July Garden

I do so love my garden. Having been at this house for 5 years I'm now reaping the benefits of established planting and knowing what works in my soil and with the weather conditions.

My main emphasis is on bee-friendly plants, so herbaceous perennials interspersed with annuals. This means the garden looks pretty bleak over winter but is worth it for the show during the growing season which here in the Sussex is long and bountiful. I find perennials such hard workers and they just do their thing, year after year and a bit of timely dividing every other year keeps them healthy and allows me to spread the lurve - either in my own garden or by selling or giving away portions of good performers to other gardeners. And I can sow the seeds. Honestly, what's not to like?

In the spring, the look is all about cottage garden, as I have lupins galore (they seem to love my clay) and a lot of random Veronica; honesty; hardy geraniums and alliums, irises and the glorious verdant herbiness of the awakening summer plants. I live in a cottage: I have a garden so I am so pleased I have the chance to indulge this method of planting - a tumble and jumble of colour and greens and an exuberance which is so welcome after the winter. 

The insects love all these too. Not only my bees but hoverflies, bumblebees of all kinds, solitary bees and early butterflies. The wildlife adds a dimension to gardening - a sense of purpose I suppose for me as it rubber-stamps that I'm doing a good and valuable job. Our gardens are such important spaces for pollinators, amphibians, small mammals, reptiles and birds since their 'wilder' habitats have been encroached upon: we really should feel obliged to accommodate their needs as much as possible. It's not exactly a chore...

Summer approaches and the garden subtly changes as the spires of Verbascum, Verbena bonariensis and Nepeta, Foxtail lily, Digitalis cilata and Leucanthemum reach their maximum height, joined by the audible buzz and hum from the insects. I've added some grasses this year to provide some movement and a different texture and I'm really pleased with the results. I've had great success with annuals from Higgledy Garden - I'm not very good with them normally but the blue of the cornflower looks wonderful and a happy accident that it clashes so brilliantly with an orange Achillea that I'd forgotten was lurking underneath. Ammi majus is another new one for me this year and have given an airy element to the border which is useful when the plants are so crammed in!

I'm looking forward to August as the asters and Echinacea start to flower, the grasses signal the coolness of an autumn breeze and the apples begin to ripen. But just now, I'm happy to sit in the shade of those apple trees and watch the summer garden perform.

New Chickens

Well, the Smallholder's Show at Ardingly is always a favourite of mine, and this year I was in the unusual and fortunate position of actually needing some more chickens! After the sad loss of Emu to a recurrence of his foot infection, and another to the inevitable attentions of the fox, I had genuine spare capacity. I was wondering if the poultry gods would be against me and leave me with nothing suitable but thankfully, they were smiling on me.

I already have a trio of Buff Sussex bantams from which I sell hatching eggs, but I was after another set so that I could potentially breed from them myself with the opportunity to mix up the offspring to enable further crossing. In the last building with poultry for sale, there was a pair of Buff Sussexes, and although they looked a bit scrappy thanks to an unhelpful last-minute moult decision two weeks previously, the hen was a good weight and looked bright and chirpy. Her mate had much more black on his nape, and more marmalade-y saddle feathers than my existing Sussex boy so I am pleased with the contrast. I took their ticket to the sale desk, brandishing my cash...

...when of course I was stopped in my tracks on the way by the sight of a pair of Rhode Island bantams in a pen further down. I've never seen them before, and although one of my laying hens is a Rhodey, I didn't know you could get a bantam version. They were the most gorgeous chocolate brown, and stood calmly in their cage. A bargain too at £20. But! - I didn't have room for another pair, and that would bring my cockerel tally up to five, which makes letting each set have a run outside in the garden each day a bit of a logistical challenge. Anyway, after much discussion and a cup of tea, I decided that I would regret not having them (of course!) so I came away with two boxes and a big smile on my face.

Robert and Cora, the Rhode

Island Red bantams

I am so pleased with them. They now have their own secure coop with run in the fennel bed, which also seals off a gap in the hedge where the fox has been known to hide: the dog discovered one waiting there yesterday, although the fox ended up with a snarling spaniel chasing it halfway down the field instead of an easy meal. The other two bantams have also settled in - I just need them to start laying some eggs now so they can earn their keep!