Bugged

It was ... - 9°C (15.8°F)  this morning when we got up - well I say we - Himself had to chisel his van out of the ice box it seemed to have acquired over night. He'd covered the windscreen and set up the van heater ready to switch on as soon as he was up.

Me? well, I was in bed still nursing a mug of steaming hot tea.... did I feel a tad guilty? Sort of.... 

...But not quite enough to do anything other than weakly offer some help which he (fortunately) turned down.

I don't work on a Thursday - so although I was home yesterday (Wednesday) it was still technically a work day so I cracked on with some paintings I am doing for the garden. When I initially took over the job, one of the first things I noticed - the lack of any insect or bird life. The walled garden (still very new then) had the occasional crow or pigeon visitor but on the whole - a very quiet and lonely place despite being situated in a park and surrounded by gardens.

So - as soon as I could I started to 'age' the garden, fill it with not just monoculture rows of vegetables but flowers and shrubs. Slowly but surely the insect population began to increase. I had an apprentice and a student the first summer and we did a 'non-scientific' but serious-to-us insect survey and found that in those few short months - we had more than I had hoped which confirmed my decisions. 

Since then we have pushed the garden to have many styles of planting - not just for interest for the visitor but to increase biodiversity and introduce the idea that vegetable gardening can be not just productive but ornamental as well as being pollinator friendly.

This summer we'll be adding these painted plaques (plus more which are being painted by an artistic volunteer) around the garden where the insects have been spotted. On the backs we are going to write their Latin and common names - hopefully it will spark interest and curiosity and encouragement.

The bird life has improved too - I am more than delighted. There is room for improvement but as far as things go - I am very pleased.

The insects are: Ground Beetle, Hairy Shield Bug, Garden Bumble Bee, European Bee (honey bee) and Rosemary Beetle.

Post Script : It is a really chilly but beautiful day, think I might venture outside with a mug of tea and my camera and try to capture the magic of a sparkly ice encrusted twig or two, besides I need to feed the birds and top up their water. But first I think I need to put on a whole lot more clothing!! What are you doing today? Keeping warm I hope and enjoying the clear blue skies.