What a lot of life!

blossom on our old plum tree

This blog is becoming a bit of a gardening blog at the moment but whilst the weather is nice it's great to get into the garden.

Working outside yesterday felt fabulous and I could feel that the world is teeming with life. The birds were twittering away in the trees, though this in itself is not unusual as the birds are rather loud around here throughout the year. I think it has something to do with the arable desert of monoculture crops that we're surrounded by, in contrast the village gardens must be something of an oasis. I saw lot's of butterflies, bees and wasps darting around the flowers. There are signs that something is digging my garden for grubs in the orchard. Loads of insect life, especially in the compost heaps. Signs of moles in the garden (I'm okay with this as they are in the rougher area, I really ought to start collecting the soil from the mole hills) and I even scared a rabbit away from our bonfire. This was a timely reminder of why I shouldn't bother sowing seeds direct into the soil. I even heard my first cuckoo.

Mole hills

The spring flowers are looking great at the moment, the primroses are so exuberant that they are almost pushing themselves out of the soil. The celandines are incredible, some are HUGE this year. My daffodils are dying a slow death but there is still a lot of interest from the bugs. We don't have many daisys but those that are here were stunning in their simplicity in the middle of our drive way.

Lesser celendines

My vegetable patch is under control again though I still have plenty of areas to work on. I appreciate how every year it gets just a little more organised, a little more under control. My next focus is the area around it, the 'walls'.

Veg patch weeded (for the moment...)