Lost Fork

Thursday, April 9

Pam's lost her favourite two-pronged weeding fork some time ago. She thinks that she may have inadvertently thrown it away into the brown bin. 
We both worked on my raised alpine bed on Wednesday afternoon. Me working around the edge, and Pam stepped up to take some dandelions and Allium out of the centre. The whole of the centre needs a drastic overhaul. That is: removing the plants which survive, topping up with fresh soil, re-planting and then a layer of alpine grit on the top. The planting medium is necessarily gritty to aid drainage and to attempt a reproduction of the alpine plants' natural medium. Phew, sounds like a big job.

The Allium species is very pretty. 

I planted a single pot of it many years ago, and have been trying to get rid of the flower ever since. They seeded everywhere. In the early stages, they appear as.tiny narrow leaves, only flowering in the second year. At the bottom of each deep-rooted stem is a small bulb that is easy to leave in the soil, as the stems break easily. A two-pronged fork does the job best, sliding through the grit with comparative ease. Pam was struggling without her tool. A daisy weeder is not as good.

This six inches tall miniature narcissus is a favourite.
 

The raised Alpine bed.

Broom about to flower back left - and then destined for the chop. Three miniature conifers - are not any longer. All must go......

The Gentian trough is at its best in the continuing sun.

Moths are still few in both numbers and species. Clear skies and a full moon are not helpful. I missed the so-called 'pink moon' on Tuesday night. It was only vaguely pink when it first rose and at dawn, I'm reliably informed.

Another pristine Early Grey

and a lovely male Muslin (feathered antennae)

the pick of the week so far.

The new bird table is being well used, mainly by tits and robins. The food on the log is being scarfed up by a squirrel, easy pickings.

 

We get daily visits from both Collared Doves

and Stock Doves. 

Buzzards must be nesting in 'our' woods this year, as single birds are seen daily, rising on a thermal before flying away. 

We drove back from my surgery visit (INR again - and next week), via Pygney's Wood car park. Excellent. There was a Blackcap singing from the far bank of flowering Blackthorn. Not seen though.

Back from a walk to the bottom of the garden and..... a Blackcap was singing.