Our squirrel friends have been enjoying regular feasts of peanuts, brazil nuts and various pieces of fruit and veg - they seem to be particularly fond of apple, courgettes, butternut squash and avocado, but its only OL1y who will eat an occasional walnut, the others just throw them down in disgust before demanding a peanut. They do however seem to have been supplementing this gourmet diet by enjoying sneaky picnics with our bulbs!
Other than this misbehaviour, everything is quite literally blooming lovely. The meadow and hanging wall are being continually watered by lots of labour intensive toing and froing with our one and only watering can, that is until the adaptor for the replacement hose arrives. (Our old hose was stolen a few months ago from the lock up, along with a lot of other valuable stuff). This inconvenience has however not deterred us in our quest to get the micro-meadow perfectly hydrated.
It's amazing to see how many butterflies and bees our little meadow is already attracting and ladybirds seem to be becoming increasingly fond of our growing sanctuary.
The poppy seeds in particular, (pictured left), which we planted seem to really be growing fast. Apparently they thrive in poor soil, (which is great for us), and we should be seeing them bloom in June. They certainly are already towering above everything else in the micro-meadow.
Other seeds are now starting to add colour, and amidst the early blooming mass of Forget Me Nots we are now seeing the lovely pink Phlox and Daisy taking hold.
No doubt about it, we are still on a very, very steep learning curve with all this wildflower stuff, but are genuinely loving every moment spent watching what is now starting to happen. The hours spent pottering and experimenting have not only given new life to this rough old piece of land, but also quite a few local residents ... including the squirrels!