Well, they do say an Englishman’s home is his castle. And for this English woman, this stronghold must obviously include the garden. At least I like to think the garden is my domain; my own small fiefdom.
The wildlife, of course, has other notions. This mama blackbird, for instance, is quite sure my purpose in life is to provide her with fresh feeding stations. As soon as I begin work in the garden she’s there, poised to snatch a worm or grub. If I do not provide quickly enough, she fixes me with that beady eye, and starts her own digging. This has led to us falling out somewhat. I’ve had to net all my vegetable beds to stop her rooting out my seedlings.
But she did keep me company while I cleared the boundary wall with our neighbour’s garage. It was a horrendous job, hacking out ingrowing and overgrowing hypericum (Rose of Sharon) that years ago had been planted along the top of the wall, and since turned itself into a stretch of brutal anti-tank wire, while inviting Spanish bluebells, ash trees and willow herb to join in the fray.
I’d been tackling the job on and off since last summer. But now it’s done.
I’ve planted the road end with a couple of trailing blackberries designed for hanging baskets and also some foxgloves which had grown themselves in the back garden. As for the rest, for this year I’m thinking of putting in various kales and perhaps courgettes; nothing permanent in other words. I’ve discovered that hypericum shoots and roots from the tiniest scrap of itself, so it will probably take a few seasons to clear the bed.
Meanwhile mama blackbird has been well fed, and the feeding clearly paying off. Two days ago, while planting a hornbeam sapling to fill a gap in our rear hedge of horrors, I had the sense of being watched. When I peered into the tangle of privet, holly and sycamore, there she was, sitting still as stone, on a very neat nest, looking straight back at me. I left her in peace.
As blackbirds go, I suspect she is rather elderly. Her tail feathers look more than a touch bedraggled. But she has us weighed up as non-threatening entities, choosing to nest right by the path that we use all the time. She is not afraid to leave it either, when she sees me with a spade. Yesterday, when I was unearthing some ash tree saplings further down the hedge, she was right there, just in time to gobble up a big juicy worm.
Male blackbirds don’t do nest duty, but I’m assuming this is papa. He’s taken to singing sweetly in the hawthorn tree just over the hedge. He shows up when I’m digging too, but not if mama is around. (She sees him off). He actually comes very close and tweets at me, if I’m not providing worms.
Earlier in the year it was the robin who would come nagging as soon as I set foot in the garden. He/she was especially pleased with operation dig-out-compost-bin, but now is perhaps too busy with egg minding to be around so much.
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Other birdlife, as in pigeons, I’m not so pleased to see. They’re another reason for having netting all over the vegetable plots, though it doesn’t stop them from nibbling through the fine mesh if the plants grow too close to the edge. They like spinach, brassicas, chard, chicory, beetroot leaves, lettuce, young field bean leaves and lemon sorrel.
The garden is very much ‘a first draft’; there’s much to sort out (tidy) and much trial and error (given the lack of an actual plan). Next week a paling fence will start going up around the perimeter (from behind the greenhouse and round). It won’t be too tall but will create a boundary for fresh planting which might help focus this gardener’s mind.
For now we are enjoying the apple blossom, and especially the little tree which is flourishing between the compost bins, one open, one hot. I think it’s a Crispin. The black hot bin is not a pretty sight, but the mass of flowers is lovely and, in a spot of warmish afternoon sun, is alive with bee hum. Just look at the pollen sacs on the bees’ legs.
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And there’s not only apple blossom. On the terrace wall we have tulips. They are presently looking rather glamorous:
So: spring is here in the Farrell domain aka Castle (also the locals’ name for the town), and in moments when the wind drops and you stand in the sun where the air is less frigid, it feels like it too. Cheers, fellow gardeners! Happy planting!
Six on Saturday: blackbirds, robins, bird defences, apple blossom, bees and tulips
copyrithg 2025 Tish Farrell
Your garden looks beautiful Tish and how cute is the robin. Looks like you won’t have to go vegetable shopping in a while
Thanks, Alison. That’s a good thought about the veggies. Not quite got to the ‘no need to shop stage’, but at least the garden’s been keeping us going with salad stuff and a few pickings of chard and spinach now that I’m holding the pigeons at bay.
well, what a marvellous garden you are creating, Tish! All the produce in neat beds, some well fed bird life, bees with a plentiful supply of pollen….. what’s not to love?
Oh that’s a lovely comment, Sue 🙂
Good!
What a beautiful garden and relationship with your feathered friends Tish!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Anne.
yes everything is looking good from your hard work and the new friends just make it all worth every sore finger.
Thanks, Beverly. And yes, I’m enjoying the company of (some) birds 🙂
Such a lovely green setting. If I were a bird, that’s where I’d be.
Ah, Flower. That’s a lovely thought.
If I were a robin or a blackbird I would also be interested in gardeners turning over the soil or hacking at plants. I’ve seen egrets follow tractors through fields, or even lawnmowers. For the same reason.
I love the way that birds keep tabs on our activities.
You’re being very industrious, and with good results. I’m glad you have a pal, and one with whom you have a mutually beneficial relationship. I hope her youngsters get to like you just as much, when they become independent. Perhaps they could gang up on the pigeons (some hope).
I don’t know if it was the same mother, but we had a brood of 4 fat chicks roving round the garden last year. They took a liking to exploring my green house which wasn’t quite what I wanted. When they weren’t in there, they drifted about the undergrowth like large moths. And as for the pigeons – nothing seems to deter them.
I agree. Pigeons are incorrigible louts that lower the tone of the neighbourhood.
And they never seem to stop procreating!
I think I’ve found a discarded shell on the ground almost every month of the year.
Lovely to see the birds as well as the flowers. I do like apple blossoms they are such a sign of spring.
The apple blossom has been amazing this year. Happy spring, Rosie.
Gosh, you have been busy. What a neat garden, and all those wonderful raised beds. You excel at edible gardening Tish. No wonder the bird life love to visit. Well done on getting rid of the weedy plants, I know how difficult that job is! I assume the new fencing is to try and make your domain a bit more private from the white bungalow?
Yes, the fence will help a bit. I of course opened up all the borders formerly overgrown with euonymous and phygelius and other stuff. The fence will only be 4ft high as the apple trees are right on the boundary, but I can then think about putting in some pleasing wafty shrubs to screen us a bit. The bungalow has been empty for years but is just now on the market. We’ve been chatting with the person who has their eye on it…
You’ve been busy, and then the payoff is so much beauty. Even your edible garden is lovely (and looks yummy!). It’s fun to see and hear how your feathered friends are keeping you company. 🙂
Hello Beth. Many thanks for popping in 🙂
Oh Tish….these photos are fabulous and your garden gorgeous. I can imagine sitting there in the evenings after a hard day’s graft with a gin & tonic (or whatever) listening to the sweet blackbird’s beautiful song…. Superb..xx
Thank you for that very pleasing image, Janet, an evening G & T in the garden accompanied by blackbird song 🙂
Oh yes….the perfect spring/summer evening..x
I think we might be having one today!
Perfect…hopefully the first of many ..:)
A beautiful post Tish. That looked like a tough job by the wall but you had some delightful companions to ease the load. Gorgeous to see your garden beds and glasshouse.
Thanks, Flavia. That wall bed was a bit of battle. It seemed such a waste of potentially interesting space not to try clearing it. The wall is a good metre high at the front of the house; and the hypericum had actually created some nice looking soil (in between the root tangle) which seems to go all the way down! It will be interesting to see what grows there on an east-west axis. (Apart from hypericum that is!)
I think it will look amazing. 👏🌸
The tulips are stunning! 🌷
I’m another admirer of your edible garden, the only type to have as many flowers can be included with the vegetables. Spring is wonderful when there’s so much growth in the garden.
Thanks, Suzanne. I’m attempting to have my veg and eat it (as it were) AND therefore also flowers, in what is a very small garden. A challenge, as they say. And not a little chaotic.
You’re doing a great job!
Cheers! All encouragement happily received 🙂
Almost speechless at the amount of effort there, Tish. Never a still moment in the Farrell household, and with terrific results. I love your oneness with nature xx
We have been in hyperactive mode lately, Jo. Much appreciate your appreciation!
Your Blackbirds are as friendly as ours, always under my feet (sometimes literally!). Feel sorry for them though, every nesting attempt these last 3 years have been hit by Magpies, not one chick raised.
That’s sad about the magpie raiders, Brian. Maybe what I think is a very horrid hedge is actually a good thing for the birds – lots of holly and entanglements.
You do so much in that limited space! And have managed to create a tone that encourages company.
Thanks so much, Michael. Kind words indeed.
I very much enjoyed ‘visiting’ your garden and meeting some of your other visitors, especially the robin who looks very cute 🙂
I love the robin, though it can be very bossy.
Bravo, Tish. Love the bees. Love your observations. Love your written word. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you, Thom. And for all the ‘loves’ 🙂
What a gorgeous ‘in process’, spring garden! 😀 … the snow is almost all melted so we should be able to get some green stuff growing here soon-ish. 🙂
Good luck with the growing, Widders. It must seem like a long winter.
Lovely!
Thanks, Jennie.
You’re welcome.