Late to the party

Last week: a party without any punters

This post was almost called 'A party but nobody came'; but eventually a few did show up, though later and in much smaller numbers than usual.  The buddleja in our garden has been here longer than we have, and is both very mature (that's the polite description) and very large.  There are varieties with better-coloured flowers, but I'm not complaining too much, as it's very floriferous and usually attracts large numbers of butterflies.  This year, however, it was in flower for about three weeks before there was much butterfly activity; whereas in past years I could count a dozen or more peacocks and red admirals at peak times on its flowers, until this week there was no more than one of each, plus a few small whites, around.  I've now seen at least two peacocks and at least five red admirals, plus one tortoiseshell, one painted lady and one elegantly shaped female brimstone; but that's paltry compared to past years.  No commas or meadow browns at all this year, although a speckled wood did flit past me in another part of the garden today.  I assume that the August hatching of this year's brood is a little later this year, and I see that the RSPB is attributing the low numbers of butterflies to the warm weather last December keeping caterpillars active when there was no food available.  I hope this autumn's lot fare better.  (One thought about the meadow browns: I used to see a lot of these on my lavender and oregano, but have seen hardly any since the lavender was removed.  Perhaps the lavender was the big attraction, with the oregano a mere sideshow?)

This week: Red admirals

Peacock

and a female brimstone

The weather has turned warm again, with some rain and (today) a big thunderstorm (that sent water from the greenhouse roof cascading into a badly-placed seed tray outside!  fortunately the contents were to be thrown away anyway).  The inside of the greenhouse got a bit of a watering through the roof vents, which were open because of the warmth, but luckily no damage was done.  The seedtrays of hardy annuals in there were kept nicely moist as a result, and I don't suppose the tomatoes in the growbags will complain either.  Some of the seeds sown the other week, including winter veg in the coldframe, are starting to germinate; it's obviously ideal weather for them. 

Young birds continue to turn up in the garden: today a young woodpigeon and two young bullfinches, not yet in full adult plumage.  And one night there was a tawny owl calling persistently, or perhaps two; one sounded shrill, and was perhaps a youngster looking for territory, with the other one staking its claim.

A bit of a mystery today: a sudden shower of white feathers from on high.  A sparrow briefly picked one up, then seemed to decide it didn't know what to do with it, lost interest and flew off without it.  There's no sign of a carcass, nor am I sure what bird they came from (seagull? chicken??) or what might have happened to it!  Some of them are fair-sized feathers, and I can't imagine a raptor flying overhead with such a large bird in its claws - but I can't think of any other explanation!

The posh shed

After the demolition

The new summerhouse is now complete, and a great improvement on the old one (and not just because the old one was rotting away).  It's slightly larger and allows us to fit in a big enough table for four to eat, either inside or on the veranda, and refinements such as insulation and windows that open should allow it to be used in a greater range of weathers.  Having a summerhouse in that corner of the garden also provides a significant focal point; in the brief gap between the demolition of the old one and the construction of the new one that part of the garden felt quite featureless.  In the latter stages of the work we were able to use it in the evenings, but just as it was finished the weather turned blustery and showery, so we're waiting for better weather to enjoy it fully!

All finished!

The rain is very welcome despite curtailing work in the garden; everything was getting a bit dry.  And it obliged me to crack on with work in the greenhouse, pricking out seedlings (that should have been dealt with long ago) and sowing seeds of hardy annuals and overwintering veg.

I see that the cyclamen have started flowering; autumn isn't far away.

The adult birds are finishing their moult and returning to the garden; we've had at least one adult robin back (thus far tolerating the youngster who is dominating the patio) and more blackbirds about, as well as the pair of chaffinches and various tits, and a brief visit by a male bullfinch picking seeds off a tall grass (I'm always surprised how such a chunky bird can balance on thin stems without bringing them crashing down).  A group of young goldfinches was feeding in the plum tree one day, and a hen party of five female pheasants came to strut about in the rain, pecking at fallen plums and posing on top of the garden table.  A willow warbler also visited the birdbath; we usually see them around the time of their migration and I've always assumed that they were on passage, but this bird was moulting (either an adult, or a juvenile getting its adult plumage) and I doubt that a bird undergoing the stress of moulting would be undertaking a flight to Africa.  Anyway it's too early for them to migrate, so it looks as though this one at least has spent its summer around here.  There would be plenty of food for it at the moment as there have been a great many flies about; a flock of the local house martins was feeding over the garden for a couple of days, and the sparrows were also fly-catching, sometimes just over our heads (which could be disconcerting for us, though it didn't seem to bother them!).  We still have large sparrow parties on the lawn and in the shrubs, and enjoying perching on the garden bench.  One day there was a distant bird-call, and all the sparrows immediately dived for cover; it must have been an alarm, because a couple of minutes later the sparrowhawk dashed across the bottom of the garden.  The warning system obviously worked that time.

Courgettes, I've had a few ...

... and I'll be having quite a few more, I think.  Six courgette plants is really rather too much of a good thing, although I've managed to deal with all the crop in the kitchen so far, without letting any of them turn into marrows.  The other glut at the moment is the plums; not such a heavy crop this year, but this made them easier to thin out and the remaining ones are a good size as well as reasonably sweet.  Fortunately most of them are low down on the tree (I'd guess that frost damaged the blossom further up) which makes picking easy; we leave the higher ones for the birds, and indeed the blackbirds are enjoying them greatly.  The raspberries are now over, the apples still to come.  Of the veg, the last broad bean plants succumbed to rust and are now gone, and the runners very, very belatedly planted out.  The leeks are still waiting to be transplanted, but a few lettuce plants have gone in and are doing well.  In the greenhouse, my very late tomatoes are in their growbags and doing nicely, as are the aubergines (I still live in hope of getting a crop from these!).

... a few more ...

... and some plums

On the flower front, the sweet william are pretty much past, but the pinks are still flowering away and the late summer flowers (Phlox 'White Admiral', Japanese anemone and the like) are starting.  The dahlias are a very mixed bunch; 'Bishop of Auckland' and 'Ambition' are doing well but the others have done little (in fairness, some of them are swamped by the dogwood and other neighbours) and I think 'Bishop of Llandaff' has disappeared entirely.  The big success this year has been the sweet peas.  I've grown a better selection of varieties, I think, and given them rather better positions in the garden (along the front of the veg plot, alongside the courgettes), and there has been a vase of them in the house continually for weeks now. 

The weather has improved, with a lot of warm, sunny days; in fact the garden is now very dry and I've had to water the more susceptible plants.  The dry border at the bottom of the garden is faring rather better this year now that I've moved the moisture-lovers; only the Lysimachia clethroides is flagging in the heat, and the new eryngium seems happy.

The sparrows seem to be on their last brood of youngsters and are still feeding them, though the juveniles of other species appear to be independent.  There are a number of young blackbirds, a couple of young dunnocks and a very independent little robin who tries to see off the sparrows.  There was a family of mistle thrushes in the rowan tree one day, feeding on the berries, and there are young coal tits about too.  A few sparrow feathers on the lawn suggest that the sparrowhawk is also still around, and a red kite was circling the other day.  There are also a lot of house martins feeding overhead, though I've seen few swallows and hardly any swifts here this year.  A nuthatch has been tapping in the trees at the bottom of the garden, and the yellowhammers are still yammering away in the nearby hedgerows.

After the outbreak of bird pox here a year or two back there have been very few greenfinches about, but I have seen a male here recently and presumably he and his mate have raised a brood as unfortunately we found a dead youngster below the dining room window one day (with the usual tell-tale mark on the window where it had hit).  He was duly buried in the usual gooseberry bed.  This also became the last resting place of a dead rat which one of the local cats kindly left for us; obligingly it was left under one of the gooseberry bushes so all I had to do was to dig a hole next to it and tip it in.

Tigers in the garden

There hasn't been much butterfly activity in the garden this year; recent weeks have turned up one each of peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell and speckled wood, and a couple of cabbage whites.  But one day my eye was taken by a fly-past of something the colour of a red admiral but smaller, and whirring in an un-redadmiral way.  I followed it, and spotted another ... and another ....  there were five in all, and when they landed briefly it was clear that they were moths, a beautiful red and black when the wings were extended and black with white and yellow markings at rest.  The reason for there being so many at once was obviously that one was a female, and the males had sex on their minds; only one male struck lucky, and the rest disappeared.  My butterfly book tells me that they were scarlet tiger moths - new ones on me.  Interestingly the book suggests they belong to marshy areas, which might explain why I've never seen them before, but not why they turned up this time!  It hasn't been that wet ....

... in fact the last week or so has been quite dry, and we have at last had hot weather; the T-shirts have been brought out again (first time this year except for our holiday abroad).  Tuesday topped 30C, even in our garden, and Wednesday was also warm, but it has cooled a little (fortunately) and this evening has seen some welcome rain.  The summerhouse has been demolished and is now being rebuilt, so the good weather is very timely.

The nestbox, when removed from the old summerhouse, contained the nuthatch nest with the remains of one well-grown nestling in it.  I wonder if the woodpecker managed to extract the rest; some anti-raiding device needs to be worked out before the nestbox goes up for next year.  There were no signs of a recent nest in the summerhouse roof after all; so what were the nuthatches doing in there?  Mystery.  They are now off in the trees for the summer, although one came to the peanut feeder the other day.  There are lots of sparrows, several blackbirds including a couple of noisy youngsters, dunnocks, the wren and the odd finch (and of course the woodpeckers and pigeons, including occasional visits from Lefty the lame pigeon).  I've also heard yellowhammers in the distance.  The sparrowhawk (female) turned up one day and made off with a sparrow from the lawn; I suppose they have young to feed as well.

We also have a family of field mice in the woodpile at the side of the drive; they occasionally scamper out and down the side of the garage.  I suspect they've found the alpine strawberry plants that have seeded down there.

The broad beans are virtually finished - not a good crop this year.  The kale is running to seed, and a couple of the potato plants died back and have been dug up; the shallots have been a complete dead loss and there has only been one successful garlic plant.  On the other hand the courgettes are doing well, and the leeks are ready for planting out; I also have a good number of bean plants to put in.  The compost bin has produced another good lot of usable compost so the soil should be in rather better heart this winter.  I netted the small blackcurrant bush and the red gooseberry and got a small crop from each; the transplanted green gooseberry bushes did little (still too small, I think) but the big one that I left in place cropped heavily - I picked a reasonable number and left the rest to the blackbirds.  The raspberries are cropping very well, and the blackbirds and I are both quite happy with what we're getting from them!

Catching up ....

Spring and early summer is probably the busiest time in the garden, so not ideal (from the gardening point of view) for a long holiday - but most things seem to have survived our absence, thanks mainly to the efforts of helpful neighbours.  Preparations for and catching up after holiday have left no time for blogging, so there's a two-month gap to plug here!

Tulip 'Cairo' - back in May

It would be nice to report that summer weather has arrived, but it hasn't.  June has been miserably wet and July is starting in the same vein.  The sun is nice when it's shining, but that isn't often.  At least the garden hasn't needed watering, although the weeds have run riot while we were away and I'm still trying to get on top of them.  There's lots of flowers for cutting: the sweet william near the house are in full spate (the patch in the shade at the bottom of the garden are just starting to bloom); plenty of roses; the sweet peas are coming back after their first flush has been cut; the blue penstemons are looking excellent, especially the one in the big pot.  Most of the alliums, which have been really good, are fading (A. cristophii is still in good shape), but the philadelphus is now out.  Sadly we missed the late tulips, though 'Uncle Tom' and 'Cairo' did well.  I think my favourite of the new bulbs was Narcissus 'Silver Chimes', which I planted so late - tiny, but beautiful little clusters of powerfully scented flowers.  I look forward to them again next year.

Sweet william - not a bad show!

Blue penstemon

 The veg plot is looking a bit patchy.  There are a few strapping kale plants and a couple of cabbages - neither showing much damage from wildlife - and broad bean plants lounging all over the place.  The leek seedlings are fattening slowly, and the potatoes look good, but few of the shallots are still around (the result of the partridges' dust bathing, I suspect) and only one garlic plant.  I can't even see the apple cordons for weeds.  Before we went away I optimistically planted out all six courgette plants, with 'Slug Gone' for protection, certain that there would be some casualties from slug/snail attack all the same - but no, all six are thriving and fruiting!  I will do as the Greeks do and eat them very small, to keep on top of the glut!  In the greenhouse there are five aubergine plants, two pepper plants and three tomatoes, but all are still very small from lack of attention; seedlings of various brassicas were stood outside while we were away and have all succumbed to slugs. Gooseberries and blackcurrants are ripening nicely (time for some protection against hungry birds ....).

Pyramidal orchid in the lawn

Back in the spring I spotted some orchid leaves appearing in the lawn, and fenced them off from the mower.  Two are Early Spotted Orchids (one has flowered), as last year, but there are three of the taller and chunkier Pyramidal Orchids over by the plum tree - rather fine flowers.

Forward planning: the biennials are sown and germinating, and I'm starting off more salad plants.  Better late than never.

The birds are still busy, but fewer species coming to the garden at the moment.  Lots of sparrows and woodpigeons, and a few blackbirds; the wren comes daily to search around the patio pots (which still have the spring bulbs in them); and the robin shows up occasionally, but is mostly based down in the bottom hedge.  A young woodpecker is coming to the peanut container with its dad, and is not pleased when I'm in the garden.

Ups and downs of a wildlife garden

The past couple of weeks' ups and downs have been on the wildlife front.  Positives have been the brief appearance of a female blackcap, the first female we've ever seen here, and a very brief sighting of - could it really have been a siskin? - that would definitely be a first in this garden.  Also a garden warbler, probably on passage.  The long-tailed tits haven't been about so much, but a pair of coal tits are now regulars at the suet feeder.  And today Mr Blackbird brought down two well-grown youngsters to the patio, to feed them apple (the apple store is coming to an end but, even though they are half-rotten, the blackbirds love them!) and suet.

The nuthatches seem to have decided that the nestbox is too risky, given the interest shown by the woodpecker and the cat.  Instead they have set up home in the summerhouse roof, just above the nestbox; they've carefully sealed up all the other possible entrances with mud, and use the nestbox roof as a stepping-stone into their new pad.  We did wonder whether they were building a property empire (sub-letting?  granny annex?  his 'n hers?) but they no longer seem to be going into the nestbox.  At least they only have one brood, so they will be gone by the time we demolish the summerhouse!

Although I've only had the briefest of glimpses, the sparrowhawk is obviously around.  At various times we've had the wings of a female pheasant on the lawn (our resident male had three ladies at one point), a pile of partridge feathers (although our usual pair are still about, and today were enjoying a dustbath among my shallots) and yesterday a dead female blackbird (now buried among the gooseberry bushes).  Parts of the pheasant and partridge turned up in the compost corner, and the reason became clear when Ratty bolted down there one day when we chased him; he obviously has a den in the logpile right in the bottom corner of the garden.  I constructed this logpile, and the others in the bottom hedge, with the deliberate intention of creating a home for wildlife, but this wasn't quite the sort of wildlife I'd had in mind.  I suppose I shouldn't be particular.  Ratty is in poor shape; as well as being mangy, he seems to be deaf and to have limited mobility in his back legs, which is probably why he hangs out around here for easy pickings under the bird feeders (and the apple when the blackbirds leave it alone).  I feel bad about chasing such a sick creature, not least because he's so slow that I could actually catch him (which I really don't want to do).  Yesterday he was scratching about under the suet feeder when a neighbour's cat came into the garden; he neither saw nor heard the cat and I thought that the problem was about to be solved - but instead the cat focussed entirely on the Geum rivale by the pond.  The geum sprawls over a small pile of stones which is all that is left of my plans for a scree garden, and we discovered the other day that a field vole (at least one) has its home in there.  I had no compunction about the cat putting Ratty out of his misery but I rather like the vole and so, rather reluctantly, I chased the cat off.  Opportunity missed.

The weather, on the other hand, has stopped being up and down - it's been down.  Cold with wintry showers, including a spell of huge snowflakes today.  It wasn't cold enough for the snow to lie more than a few minutes, but it would have given a bit of a reality check to my sweet peas which were hardening off out of the cold frame.  I'm holding off planting them out until next week when the temperatures are supposed to creep up a bit.  The greenhouse heater has gone back on, although on sunny mornings the vents have been wide open.  Some of the seedlings have been pricked out; the propagator is currently rather empty, so I need to do some more sowing to make use of it.  There's a usable number of courgette, tomato, aubergine and red pepper seedlings coming along (probably rather more than I can accommodate, but at least I'll have a few spares if the slugs get too active).  All the salad plants in the old growbags have now been used, so the old bags can go out to make way for more growing space.

There's still a reasonable show of daffodils, although the early ones have been deadheaded.  A small number of tulips are in flower but the main show is still to come; the only pot in full bloom so far is the first one I planted which is 'Chato'.  This is a very strong pink, with large double flowers and a sturdy constitution; it's a bit lacking in subtlety but as it was a freebie I won't complain!  It's paired with Muscari 'Valerie Finnis', which is well and truly elbowed out of the way by the tulip and rather overwhelmed by the colour.  The little daffodils in two of the pots (I forgot to label them - are they 'Elka'?) are lovely, a very delicate pale yellow that would pair well with any colour - even Chato pink!

Tulip 'Chato'

Mini-daffodils

Up and down

April is delivering its usual up-and-down weather (mostly down so far).  A week or so ago I managed a lunch outside on the bench, but we're back in chilly and showery mode and I'm not even feeling much like working outside, let alone eating.  Yesterday we had snow, sleet and hail in the showers; I had been putting the sweet peas outside to harden off for a few hours each day, but yesterday I left them tucked up in the cold frame.  Today they're outside again; they will have to learn to get on with this weather sometime!  At least the east wind has turned so it's less chilly, though rather wet.

The garden is in its yellow phase - daffodils, cowslips, doronicums, celandines, epimediums - with a little blue and purple (grape hyacinths, brunnera just starting, anemone blanda, the first of the honesty, a few pansies from the winter bedding).  The first tulip to open was also yellow; this was one of the ones by the dining room window which I thought I had dug up, but three of them obviously escaped (need to decide what to do about them).  The little red tulips in the front garden are just beginning to open, and some of the ones in pots are well into bud.

The greenhouse is getting into spring mode; the bubblewrap has been removed, dahlias and freesia bulbs potted up and the propagator is on.  The gazanias, salpiglossis and ipomoea have germinated in the propagator and are now on the new greenhouse shelving; some of the tomatoes have sprouted too and will be removed soon.  Strangely, the old 'Gardeners' Delight' seed has germinated more quickly than the new 'Sungold' seed; why? 

The nuthatches are persisting with the nestbox, despite the woodpecker still showing occasional interest and one of the neighbourhood cats pawing the box from the summerhouse roof and knocking it askew (we carefully straightened it up again).  Ratty is also still about; it seems to have a hideout under the shrubs at the side of the patio where there's thick ivy as well as much (unintended) undergrowth, so a clearout there is planned when the weather permits.  However we've had a couple of welcome visitors: a brief appearance from a small warbler (willow warbler?), and a longer visit from a male blackcap.  I think we've only seen a blackcap in this garden once in the twenty-odd years we've been here.  He was probably on migration (as I expect the warbler was too), making a pitstop while on his way elsewhere; from Friday to Sunday morning he was a regular at the suet feeder and the blackbirds' apple (he loved the apple), then disappeared, presumably refreshed and refuelled for the next stage of his journey.  I hope he calls in again on his way back south in the autumn.

The song thrush is also still about (to the blackbirds' annoyance), probably nesting, and the bullfinches too.  The long-tailed tits must also be nesting somewhere near; they're also still coming to the suet feeder.  The robins love the suet but one of them isn't confident about hanging on the feeder; today, delightfully, it sat on the pole holding up the feeder while its mate passed it bits of suet as a present.