The weather has been beautiful the last two days. We even ate breakfast outside on Sunday morning. Time to get back to making new beds for all the things I want to plant. I wish I could get a rototiller but there are so many rocks it just isn't an option. Manual labour it is then. Time for some exciting pictures.
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| ready for native plants with emphasis on bird friendly |
I love birdsong but not losing my berries. The above spot is as far away from my fruit bushes as I can manage and will have plenty of seed producing plants.
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| bee friendly slated for here |
I'm going to try transplanting some heather from our property into the bee area. This way I will know pesticides haven't been used for several years. I'm still deciding what else to plant. Do I go with non native but proven bee attractive or stick with native and see what happens. I've read non native, particularly originating from the Mediterranean attract honey bees while native will bring native bees. Is there any truth to this? I'd prefer native bees but do the native plants have the drawing power?
Plenty of stones as you can see but nothing to the size my husband removed.
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| my foot for comparison |
This baby was about four inches below the surface in the spot we needed for a blackcurrant bush.
It was given to us by a neighbour as long as we dug it out of her garden. I wasn't expecting it to be so big. We broke her fork getting it out! We needed a wide hole as the roots like to be spread out sideways and that was when we ran into the baby boulder.
Some heavy duty raking is on the agenda for today. The uncared for trees need some top dressing. I'm following advice from an old timer. Low nitrogen, higher potassium and some lime. Top dressing goes on top except when there is moss which needs to be pulled off. Of course we have moss as far as the eye can see.
The good news is the daffodils we planted in the orchard last Fall have come up.
Now that is busy progress!!! And that stone is mammoth!!! So glad you all are having good weather to tackle all of these projects!!! A wonderful week to you!! Nicole xo
ReplyDeleteThx Nicole. It was wonderful to be outside.
DeleteI love that rock but am glad I wasn't the one digging it up! Why don't you try a combo of natives and non-natives as well as some cheap annuals to fill the bed? That way you can monitor the pollinator activity and make changes as needed. My single phacelia is chugging along. :o)
ReplyDeleteAh, an experiment. Thanks for a really great idea, I'm going with it.
DeleteYour daffodils are great! You have been very busy! I'm impressed with you getting that huge rock out of the ground. It is a trophy now!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I admire that darn thing every time I pass it.
DeleteWOW! It's amazing what's buried under the soil sometimes. Good job though :-)
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on your praise to my husband. I'd like to get a couple of raspberry bushes in ASAP but there seems to be some hole digging avoidance after the last experience.
DeleteThat is a large stone! I know how challenging that can be. Just the other day I hit a chunk of hard pan as I was digging a hole for a plant. I had to call for help from my husband. I always call out "I think I hit the Mother Lode" and that gets his attention. The black currant should do well in its new home!
ReplyDeleteHusbands are handy when it comes to muscle power. I'm not sure wether we will have fruit this, we pruned it back so it could concentrate on getting settled into its new spot.
DeleteSome interesting thoughts on attracting different types of bees to your garden, Susan. I've never heard this about the non-native/native bee plants; it would be fascinating to see if the different bees had different favourites.
ReplyDeleteI've got quite excited about doing an experiment. It should take the guess work out of planting in the years ahead.
DeleteI can tell you since I moved to more natives i get few honeybees and mostly native bees now...it is amazing but it does happen.
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