Bad News, Good News

Let's start with bad news - my car is knackered - the ignition barrel needs replaced and it's gonna cost way too much due to a whole heap of stuff that is linked to the ignition barrel having to be replaced  as well for it to continue working, so the hunt is on for another work runabout.
However, I did get a loan of the OH's car to get to work this morning - how many gardeners do you think drive to work in an XJ8 ????

Now the good news - I got another new toy for the garden - a lovely set of tripod ladders!!

 

These were put to use immediately and I have started to sort out all the trees and roses on the SF wall - and I have to say that these ladders make the job a whole heap easier and safer - I can now reach to top of the wall without having to overstretch or having to resort to walking precariously alonh the sloping wall top. - happy days indeed.

 

 

Other than this, I spent the morning clearing the long border. These are now are more or less cleared for winter, but there are still one or two plants hanging on in there. I cleaned up another four dahlia tubers, gifted by another garden I work at, and these have joined the others in the greenhouse.

Talking of greenhouses, Sally has removed all the green tomatoes and made chutney with them, so I also cleared out the tomato plants and canes so now I have more room to putsome overwintering plants.

I also helped Richard log and block another two laods of firewood from the trees that I felled when I started in the garden - and we have started on the trees that are in and around where the new veg patch is going.

Speaking of the new veg patch, Sally has come up with a rough draft of what she would like and it meets with my approval so it's full steam ahead - will fill you in with details as time goes on.

 

Garden Update

Sorry for the lack of updates recently but there hasn't been too much to report due to weather and just mundane jobs being done. On the subject of the weather, Friday just past was quire a busy day.
On arrival at the gardenm the remperature was -2 though the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. However by about 12 noon we had some hailstones, followed by snow, followed by hailstones again, then more snow then even more snow, though thankfully it didn't lie in spite of being quite heavy at times.

So what has been happening - well the first frosts did for the dahlias, which is a shame as they all still had lots of flower buds waiting to open - I suppose it's been on of those years. The tubers were all lifted, cleaned and are now residing in boxes of straw under the greenhouse staging

 

The greenhouse is beginning to fill up now, and is currently home a large quantity of Canterbury Bells which will be space fillers for the borders, 36 dahlia tubers, 51 young strawberry plants taken from runners, 4 pots of pinks (from a neighbours garden), 2 rooted honeysuckle cuttings from beside the summerhouse, 2 Astrantias that may of may not make it through to Spring, 5 tree peonies, 2 ordinary peonies (all from seed), 12 x Echinops (from seed), 2 x Lavender (from cuttings) 12 x Gaura (from seed) 8 pots Campanula carpatica (from neighbours garden), 4 x Alchemilla mollis, 3 pots of mint (from root cuttings) 11 x Geranium Johnsons Blue (from root cuttings), 9 pots of Crocosmia "Lucifer", 9 blackcurrant cuttings and 2 globe artichokle slips - with a lot more to come in the following weeks.

 

So what else is going on - I've started putting the borders to bed for the winter now, cutting down most of the perennials, and will be starting to cut back the climbing roses next week.
Sally has some ideas she is yoying with but the veg garden idea is now a central island with either 4 large, 8 medium or 12 smaller "triangular" beds radiating out from this central point, the whole area to be enclosed with a hedge of Rosa rugosa. Alonside this will be planted up with an assortment of fruit trees including greengae, plum and damson, and the large slope is now being cosidered for planting up with Flowering Cherry trees undersown with a wildflower meadow mix which will have paths strimmed through it. -  watch this space !!

 

 

October already - where'd the Summer go ????

So it doesn't look like we'll get a summer, Indian or not. There is a definite autumnal feel now, with the first grass frosts and the leaves starting to change colour. I just wish someone would tell the ******* caterpillars - all over the PSB and Sprout tops.
Anyways, apologies for this weeks lack of photos - both cameras are off on duty elsewhere at the moment, so you'll just have to put up with my typing again this week.
Before I update you on what has happened in the garden this week, I should tell you that I am now working at Scotsburn on a Friday and not a Tuesday - this will allow Sally to touch base with me each week as she has an early finish on a Friday for the rest of this year.
So on arriving down at the garden the first thing I noticed was that Richard has had the hedgeclippers out and the box hedges have all been trimmed - he did not, however, pick up all his trimmings so that was first on the list - 5 barrowloads of box trimmings and I cut back a vouple of shrub roses en route too.
Then I cut down one of the large clumps of Peruvian Lilies before tidying up and weeding the "lupin wall" just below the herbaceous borders, and removing all the spent foxgloves from the edge of the "rose bed".
I then cut back the dwarf lilac by the gate and, after finding a couple of large, hammer in type vine eyes, I finally got around to securing the pear tree by the gate.
On the subject of pear trees, the mystery tree growing alongside the pear trees in the fruit bed, would seem to be a "medlar" - this is to be confirmed but deffo looks like that's what we have.
More tidying up in the afternoon and cut back a "doing nothing" tree against the WF wall - will finish the job next week with the chainsaw and paint stump kille on the remans. I then planted the winter jasmine alongside and poked it behind the support wires on the wall to help it climb upwards.
Picked some more Runner Beans, and dug up a few carrots and parsnips - not too may as Richatd and Sally are off on holiday at the weekend - have a great time and see you when you get back - don't forget your sketch pad Sally -  I am expecting a completed design for the kitchen garden when you return !!

Il Pleut

Today was wet - no, more than wet, bloody wet - and windy too, very windy - not really a very nice day to be working outside - not that weve had too many really nice days this year.
Anyway, after watering the plants in tjhe greenhouse and potting up some small white Narcissi and some Crocosmia Lucifer corms, it was back outside into the rain.
No drastic damage done by the weather, so I started to clear up the bank above the greenhouse. This was planted with some Alchemilla mollis and this has filled out nicely to cover the edges of the steps on the upper side of the path down to the greenhouse. If it hadn't been so wet I would have planted this area up today but the ground was fit for nothing -  I have a couple of young buddlejia's in pots that were self seeded in the long borders, dug up and potted up to grow on a bit. There are also a number of Mullein in pots which will go above the Alchemilla and I have been collecting the seeds from the few Welsh poppies that have sprung up in the garden and these too will be scattered on this banking, so that it has a predominantly yellow theme.
Whilst there I weeded tha lower side of the steps which is planted up with Catmint and Lavender (a bit of a blue theme going on there).and cut back the Catmint.
Then I lifted some more carrots, three more decent parsnips and the last of the Desiree potatoes. I then turned over and weeded the area vacated by the onions and planted out 16 Spring Cabbage - whilst not ideal conditions they were getting tied of being in their pots so it was a job that needed done.
Anyway, Richard appeared about three o'clock and told me to pack up and go home as the weather was too poor to do anything more.
Sorry - no photos today - too wet, and nought worth reporting that can't wait til next week !
Byee

Very Nearly Autumn

Well, with the equinox fast approaching, there is a definite change in the weather, and it's been much colder this past week or so.
Started the day today by finishing pricking out the best of the rest of the Canterbury Bells  (Campanula medium) in the greenhouse - if the all survive we should have 284 to fill gaps next year.

 

I then cut away some more strawberry runners and potted them up into 3" pots - we now have 44 growing away.

 

Then, given the imminent arrival of the frosts sometime in the not too distant future, and given the fact that the cordon grown sweet peas were at the top of their 8ft canes again, I cut what blooms were there ( yet another florists bucket full) and then dropped the whole lot onto the ground. They will continue to give a few more blooms until the frosts do arrive but it isn't worth the time and effort of layering them properly and retraining them up new canes again this year.

 

Then it was back to weeding and tidying up - this week was the turn of the fruit border. After weeding I cut down the spent canes of the raspberries and made sure that the new canes, which will bear next years fruit were, as far as possible, within the confines of the training wires. Ther are plenty of new canes so hopefully we should start to really reap the rewards next summer.

 

After weeding the bed, I put down some old black plasric sheeting on the bottom end of the bed to try and minimmise weed growth before bext Spring - anything to help !

 

 

I then pruned the currant bushes, taking half a dozen cuttings from the healthiest and most productive bush and these were placed between the strawberries and the wall.

 

 

As you can see the ground cover that was put down for the strawberies is in tatters - I think it was a material that required to be covered with a mulch of some description - not to worry, will sirt it all out when I plant the new runners out in early Spring.

And that about concludes the day - I also lifted some more potatoes carrots and parsnips, picked a pot of runner beans and cleared away the peas (finished) and beetroot (eaten by mice & voles) and started moving some of the old cut tree lengths from the area to be turned over to veg - little and often  and I'll get it done without noticing - these will be left outside the garden gate for ease of access for cuting and blocking for the fire.

No pic of the border this week - not a lot worth seeing and it was raining heavily at the time so I gave it a miss.

 

 

 

 

 

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

First off we have the Goods.....
I got the onions that hadn't succumbed to the weather strung up today.....

 

And potted up the first of the strawberry runners into 3" pots (36 today). These will stay in the greenhouse until they have developed a decent root system then will be put outside over the winter to get the cold snap they need to help promote flowering and fruiting next year. I will continue to take runners and pot them up as you can never have enough strawberries !

 

And the Cantebury Bells (all 260 of them, with approx the same again still to do) are thriving and putting on a wee biut of growth after pricking out

 

And whilst we are in the greenhouse, we have some red tomatoes !!

 

 

 

I also finished weeding the long borders today. they will now not be weeded again until I start to cut down the herbaceous perennials later in the season. Whilst I had my weeding head on, I weeded the old rose bed which has two roses and most of this plants from this Spring's Dahlia cuttings in it. This will eventually be full of dahlias and the roses will be moved to elsewhere in the garden

 

So that's the Good, now for The Bad. As a result of recent high winds from th west and south west, one of the wigwams in the bordrs whch was supporting a heavy crop of sweet peas has been blown over but not too much damage. However, the runner beans and their supports have been flattened - this is in spite of the fact that they were tethered to metal spikes at either end. They are now propped up but a few of the plants have obviously been broken somewhere - it's impossible to say where.

 

 

And as for the The Ugly....

 

Sodding Caterpillars have started on the PSB. Think some "Decis" will be on my shopping list for next year !

Elsewhere, I cut another bucket of sweet peas - one more week for the cordon grown plants then they will come down but the wigwams in the borders will be left til they decide to pack it in themselves.
The mixed salad leaves in the greenhouse will come out next week too as they have all run to seed now.
The rasps continue to bear fruit and send up a lot of new stems which will bear fruit next season. The Glen Ample and Tullameen are really sprouting with the Glen Moy a bit behind but still doing okay,
And so to finish, here is how things look from the potting shed today, between th showers

 

 

 

Breezy start to September

Thank God for walled gardens as it was exceptionally windy today and although the garden didn't escape, it was certainly a lot calmer on my side of the wall than the other.
Started the day as usual by sideshooting and tying in the cordon sweet peas, as well as picking those blooms which were ready (filled a florists bucket full today) then down to the greenhouse to check on the tomatoes and side shoot them too.
Whiolst I was there I pticked out some more of the Canterbury Bells from the seed trays - we now have 260 in module trays with probably the same again still to do. I also potted on the 15 x  Echinops and 12 x Guarda "The Bride" from cell packs into 3" pots.
Then it was back to spend the rest of the day weeding the lower of the two herbaceous borders, deadheading as I went.
Just before finishing I dug up some more Desiree potatoes, lifetd some more carrots and picked a heap of peas, then cut some perennials for the house - Crocosmia, Alastromera, Dahlias, Achillea, Helenium, Eryngium, Phlox and Echinacea.
Sorry no photos today - camera was required elsewhere.
And finally today - Happy Birthday to Richard for Thursday - the BIG SIX-OH, Have a great day !

Alness Show and Sweet Peas

I decided that Sally should put a vase of sweet peas into this show for a couple of reasons .
1. It is a very good local show with a lot of very good exhibits across the schedule
2. There is no point in having lovely cordon grown sweet peas if you're not going to show them.
So, after picking a selection of blooms on the Thursday evening (mainly because it was dry and rain was forecast for the Friday), I took the SP's over to Alness along with my own veg entries.
Selection of vlooms was the biggest problem as quite a few had only three blooms but I finally decided an the 12 I wanted so they were staged and I left for work.
When I returned at mid afternoon, it was to find that they had come first in the Sweet Pea Section and that as well as a red card there was a trophy to accompany it.
Anyway - the trophy is away being engraved so here is a pic of the vase of 12 mixed blooms that won.

 

So that brings the total tickets and trophies for Sweet Peas this season to 3 firsts, a second and a third plus two trophies for best in class. Not bad  - 5 exhibits, 5 tickets. Next year, I think I will persuade Sally we need to enter some bigger shows, maybe Black Isle and Inverness. All we need to do now is choose our varieties for next season, buy more canes and a lot more rings !! 

End of August

I know I missed last weeks instalment but I have been pretty busy with other stuff, but I'm back now.
So what's new in the garden - the dahlias have started to produce their first flowers and have a profusion of buds so I am expecting a good display this year, espacially from the plants we raised from cuttings as they are looking really healthy - they must love the old rose bed with all that FYM incorporated into the soil.

 

The Sweet Peas continue to flourish too - both on the border wigwams and an the cordon system - the last couple of weeks I have managed to fill a flower bucket for Sally for the house.

 

 

In the greenhouse, I have fiurther denuded the tomatoes of foliage as time is marching on and we have only one tomato trying it's very best to ripen, The onions are drying out nicely and should soon be ready to string up a la Onion Johnny. I finished pricking out the first tray of Canterbury Bells today whilst we had a short burst of rain - two trays to go and we already have 146 in modules - no excuses for empty gaps in the borders next year. The salad leaves continue to provide a plentiful supply as does the Perpetual Spinach.

Outside in the veg plot, I picked a 3litre pot of peas today - there is a huge crop of the ever dependable Hurst Greenshaft -an excellent garden pea, and I even picked 4 runner beans which had got the jump on the rest. Add in the carrots and ytatties and that was todays harvest.

 

Other than that I started to weed the top border  - managed 3/4 of it, will finish it next week then start on the other border. So what's new in the borders - other than the dahlias above. First off is Verbena Hastata "Blue Spires"

 

and then we have Echinacea purpurea...................

 

The Heleniums, which have been poor doers since being planted, have finally decided that they really should get a shift on (maybe they overheard me talking about them taking a trip to the compost heap)

 

And although looking pretty scruffy this year, the Achillea are flowering like good 'uns...

 

And one of my fave plants - the Eryngium or Sea Holly.....

 

 

The raspberries continue to crop well for their first year in the ground - as do the strawberries. However, I don't think we'll get tp eat many strawbs as the mice have found them first and have nibbled away any ripe or near ripe berries.
That's it for now - I am staging an exhibit of 12 Sweet Peas (Mixed Varieties) on behalf of Sally at Alnes Hortucultural Society's Autumn Show this Saturday, so watch this space to see how we get on - and pray that Friday is nice, warm, sunny and dead calm, so that we have plenty of nice clean stems to choose from.
And finally............. here is a pic of the border as of today

 

 

 

Tain Horticultural Show 2012

Well done to Sally on her succesful defence of the her Sweet Pea title today. First in the class for 6 SweetPeas (single variety).......

and First in the class for 12 Sweet Peas (Mixed, minimum of three varieties).......

As you can see, it was the latter display of 12 blooms that led to the recapture of the Mounteagle Shield again this year. So the plan was to defend the title at Tain, and in addition we have a second and third at Dornoch Flower Show and we have Alness in a fortnight - so it ain't over yet. !
Oh yeah, and just like at Dornoch, a 2nd prize for a vase of perennials (and unlike me and the bucket at Dornoch, sally used a proper vase!)

Sunny Thunder

Well, the day started well enough with nice warm sunshine, but finished with a thunderstorm. In between times I managed to get quite a bit done.
Once again however, no pics as the camera was requred elsewhere (younger daughters first day at Primary School)
After tying in and sideshooting the cordon sweet peas, I removed any blooms that would be over by Friday (the day before the show) and any that had less than 4 blooms. I have to say that the plants have responded well to being layered and seem to be producing more flowers than before -but then again, maybe, just maybe, that's down to the week of sunshine we have just had. Whatever, things are looking on track for the show (and Sally's recently ordered Bikini Vases arrived today too so it's all systems go for Saturday).
I then watered and sideshooted (or should that be sideshot?) the tomatoes in the greenhouse and removed some more of the lower leaves to assist ripening and aid ventilation round the plants.
Next I lifted the remaining onions from the veg patch - there were a few that were rotted at the bottom of the bulb but the majority had good healthy roots and required a fork to lift them. After cutting off the roots and scraping off any soil, these were put on the greenhouse staging to dry out before I tie them a la Onion Johnny.
I also lifted two plants of Desiree potatoes and these were nice and clean and surprisingly large, along with a couple of handfuls of carrots.
Then it was out with the Glyphosate and on with the knapsack sprayer - 3 fills later and all the new growth that has appeared since strimming the middle section of the garden and the area designated for the veg patch has all been sprayed off. I also sprayed off all the pathways in the garden.
A lot of plants in the border are now between flushes - the Geraniums, lupins and oriental poppies in particular, and the borders look a bit empty -this isn't helped by the fact that the large campanulas against the wall are all but over, and most of the Peruvian lilies are over too. This is gonna make it harder to get a vase (or a bucket) of perennials to show on Saturday but we'll manage something I'm sure.
I finished the day off by pruning the new growth off the shrub roses so that we can see the hips properly when they ripen, dead-heading the Happy Birthday rose, and dead-heading some more lupins.

Garden Update

Sorry for missing a couple of entries but I've been pretty busy what with one thing and another, not least organising our local Horticultural Show - of which more later.
So what's been happening.
Well, the Kiftsgate rose has finally hit it's stride and is looking spectacular as usual.

It's just a shame that this floral mass is so short lived! But then again, when you see it in all it's glory , you can forgive it cause it does this year after year and it must take a fair bit of effort!
Elsewhere in the borders, the Hypericums are brightening up everything with their bright yellow flowers, the buddleias are stating to produce their frothy spikes and the good weather means that the bees and butterflies have returned in numbers.

In fact over the last two Tuesdays, the noise of bees has been quite extraordinary - this is due to the presence just outside the garden of some very old and very large lime trees which are in flower at the moment and the bees just love them - there is a constant background buzz all day.
On the veg front the tomatoes have had their growing tips pinched out to help the fruits grow and ripen, the cabbages have all been lifted as they were beginning to split, the sprouts are looking good and have been individually staked, the runner beans are beginning to flower, the peas plants are full of developing pods, the French Beans are a bit behind but will get there, the onions are ready for lifting, the carrots are being thinned but are producing some nice roots, the parsnips are looking healthy and the potatoes are giving a nce clean crop. The only downer really is that the mice / shrews / voles have found the beetroot and have chomped through the lot with the exception of one picking.I had this problem when I grew veg for a living but I grew thousands so the loss of a couple of hundred wasn't too much of an issue but when you only have fifty or so plants, it becomes a real pain. But we carry on..

 Still on the veg front, the area designated for the permanent veg  beds is in the process of being cleared....

And the slope below the long borders has been tidied up and both areas will be sprayed off next week (assuming the forecasters have it right and this good weather continues til then !)

On to the show, and the sweet peas are beginning to motor and have been dropped and moved over a couple of canes. I decided to do this last week although they could have gone another week before moving them, but I didn't want to move them so close to the date of the first show (this Saturday). So Sally and myself dropped them and moved them all over - what a time consuming job - and there are only 60 odd plants. Anyway, the plants are looking good and they are producing nice size blooms with very long and straight stems, so fingers crossed for some decent entries in the show. To this end, Sally hae ordered some bikini vases on the Interweb .Here is a bucket of blooms - from the cordon grown and from the wigwams in the borders

I also lifted some of the better onions, so that we vcan get a set of three onions grown from sets in the show too - I have these at home, having skinned them and they are nestling im a bed of sawdust in a seed tray. I'll be showing Sally how to tie the necks off with raffia next week.
So that's it up to date - normal service should be resumed and updates completed on svhedule from now on.!

Bitty

Another week passes and I just seem to get busier so sorry for the delay (again) in posting this weeks update. This week saw me do a lot of little bitty jobs in the morning - feeding,, tying in and side shooting the tomatoes, sideshooting and tying in the cordon sweet peas, deadheading lupins and dicussing potential sites for two new climbers she has been given as a present - a Winter Jasmine and a Solanum jasminoides album (potato vine).
I then went and got the strimmer and started to clear the long rosebay willowherb and other weeds from the area of what will be the new veg area. There is a lot of clearing and lifting to do but I'll get there - slowly slowly catchy monkey and all that.
In the borders this week we have yjthe Kiftsgate rose - still not in it's full glory but getting closer to it

The first flowers are out on the Hollyhocks....

And we got our first proper veg from the garden - beetroot, onions, Int. Kidney potatoes and a cabbage..

And to finish, here is this weeks pic of the borders from the potting shed....

Sutherland Show 2012

After receiving an SOS message from John Ross, the convenor of the Flower Show at the above County Show, I entered three exhibits in the floral section of the above show. I have never exhibited in the floral section of a show before although we are growing our cordon sweet peas with a view to exhibiting them this year.
Anyway, Friday night found me up at the garden with secateurs in one hand and a florist's bucket in the other. Half and hour later and I had a goodly bunch of mixed garden flowers,  and two groups of 7 sweet pea stems. These sweet peas were not from the cordon grown ones as they did not have sufficient blooms but were instead selected from the border wigwams.
Anyway, after throwing together an arrangement in the bucket, it was ff to the show, where I staged the sweet peas in two bikini vases (thankfully supplied by John) and went for a wander awaiting the judges decision.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement !!
Second for my bucket of flowers.....

and a second and third for the two sweet pea exhibits, one of which is pictured below..

As I mentioned, the sweet pea blooms were taken from the wigwams in the borders so no variety names were known, as it sold as an Arrangers mix. I do not know the name of the blooms above, but I was reliably informed that the other vase was Gwendoline, which is a top exhibition sweet pea up in this neck of the woods, so no prizes for guessing one of the varieties for next season. I was also advised that I would be better starting the seed off in the Autumn as this would give the plants a head start and give us more blooms earlier in the season.
Anyway, a day of success for the novice floral exhibitor with blooms from a garden under construction - happy days !!

Mid July

Well, here we are in the middle of Julyn and finally there are signs of promise. In the long borders, although the lupins are beginning to look a wee bit jaded, various others are almost ready to take their place - the campanulas against the wall are just starting to flower and should look pretty spectacular this year as they are at least a foot and a half higher than last year, the Centaurea is the same, the Echinops purpurea is threatening too, but the most impressive display will be the Kiftsgate rose against the wall up by the summerhouse. It has started to flower but there quite literally thousands more flowers to open, so if all is well on the weather front for the next seven days, it should be in full and spectacular bloom nxet week. Here is what it looks like at the moment....

Apologies for the poor quality of this photo but you can see the mass of blooms just waiting to open quite clearly, especially along the top of the wall.
Elsewhere, one of the roses that were planted in the old rose bed that did survive was a variety called Happy Birthday and it has its first bloom open, with a lot more buds to follow...

The Achillea, variety Summer Pastels, which was a star performer last year has not put on so much growth this year -probably due to it being divided into a lot of smaller clumps, is beginning to flower as well, with an S shape planting across the two borders....

and the Scabious (which ranks right up there with the oriental poppy in my "nice but way too fragile" list) is also flowering and attracting a lot of bees - in fact the whole garden was quite literally buzzing today with lots and lots of bees hard at work...

Away from the borders and onto the fruit now, the Tullameen rasps have a lot of fruit on them and there are quite a few on the Glen Moy and Glen Ample canes too, which is a bonus.The strawberries, planted only a few weeks ago are flowering their socks off and so we should get a few bwerries this year, though what I'm really after this tear are the runners to multiply the stock.
The redcurrants, variety Jonkeer Van Tets, are starting to blush....

but as for stone fruits ? The blossom was late this year and came when it was too cold and wet for most insects so there are very few apples and as for the pears - well I swear to you I took this pjoto today - Pear Blossom In July ????????

At various points in the garden there are Hypericum bushes and these too are alive with bees at the moment - this particular one is against the wall at the potting shed arch...

On the veg front, today I picked another Hispi cabbage, dug up the first of the International Kidney potatoes and pulled a heap of finger carrots (thinnings of edible size!!), which I gave to Sally on my departure.
Its all  looking good though the Climbing Beans are still a bit pale for my liking, though they are making their way up the canes, so they can't be too poorly. There are some beetroot growing up between the rhubard and the cordon sweet peas and these were looking quite healthy last week - this week the nice have paid them a visit......

On the Sweet Pea fronr, the cordon grown ones are procing more flower stems now - these should be open in a coule of days/ The sweet peas growing in the borders have started to flower but it is really noticeable how much longer, stronger and straighter the flower stems on the cordon grown plants are compared to those grown up the traditional wigwam.
Anyway, will take some pics of this next week. Til then I'll leave you with the potting shed view, and also the news that the baby wrens went from being more or less featherless and ugly last week, to fledged in a week - when I arrived this morning they were quite literally fleeing the nest.