Ne'er cast a clout....

The May is not quite out yet up here in the north-west of England, and the weather has been  good and bad. So we take our chances when we can and get out into the field behind the garden, to get going with all the planting and tidying that probably should have been done in February! As usual "him-outdoors" is creating wonderful structures from branches and twigs cut from the many trees on the land. This latest one is for the Italian Barlotti and French green beans, so very " continental"!

I got in the act myself this spring and copied an idea that Alyse on Gardeners' World used to make some woven trellis.

The warp twigs are from one of the hazlenut trees and the weft is from the New Zealand Flax plant which we were given by one of our local gardeners, George Fox.When I split the leaves, there in the middle was this super flame colour. Contrasting colours and serendipity all at once!

Every where is alive at the moment and not just the plants. We have a group of birch trees. One for each member of the family. So 11 in all. Each spring we are excited to see the lime hawk moth emerge. It also breeds on the birch.

 

This one was clinging to the summer house door drying out it's wings when we saw it this week. Wall brown butterflies dance every where in the garden in twos and trees and the orange spot never seems to sit still.

The bluebells are now in bloom and have spread even further than last year. I have seeded them for a few years, down in the little wooded area at the bottom of the field.They are not pure English as they have at some time been mixed with the Spanish bluebell, but they were here when we arrived 30 years ago so there must be quite a bit of native bell there as this was once,150 years ago, the Heath. 

   

It's always good to have a sunny place to sit and have a break and admire your handiwork and just a little smidgin of port to relax the old muscles. Slainte!

I think this needs an epilogue. This one is from the sainted poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Glory be to God for dappled things -

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

for rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh fire-coal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced -- fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.