The Big Garden Birdwatch

We are feeding our garden birds everyday now. They like sunflowers seeds and peanuts in particular and we also hang out fat balls and apples for them. Some of the bigger birds such as Crows and Wood Pigeons also visit our birdtables now that food is scarce in the fields, hedgerows and trees and a pair of pheasants like to see what’s fallen to the ground for them.

Smaller birds scatter when the big birds arrive but they don’t stay long and we replenish the food whenever necessary so there’s always something for the little ones to eat. The weather is set to become much colder here so I’ve made a point of topping up the food a couple of times today already. If the birds are well fed they’ll stand a much better chance of surviving in the icy temperatures and biting wind set to arrive tomorrow.

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Signs of Life

It’s mid January so it’s mid winter here in the UK. It’s been milder than usual here in West Lancashire with temperatures hovering around 8°C-10 °C during the day. I’m not surprised to see that there are signs of life in the garden already. Patches of bare earth have fresh green seedlings and spring bulbs are already poking their noses through the dark earth too.

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Broadway Doors

There are some English villages that are impossible to drive through without stopping to look a little more closely at the homes, shops and of course the village inns. Broadway is one of our most beautiful Cotswolds villages I think. It has the most gorgeous honey coloured buildings… some ancient and others much newer but all very attractive.  Broadway is very popular so it can become busy at times but it’s most definitely worth a close look.

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Hidcote Manor Garden Doors

We visited Hidcote Manor Garden in the Cotswolds in September 2016. The large garden is divided into distinct rooms and you may recall that I wrote about the Red Borders in an earlier blog post. Without doubt those borders were the stars of Hidcote for me last autumn. There are many other lovely areas throughout the entire garden… here are just a few.

Visitors enter the garden at Hidcote Manor via the house. There’s a charming study to look at first then it’s through the white door and into the garden.

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January Sunrise

I like getting up early. Usually I pop outside before breakfast to open up my garden studio and get things ready for the day ahead. I love that quiet time before everyone else rises. I like to think and plan but sometimes I’m distracted by the natural world. In January there are huge V shaped formations of geese flying low in the early morning mist, squirrels searching for the conkers and acorns they buried in autumn and wild ducks rooting through the borders for their sluggy breakfast. Around here it’s easy to be side-tracked I find!

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Mahonia x media ‘Charity’

It’s grey and very wet here today but this week has been fabulous with frosty starts to sunny days. I’ve been collecting leaves again. We have mature trees in the garden which usually shed their leaves in autumn. In 2016 our Oak trees held onto most of their leaves until just before Christmas. Usually the autumn gales blow many of them away. But this time it’s down to me to clear them from the borders. In places they lay 15cm / 6 inches deep so I’ve been raking up barrow loads of them to make leaf mould. I’ll add it back to the borders when the leaves decompose. There’s nothing like a spot of gardening on a dry January day to get back in touch with nature.

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Growing Lettuce from Seed

At the start of every new year my thoughts turn towards healthy eating. Not just because I over indulged over the holiday period. Coffee and Mince Pie anyone? Now’s the time of year to start growing healthy food for your garden and kitchen. If you haven’t grown your own food before one of the best plants to start with is Lettuce, mainly because it’s quick and very easy to grow.

Did you know that commercially produced lettuce is sprayed with insecticides, pesticides and herbicides about 10 times before it’s ready for sale? Honestly… that’s enough to put you off your salad!

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Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year to You!

I’ve already been thinking about what I’d like for 2017 and as usual I have a long list of places to go, people to see and lots of things I’d like to do. Writing such a huge list always means that I never manage to complete everything on it. Usually that doesn’t worry me at all because it’s easy to carry things over to the following year and I know that sooner or later I’ll make it happen.

We have plans for our garden too. We are planning to rejig a couple of well established borders, remove some old shrubs that are past their best and update a planting scheme or two. My lovely husband will help me. But I’m not kidding myself … I already know that I’ll probably have to carry some less urgent things over until 2018. But there’s something important on my list that just can’t wait.

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