HER GARDEN

GARDEN MAKEOVER

CALENDULA

OXALIS

BONE-SEED

Osteospermum’s scientific name is derived from the Greek osteon (bone) and Latin spermum (seed).

STINKING IRIS

BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE FOR THE BEES

Cheap and cheery Bee Bath on my patio

I'm always on the look-out for simple ways to be a better friend to wildlife.

This year, a couple of very simple, inexpensive additions to my garden are going down a storm with wild visitors!

One is this Bee Bath I made in five minutes out of:

-an old plant pot as a base, weighted with stones to discourage it from toppling over when landed on by over-enthusiastic birds! 

-a surplus plant saucer 

 

-some pebbles I had lying around.

The water in this bath needs to be kept fairly shallow, with the pebbles protruding above the surface, so the bees can drink without drowning. Nearby, in the hot days of summer, I also intend to put a bee-sized serving of sugary water in a very small container, to revive tired workers we sometimes see struggling after a busy day making honey and pollinating the precious planet.

In past years, it's been a privilege to see a sluggish, dying bee instantly rejuvenated and flying off like a new buzzer when I've offered it a bit of sugar water. This year I'd like to make that offer a bit more permanent and accessible to all.

In my neck of the woods in South Yorkshire,  I'm fortunate to meet a variety of bees from the 250 species still found in the UK: some of my regulars are

the Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

the White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

White-tailed Bumblebee

Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

Red-tailed Bumblebee

and many more!

I hope by making our gardens a happy health spa for these amazing insect friends, so hard-working, beautiful and sadly now under threat from pesticides and other changes worldwide, we'll be welcome hosts to our guests. Maybe by these simple gestures, we can see their numbers growing again, and the crops they pollinate so faithfully may not fail in the future we all share. 

Have a Happy Bee-Cherishing Spring and Summer!

On the dullest days - a splash of colour

 Golden Gerbera from a friend

Poppies smiling through the rain showers

Heads heavy, hearts light

Petunias starting to radiate joy

Wild Geranium having a purple patch

♪♫♪♫"See my baby Chive" ! ♪♫♪♫

A petunia that thinks its name's Scarlet O'Hara!

From little seeds...

SEEDS SOWN TODAY...

Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream. (Debby Boone)

 A friend gave me two lots of seeds for Christmas.
Spring now, so it's time I got them planted.

One set contains seeds of favourite kitchen herbs: coriander, chives, basil and curly parsley.
The other is fruits: alpine strawberry, honeydew melon, sugar baby melon and kiwi fruit. 

Love them all! So I got started today and tipped half the compost into the seed tray provided. Into each of the four little compartments I sprinkled the different miniscule natural jack-in-a-boxes, all ready to burst and sprout with goodies later on!

Nom nom nom! Can't wait! (Gonna have to!)

Being me, even this simple operation wasn't without setback. I covered the seeds with the rest of the dry compost. To save my limited energy, I decided not to go digging out my watering spray but stuck the whole tray under the tap to moisten.

You guessed it! Turned on the tap (faucet, for my American chums) and - nothing. Zilch. Waited, turned at bit further...nothing...nothing.... then a quick burst of Niagara Falls and half the seeds and compost were in the plughole down the sink.

So another clean up job, not saving any energy, natch!

This was a really neat kit. The lid of the each seed pack doubled as a sun-trapping top for the little propagators.
Popped the perspex lid over each of the two sets of seeds and - four different patches of fertile ground with seeds sleeping till the right moment for sprouting luciously for dinners, salads and general munching delights!

My mouth's watering already!
Watch this space! 

"To see things in the seed, that is genius" - Lao Tzu

Never too late

I decided this year to try a different approach with one of my favourite flowers, the humble Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus, Latin fans!). 


One year I had the whole conservatory at the Manse filled with blooms. Cut and come again from July to late September. Most visitors, friends, bereaved, wedding and baptism couples went away that year with armfuls of the glorious blooms. That started out as an unplanned indoor display. I'd had them potted up, three seeds per pot, on the east facing conservatory windowsills, intending to transfer them to the garden once established. The transfer never happened and the sweet peas joyfully took over every available inch of window space, like rainbow stained glass letting in the morning's lemony light.


When I moved into my retirement house a few minutes' walk away, I still have an easterly facing conservatory, but planted up my sweet peas at the far end of the garden, trellised against the fence under the fruit tree. The ground was very stony and the earth quite thin under there; the snails had a field day, so I put down piles of bran which the little darlings gorged on instead and left the pea shoots alone (mostly!). The sweet peas thrived but could only be seen in the distance from the house.


So this year, I planted some in one of the hanging baskets closest to the house. Nothing seemed to be happening much for ages. July came and went. August too; one visitor said her Sweet Peas had flowered and finished ages ago. Then today, at last, among the tendrils and leaves, one bloom, promising more to come. Not just any bloom, but a rich purple, one of my favourite colours.


Spring is beautiful; but Autumn speaks of God's love, too, and it's never too late for the hidden seed to blossom.