Garden Girl Blog

Hubs fixed up my bike for me but I have tried it to see how good it was.  This morning the sun was out and there was just a light wind so I decided to give it a go.  I went along the railway line cycle path near our house and then a bit further at the other end.  I think I did about 10 miles and I was very tired on the way back.  I am sure I will sleep well tonight.

Here are a few photos I took along the way.  We are feeling a bit inspired to cycle so watch this space.

My friend and neighbour is completing a bike ride from John O'Groats to Lands End.  They have been going for a week and a half now and have three days left.  They have been cheered on for friends and family along the way and staying with people they know where ever possible.

Friends and family were out to meet them as when they came to our area for the night last week.  The evening was fun with eating (they need lots of energy) and a bit of wine, they were then back on the road early the next day.  It does make me and hubs think that we should do more cycling; it seems such a wonderful way to see the country.

.. for the weekend, back now, have a few posts I need to write and lots to read.  Hope everyone had a good weekend.  This will keep you going until tomorrow.

... okay that is not true at all, I seem to have caught a bad case of lazyitus or maybe more a case of not quite sure what to do with myself.

Over the weekend we had a bit of dry weather and I was able to get into the garden and sort out a few things out.  Hubs was on-call and so we did not go far from the house.  Yesterday I was going a bit stir crazy so asked hubs if we could go out for dinner.  We had a nice drive over to a restaurant we had not been to, it was okay but I am not sure we will be going back.

Today I have not done much at all, I tried to make choux pastry but knew something had gone wrong before it went into the oven, what came out was not usable at all.  I will have to try that one again.

I have started looking for a job but find I am either not qualified or over qualified.  There was a time where I would not have let these details worry me but I have found that so many people apply for each job that the recruiter has their pick of fully qualified people.   I am feeling very much that I lack direction and I am not sure what I should do, because of this motivation to do anything is lacking. I hope it is a phase and will pass.

Busy bee in the garden on Saturday:

The weather does look like it may be set to improve and about time.  I have been able to get out in the garden and had a wander around with my macro lens the other day.  Here are a few photos:

The grass at the back is longer than ever and I have not seen anyone use the path all week.  It makes me want to sneeze just looking at it.

Click to make them big.

Have a good weekend and hope we all get some sunshine.

Following on from this blog here.. I had a few photos of the birds of my own today which I had been planning to post.  The garden has been busy again, we have had heavy rain and the birds find it hard to find food.  I put out some old cat food this morning for the magpies and crows and they all came and had a feast.  Here are a few photos of my garden birds:

Not a bird but this fella was enjoying the food in the garden as well.

I have noticed over the last week that the number of aphids in the garden had dropped, normally a sign I have a wasps nest somewhere. While pottering around one of my flower beds I noticed a number of wasps going into the trellis at the front of my high deck, this must be where the nest is.   This seems to happen most year and generally they are somewhere in the house roof and we try to leave them to it.  I am a little worried this year's nest is a bit too close to the deck and the main garden.  We will have to keep an eye on them and see how things go.

We once had the pest man in to kill a nest over our front door; he told us that by the end of the summer there would be thousands of wasps.  We have had a few nests since then but they never seem to have more than a handful of wasps in, so we leave them to it.  I hope the under the deck nest is a handful and not thousands.

Here is one of the wasps arriving home.

This crane fly was in my greenhouse, I must go and open the door so he can get out.

For the first time in ages I was able to get out into the garden and have a tidy up.  A few things had been battered down by the rain but not too many. I got some weeding done but there is more to do.  I have now planted out most of the bedding plants which had been left in the greenhouse.

This is the view of my garden from the side of my house:

This is what was behind me when I took that photo; I have a very little shed, compost bin, raised bed and some potato bags.

This is the view inside my greenhouse; I have a few bits growing in the soil and some in pots.  Things in here do quite well as long as I remember to water them.

This is the veg patch in front of the greenhouse. I think some of the spuds have gone rotten because this was standing in water for a while but everything else seems to be okay.

This is my mini veg plot down the side of the deck; the tubs on the fence have got wild flowers in this year for the bees.

Behind the seating area on the deck I planted a few raspberry bushes last year, they seem to have reproduced.  I just have to get to the fruit before the birds.

The slugs have had a really good go at everything but I hope we will get some fruit and veg before the end of the summer.  It was sunshine and clouds today but with a strong wind, I am not sure my sunflowers will have survived.

Today is much brighter than it has been recently.  There is a cover of white cloud but it looks like it will stay dry for the day.  The wind has got up so I should get on and do some washing to get out on the line, it will be a good drying day.

The little birds in the garden have been busy looking for food and my feeders are being emptied within a few days.  We are still getting lots of birds flying into the windows, even with ribbons up at the windows.  The other day a siskin hit one of the windows.  I heard it and rushed out to find it lying on its back not moving much, it did not look good.  I put it in the recovery shoe box and went to check it after a few minutes.  It did not really look any better, I did not hold out much hope.  I checked it again and it was starting to perk up, half an hour later and it was ready to go.  I opened to box to get a quick photo before it left but it was out the box and up into a tree before I got a chance.  I was very pleased it was okay.

The grass is looking much better these days, we have been trying to look after it and although currently it is waterlogged, it has improved.

You can see in the photo that the hill behind is rather overgrown, this is a haven for wildlife, but is also currently very wet.  There is a public footpath down the hill which ends by the side of our house.  I saw two girls taking it yesterday; it must have been very difficult as it is so overgrown and wet.  I am quite happy for it to be overgrown, there is another paved footpath which can be taken and it means we do not have people looking into the back of our house.

Below is a photo of the entrance to the footpath, the other day I walked up it to get some photos but would not want to use it if I was going somewhere. The other photo is some flowers on the hill.

I will not be going anywhere today, it is pouring again.

Yesterday two young birds hit the windows of the house and spent some time in the shoe box recovering.  Here is Miss Chaff waiting to be released. I hope there will be none today.

Click photos to make them big.

I am talking about the rain, it seems to have been non-stop for days, the only ones that seem to like it are the slugs.  The birds have been coming to the feeders and seem very glad that they can get some food.  There are still lots of baby birds around; the chaffinches brought their babes to the garden over the last few days.  Most of my bird feeders have got really wet so I have brought them all in this morning this give them a clean out.  I am just waiting for them to dry, then I will fill them up and the birds will be very happy.

Puss has not let the rain stop her, She has been going out and coming back soaking wet.  She seems to have taken to hunting in the rain and has been catching birds but mostly mice.  Yesterday I found her with an almost fully eaten mouse, it was pouring with rain and she was just sitting in the garden eating the mouse.  Just the back legs and some internal bits were left, yuck!  Anyone would think we do not feed her.  A few minutes later she came with another mouse, but gave it to a magpie, it is good to share.  It is a bit strange that she keeps going out and getting so wet.

I am off to the shops to top up on bird food and a few other bits.  I do not really want to go out but I have not done much for days and will go a bit crazy if I don't get out soon.

What sort of weather we have been having?

How much we had?

Who wanted to go for a paddle?

Who is the wettest of them all?

Who is the sensible one?

Click to make big.

Needless to say it has been pouring all night and all day so far.  The river out the front has been the highest we have ever seen it and is so fast.  I went out to check on it a while ago and it is starting to go down now, so that is good news.  I think I will stay in for the rest of the day now.

Hubs was off work on Tuesday due to having worked all weekend, so we went out for lunch and after for a potter around Aberlady nature reserve.

Lunch was lovely; we went to a pub in Dirleton which is near North Berwick.  We were very full after and thought a walk would do us good.  We stopped at Aberlady nature reserve.  The board said it was a mile and a half walk, we later found it it was really two miles, but off we set.  They sky was looking a little dark but we pottered on regardless.

We got to the end of the trail by which time my eyes were stinging and I had started to sneeze, I had forgotten how alleragic to grass I am.  It also started to spit with rain so we started to make our way back.

Walking back we noticed lots of little frogs, must be this year's babies, they were quick to get out the way of our feet so they did not get trod on.   The rain stopped but I was still very sneezy and my eyes were very sore.  I had a little lay down when we got home and left much better later on.

Click any photo to make big.

... what a fab name!

I have wanted to get a photo of the Olympic rings in Edinburgh for a while, but had not been into town.  I decided to put that right on Sunday and went into town.

First stop was John Lewis, I have a wedding in October and need a frock, I had a look in the sale stuff but came away with the feeling of being a little on the plump side.  I need to do something about that and go shopping again later in the year. Edinburgh was not very busy, maybe because the summer holidays started on Friday and lots of people have gone away.  I pottered through Princess Street gardens and up to the mound clicking as I went.  It was overcast for most of the day but some of the photos came out okay.  Here is a selection:

Click to make big.

Up early this morning as hubs had to go to work... again.  I let the cat out and very soon I could see her very excited running around the greenhouse, well the outside of it.  I went out to investigate and saw a baby blue tit inside the greenhouse.  I put the cat in and proceeded to try and open all the greenhouse windows so the bird could get out.  Once open I tried to guide the little bird towards the windows, it got the hint quite quickly and flew out before long.

Here are a few snaps from the outside of the little chap.

The baby birds have been keeping me busy.  The other day a baby hit one of the windows quite hard.  It was lying on the grass afterwards not looking so good.  Often they just need time to recover, it was raining so I put it into a shoe box and left it in one of the bedrooms to recover.  I went back after 10 minutes and it looked a little better.  I went back again half an hour later and it tried to fly out of the box as I peaked in.  Time to let it go, I took the box into the garden and opened it and off it went. Needless to say I was very pleased.