How wonderful it was to wake this morning with the knowledge that we have a whole week before us to enjoy. Morning coffee delivered by my son was drunk as we happily chatting about our plans for the week ahead.
Oatcakes made yesterday on the griddle and well covered with melted Cheshire cheese constituted our breakfast after which I made the days bread. It was while we were washing up the the post bough with it my bee house, a mothers day gift from my son. Bless the boy he had arranged for it to be gift wrapped and very handsome it looked I must say.
Better than all was the fact that he told me to open it at once and site it as it is now that the bumble bees are searching for safe nest sites, I was over joyed. Many varieties of bee inhabit our gardens and last year I purchased a solitary bee house which was very well patronised.
Sighting the nest box correctly in vital and I put a good deal of though in to the final location of the box. Sheltered, south facing and close to a plentiful source of early pollen, obviously the orchard was the perfect spot. The nest box came complete with nesting material and was soon in place, tucked away in a sheltered corner of the orchard, surrounded by crocus and with the promise of much fruit blossom to come. Later there will be primroses bluebell.,cowslips daffodils and of course the huge forget -me- not bed on the shady side of the orchard by the old wall.
Encouraged by the happiness of the morning I took my courage in both hands and went off to order my compost and some bark chip for the gardens for which I have been saving up for quite some time. Although I live within less than a quarter of a mile of the garden centre they still charge between twenty and thirty pounds for delivery and no matter how much or little is ordered the cost is the same.
This makes a considerable hole in my gardening budget and I have been agonising over this problem for weeks. I had thought that I had found a good supplier a few weeks ago but further research showed them to be unreliable and so I was bock to square one.
Today I made the decision that it was now or never and had already priced the items required. Imagine my amazement when I arrived at the bark chip display to discover that play grade bark chip was being sold for just £1.00 a bag instead of three for thirteen pounds. Bark chip is vital to my garden as it retains the moisture for longer and as I find watering increasingly difficult and with a drought pending this was a gift from providence.
Fifteen bags were ordered at once and some peat free compost, also on special, for the containers. Ten pounds was knocked off the delivery charge as I am a gardening club member and I saved about sixty pounds in all. Even now I still do not quite believe my luck, it's wonderful.
Celebrating this wind fall I purchased a new collar for my little cat,a cat nip spray and for myself two stout pairs of gardening gloves, the rest of the money will be spent on plants and seed potatoes a little later in the year. Incidentally Twiggy loves the spray cat nip and is very proud of her new brown leather collar. She is very self aware and spend a good deal of time admiring her reflection in my dressing table mirror, a vain creature to be sure but then she really is a beauty.
Curled up in bed the cat in question is sleeping soundly, worn out with tumbling madly about with a cat nip sprayed toy. We have eaten our special Monday supper and each of us agrees that today has been special.
Thanks to good old providence my flower garden and the fruit bushes will be well mulched this year which is a huge relief to me.
Soon the garden will once again be filled with the smell of flowers and the hum of my lovely bee's, Twiggy will be in her tree house and with luck all the birds nest boxes will be occupied . Today I saw a Dunnock trying out one of our nesting pockets amongst the ivy. For me this is a time of mounting excitement and just a little apprehension as to my finesses for the work to come. What ever happens flowers will grow and fruit will ripen on the old orchard trees again and for which mercy I am humbly grateful.
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