Share and Share Alike

I love browsing the aisles of the local garden centres.  We are lucky enough to have a few really good ones near us which not only have a huge selection of plants and gardening equipment but also really good gifts and cafes too.  I could quite happily spend hundreds of pounds on all sorts of fabulous pots and plants.  Needless to say sense and the budget manage to keep a tight rein on me though!

It is surprising how much a few plants add up to.  I needed to restock a few items in my garden following the long winter and heavy snow.  Sadly a few plants in pots didn't make it, neither did the pots for that matter, suffering frost damage.  I was quite restrained and bought 6 geraniums, 3 Moneymaker tomato plants, 12 lobelia, a yellow flowering plant (I need to go and look at label!), a small tray of bedding plants and a bag of compost.  That little lot set me back £33!

I also wanted to get another half barrel as the metal band running around my current one has rusted and snapped causing the sides of the barrel to move outwards and apart.  A new on in the same size was £35 though, so I decided to leave that for now.

A cheap way to add variety to your garden is swapping cuttings with other gardeners.  A couple of the shrubs in my garden were cuttings from my mother-in-law and sister.  This year, I gave some of my surplus red onion sets to my mother-in-law and got a courgette plant, some runner bean seed, some basil seedlings and teasel seedlings in return.

Even if you don't get around to swapping cuttings or seeds, you can share your produce.  It is a great way to deal with gluts of fruit and vegetables, or if you have a small garden, a good way to increase your variety of home grown produce.  Let's not forget either that sharing just makes you feel good!

Does My Bum Look Big In This?

Watching the pigeons trying to squeeze themselves onto the bird table does amuse me. They land in the garden, waddle across the lawn and then somehow manage to fly up and into the bird table.  It is quite a haphazard affair to say the least!

The other day, I took pity on the pigeons and threw a load of stale bread onto the lawn for them.  Sadly my good deed didn't really do one poor pigeon a favour though.  One minute I looked out the back door at my two cats sunbathing on the lawn debating the origins of the saying "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" and literally the next minute I heard a squawk.  I went back to the door and was confronted by one cat mauling a very dead pigeon whilst the other cat was looking on with glee.

The poor pigeon had obviously flown into the garden and quite literally landed on two unsuspecting cats!  I can't begin to tell you how guilty I felt.  I definitely won't be throwing bread on the ground for the birds anymore.