Embracing the Weeds.

For me, one of the joys of gardening is to share my space with wildlife; this is my tenth summer in this place and yet I am still seeing new insects - today was a bright orange wasp of some kind. It was long gone before I found the camera!  But yesterday I saw this brown Argus, the caterpillars of which can be found on various species of crane's bill

But to have a range of native insects I need a range of wild flowers, many of which also get labeled weeds. I forget who said a weed is just the right plant in the wrong place, but it is a approach I embrace as much as possible.

Beating the Heat: Watering.

We are quite lucky to have not been hammered by the temperatures in the mid-forties which have hit the east of the country, but a few days with highs of thirty-eight or nine has seen me getting through a lot of water. I have four large water butts to collect water from the roof, holding round 1500 litres, but a period of intense heat will see those emptied in just a couple of weeks.

Watering in the heat is often a matter of contention and not simply a question of 'just watering' but rather more complex - morning or night, on the leaves or down at the base, and critically how often? Well, the answer to all of that is if course a bit of everything, because it depends on the plants and also on how established they are.