Hidden Poem.

A few colour, form and texture combinations from our gardens, to hasten Spring.

Love blooms like the rose full coloured summers day

Love dies like the leaves Autumn blown far away

Glorious

Glorious day to be out in the garden.

Here at Stonewell Farm, we have an abundance of water. Whenever we get a heavy or persistant downpour, spring water flows from the ground throughout the property. In 2013 we ordered a selection of willow cuttings from the USDA and planted them at the bottom of a slope where except for the height of summer, surface water is always present.

We coppice the trees every two or three years, which produces a thicket of new stems.

These stems are 10 to 12 feet tall, but still pliable for the required purpose.

Willows produce indolebutyric acid and salicylic acid, two hormones which help to stimulate root growth

Providing the planting site is consistently moist - the pond is directly behind from where I took the photo - and the ground is sufficiently yielding, the cuttings can simply be pushed into the soil. I used a crowbar driven in at an angle, to a depth of eight inches.

one, perhaps two years growth should suffice to complete the dome.

Grey matter V Grey squatter

Through trial and error, with the addition of a trash can lid, I eventually made our hanging bird feeder squirrel proof.

But I noticed that some birds lacked the agility to feed directly and  instead searched the ground below for dropped seeds and grains,

This winter I erected a post bird feeder which became an instant squirrel magnet, and they took up permanent residence. My first line of defense was an upturned plant pot.

They chewed one of the pot's drainage holes to gain access to the feeder, so I filled the pot with chicken wire.

Now they are attempting to chew the whole pot.

The squirrels do have access to the duck feeder, so I am determined to keep them out of the wild bird feeders.

Dr Doolittle I am not, but did I just hear "Please Sir, can I have some more"