Returning Cuckoos and Happy Frogs

Today has been a little warmer thank goodness though I started off with four layers .... the same as I would wear in February.

It was good to get out in the gardens after a few days indoors. The wind and the rain weighed down new growth so there was a lot of tying in to do ..... sweetpeas, cornflowers, sunflowers.

And lots of weeding after the rain.

I managed to tie the cornflowers to the rabbit wire.

I had some geraniums to plant in the water trough .... 4 lovely plants from Aldi for £1.89.

The rest of the time was weeding or hoeing. 

There were plenty of campers around.

The foxgloves are the stars of the show, being visited by huge bees. It was amusing to watch them disappearing down the tubes attracted by the markings.

 

Alongside the polytunnel is a pure white one. Next time I must see how popular it is with the bees.

The oriental poppies are causing a splash. I`m so glad I staked some of them last time.
 The lettuce survived their encounter with a rabbit and lived to tell the tale.

We had a longer than usual teabreak chatting to Tim and Anne. We discussed the new soil improver that we are trying out on the farm and in the garden. It comes in the form of pellets and we have used it on only part of the polytunnel as a kind of simple test. Tim kindly gave us a cartonful.

In the polytunnel things are moving along quickly. The water botttle protection has been very successful. We have now removed the double ones from the tomatoes but the peppers and aubergines remain protected.

I even covered the tagetes used as companion planting.

Peppers, aubergines, one surviving cucumber thanks to my brother, and odd tomatoes.

These fabulous nicotiania come up every year.

The gnomes are quite at home in the fernery
 

The frogs are very happy in the pond.

And the new secret path is blending into the background.

 

All in all a great start to June.

Oh and the cuckoo has been heard several times. This has been increasingly rare so we are happy that they are perhaps, making a come-back.