I suppose it’s a bit late now, but I do wish you a very happy and healthy 2026! I haven’t done much gardening so far this year – it’s just been too cold and wet. I have been reading about gardening though and watching gardening programmes and videos. The RHS Magazine, The Garden, included a …
Tag Archives: nature
The Boy, some Moles, a couple of Donkeys and an Ugly Duckling
GR and I are spending Twixmas in Northumberland with Rosie and Daisy and Little Bud. We couldn’t help but notice the molehills on our walk around the grounds of our holiday cottage. I don’t currently have moles in my garden but I’m not sure I would mind – apparently those molehills make for great compost. …
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Tidy Up Time
For the past few weeks I’ve been getting a bit depressed about the state of my garden. The grass needed cutting again, but was still very wet. The plants in my pots were starting to look limp and frankly manky and a frost was imminent. I’d been trying to find a window of opportunity to …
Ratty Tales
I don’t know about you, but mowing the lawn over the last few weeks has made me feel decidedly ratty. Throughout our long, hot summer, the lawn barely grew, but we’ve had much needed rain since then. Even with my mower raised to its highest setting, it wasn’t long before the motor was struggling, making …
Where do bees go? (and other bits & bobs)
First an update – following on from last month’s tale of caterpillar carnage, I thought you might be interested to see this photo my sister sent me of parasitoid wasp cocoons on her window! Gruesome eh? Anyway, moving on – I was admiring Victoria’s lavender bed a few weeks ago and we were marvelling at the …
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Brutality among the Broccoli
As mentioned previously, despite the mesh cages I created around my broccoli plants, the butterflies still managed to lay their eggs on the leaves. Last week I found they were covered in very fat caterpillars, munching their way through the foliage at an alarming pace! Enough was enough, so I decided to pull out what …
July
Last week I attended a funeral on the south coast. It was for my cousin who has left this world far too early. Instead of flowers, donations were requested to be made to a selection of wildlife charities. His brother travelled from America to say a final farewell to his only sibling. He wanted to …
Not all the ugly bugs are having a ball!
To be or not to be (a bug), that is the question. I firmly disagree with using pesticides and I try to accept that every bug in my garden has a purpose, other than destroying my plants! However I do try to minimise the damage they can inflict. The carnage caused by slugs and snails …
Home and Away
A fortnight ago I set off for my hols to a small Greek island. Before I could leave I needed to give GR a lesson on watering requirements for my seedlings and some of my thirstier garden plants. His attention span is akin to that of a goldfish, but I felt safe in the knowledge …
Net Gains (hopefully)
What wonderful weather we’ve been enjoying these past few weeks – I hope this doesn’t mean a disappointing summer though. Mind you today’s rain is much needed – the ground is looking very dry already. I was determined to be more restrained with my seed sowing this year but it all went a bit wrong. …
Rambling Rose 