21.05.2023 Wildlife gardening by default.

 ~o~

 Sunday 21st 15C/60F [8.45]  Bright and breezy with cloud and sunshine. Perhaps peaking at 22C today but a threat of showers or thunderstorms in the forecast. Up at 5.00 after a restless night. No walk so far.  It stinks of pig shit again. Shopping would be a good idea.

 I have been de-potting out on my wife's garden again. She left small plastic pots scattered amongst the plants on her "flower bed." Perhaps to fulfill some plan. She left labelled drawings and was getting interested in grasses. Panicum labels were attached to a few. So some are definitely grasses.

 Trapped in their small pots, I felt they had a poor chance of success. So I have been freeing those I could still find. I had previously worked my way over the bed and freed plants where they stood. Today I noticed a few, scattered more widely. The bed is really filling out with fresh green foliage. A few flowers are showing. Pinks, campanula, tulips and a few others. I have no head for remembering flower names. 

 Her shrubs are thriving in the better light. Since I removed the horse chestnut and giant dolobrata hedge. The grass in the foreground [above] is still getting established and it all badly needs cutting again. 

 Since I am no gardener I am aiming for a wildlife garden. There are stacks of twigs in many places. Some of which have been there for years. Compost heaps are sited in several places. The whole garden is generally overgrown. With the huge, chestnut branches left to rot. Shorter grass will pretend to be the lawn. Where the birds can more easily forage.

 The sun was been veiled by cloud at times. Though it soon reached 27C/80F in the greenhouse. So I opened both end doors to blow the heat away. The steel, fine mesh, security doors keep the wildlife out. Hardly a single fly ever gets through.

 I have now applied sticky labels to the fronts of the recycling bins. I find it is easiest to open the lids back against the wall. When I need to sort my large, indoor waste basket. With the lids open I was losing all identification for segregation. It won't take me long before sorting becomes completely automatic. 

 There are new days for emptying too. So I have added those to the Windows calendar to remind me.  Then I can drag the bins the 120m along the drive the night before. You can never have enough exercise! 

 I visited my British friend in the afternoon. To give him a hand with setting out his garden furniture for the summer. It was pleasantly warm. So we sat outside and chatted in his spacious, rural garden. 

 The lilacs in the hedgerows were spectacular on the drive there and back. It is about a half hour drive each way. On quiet, country roads and twisting, hilly lanes. Thee are numerous routes so I choose one, completely on a whim, each time. Many chain-built villages have low speed limits. So it can be quicker to avoid them despite a greater distance being involved.

  Dinner was chips, fish fingers and peas.

~o~