Highlights of my gardening week.

I learned to string onions..... in a fashion ~ my fashion! I did google the procedure, had an attempt and this is the outcome. Aesthetics don't really matter too much..... it's all our own produce and we're chuffed to bits and I brought some more down from our allotment earlier today, so there will be a second string of onions going up in the greenhouse to dry off.

We called this little plot our 'Beatrix Potter Garden.' There are three rabbits in there but you can only see one now as the others are hiding. I began work on this small patch about six weeks ago and you can see how much it's progressed since then in an earlier post. The nasturtiums are running rampant in the old metal watering can and the runner beans have reached the top of the bamboo wigwam. It's fantastic protection for the smaller birds, frogs and field mice.

This is the fairy garden I first planted up in March of this year. Some of the moss has rooted.... other bits were tossed out the pot by the blackbirds and some is probably lining birds' nests. It still looks pretty though and I'm pleased with the clumps of moss that have become established. Other plants in the pot include a Rowan (Mountain Ash) sapling, a miniature rose, Sisyrinchium californicum (they're closed up in the photo, but are gorgeous when they open up in full sunlight) and the pink flowers are Rhodohypoxis, a name which I dislike as it sounds like some kind of disease. That gorgeous little flower deserves a much nicer name I think!

Despite the appearance, this photograph wasn't taken late at night. I took it with the light facing me, hence the dark dramatic image. It's Angelica, which is a herb that grows to over 6 feet tall. To the right of the picture is an obelisk with a crystal hanging from the centre. I like hanging crystals from trees, etc. as the reflective light is pretty.

Just to prove I can be artistic (not really as the camera does it all!), here is a close-up of a poppy.... the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. I haven't had to sow these for years as the seeds are well and truly mixed up with the contents of our compost bin which means the poppies can turn up anywhere. I don't mind as they're stunning with their silky lipstick pink petals.

Other highlights have been 'Woody Woodpigeon' frightening the life out of me in the greenhouse and scattering many of the potted plants (him I mean, not me!), the Deppy family also giving me the heebie-jeebies as they scuttle about in the greenhouse and hearing our resident wren singing.