Glad to be Back

                                               The summer garden with a fox by the new pool

I'm so sorry everybody, I have had a moment of forgetfulness and  it's taken three months for me to get everything together again. But, although I can't remember everything, I can write the blog, so here goes. I have missed all the hot summer so here is a collection of everything that's happened in the garden. 

After Lawrence finished building the pond I had at least four frogs in it and I had to put a plastic net over one side to prevent the three young foxes that come into the garden every night  from getting them. This has worked quite well. The other end is protected by two largeish pond plants in the middle and a difficult-to-get-to far side and so far the frogs are all still there. 

I planted a number of wild flowers last year which are all doing well. There is a red clover at the back which is spreading, with a bird's foot trefoil, both attracting a number of bees                   

          

Red Clover                                                                    Bird's foot trefoil

  In the lawn I have yellow rattle that took straight away when I sowed it last year and is now filling up two large parts of the lawn.  This partly feeds on the grass and will allow other flowers to grow there too. I have also sown more wild flowers including wild strawberries (delicious)  

             

               Yellow rattle in the grass                            Wild strawberries                   

and wild daffodils, white clover, ragged robin, dandelions,  

 

Dandelions

Jack-by-the-hedge, Welsh poppies, fumitory, lesser celandine, dog violets, forget me nots, sweet Cicely, ribwort plantain, perennial cornflowers and wild geraniums.  

  Centaurea montana:  perennial cornflower 

Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)

There are more, of course, but those are the edible or most interesting ones.

I have been encouraging insects into the garden, largely through growing wild things and have many more bees than last year. Unfortunately I am finding it hard to identify them so can't tell you which ones they are. But there are plenty of them as well as a number of different hover flies.

                                                                          Hover fly 

I am hoping that the new pond will encourage various types of dragonfly and damselfly next year. 

At the moment, there are three types of Sedum in the garden, much loved by  bees, a wild Michaelmas daisy loved by other bees, masses of Cyclamen hederifolium, which have loved the warm weather, still a few roses, some Welsh poppies, a gorgeous red dahlia whose name I don't know and a honeysuckle which has been flowering for months and looks as though it will go on for ages more.