birds « The History Interpreter

We’ve not been up the garden path for a while because it has been winter and I am not a winter gardener. There have been some minor changes. I’ve planted some bulbs in troughs. I was a bit late doing this and they aren’t showing yet, although others in the garden are coming through. I’ve tried yet again with snowdrops and ended up buying some already in flower. The jury is out on whether they will reappear next year. The bulbless troughs looked a bit bare, so I’ve popped some bright primulas in as well. Otherwise it has mostly been a case of syphoning out the ’pond’ (aka old Belfast sink) when it gets overfull and on a couple of occasions, breaking ice on the bird bath.

The birds get fed regularly and I have glimpsed blue tits again a couple of times, after an absence of several months. In the hope of enticing them back, I’ve got a new bird feeder that allows small birds in and keeps the bullies out. Sadly, the garden has its far share of large birds, with magpies, woodpigeons and jackdaws being daily visitors with herring gulls and rooks joining the party. Don’t get me wrong, I like to see any kind of birds but some more smaller ones would be lovely. Sparrows nest in the hedge and there’s been a wren bobbing about, as well as blackbirds, although I am missing the robin who hasn’t been seen for a while. As soon as temperatures reach double figures on a day when it isn’t raining, I will be out tackling the weeds. There are a great many growing in the cracks between the patio paving stones. I don’t want to repoint the gaps as then there’s nowhere for the rain to drain away.

One good thing about this garden is that there is something in flower all the year round. At the moment, it is the Camellias that are the showstoppers, although there are a few other things as a supporting act. The lemon tree has been popped in the shed for the duration as advised. Roll on spring!

To be honest, it hasn’t really been the weather for fair-weather gardeners like me, or indeed any sort of gardener but yesterday the sun came out and the temperature was in double figures, so I ventured forth. The previous owner of my garden had left me numerous pots containing plants in various stages of liveliness and an eclectic selection of garden ornaments. I decided to triage these into ‘will keep’, ‘will humanely dispose of’ and ‘not sure yet’. Plant wise, there are more exciting finds as the year moves on; today’s included hellebores and miniature daffodils.

We began to trim back the winter jasmine, which is rapidly taking over the one flower bed. Other tasks for the afternoon were to deal with my many troughs of geranium cuttings which have been keeping warm in the summer house. Obviously not warm enough as about half are dead, or covered in what Mr Google tells me is powdery mildew. Sick plants were removed and what remained were rationalised into fewer troughs.

Next came the task of measuring the garden, in preparation for trying to draw up a plan. I decided to go for feet and inches, rather than anything metric as I still have to ‘translate’ metric measurements in my head. This was a test of my mathematical skills as my trusty assistant kept calling out the measurements in feet and inches, rather than just inches, which us what I wanted. Good job I know my twelve times table. The whole measuring thing was definitely not easy as I can’t actually reach some of my boundaries due to shrubbery and the many sheds. Added to that, the plot isn’t even remotely rectangular. Not only are there some funny angles created by the perimeter fencing but the garage and sheds are also not all set square. I have a load of scribbles and numbers but whether I will stand any chance of making it into a coherent drawing whose edges join up remains to be seen.

For those who are interested, very roughly, the plot is 35 feet wide by 22 feet deep, minus the space taken up by the conservatory and plus the extra space along the side between the bungalow and the house. One pretty much counteracts the other space wise. Note for some of my overseas readers, in the UK, a bungalow is a single story dwelling not a shack. If my maths is right, I have about 70 square yards, not, of course, at all the same as 70 yards squared! For those of you in foreign, about 58 square metres, which, unbelievably because it seems really tiny to me, is classed as a medium sized garden by the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds) when you submit your results for their great garden bird watch. By UK standards, particularly with a newer built property (mine was built in 2000), small gardens are the norm. On the subject of birds, I was concerned that this would be one thing I’d lack when I moved but I’ve seen eleven different varieties of bird in the garden (or viewed from the garden on neighbouring roofs or trees) so far in February, a similar number to the old garden, although very different regular visitors. Not bad considering the property had been empty for a fair while before I moved in, so, despite the bird table that was left behind, I doubt the birds had been fed here for over a year. The bird bath, another legacy from the previous owner, is very popular and that will definitely be staying.

This is a long-term project. Don’t expect swift progress!