There’s been good growing weather lately, and when I took this picture this morning, the sun was shining as the rain was falling.

The swifts are screeching about in the sky, bluetits and sparrows are visiting the birdfeeders regularly, and the great big chonky blackbird baby is now nearly twice the size of its mum. This big baby blackbird enjoys bathing in the pond and then resting on the side, wings outstretched, drying its feathers in the sun.

The strawberries in the greenhouse are doing very well, and they are much less pestered by pests in elevated pots in the greenhouse. In previous years, with strawberries planted in the ground, the slugs and snails ate more strawberries than we did. Thanks to the greenhouse, that’s not the case this year.

Strawberries shared with him outdoors, and not the slugs.

We had less luck with the cherries, and last week they went from green, to red, to gone. Out of about 15 fruits produced, the birds got 13 and I tried one, and there’s one unripe still on the tree. The one I tried was tiny but tasty – a good mix of sweet and sour cherry flavour. I think I’ll put this cherry tree into a big pot and grow it against the front wall, and then I can net it and protect it more easily. But I’m happy to let the birds have most of the cherry harvest it this year.

The area below the bird feeders in the apple tree had produced a small crop of wheat and oats, grown from the discarded seeds. It was kind of fun but also messy. My husband tidied this space up, pruning back the lower branches of the twisted hazel to reveal it’s lovely stems. I’ve planted up a little pot of thyme as a table centrepiece, which is perfect for mealtime punning opportunities.

Thyme for lunch?

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that generally other people do the hard work in this garden. I like making teeny little planters, rearranging the quirky accessories and feeding the birds.

Speaking of hard work that I’m not doing, a new and exciting garden project will be underway shortly. Our deck will soon have a pergola on it, somewhere to hang our hammocks and put up the movie screen for outdoor cinema. I have very fond memories of the pergola / cinema screen we had in our first garden together, before me and him got married. The backyard cinema and bbq during the 2012 Olympics was very special, and although there won’t be an inclusive and unifying international sporting event to enjoy, we do have plans to watch Star Trek 4, The Voyage Home.

I’ve lost count again, but will end with this mystery flower amongst the weeds for my Six on Saturday.

This is a plant that produces small white flowers and runs like crazy around the middle bed. I initially thought it might be the dreaded knotweed, but it’s young stems don’t look like the red stems of knotweed – however it does run about and pops up throughout the borders below the wild rose. Any ideas what this might be would be most welcome.

White flowered thing with heart shaped leaves and red stems. WTF?

For better informed and far less rambly garden stories, please visit the Propagators blog for Six on Saturday to see what’s growing on this week. I’m off to return to Film 4’s marathon of Star Trek films, having missed the first half hour of Star Trek 5, the Final Frontier. I’m ‘enjoying’ a Shatnerthon, instead of visiting family for a celebratory gathering, but that’s the ongoing disruption of a global pandemic, and we’re planning to get together in a few weeks time once my second jab is fully functional and restrictions on indoor gatherings are eased up again….

I hope that whatever you’re up to you have a smashing weekend.

Jen x