Faire du Jardinage!

Finally, I managed to get some Gardening done.

The weather was absolutely wonderful on Saturday, very hot and felt like we were in the middle of Summer! I was shocked how warm it was walking around the garden centre, I spent too much but came home with some lovely plants and only bought two things I hadn't planned on getting so not *too bad*

The plants I ordered arrived yesterday and they certainly leave a lot to be desired. I think I'll stop using the company now because the quality just isn't there any more. So much for their gold awards at Chelsea and whatever rubbish, their customer service isn't so hot.
I bought some chocolate clover and other than almost being completely dead it's also got rabbit poo on it!!!

Yeah, great.

It's nice to know your gardens are organic and all that but, for almost £6 for the pot I find it abysmal.

I've taken some photos, so I’ll have to get them up, and then I can check how things develop over the next few months into summer.

List of bought plants:

Yarrow
Chocolate Clover
Aquilegia
Bellis
Sweet Pea
Acer
Lobelia
Various basket plants
Verbena
Marguerite
Forget-me-not
Angel's fishing rod
Salvia
Firethorn
Fritillary
Russian Dwarf Almond

Plus the many pots brought from the last house - I think most are doomed to another summer in their pot because they've grown too much and moving them now may upset them too much…

Sun At Last!

Well, after the poor starts every day the evenings have been lovely so I've finally been able to get into the garden properly and to have a think about where I want everything.

The plants still haven't arrived... I'm thinking I might have to send some emails soon if they're not here by the weekend!

I bought some more plants:

Forget-me-not
Aguilegia
Marguerite
Japanese Maple - Acer katsura.
Bellis

I also planted some sweet peas, alliums that were in pots and sowed some random seeds such as Giant Sunflowers, Nicotiana, Nigella and poppies.

It also dawned on me that I haven't taken any before photos of the garden, shame really... It'd be nice to see how things go over the years (not that I have actually done much yet).

I've not seen any new species of birds yet, I hope I will once we have more shrubs for them.

You know how people are always saying that once you buy a house you never have any money because things crop up all the time?
Yup, I've found that one out already! On Sunday our washer/dryer died, 2 weeks in the house and already I'm forking out for a major white good. Grrrr, I guess that's why they were leaving it then!
Of course, in-builts are also more expensive than your freestanding models. So that's me £500 lighter, so much for re-insulating the loft!

You have to laugh.

Finally!

W00t, I've finally moved! Plenty of stress and upset, but I should probably be grateful that it was far quicker than most other people experience.

In total it took almost exactly 10 weeks from getting the solicitor sorted to moving in. So in total it took us 10 weeks and 4 days from seeing the house, putting an offer on and then moving in.

It's just a shame I'm now in 30 year's worth of debt!! Lol

Not to worry quite so much, as I didn't stretch myself so it means there's room for over-payment to help it go down faster.

I haven't moved too far, just to the other side of the area I was already in, so perhaps 5/10 minutes away. Unfortunately I'm now no longer next to the park (not that I'd get much of the birdlife anyway) and I will really miss my Nuthatches ]:

Instead though I now have many, many Sparrows, Blackbirds and the dreaded Pigeons! But this time they're feral Pigeons, but there are still Collared Doves in the area.

The first morning after moving in the first birdie I saw was a Long-Tailed Tit, so happy! Of course I didn't get a good shot, because the camera was on the wrong setting (must've turned the dial by accident during the move) and it all blurred - sods law anyone? I've seen them again but I didn't have my camera at the time and they were silhouetted against the sky.
I've also managed to catch a female Blackcap on camera without even knowing it - It was just a bird in a bush to me. I've never seen a Blackcap before, male or female.

There are plenty of places for the birds to hide, lots of hedges, climbers and such for them to escape into, but I do plan on having my own Hawthorn or Beech hedge to attract the birds, it just means digging out a rather pathetic Privet hedge (Oh how I hate Privet) so I'm unsure whether to have a temporary fence to help the new hedge grow??

Now I just hope we get some of the other Finches, like Chaffinches or Gold, even Green would be nice as I've never had them either. They must be nearby as I'm really not far away from where I was before.

So far I've seen:

Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Magpie
Rook
Starlings
Blue Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Blackbird
Sparrow
Wren
Blackcap
Dunnock
Mistle Thrush (Well, I heard its alarm call!)

I think we could do with some Great Tits and other finches really. Does anyone have any ideas on how to attract those birds? (Including good trees/shrubs/plants not only food)

I have seed feeders with mixed peanuts, sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, grains and dried mealworms. I also scatter ground food which has cereals, sunflower hearts and sultanas etc in. So I already have a wide variety of food, perhaps I need some suet balls too. I'm steering clear of ground feeders/trays in general as I don't fancy having flocks of Pigeons swooping down, shame but there are a lot around! (Unless of course I buy a cage for the feeder so they can't fit in…)

I've ordered some wildlife friendly plants, they should come in the next week or so:

Yarrow
Meadow Clary
Verbena
Ox-eye Daisy
Chocolate Clover
Teasel
Hardy Geranium

And then some more, just because I love them:

Granny's Bonnet (Aguilegia)
Angel's Fishing Rod

I'm feeling somewhat lost with the size of the garden I need to tackle, I've never had something this size before, so I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed even though I love gardening. I don't know where to start and have lots of pots that have come with me that ought to be planted but I'm just lost. Lol

Who'd have thought it?!