Babysitting

When I am Rich I will install a bird nursery in my lovely garden – a safe enclosure where parent birds can leave their little fledglings, and I won’t have to worry about them.

Baby house sparrow

 
Over the last few days I’ve had baby blackbirds, starlings, house sparrows, hedge sparrows, robins and goldfinches in my tiny garden.

Baby robin

I know their mums and dads won’t be too far away, but I can’t help watching them just in case a cat or magpie comes along, or they go out on to the road, or they fall off the fence and can’t fly up again …

  And I thought my babyminding days were finished!

Time for Dad to take over!

I love you, but …

I’m constantly delighted by the number and variety of birds that manage to find their way into my small backyard, and I’m usually happy to encourage them by supplying them with food and water. But sometimes I wonder if I’m being a bit too kind.
   

Picture the scene …

It was a fine, sunny day so, after doing the usual weekly wash, I decided to wash some curtains as well. I couldn’t fit everything on the two washing lines strung across the yard but I solved that problem by taking a clothes horse outside and draping some items over that. Then I left it all to dry while I went out for the afternoon.

Glancing through the window when I came back, I noticed some dark streaks down a white towel. I might not have minded too much if it had only been one towel but, on closer inspection, I found that almost all my washing was streaked, spotted and splashed with bird poo!

From the size and quantity I’m pretty sure I know who the culprit was.

Who, me?

It wasn't me!

I’m working on finding a way to make the yard a no-fly area on washing days.

In the meantime, here’s a story about scarecrows

 

The best colour for spring

 

Little gleams of gold all over my garden.

I must be Rich!

(I do like the blues and purples too, but gold holds the promise of some much needed sunshine.)

Who needs inflatable reindeer?

Now that the Halloween decorations have disappeared (thank you to the person who finally took in the coffin that was propped up next to their front door for over a week!), and I’m hoping we might have heard the last of the fireworks until the New Year, I suppose it won’t be long now before the first flashing lights, plastic snowmen, rooftop sleighs and other symbols of Christmas appear on the houses around us. After all, they’ve been in the shops for weeks.

I’m not a Scrooge, I do enjoy Christmas, but I think my Grandad had the right idea when he’d say sternly, ‘There are only twelve days of Christmas,’ if anyone in the family started the celebrations too soon.

But, with the days becoming shorter and drearier in these few weeks before Christmas, I would like to brighten up my outside space without spending a fortune on tacky decorations. Will this do?

Our special car needs special cleaning cloths (or so I’m told), but they also make colourful flags for the back garden.

And I’m glad I had the foresight to plant these sunny chrysanths in the front garden. They’ve survived our first frost, torrential rain and gale force winds.

Do you decorate the outside of your home at this time of year? A simple holly wreath? Or an all singing, all dancing winter wonderland? 

Cheap, cheerful and eco-friendly

One of the joys of visiting new places is that you get the chance to see other people’s gardens.

Yes, I’m that nosy woman who looks over hedges and through gateways exclaiming, ‘Oh, look at that!’

I want a veg patch like this ...

... and I must have a purple and silver flower bed

 

Perhaps, when I am Rich, passers-by will want to peep into my lovely garden. If so, they’ll be very welcome.

But I wouldn’t need much money to copy this idea that I found during our holiday in Scotland. A greenhouse made from plastic bottles. Simply brilliant!

It was in a garden attached to a primary school. I do hope it inspires all the children there to become passionate and knowledgeable gardeners.

Have you seen any good gardening ideas lately? 
 

Mystery solved

I couldn’t understand why the path outside my front door was littered with cherry stones. How had they got there? The nearest cherry trees are two streets away.

Then I noticed this young starling on the roof.

When I am Rich I’ll have lots of cherry trees in my garden – some for me, some for the birds – but I’ll have to find a way of teaching them to eat their food where they find it.

Do messy eaters annoy you?

Watching the workers

When I am Rich I’ll have plenty of beehives dotted around my garden, and dozens of Californian lilacs (Ceanothus).

The one Californian lilac I’ve got is a bit of a problem. If I let it grow to the size it wants to be I wouldn’t be able to see out of my front window. Even with annual pruning it takes up a large part of my tiny front garden.

 

But I’m pleased it’s there because as soon as the first clusters of blue flowers appear it attracts all sorts of bees.

 I don’t know where they all come from, but I could happily watch them all day. It's so relaxing, watching other people work, isn't it?

 

Growing inspiration

One of the many pleasures of my recent trip toScotland was gathering some new ideas for the garden I plan to create when I am Rich.

I love the colour scheme of this barrel,

 and these tumbling  

 nasturtiums,

 

and I really want

these trees!   

A clever way to give new life to an old boat.

  

And no garden would be complete without one of these,

and some of this,

and a smiley crocodile!

 

I think I’ll have to add a few more acres ... 

Meet the help

When I am Rich, I might not have the time – or energy – to keep my lovely garden looking its best every day. I’ll need to employ some people to mow the lawns, trim the hedges, tidy the flower beds, sweep the paths and do all those other routine but essential jobs.

But training and supervising all those people will take me nearly as long as doing the work myself, so I’ll also need to hire a head gardener to take charge when I’m not around. (Of course I’ll still be the head, head gardener.)

So my garden will look wonderful, but then I’ll have to deal with all the paperwork involved with employing people. I think I’m going to need a bookkeeper, an accountant, a personnel manager and a health and safety officer to make sure nobody infringes the latest regulations … How much time and money is all that going to take?

Sometimes, a tiny garden seems the sensible option.

And here’s my one and only helper, quietly cleaning up all those difficult to get at nooks and crannies in return for a few tasty creepy crawlies.

 

Free gifts!

Even when I am Rich I’ll still be pleased to occasionally get something for nothing.

 A few weeks ago, when I tidied my garden containers ready for what I hope will be a glorious display of summer flowers, I found a plant in one pot that I didn’t recognise. I assumed it was a ‘weed’ but decided to leave it there a little longer until I could identify it. And it turned out to be a forget-me-not!

(The photo doesn't do justice to the sky blue flowers)

I haven’t had any in the garden before, and there are none in my neighbour’s garden, so I’ve no idea where the seed came from. Perhaps it was a gift from a visiting bird. Anyway, it seems happy enough in its chosen home so it’s welcome to stay.

And I had another surprise when I won a book in a Goodreads giveaway. I’ve looked at the giveaways before but so many people enter them – especially for new books by popular authors – that I hadn’t bothered to put my name down for any. But something about this debut novel by Beth Thomas caught my eye, I applied for it, and now it’s sitting on my bookshelf.

I’m really looking forward to reading it.







 
Have you received any free gifts lately?

Swanning about

I was thinking that, When I am Rich, it would be lovely if a swan decided to take up residence on the lake in my garden.

But cycling round the back lanes last week I came across a whole field of swans.

 

 

They were
coming,

and going,

and feasting on the lush, green grass.

My vision of a solitary swan seems rather boring now. And only one lake? I think my garden needs to be a little bit bigger!

Priceless!

How much would you be prepared to pay for a little piece of spring?

I feel very Rich because my house hasn’t been flooded, damaged by strong winds or swallowed by a sink hole during the seemingly endless storms we’ve been having all winter.

But I was thoroughly fed up with the gloomy weather, so when I was out shopping I treated myself to a bunch of flowers to brighten up my home. When I arrived back I saw that my little garden had come up with the same idea. Ahhh!

Home, sweet home

When I am Rich, I’ll make sure there are plenty of safe and cosy nesting sites for all the birds I’m hoping to attract into my lovely, big garden. Although this pair seem to have already decided where they’re going to set up home.




Folklore tells us that birds choose their mates and begin nest building on St Valentine’s Day, but these wood pigeons took up residence in a neighbour’s apple tree several weeks ago. They might just be sheltering from all the wind and rain but the way they keep snuggling up together makes me think they’re making plans!

Indoor gardening

I’ve found the greenhouse I want in my garden, or perhaps it should be more correctly described as a conservatory? I spotted it in the wonderful Worden Park in Leyland, Lancashire.

It’s perfect for housing giant flowering plants.







I’ve no idea what this is but I want one!

Quality v. quantity

This is my new favourite flower.

Actually, my favourite is always whatever happens to be in bloom at the time, but as I haven't tried growing Dutch Irises in a container before I'm very impressed at how strong and healthy they look.

When I am Rich and have my big garden I'll be able to plant great swathes of them (ooh, won't they look stunning!) but until then the advantage of only having a few is that I really notice and admire every little detail.

It's definitely a case of less is more ...

… and this one's going to be blue!

A Valentine’s Day surprise

I was planning to post a photo of a perfect red rose today, but look what I discovered in my garden this morning.

 

It was love at first sight! 

Beautiful grazers

I’ve just found another must-have addition for my When I am Rich garden. I want a fold of these wandering around. (I’ve discovered that Highland cattle come in folds – not herds.) They might look menacing, especially when you unexpectedly come across a large bull blocking your path, but they are very calm, placid creatures.

Of course I’ll also need to add a few hundred acres of the North Yorkshire moors to my garden so the new inhabitants feel at home …

A Favourite Occupation

I suppose that when I am Rich I will have to employ a gardener – or several, or dozens – to help me plant and maintain my lovely, big garden. I imagine it will be quite easy to allow someone else to do the difficult or boring jobs, like lifting heavy bags of compost and mowing the lawns, but there’s one task I will always insist on doing myself – sowing seeds.

The excitement of choosing which plants and varieties to grow, making sure I help those tiny, dormant parcels of life get off to the best possible start, and the thrill of seeing the first green shoots never fades.

What’s your favourite gardening job?   

A Cold and Frosty Morning

 

Some wintry weather here – at last! I’m not looking forward to the snow that the forecasters say will arrive in this part of the world tonight, but I do enjoy frosty nights followed by sunny days. As I rushed out early to get some wintry landscape photos before the frost started to melt, I found myself singing the old nursery rhyme:

Here we go round the mulberry bush,

The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.

Here we go round the mulberry bush,

On a cold and frosty morning.

So that’s something I need to add to the garden I’m going to have When I am Rich – a mulberry bush. Or why not make it a tree? I’m told that the black mulberry is the best variety to grow for its fruit and it should reach about 50 feet when it’s mature. I’ll need to reserve plenty of space for it.