In the absence of any innate ability, I find a
philosophy is useful.
Of course, the keeping calm part was a challenge
last year, after this bastard got
into and wreaked havoc in the garden.
Bee friendly, on the other hand, has remained my
buzz phrase. Furthering that goal was job one this Easter weekend.
Thanks to Cec (who is now – hurrah! – staying on
the island), I have another yard of sea soil, which I can put to good use.
We begin, not in the garden, but in the back forty
(as if I have forty acres – ha!).
As you may (or may not) recall, back in 2012 I had
some trees felled.
The rounds were duly chopped and have by now been
burned over the intervening winters. The ground remained covered in branches.
After two years I accepted that these would never biodegrade during my
lifetime, so I hired someone to help me clear them. Then I set about “landscaping”.
Rocks, as you can see, are a big feature. With no
fence (not that that stopped frigging Bambo last year), planting options were
limited. Deer do not eat daffs, so lots of those went in the ground last
autumn. (Is it just me or do I definitely need more pink flamingos back here?)
As a rule (which can be broken), deer do not eat heather
or lavender, so I planted both. Bees are very partial to lavender.
I was delighted to discover that another plant
deer generally leave alone is my old bee-friendly favourite, the Ceanothus.
(Which, as I was informed today, is also known as a California lilac, a name I’ve
decided I prefer.)
So, job one today was digging a hole in the
rock-encrusted so-called soil, filling it with sea soil and adding a new
California lilac.
This is the third one I’ve planted out back.
Eventually, I suspect, there will be more.
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