All kinds of life in the garden today

Araneus diadematus (garden spider) - with prey

Bluebelle - large hen, lays lots of eggs, always wants a treat

Lavatera (tree mallow) - flowers in late summer

Patty pan (summer squash) - last of the flowers, excellent crop

Thirsty bee - with reflection

Thirsty dog - shares the birdbath with the bees

Late summer crops - Golden Sunrise tomatoes are my favourite

Garden Art

As seen in my garden.

Photography by Lesley Beeton

Macro photography: around the garden

Continuing my macrophotography study of flower parts, from around my garden.

Photography by Lesley Beeton

A Shackleford garden

On a sunny Bank Holiday weekend in early May. 

The spring garden is a delight. 

The April showers and warm days have worked their miracles.

 

Photography by Lesley Beeton

Inside the madhouse

This house is ruled by Boxers dogs. A gorgeous 'teddy bear' old boy and a puppy with boundless bonkers Boxer energy. It's fun, but exhausting. And as I work from home, some days it takes so long to settle down in the office. I all but abandoned the office in the summer during the kitchen renovations. The dogs wanted to be totally involved in all the work, and as that wasn't welcomed, I decided we would work in the garden instead.

It was a fantastic summer for the garden, and the veggie patch really did grow well. I expanded into a kitchen garden and a tomato greenhouse, all of which provided us with wonderful fresh produce well into October. The new potting shed came in very handy too, with Mr B having space for all his tools and garden machinery. This means that the studio in the summerhouse has been returned to me. It still feels a bit sparse, but over the winter I will whip it back into shape and move my art, photography and writing back in there, where it belongs. Out of the office, into a more creative space. 

Back to the garden, and the dogs. Eventually, the kitchen was completed and handed back. I can't say it was an easy process. The design was fun and the designer really did understand our needs. She works with a team of tradespeople, some of whom didn't quite meet our expectations. As we had paid a fixed price, however, it was left to the designer to co-ordinate any 'cock-ups', which she did in good grace, if not with any sort of urgency. I suspect that she has never been without a kitchen for 7 weeks. All in all, the project took 3 months, starting with a new boiler and flue, removing the old coal fire bunker and chimney breast, taking out two walls, completely gutting the kitchen, and then re-building and re-fitting. I'm glad we've done it, but never again.

The presence of a constant stream of strangers in the house was very unsettling for the puppy. She was very stressed at times, and still suffers somewhat from separation anxiety. Thankfully, she has stopped ripping the zips out of the lounge cushions. This is a good thing as I have had my great grandmother's ancient armchairs re-upholstered, and the new loose covers for the sofas are due next week. Woe betide any Boxer puppy who thinks she can chew the new upholstery. A wise person told me to crate the puppy until she knew how to behave. And taking that advice on board, we do now set up a large gated area for both dogs while we are out. They have food, water, comfy beds, boredom busters, and enough space to be on their own if they want to. Sometimes the old boy needs a bit of 'me' time. I think this helped the puppy adapt to being in kennels for a few days while we were away in Valencia. She certainly seems more calm since, but then she has just turned 1 year old.

Now, thoughts turn to the festivities. But don't forget to support your small, local charities, who do so much good in your community, at Christmas and all year round.

A photo blogpost follows.

The calm before the storm

View from the office

What a pleasure. It's 9am on a Tuesday morning, and because of my judicious planning and hard work ethic, I seem to have finished the office tasks for the day already. So, what to do next?

BriniZozi zzzzzz

The Boxers have gone back to bed. They had a lovely run over the farm with Mr B. The hens are scratching away. I have chard stalks for them later. What a treat. They really are enjoying the abundance of the neighbours' veggie gardens.

All is quiet in the garden of Shackleford.

In my own garden, the step ladder up the greengage tree marks the start of fruit harvest, the race against the squirrels, pigeons and wasps. So far, we are winning. But as Mr B is afraid of heights, it is a bit more difficult than last year. The tree will need a hard prune in the autumn, to keep it healthy and fruiting.

The broad beans, potatoes and French beans have all been eaten. The perpetual spinach survived the heatwave and goes on and on and on ...

We are still enjoying the celery. Please remind me not to plant so much celery next year.

And the runner beans are glorious. 

It's a wonderful summer.

But it's all about to end rather abruptly next week. The last stage of the kitchen project starts. The good phase, well bad phase first, then good phase. Hooray! Still half a dozen of so men doing boring stuff like electrics, plumbing and tiling. My patience is being tested.

And then, the new kitchen will emerge, like a beautiful butterfly from its chrysalis.

It's the calm before the storm, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

Photography by Lesley Beeton

Don't forget to keep up to date with events at Farncombe Day Centre and all the news in Shackleford village.

Amazing Allium

Allium 'Purple Sensation', Lesley Beeton 2013

Once the beauty of the flowering allium is over the seed heads are stunning. I've left them in the wildflower garden, hoping to self-seed for next year.

Photography by Lesley Beeton

A spring garden

Linking up with Older Mum (In A Muddle) for #One Week - Spring '13. Delighted to be joining in again.

Autumn planting gives spring colour

We've been busy in the garden, taking advantage of the warm, sunny days and long, light evenings. And it's paying off. The bulbs we planted in the autumn are just about finishing their showiness, just a few alliums standing tall and purple amongst the last tulips.

Rhododendrons
in spring woodland garden

Our garden is a woodland spring garden, having its best colour at this time of year. The glorious azaleas and rhododendrons are magnificent in their colour.

We have also been busy making more structural changes. It started with the re-locating of the compost area earlier in the year. This has made space for the new potting shed. The little greenhouse has been moved too, and the site marked up. So, any day now, the men will come to lay the concrete base.

Greenhouse for sentimental value,
on the plot for the new potting shed

Our wildlife area is home to bees and spiders and baby birds, and many other creatures I hope.

Bee nest, for solitary bees

Blue tit box, always in use

Bumble bee box, now home to various spiders

We moved the old veggie box into its new position next to the hedge, a perfect spot for the raspberries. I have to treat the timber first though, and line the box, before I can sieve the compost back into the box, erect the tall bamboos and put up the birdnetting. All quite achievable.

Renovating the old veggie box as a new raspberry planter

Mr B's lawn, and potato planter, mini greenhouse for
tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines, new planter for raspberries

The veggie patch is planted up. The kitchen garden is planted up. After last year's awful crop, I was a bit wary about doing veg this year. I heard a garden expert on a local radio station talking about the problem of the long cold winter and what home veggie gardeners should do to get a crop this year. He said (more or less) 'Don't sow seeds, buy good quality plants. The plants need to be strong this year and raising weak plants from seedlings in the cold spring won't help. Buy lots of plants. Plant densely, especially in the kitchen garden. This will keep the pests down, and encourage cut and come again picking. And finally, he said don't swap self-propagated plants with your neighbour. In doing this, we risk passing on plant diseases, weakening the crop in the future.' Wow, that was a lot of do's and don'ts.

Veggie patch

Kitchen garden

Last weekend, I popped out to the garden centre and chose loads of veggie plants - sweetcorn, carrots, leeks, red onions, dwarf beans, broad beans, beetroot, celery, sweet pepper, beefsteak tomato, aubergine and cucumber. I planted densely, but less so in the veggie patch. I had already planted my early potatoes and those plants look fabulous in what has now become 'the potato planter'.

I did get a few cabbage plants from the neighbour's Grandma. They are doing well, and in return I sent Grandma a few celery plants.

So veggies planted, brambles under control, hens eating the weeds, I painted the metal warthogs red. Job done. 

Metal warthogs, travelled from Africa

A serene setting for the warthogs, next to a bench
and watched by the wood carving man

I think we can relax for a bit. Except for Mr B, who loves looking after his lawn.

A passion for lawn mowing

And a couple of mad Boxers thrown in for good measure

Photography by Lesley Beeton

My week as a ....

I was all things to all people last week. Mummy to Brin the Boxer, corn feeder to the hens, Dad's manager, Mr B's soother, a friend, tweeter and blogger. Over the weekend, I was also the wood weasel and the electric fence weasel. That means I had to sit on the ground passing things to Mr B while he did important garden chores. 

This morning I was hedgehog rescuer. I don't mind rescuing hedgehogs, except that this little fellow had walked into the anti-fox electric hen-fence and it was shorting out through his body in pulses. I could see his body twitching with each pulse. I held a towel over his body and moved him back into the woods. He is fine, just a bit *shocked*.

I do have to laugh at the jobs I do in a day, in between my real job. Who would have thought that having a PhD in molecular biology would lead to such a varied work-life? So when work gets tedious, I know that I can jump up and go for a walk, or feed the chickens, or plant the bulbs, or dig up the veggie patch. Or just sit and watch the birds, or photograph the flowers.

I'm not complaining, quite the contrary. I'm tired when my head hits the pillow at night, but that's happy tired. Tired from having made a difference, tired from having made progress, tired from having made friends, tired from doing the things I love.

Introducing the girls

These lovely ladies came to live with us last weekend. I love their gentle croo, croo and their silky bodies. We're still getting to know each other and so far no eggs, but they seem to be enjoying the free range.

 

  Brin is keeping them company, and they don't seem to mind him at all.