Blessed Bees...

I have been in the garden all day most days for the last week or so. We have been blessed with a week of glorious weather, but at a cost. 

The South of England is in a period of severe drought. There is a hose pipe ban coming into force on the 5th of May.

I have been busy connecting up two water butts. That I found for free.  Should have installed a couple when we first moved in, but better late than never I suppose. And free...so you know.

I have also been busy trying to prevent our neighbours two kittens from destroying everything in my garden and attacking the bees and birds. They are cute and all, but when they have caught the 9th bee of the day and knocked another seed tray over I begin to think not so cute. 

So I thought it was about time I wrote something. Seeming as that is what a blog is for and all.

I have not taken any photos for a while, which is a shame and I am kicking myself slightly as I have installed a little pebble pool and re-erected my salvaged doors to create a little shady nook.

Tomorrow I must get out into the front garden and do some weeding. Every time I am out there a neighbour will wander over and tell me how often the couple who lived here before would be out in the front garden tending to it all the time. I could get slightly paranoid about it as I always take that to mean 'Which you obviously don't do'. I wonder if the previous owners have driven past and said 'Gosh look how bad it looks!'...

They say once you've moved you should never go back to look at your old house or garden.

I still walk past our old place and think 'They really need to prune that rose, etc' and always feel a little sad that we are not there anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I love where we live now but that really was a great flat. So big. We really do live in a hobbit hole now. It has taken me a while to get used to open plan living on a drastically reduced scale to boot.

No more room for like, even a table. And the garden is getting that way too. Must stop 'rescuing' plants that look sad and obviously need a new home.

Anyway, back to the garden. I have been collecting some beer and wine bottles for a while with an aim to recycle them into the garden somehow. Well, I did...will take photos tomorrow. I basically shoved them into the ground to create a border and I'm pleased with it plus it saves room in the recycling box for all the junk mail at least. Such a waste of paper.

I also have been collecting things to build an insect hotel. I found a wooden dolls house on Freecycle a few months ago. I would love to encourge bees to set up home in it. I plan to fix it to a post so it is floating above the plants.

I also want to save some baked beans tins, paint them up and use them as pots based on one of the pitcures.

So below are a few pictures that originally inspired me.

Happy Times.