought he was looking for food, but he doesn't always take me up on food opportunities and just seems to like my company.  There is a good number of young blackbirds, who are very fond of our berries.  I managed to salvage a few red gooseberries and some blackcurrants, and quite a lot of raspberries although the birds have taken a good number.  I must protect more of the bushes next year.  At least one pair of blackbirds are still feeding young (probably very small young, from the size of the food they're gathering), and there's also a family of young wrens who came to the pond for a drink the other day.  Less desirably, the sparrowhawk has been through the garden a few times, once sitting in the shrubs being screamed at by a sparrow; fortunately it flew off with empty talons, so no harm (apparently) done.

The summer butterfly boom is underway, and this year there seem to be rather more than we've had for a few years.  I've seen at least two red admirals and one each of comma, ringlet, brimstone, large heath and (probably) small heath, as well as something very small that wouldn't stay still long enough for me to see, and of course lots of whites (large and small).  If the latter are looking for cabbages to lay their eggs on, they're out of luck because that is one thing that I have netted this year (and they're doing very well).  There has also been a bright blue damselfly at the pond, and a large dragonfly (emperor?) laying its eggs on the pond plants one day.

I'm continuing to try to clear as many weeds (and unwanted plants) as possible.  Removing a lot of the invasive pink geranium has made it clear that there is actually very little (wanted) colour in the garden at the moment; far too many big shrubs and not enough flowering perennials.  The yellow achillea at the bottom of the garden is doing quite well, as is the francoa and the Crocosmia 'Lucifer', and the Big Yellow Thing (Buphthalmum) is cheery as always.  The pinks are doing their bit too, but now that the roses are going over there isn't a lot of brightness about.  The roses provided some lovely cut flowers for the house, though, and there are now a few sweet peas and dahlias to replace them.

On the subject of roses, R. dupontii, which still has the fallen holly branch on it (I need to find somewhere to dispose of that!), is gamely sending up strong new shoots. 

Iris foetidissima

One of the plants that I am not actually weeding out, but am trying to confine to particular difficult corners of the garden, is Iris foetidissima.  I value it for its orange seedheads in winter (and its willingness to grow in unlikely places), but the flowers are not exactly striking; however, viewed up close, they are prettier than I had given them credit for.

I always forget that some of the larger patio pots have lily bulbs in them.  It doesn't help that I haven't made a note of the varieties and can't remember what they are!  One potful has suffered from the attentions of lily beetle; I didn't see the beetles themselves, but their larvae are there and they are quite as disgusting as all the gardening books say.  I've stripped off the affected leaves, and one of the flowerheads, and hope that the rest will survive.  Fortunately the beetles seem to have ignored the other lilies.  However, one pot seems to have a mixture of varieties in it and I'm sure I would only have planted one variety in there.  One bulb looks like L. regale but the other is a lovely dark purple.  I'm not complaining, and they look very good together, but I wish I knew what the other one is!

Mixed lilies