Come rain or shine.

One of the great things about a downpour, such as we are experiencing right now, is that I don't feel obliged to arm myself with a garden fork or spade. I can sit indoors, listening to the hammering of the rain on the conservatory roof and dawdle over the stunning photos in my gardening  books. Armchair gardening, nice.In fact I attempted to do this a few weeks ago outdoors. I got my books and a cuppa and that is as far as I got. Four hours later I collected the unopened books up again and shelved them for another time. I had too many distractions on a dry day whereas today I can't get out there without squidging down the soil.
I can go to a garden centre though...., where does it stop?
Two hours later.
Well, whod've thought it? The garden centre was packed! I thought the rain would have kept people indoors. At 5.30pm Luke couldn't bear to watch Lola pace up and down the run any longer and let her and Buck Bucky out whereupon they went straight over to Jack's garden. I'm getting awfully protective over my agapanthus stems. That big chicken is the dark destroyer of leafy things. Shakira is still broody and just sitting it out in the broody box. We've stayed indoors by the wood burner and I've even had two afternoon dozes. What a lazy day.

Dust bath

Birds of a feather.

Here is one of the jackdaws that visits daily for a cool drink of water from one of the bird baths. Happily minding it's own business and wondering what to do next.

Oh ho, what has it spotted? Some rice on the lawn that was put there for the chicks. The jackdaw goes to help himself and is spotted by Lola. Buck Bucky doesn't care, she isn't a big eater and has no real interest in other birds but Lola....., that's another matter.

Sizing one another up. The jackdaw is interested in the rice, Lola is interested in the jackdaw.

Stand off.

Who is going to make the first move?

Surprisingly it's Lola backing off..., who'd have thought?

But no! In a sneaky move Lola charges and scares off the jackdaw. Result!........,

Oh no, it all starts again!

Eggs.

It's not only the chickens that are different sizes, it is their eggs too. Her is one of Lola's alongside Buck Bucky's.

And here it is-  Chicken Art! Buck Bucky's egg (her eggs always have this little calcium dot on the end of them) and a downy hair style. I found this egg, warm as toast under Shakira. The first sign she was broody. 

Inside and out.

Don't throw away any damaged flowers. These had either been broken by Big Foot (Lola) or knocked over by me but together they still make me happy to view them and the colours are so vibrant..

Here are my 'big boy' flowers - a birthday present from Luke. Aren't I lucky?

Fruity number.

Before I added the tulips.

Lola comes along behind me to search for worms.

In between the tulips are the original strawberries, dotted around the chimney pot.

She is still on the hunt!

And viewing from the top of the chimney pot you'll see it is not just for decoration. We use it as a rhubarb forcer too.The first few leaves emerging from a darkened space.

Life bursting forth.

Agapanthus coming up, it's so much larger than it looks here.

A chartreuse daffodil about to burst forth.

A day later it opens slightly.

When planting it's always worth remembering that most plants have a 'good side' that you want to front up. However, the daffodil from the back is just as lovely, I think.

Here comes the paeony. Let's hope this 'Shirley Temple' variety gives us flowers this year. An argument continues as to whether paeonies 'sulk' if moved. A paeony grower told me that as long as they are dug in deep enough they will flower the next year but I had nothing last year so it will be interesting to see how we get on this summer.

 The tree paeony leaves look lovely though, these have survivied being in a small holding pot over the winter so I'll be impressed if I get much from them this year but who knows?
 

Up come the lupins. They remind me of upturned umbrellas, catching the rain in their centres. A lovely design.

To me, ranunculas always herald the onset of Spring. Although the forget me knots, crocus, mini iris, daffodils and snowdrops have been in the garden already I have an affinity for this showy beauty. It is just so frilly and colourful, like the prima ballerina of early Spring gardens.

Here is the rockery at the front of the house with such poor soil. Still, it's holding it's own till I can really give it some proper attention.

The oak is starting to leaf up, three weeks ago it was bare. Summer is on it's way.

I love pure white flowers, they sing out in the dusk when every other colour has been dimmed and they glow in the first shafts of sunlight.

Back to back

I have returned to digging the back patch after a break of a week.This is how it looked after we'd got the fence sorted. The ground was very compacted and lifeless. Nothing but stones, cement slabs and fence posts!

 Where we had a multitude of worms in the rest of the ground that we'd worked and fed this patch has no signs of life apart from flat, dead-looking worms that I think are called Flat worms. Here is a photo of one.

These are predators of the common earthworm so I've removed every one of these worms that I've found along with the mass of bindweed roots.

It'll be so satisfying when we've changed the soil structure of this patch and produced life in it.

Half dug, these are just some of the stones I've removed. They have now filled the entire coal bunker.

Tulip fever.

I'll let the photos do the talking.

Snake's head frittileri in the foreground, parrot tulips in the background.

 

 

 

Peas please.

How long ago did I pop those little peas into a length or two of guttering in the greenhouse? One week, two? Hrm, I think it was just one week ago. Already they have pushed their little emerald stems through the compost and now, today, they have started to unfurl their leaves. Only a centimetre high there is so much life in these little bombs of taste. My favourite way to eat peas is straight out of the pod and into the mouth (checking for caterpillars first, of course).

We'll give these a week or two in situ and then we'll slide the contents of the guttering straight into a shallow trough in the veg patch and start again for another later row of peas so we'll be popping those peas for a longer harvesting period. Yum.

Best of all, Luke got into the greenhouse and whilst I dug up an enormous slab of concrete from the back patch by our new fence he cleaned up last year's seed trays before levelling off some compost and putting in very regimented rows of tomatoes before finishing off with some Bells of Ireland seeds for me. Once he had done all that, he rested the trays into a larger tray of water to allow them to soak up without disturbing the seeds.
He's also got to prepare Buddleia seeds by planting them up and then keeping the covered planter int he fridge for one month. I am not a lover of them as they can take over and look very messy if not kept in check but Luke wants to plant them on the other side of our new fence in order to attract butterflies. He's a real advocate of  nature and is always on the lookout for ways to encourage new life. My plan is to put a pond in the front garden and the day we have our first iridescent dragonfly flitting over it will be wonderful. We don't have a pond in the back garden because the chickens can't be trusted not to fall in. Our friend, Heather, found one of her chickens drowned in her small garden pond after it had fallen in (they aren't like ducks with 'waterproof' feathers). Although I didn't want to let our chicks out today after Lola destroyed my new allium within seconds of me planting it into the bed and turning my back. Fortunately I had only paid a pound for it but that's one less point of interest thanks to her incessant search for slimy worms.

Shakira is in the broody box because she just wants to sit and turn eggs into chickens which isn't possible without a cockerel to fertilise them. So now she is stuck in a chicken wire bottomed 'box' to break her out of her maternal episode. This would be okay if only she was left alone but Buck Bucky misses her so has been trying to break in. Here she is on top of the broody box. The only way is down and so off she goes.

This is nothing new for Buck Bucky, she is often to be found on the run's roof; looking for another way to get into the nesting box!

Maybe she needs to read the sign!Beware of the chickens!

To me, this reminds me of someone striding out to the shops. She's so determined to get where she wants to go. All the time being four foot above the ground. You know what happens next.

She takes flight!