genialgemsandothergabblings

After the rain this morning it was so nice to see the sun later this afternoon.A little bit of warmth from it's rays soon has the bees out buzzing over the nectar laden plants and at last today, I saw a few butterflies. One ,a lovely Red Admiral landed on a white plastic bag I was taking down to the summerhouse, much to my surprise and later there were two or more Painted ladies on the Buddleja [ yes I spelt it wrong the other day!] a couple of large bees too. Maybe the answer is to put some white plastic bags all over the garden... they might have a use after all! The teasel is a real insect attraction, every time I look over it there are bugs and bees, it just looks so fascinating and it has a way of collecting water in the large cups that occur on the stem and in this water drown many insects that attempt to ascend the tall stem and their remains are absorbed by the plant as a food. Clever stuff ! The apples on the tree must be liking all the rain as they are much further alon...

When I was up in the lakes recently I picked up some leaflets on a couple of garden centres that were new to me and yesterday we decided to have a run out and visit them.Ashton Hall Garden Centre was one and very nice it was too. I was looking with the intention of buying some plants that attract butterflies into the garden and bees too. The bee in the photo here was taken the other day in our garden on the buddliea but I haven't seen many butterflies around yet. I actually ended up buying some herbs as the bees were all over the flowers on them. After an afternoon stop down by the canal at Galgate for tea and cakes we headed home to do a few more garden jobs, hedges and weeding and I found a few things ready to be harvested. The peas have been good and an easy crop so I will definitely be growing more of them, then I picked a some herbs and lettuce for a summer salad. Now I wouldn't mind seeing just a bit more summer sun!

I have been having a change and as you see the blog looks slightly different. Last week I took myself off for 4 days to the Lakes, only 40mins from here and a completely different world. Walking boots on I had a lovely time walking along the meadows and lanes , stopping to sit and take in the wonderful views. The exercise and fresh air and scenery soon recharge your battery and off you go again!