This is that weird little alcove by our front door that I spent time cleaning up recently. The bird's-foot cactus used to live on that windowsill, and the gigantic mutant ZZ plant was in front of the alcove so I could never get in there to clean. Now we've moved the cactus, discarded the misshapen ZZ, cleaned and dusted and brought in that very sculptural dracaena, which is perfect for that space. My next step is to tidy those wires on the floor behind the unicorn. When the ZZ plant was there we couldn't really see them, but now we can and they must be dealt with.
That dracaena, by the way, is the one I rescued from the lawyer's office.
Yesterday was very domestic. The most exciting thing I did was take our sheets and towels to the laundromat to be washed. (Maybe now that I'm home more I should do them myself -- the main problem is how to dry them, since we no longer have a clothesline and our dryer is too small for an entire king-sized sheet set, unless I want them to come out looking like wadded-up Saran wrap.)
I also mowed the lawn, which is why I took these photos.
Things are sprouting, like the Inula at lower left, even though we've had very little rain and the ground is dry as a bone. I planted my teasel seedlings yesterday and actually bent my spade trying to dig the hole! Once I wet the soil and added some compost it was easier to deal with.
You can see my wildlife cam to the right. I've been moving it around the garden trying to get the best perspective.
Here's the garden from the bench. The forget-me-nots and bluebells are blooming up a storm! And as you can see we have one teasel right smack in the middle of the lawn -- not the best place, but that's where it grew. Better than last year when we had about 15 of them out there.
I also got a delivery of some compost and topsoil from Wickes, and used it to repot the citrus tree, which wasn't as root-bound as I thought but still needed a new and bigger pot. I bought Miracle-Gro compost because I was so unhappy with the Wickes brand I bought last year. We'll see if this is any better.
Well, THIS is an exciting blog post, isn't it?!
Yesterday morning I awoke early -- about 4:30 a.m. -- and went out to the dining room to take a look at what was happening on the street. Answer: nothing much. But then I heard this little bird singing away in the pre-dawn darkness, and I opened the window and made a recording. According to my Merlin app there are actually several birds there -- a robin and a wren most prominently, but also a great tit and a European blackbird somewhere in the background. (The birds start about four seconds into the clip.)
Oh how I love the audio! Thanks for sharing that. Your garden is heavenly.
ReplyDeleteA little moment of birdsong is always welcome!
DeleteGet a bigger clothes dryer? Unless your laundromat is cheap enough that it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not our machine -- it's the landlord's. And it fits in a dedicated space beneath the cabinets. So we're not really in a position to replace it.
DeleteMy bed sheets (one set, so I have to wash one after the other when O.K. spends the weekend here) just about fit on the foldable clothes horse. I have never owned a dryer.
ReplyDeleteThe little alcove by your front door looks good with the plant and the unicorn, and will look even better once the wires are cleaned up. I guess if it were mine, I'd put a small table there for the telephone (I still use my landline a lot).
Your forgetmenots and bluebells look beautiful, and I am sure even better to the naked eye; I find that photos of blue flowers against green foliage can rarely do them justice.
It would be a good place for a telephone -- in fact the phone jack is there -- but we don't have a landline. Our washer/dryer is a single machine with a single drum, and I do use the dryer in winter just to get rid of some of the moisture before I hang the clothes on the rack to completely dry.
DeleteYour garden looks very lush and inviting. You will be able to spend all your free time this summer out there enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteThat's my plan!
DeleteA compost delivery? Is that UberGarden???
ReplyDeleteHa! I guess you could call it that!
Delete"we no longer have a clothesline"...Here's a wild idea Steve - purchase another clothes line or better still - a rotary airer that can go right where that rebellious teasel has rooted itself. You can order some ready made concrete mix for the hole from Wickes.
ReplyDeleteWell, easier said than done. First of all, it's not our garden, and I'd be reluctant to pour concrete in the landlord's green space. We also don't really have room for a clothesline. We used to have one on the patio and that's probably where I'd put a line if I were to install one again, but we have a lot more plants out there now than we used to!
DeleteI suspect that if you asked the landlord and landlady they would be happy to assent to the clothes airer idea. I suspect the real issue here is your shyness. Please give me their e-mail address and I will contact them on your behalf.
DeleteYour garden is lovely, especially the forgetmenots. Thank you for recording the birds. It's amazing how early they're busy. Around here woodpeckers, probably flickers, are rattling and drumming a lot, looking for mates.
ReplyDeleteI have heard woodpeckers here in years past drumming on metal chimney fittings -- it makes a LOUD sound! I haven't heard them this year, though.
DeleteOn the farm, we had lots of room so all our clothes were dried on a line outside. There is nothing like air dried sheets in the world. I can still smell and feel them even though I haven't had an air dried sheet in probably three decades at this point.
ReplyDeleteYeah, air-dried sheets are wonderful. When I was a kid all our clothes were dried on a clothesline.
DeleteI am still astounded by the depth of your back garden.
ReplyDeleteIt is a big garden for London. I don't even know the measurements.
DeleteI was going to say something similar to Travel. I'm always amazed at the size of your backyard since you live in a busy city.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is not a typical London garden. That's one of the reasons we were attracted to this flat!
DeleteFigure out a way to have an outside clothesline! It's the best way to dry sheets ... ask Mary Moon!🌙
ReplyDeleteMary and I often commiserate about the glories of line drying!
DeleteYour posts are starting to sound like mine which I hope is not a bad thing. What is that tangle of wires in the odd space anyway? It hasn't gotten horribly hot yet so my bedroom window is open and I wake to the songs of cardinals and other birds.
ReplyDeleteHa! I don't think it's a bad thing! The wires are excess phone cable and some old coaxial cable that I assume used to connect to a television. All of that coax could probably be removed.
DeleteI love hearing the birds singing. There is a new bird call I've heard recently in the trees at my complex and I'm not sure what it is. Last night I was in downtown Phoenix and noticed an amazing amount of birds gathering in the trees and singing loudly. I'm always amazed that no one else notices them. I said "listen to those birds" to my friends and no one else had even noticed them and they were loud.
ReplyDeleteYou should get the Merlin app if you don't already have it. It would ID all those birds in a split-second!
DeleteGorgeous post! I am loving that you do not have to dash out of the door to the library leaving your beautiful abode and garden! Job well cone-looks like a pr gardener lives ther...and a cleaner! Aww, the burden of high standards, eh?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the birds- I could listen to them all day, wonder if I can put the recording on loop?
Just so you know wadded up saran wrap is all the rage- everyone strives for that "look".
Ha! I don't think they want that look for bedsheets, though, do they?!
DeleteYour home entry looks lovely. The Spring blooms and lush green in the garden look very inviting. I hope you get good soil in the new delivery. Soil used to always be reliable. Today it is a toss-up.
ReplyDeleteThe birds and wildlife are rejoicing Spring weather and your video captures this nicely.
Lately, I am also hearing woodpeckers and owls.
Well, I understand why soil quality has changed. It's now supposed to be peat-free in order to preserve our peat bogs, and peat used to be an important element of bagged soil and compost. It's just not as good without the peat, but I support preserving the bogs.
DeleteI think I was more excited to see an English robin when I came to England than so many other "famous" things. Wow -- to hear it in the morning, singing its little lungs out -- how wonderful is that! That garden is looking fantastic -- definitely full of spring. And I love the shadow on your wall, courtesy of that dracaena.
ReplyDeleteThe robin in the recording makes a little burbling noise, but I think most of the singing is coming from the wren.
DeleteBeautiful recording. Beautiful garden. And you're right- the dracaena does look quite at home there. Great shadows too.
ReplyDeleteOf course the shadows are what made me take the picture!
DeleteI'm hearing so many birds right now! Since it's warm, I have my window open at night and they are early risers. :) I need to deal with cords on my countertop or figure out a better way to charge devices. It's a mess! Your back yard is idyllic.
ReplyDeleteWires are such a problem. I hate wires.
DeleteUsing a clothes line can be difficult with (some) dogs. If I have bath mats or something I want to dry outside now, I drape them across the fence. Even that can be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I was a kid our dogs used to tear stuff off the line -- particularly bedsheets. Anything large and flapping they just couldn't stand!
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe birds. How beautiful, Steve. Instant deep relaxation. Thank you. Here right now the only birds we hear are mourning doves, chickadees, woodpeckers, crows, geese, and dark-eyed juncos. One robin has appeared in the yard and it has yet to make a peep. Soon, soon, the skies will be full of sound and even more flight. One of the birds you recorded reminded me of the song sparrow's song, something I enjoy every summer while standing on my back step. It's coming! All of it. -Kate
Yes, it's coming! We used to hear a lot of blackbirds here but I haven't heard them as much in recent years -- apparently their numbers have been declining. We get mostly great and blue tits, robins, pigeons, feral parakeets (which don't sing as much as squawk), European goldfinches and the occasional wren or blackbird.
DeleteI do like the shadows on the wall in your first photograph.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Thanks, Jan! Dracaenas are always good for dramatic shadows.
DeleteMy comment did not take, but it is so important. I am here to make it again, because I was stopped in my tracks that you discarded
ReplyDeletea plant???!!! Okay
Who are you and what have you done with Steve?