Chelsea Inspired

Well the sun's out, I've been watching the Chelsea Flower Show all week and also got some inspiration from Grows on You.  Hence a further bit of planting has taken place.  This is Golden Marjoram, which has been suggested to me as another beneficial herb for butterflies and bees.  It adds to the other herbs to make a slightly bigger herb section.

Alongside this I have planted some cornflower seeds.  Nothing to see there as yet, but hopefully a lovely bright blue flower to attract insects of all types.

My most optimistic bit of planting is a buddleia.

This has been suggested by one of our guests and somebody on Grows on You.  It seems to be fairly hardy to coastal weather and wind, also it appears to be able to grow out of walls and other strange places so hopefully a large tub in sunlight will be OK.

Fingers crossed!

Bumble Bee Friendly

After watching a programme about the Chelsea Flower Show last night I found out about the Bee Kind campaign running by the Bumblebee Conservation Society.  You can list the plants in your garden on the site and you get a score for the bee friendliness of your garden.  We scored 837.  I struggled with the type of garden.  This is a good score for a window box (500 average) but poor for a small garden (2500 average).  I can't work out whether we are more a window box or a tiny, evolving garden.  Anyway, its a start.

I have recently also started using a site called Grows on You.  This is a good way of listing plants that you are growing and also asking queries from other gardeners. I posted a question about coast hardy bee and butterfly friendly plants and got loads of interesting and useful suggestions.  So that will give me something to work on over the next few weeks.

Progress in May

Well, it's been a while since the weather has been good enough to check the progress of planting.  Or at least take any pictures.  Today is windy but there is a lovely blue sky and sun.

Nasturtium seeds planted in March

Things are continuing to grow and progress to a state where they might attract any brave wildlife that wishes to venture out.

Firstly, the nasturtium seeds are doing well.  These were planted in March.  Elsewhere in other borders some seeds planted in April are starting to show.  I did wonder whether they had been drowned by all the rain, but they are hardy little plants and are now pushing through.

The herbs I planted are surviving the winds well and the chive plant is looking particularly healthy, producing flowers, which are the things that will attract insects.

Sea thrift planted this year.

Sea thrift plants are popular with bees and are also particularly hardy in harsh coastal conditions.  As mentioned before in this blog, one survived well last year and so I planted a few more.  These are all producing flowers and brightening up the flower beds.

Sea thrift planted last year

Meanwhile, I have also found out that Rutland Terrace is one of about 5 major sea gull nesting sites in Scarborough - aren't we lucky!  They are nesting on the roof, dropping moss out the front of Phoenix Court and generally making themselves at home.  And, of course, they managed to take out the television aerial again yesterday.

Sighting of a Blue Tit

          

                                                                           

Well one thing you can say about wildlife is that it never ceases to surprise.  Just when I thought the only birds around were seagulls and the one viewed pied wagtail I saw this. 


It does prove that I am not a wildlife photographer, but this little blue tit was sat high on a branch in St Mary's Churchyard.  It was singing its heart away in the morning sunshine and grew quite a crowd of fans.


What the RSPB says

Too cold to action

Rain, rain and more rain.  What can I say.  North winds too.  At least everything is getting a good watering and things are settling in well and starting to flower.  Nasturtium seeds are bravely peeking the first leaves out of the ground and all things planted are looking settled.  The chive plant has got buds, which should flower soon.

It's lovely to sea the seagulls out of the front windows enjoying the north wind and obviously having a game floating on the wind.

No sign of anything else yet, though.

When its a bit warmer and drier I will take some more pictures of how things stand.