Since the disappointing non-appearance of our wildflower meadow we have had to look out our living room window at an overgrown field.
We have spent a lot of time wondering what to do about it. We still don’t want lawns. The thought of pushing a lawnmower up and down a lawn, over and over, and over, and over, again makes me want to go for a long walk and never come back. M feels the same…I still want flowers – lots and lots of flowers.
I had a store of spring bulbs and I had been wondering where to plant them so that we can see and admire them from the house. I also couldn’t resist buying lots more when I saw them half price in the local garden centres.
A FLOWERY OASIS IN A MUCKY FIELD
Then I had an idea and decided that it would be good to create a small manageable garden for these bulbs and other flowers. We would place it where we can see it from our living room window. A small flowery oasis would surely take the badness out of the view!
We were given a present of two large pots and we live a mile away from a tyre place so we decided to use both to create a new flower garden.
We covered the ground with cardboard before we positioned the tyres to prevent too many weeds coming through. Then we filled them with composting material, newspaper, cardboard, soil and threw in a few clumps of our local Galway seaweed for good measure.
I just used a stick to make holes for the bulbs and that worked just fine.
GOING TO POT
They have been doing quite well despite the continued onslaught of rain and storms. In fact considering our wheelbarrow was blown away and our roof was damaged these pots have survived against the odds.
Besides being waterlogged they also managed to survive being pecked at by chickens who like little vandals just dug at them until they uprooted them and then simply discarded them. I think those cheeky chickens do it for the craic as they don’t eat the bulbs after they’ve dug them up.
What I did discover is that the hens don’t seem to like Willow branches, probably because I use them to coax them back into the coup when they escape to next doors garden. I find that placing the branches over the plants acts as a deterrent to the hens. Although many of the branches were blown away in the storms and this gave those determined hens a way back in again. I thought I had outwitted the wind and the hens when I decided to actually ‘plant’ the willow branches in the pots with the bulbs rather than just place them there, so the wind couldn’t blow them away but they have started growing…
The bulbs have also survived several attempts to dig them up by Eppie, our innocent looking puppy who when she isn’t eating my husband’s glasses, the remote control, bits of turf, seaweed, log baskets and towels enjoys following in the hen’s footsteps and having a good old dig and a root just about anywhere I have recently planted.
Still nature seems to be on the side of the bulbs as they are still surviving – onwards and upwards!
Back soon and hopefully with flowers in the pot.
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