Fairy Caves and Fat Robins

The recent downpours have changed everything.

The lushness of growth is truly amazing.

We spent a very happy half an hour just wandering round and looking at it all .... poppy buds, 

aquilegia ....

 ....borage over-shadowing the broad beans ....

.... clary coming into flower ....

..... pears forming.

My main job was to get the double sweet pea row into the lovely damp soil. I grew them from seed.

And just for now they are protected by the newest nets, purchased from Dunelm for all of 24p a piece .... in the sale bin.

My other enjoyable project was to make the fairy cave habitable.

There were several elements.

 I scraped out last years debris and laid a layer of sharp sand inside.

On top of that I placed some fine grit scattered with silver glitter.

The edges were softened with spaghnum moss.

Last night I made a flower garland to staple around the entrance.

A few toadstools were dotted around and a couple more fairies soon came along.

 

There are a few more bits and pieces to add.

Meanwhile, in the cob shed, the robins have got too big

 for their nest.

Steve has prepared the beds in the polytunnel for tomatoes, by damping the borders down.

He has recently replaced the log table, with the 

cable drum toadstool.

To prevent the wasps from nesting there again, he has covered over the holes where they entered.

 Elsewhere around the garden, the quince is in full flower.

                          My Mum`s lilac was wafting sweet perfume                                       attracting butterflies.

The dahlias are just coming through surrounded by 

poppy seedlings.

How many can we leave?

Even the roses are just about to burst into flower.

At home there is plenty of bedding that I have grown from seed, waiting to go in. We should be fairly safe from frost now.

I wish that the garden could keep the new fresh look for the rest of the season.