Tomorrow is another day.

All work and no play......, tomorrow happens to be a Sunday and as such I have the day off. I'm taking Luke for a cream tea up the garden centre and it'll be interesting to see if all we come away with is just an expanding waistline.

The first cut.

It feels like the end of summer (all two weeks of it if you count the sunny days we have enjoyed) when the lavender is cut. I've now filled the muslin bags with the buds. The house smells divine.

View from the house.

Rigtheo, I've added a lot of new posts today and I hope you enjoy them. There are so many hen posts that I feel I need to redress the balance by adding some plant posts.

Not much happening in the border this year but hope springs eternal. Maybe next year?

Little and large.

The shop bought chicken on the right shows the difference in size. Poppy's egg is in it's specially made egg cup.

Colours in the garden.

 The lily, just before the slugs got to it.

 Vivid lime gladioli.

 Pink and white pretties.

 The agapanthus about to burst open.Gysophilia in the background.

 Leggy pink Japanese Anemone.

 Bright red geum that I'm certain was orange last year. I'm confused.

 Showy purple gladioli.

Scarlet gladioli. My Mum isn't a fan of gladioli, remember it was the flower used by Dame Edna Everage? It's good value though, a burst of colour at a cheap cost.

Birds, bees and ...., squirrels?

 The bee tucks itself into the monkshood.It's wing tips can just be seen poking out. Below it flies to another flower.

 

 Before moving onto the white gladioli.

 Whilst another pitches in the wild flower patch.

When we had the greenhouse door open yesterday in flew this little wren - one of the smallest birds in the U.K. and whilst very common it's also very shy. We left this one to find his own way out without any interaction from us.

The chickens alerted us to some movement in the garden and it turned out to be a squirrel on the fence. Cheeky chap.

Flights of fancy

 Time to relax.. Buckster takes a seat - and a liberty! Out of the house, please.

 Mrs Bun, Buckster and Lunar in the sun.It does make me smile when I see Buckster's leg in the air like a can can dancer.

 Then there's loft living.

 

 Mrs Bun on the move.

 

The three girls on the steamer chair.

 This strange photo is Lunar launching herself from the arm of the chair, her head is just out of shot.

A graceful landing.

Mrs Bun and Poppy.
Below, Poppy takes off.

Remember the aubergine?

That was yesterday & as they say, 'a week's a long time in politics', so too, a day is a long time in gardening. I came back from a party yesterday to hear from Luke that the chicks had snuck into the greenhouse and eaten the fruits! So now we don't even have toy town aubergines, oh dear.
Then, to top it off, Mrs Bun tweaked the tops out of every sweet corn plant we have. Was it only yesterday I was raving about how lovely it is to have chickens in the garden? We need a fence to keep them out of the veg patch..., more work.

It's like Where's Wally

If you look behind the plants you will see a chicken's tail in every photo.

Wild about flowers

Despite the abundance of rain and the strong winds a week ago the wild flower patch still has some life in it. The buttercup yellow verbascums, the pink hollyhock (I have never bought a pink hollyhock in my life, this one had a yellow label stuck on the pot), alongside the swath of this yellow daisy type flower in the foreground are all battling for space. I'll let you into a secret; we are thinking of getting more chickens. I can hear my mother groaning from here.

Now, please let me explain. We really wanted a barred Wyandotte but when we went to the breeders to replace dear old Shakira they didn't have any chicks. It took me a little while (about three years) to like Barred Wynadottes. To me, their hazy stripes made me think I had double vision but suddenly I've had a sea change in my thinking and I'm smitten with these little barcodes on legs. So much so that we asked to be notified when they had chicks for sale. Now we've been informed that they should have some barred chicks in October. Of course (here come the justifications) it's unfair to buy one chick on it;s own as it will need to be quarantined before being introduced to the flock. If we get two though the run starts getting pretty crowded so we will have to set them up in the other run. This will mean that not only can we not have the quails we really wanted but that we will have to find a place for the second run. This year it stood where the wild flower garden is now planted and that is the obvious place for it to go.

It's amazing how quickly you can run out of space in a garden. I like the expanse of the lawn and I like the curvaceous borders so I don't want to change that layout. Quite possibly I may steal a little row at the front of the veg patch to sprinkle some seeds but whatever I choose I think I'll keep the wild flowers as it's delightful to see them buzzing with insects.

After a despondent patch when so much of my garden has failed to produce the colour and shape it usually does, due to unseasonal weather and not much love from me I have suddenly, with one good dry day, decided to visit the garden centre and plan next year's colours. The gladioli have swayed and snapped in the winds so I have very little of late summer flowers right now compared to other years but I've got some renewed enthusiasm which, combined with some elbow grease, will hopefully pay me back come next year. And if that fails to materialise then hopefully the hens, along with the stripy addition(s) will provide interest in the garden. hope springs eternal.

A quick footnote: I still miss that big ole bird, Lola. I know she was a full size heavy breed and didn't fit in so well with our idea of bantam hens in the garden but she was a delight. We plan to go and visit her with a pot of yoghurt and a banana very soon, to ensure she is fine.

Cheeky chicks

If they aren't making mischief somewhere.., photos here show Buck Bucky and Mrs Bun sunbathing with Lunar in the shade of the raspberry canes, Lunar in amongst the veg patch and the hens running to the backdoor ahead of me to be fed. I love the animation hens give the garden; it's very therapeutic watching little feathered bundles waddling around. The cat doesn't think so though, once again being seen off by Baby Bun. Those chickens really don't understand it should be the other way around and neither does Scaredy Cat so they continue to chase her away.