The sunflower below popped up as a surprise a couple of months ago – I think a bird must have planted it (although how he managed to handle the trowel is beyond me!). It’s so pretty and seems far more robust than the ones I planted.
The other good news is that the butterflies are starting to emerge and I’m trying really hard to photograph them. I’ve given up hopping around like a mad woman and I just stay still and ask them to come to me (not that this approach helps much either!). There are a loads of Cabbage White butterflies desparately attempting to break through the net on the brassicas to lay their eggs… but even they were too quick for me to clearly photograph.
I’m pleased to say that the Tortoiseshell Butterflies are the divas of the butterfly world and didn’t seem to mind the camera. They love the nettles that grow in abundance around my garden – I’d noticed a few holes in the nettle leaves and hoped that the caterpillars would soon be butterflies.
British butterflies aren’t very exotic but they certainly are pretty. I’ll try to photograph some of the Peacock Butterflies we have but they don’t tend to hold still when I ask them to so I’m left wondering…. do butterflies have Ears?
Moving on, the tips of the garlic had turned yellow and were looking rather scruffy so they were dug up and left on a wall to dry. Just as I’d finished tidying the bed the sky grew darker and I could hear thunder in the distance. Worried that the garlic was never going to dry I hung it over an old rake in between two low walls and covered them with a cloche.
My fiendish plan seems to be working – the air is circulating around the garlic and the rain is being held at bay. The cyclical nature of gardening means that as one job is completed another begins. And the big question I have at the moment is…..
…. what on earth shall I sow in this bed now that the garlic has gone?
The Pyjama Gardener 