In 2024, design is taking a turn away from pastels and towards the boldness of jewel tones.
06.01.2024 - 16:00 / gardengatemagazine.com
The Birds and The Bees (and Bunnies...) My backyard seems to be the perfect place to raise a brood of bunnies! Baby bunny takeover
Although I wouldn’t call my raised garden beds romantic, the rabbits in my neighborhood sure like to use them in spring for their bunny rendezvous and subsequent nests.
Garden bed surpriseThe first year it happened, I found the bunny babies entirely by accident as I was loosening the soil and preparing the bed for planting. Thank goodness for garden gloves because as I reached into the corner of the planter to pull out a wad of dried leaves, the fuzzy layer underneath began to wiggle and move. I may have screamed. Who am I kidding? I definitely screamed. Then I promptly stuffed the leaves back into place and decided to leave that particular bed alone for another month until the bunnies had moved on.
I’m a busy mom of four, so I could see how Mama Rabbit had a lot on her plate raising those babies. Like putting food on the table (or in the hole), keeping leaves over their heads, constantly patrolling for pesky canines, and whatever PTA committee duties she inevitably got roped into at the last bunny meeting. Evicting her during this precarious time just seemed wrong. They stayed, and my lettuce and spinach went in a month late. No big whoop.
The following year, I was expecting it. I noticed the nest, left it alone, and planted my lettuce in a bed with no busy bunnies. Unfortunately, that was the Spring of 2018, or the Spring We No Longer Speak of Because of All the Death. An unruly pack of raccoons wreaked havoc on our neighborhood that year, taking out those bunnies and a nest of baby chickadees in a birdhouse in my backyard the same week.
I don’t know that I’ve fully recovered from that
In 2024, design is taking a turn away from pastels and towards the boldness of jewel tones.
Unleash your inner green thumb and add a touch of elegance to your home with these stunning Plant Collection on the Shelves Pictures. Discover how to creatively incorporate plants into your decor and breathe new life into any room. Get ready to be inspired!
Some people get their kicks from designer labels, others from rummaging through flea shops, or collecting obscure Japanese comics, vintage tractors, handbags, dolls, beer-mats, Star Wars merchandise or whatever else. Me, I get mine from ordering seeds.
The gardener must at times give plants protection against too intense light and against excessively high temperatures.
At first glance, a derelict garden seems a most depressing problem and one which would appear to be insurmountable. Certainly, its renovation and reclamation will require a great deal of hard work, but it is a task which can be made much easier and pleasanter if a plan of campaign is worked out beforehand.
I spent the morning putting the guttering round the newly covered chicken run, and also fixing some of the guttering at the back of the chicken house.
I did pop out in the garden first thing on the Saturday morning but that was just for Mark to take a quick photo of me and my Rhubarb. The first Saturday in May is Naked Gardening Day, yes it’s a thing, and the only thing you’re supposed to wear is a smile, so here’s my contribution.
About 10 days ago I had another 5 bags of top soil arrive. This is usually an annual thing, I like to get it in before the end of the financial year as it’s an expense for work. The soil in the raised beds always drops slightly during the year, it’s just something that it does, but eventually I won’t need to get any more. Each bag weighs about a ton, so that’s a lot of soil for one person to move on their own. George is at university so got away with it this year, but with Mark and I shovelling into the barrow, Emily wheeling the barrow and then with the help of Kai tipping the soil into the bed and then Kai raking it about we were working like a very well oiled machine. We got the first 2 bags done within about half an hour, and then sat down for a little light refreshment, and then did the last 3 bags. We started at 10.30am and were finished by just gone noon. I didn’t think that we’d get them all done by lunchtime, I was hoping to get about 3 done, so that was brilliant. Well done team Woodside Barn!!
Being British we love to talk about the weather, it’s just one of those things we do. Many of us are never happy whatever the weather brings. It’s either too cold (but it’s the winter so what do you expect, put a few extra layers on), or too hot (again it’s the summer and that’s what happens, drink something cold and buy a fan). It rains when people don’t want it to (I must admit sometimes when it pours and I’m working I do get cross but I can’t do anything about it), and then sometimes it gets very windy (we live on a small island that is right next to the Atlantic ocean so it’s gonna happen). Stop complaining about the weather all the time and just live your life and enjoy your life. You only get one life so make the most of it and stop moaning about something that really doesn’t effect you that much. Yes you might get wet when it rains or sweaty when it’s hot, but there is always someone worse off that you. Ok so moan over, here’s what I got up to today and how the weather has effected my plants.
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged and I’m sorry for the gap, but the weekends have been super busy and it’s basically it’s been weeding, watering, weeding, side shooting, weeding, feeding and more weeding. Not a very interesting thing to show you.
January is an interesting time to look for birds in the garden, as days are short and the availability of natural food is limited. This brings more birds into gardens, for whom a reliable source of supplementary food can be a lifeline.
They Play an Important Part in Beautifying Gardens Throughout the Greater Part of the Year