Thursdays favourite plant

Late on parade again.

This weeks favourite plant is courtesy of my naughty puppy under gardener. One sunny day last spring when he was but a wee little bundle of fluff I was on the phone to my mum chatting away,after a few minutes I realised Alfie wasn't sat sleeping on the sofa

This was him then, you'd think butter wouldn't melt

I put my head round the kitchen door to see him destroying a willow tripod thingy (made by my fair hands)I rushed out to yell at the little tyke and saw the horror and devestion one small pup with small Sharp teeth had done. The little ratbag had chewed through a clematis right down the base. Needless to say it never flowered last year and I was not a happy bunny.

However that little monkey actually did me and the clematis a favour, as this year its flowering its socks off from the ground right up to the dizzying heights of my climbing rose.

Clematis 'Ruby Glow'

There are two more clematis in the garden that are making my heart sing right now (as well as two montanas but these are at the top of the garden on the fence being nibbled by some cheeky young bullocks in the field, buts that's another story).

I have no idea what this one is, I picked it up at the end of march as a pot with a half dead looking twig at the village hardware store for 50p.

And the beautiful Guernsey Cream

Which I also picked up at the plant graveyard section of a local nursery. Everyone has space somewhere in their garden for a clematis. I've planted about 4 or 5 where ruby glow is, all beautifully tangled around the bare bottom of my old climbing rose. Remember to always plant them deeper than they are in the pot, you want to bury the first set of shoots. This will encourage great roots and will cut down the risk of the plant getting clematis wilt Clematis like their roots in the shade and their heads in the sun so cover the area where the roots are with a thick mulch or some piled up stones. One more thing some clematis flowers are prone to fading in bright full sun like the pink and white candy striped 'Nelly Moser' Plant them somewhere on the shadier side to keep the colours truer. One more thing clematis flowers aren't actually petals but modified sepals.


Jess x

P.S Since Monday I've been trying to compose a post about my day out last week but blogger has been acting up and taking ages to upload photos (one took so long that I was able to make a cup of tea, open a packet of biscuits make a phone call, then drink my tea and it still wasn't uploaded yet), so I gave up. However I think I've figured out what its problem is. So I'll try again later. Right now I need to shout and wave my arms about at the young bullocks

Duckling tales

Well these little bandits are far to big for their little pen, so they've been given run of some of the garden certain areas have been crudely fenced off with bits of chicken wire, compost bags, buckets and anything else I can lay my hands on.
Saturday they shall be carried over one by one to a duck playground adjoining the chickens. I still have no idea what they are or if they are girls or boys. They're starting to quack now but having no experience I can't tell if its a girly quack or a boy quack. Hmmm time will tell.
There is something about the sound of a duck quacking that just makes you smile, it sounds a bit like they're laughing, and these lot have definitely been laughing at me. Right after they trampled the sweet williams and tulips.

Jess x

P.S in other duck related news poor old Sid is not a happy camper, The cows and calfs have been given run of Sids field, crossing the river mid morning and evening to munch on the long grass. These are Sids visiting hours. Saturday evening 4 times they charged him and if he couldn't fly before he can now. So I've taken to waiting to the cow have crossed the river and have gone far enough away into the other fields and sneaking down to the river and calling Sid whilst rattling a feed scoup. As much as I love the old rogue I'm not walking through a field full of protective mums. This has also peeved the puppy as he can only have short runs in that field when the coast is clear, to which he spends most of it dining on cowpats.

New toy

Yesterday I got a new digital camera, it was an end of stock line at the supermarket and with some necter points it came to less than £20, bargain.
Its not to fancy, but not to shabby either, and it has a nifty little video bit on it so I can now bring you stuff like this.......



Please excuse the dodgy volume and shaking, this is the camera's first outing and I was very excited and of course I haven't read the de-strutions yet.

jess x

P.S yes I'm sorry I am one of those people with a tendency to talk to my dog in a baby voice sometimes

P.P.S so this is also the first video I've uploaded so if it doesn't play click on the youtube icon, you can tell I'm a rustic country girl with little grasp on technology can't you lol.

someone stick the kettle on, I need a cup of tea

I'm sorry about my absence but I've been so rushed of my feet with all of this,








And some of this





And there was this






And if all that wasn't enough to keep a girl busy this came along







And finally there is this


Yes they are in my bathtub and yes they were throughly dried off with my best hand-towels before snuggling up under a heat lamp.

And if all that wasn't enough fun for me to handle I met up with the gorgeous sara from Completely Quackers who came down to see me for a good old chin wag about chickens and other animals and to take 4 of my bantam hens to join her flock of mad bantam boys. This left me with a vacancy for some more hens, who are currently in quarenteen quarters for the moment, oh and did I mention the little bluebell pullets.

I shall tell all about everything and everyone later, right now the glorious sunshine is beckoning back outside.

Jess x

P.S Bonus points will be awarded to anyone who can identify the chicks in the 2nd 3rd and 4th pictures, I know what they except the little grey one on the right of the 3rd picture. Extra double cherry on top points to anyone wanting to have a stab at telling me the sex.

"And they call it puppy lurveeee"

Oh poor alfie



The neighbours have a yorkshire terrier girl, her name is lily. Alfie loves lily.
But this week lily has come on heat.
Alfie is beside himself with a broken heart.
He won't eat, won't sleep, showed no interest in his denta-stick.
Poor alfie.
Everytime lily goes for a walk in the across the road alfie sits in the window and crys and whines and howls.
I mean proper howling.
Whenever the kitchen door is opened he runs outside and sits on a flowerpot by the fence whimpering for lily.
Whilst he's sat there she is sat on the window sill looking down at him, whining.
Its like the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.

But don't worry alfie if I win the euro million lottery tomorrow I'll buy you a little french fancy, she can be your girlfriend.

seriously how cute is she, I love her ears.

jess x

Dear santa,

This year has I've been pretty good so I would like

A new pair of wellies and some thick stripy socks to go underneath them

A spade, one of those with a heart shape blade

A new wheel for my barrow

Approx 200 metres of electric poulty fencing

A 3 apple, apple tree grafted onto dwarf root stock

A new garden bench

A trio of Indian runner ducks

A lionhead and a black and white dwarf lopeared (I'd call them bigwig and fiver)

A cath kidston teacosy

and Guitar hero Metallica (I asked for this last year too)

My naughty puppy would like a big rawhide bone and either a JRT or westie girlfriend

My chickens would like a big bag of corn and a big bowl of roast potatos

And Mr lovely husband would like some peace and quiet.

I leave you a nice glass of homemade sloe gin and a few mince pies but I'll have to leave them in the biscuit tin in case those damn mice get em.

lots of love jess x

My boys growing up

One year ago today in a farmhouse not too far away, a heavly pregnant abandoned dog gave birth to a litter of pups amid the crashes and bangs of firework night.








Happy birthday Alfie
He really is a little star, I love him to bits. Life is never boring with him around.
Here is 10 random facts about my little under gardener.

1* I swear he thinks he's a chicken, when the garden girls are scratching about outside he goes and sits with them all quietly and if one of them looks at him he wags his little tail.

2* I once made a mistake of giving him a bit of apple core, now when ever I eat an apple he jumps up at me and barks, hasseling me for a bit.

3* He likes to sleep on the sofa amongst the cushions flat on his back with his front legs straight up in the air.

4* Even though he is very naughty sometimes he's never chewed anything in the house or cocked his leg on anything inside.

5* If you open the cupboard where his biscuits are kept he runs into the kitchen sits on the floor, gives his paw, rolls over and barks just incase you were going to give him a biscuit.

6* He has an arch nemisis, There is a dog at a farm further up the valley who goes past in the back of a pick up. Now when alf hears him he comes rushing into the house and standis in the winter barking furiosly for at least 15 minutes.

7* When he hears the opening bars of Tom Jones Deliah, he goes nuts. Its his favourite song

8* Sometimes he likes to sit on the back of the sofa with his paws on my husbands head.

9* He has two main facial expressions, Guilty and cheeky

10* His feet look like a teddy bears.

Don't count your chickens.........

Well my eggs are now 2 days over due, my little superstar Ethel has been sat snugly on them for 24 days with only a short snack break each day. I'm beginning to think that they're not going to hatch at all. I'm a bit disappointed but I always thought of this as a bit of an experiment and if we got some babies that would be a lovely bonus (sometimes I tend to veer towards the pessimistic) but I'm not sure what to do with her or when to throw in the towel. She'll need to be re-integrated back in with the big girls and her broodiness gently broken. I think I'll give it until the weekend to see if anything happens before I give up on the eggs.
What do you think? If anyone with experience of hatching eggs has any advice for me, please let me know.
I wonder if poor Ethel will upset at her lack of babies.

The little girls are doing really well. They are now living in a converted two storey rabbit hutch with a small run tagged on (the bright side of no babies will be extra chicken wire to make their playground bigger. They've learnt to walk up a ramp and roost on a little perch when its bedtime, which is earlier than the big girls. They've stopped being scared of Alfie when he goes to see them, one of them even pecked him through the wire (as much as he behaves himself loose with the girls, he has a healthy respect after being chased and pecked by Pixie and Margo, I'd never let him get too close to the little ones). They are still as yet unnamed although I think the adorable little buff sussex will end up sticking with the name Boo. I must really get round to naming the other two soon.
Another thing that need a name is my smallholding, Hubby has fixed up the hen sheds and fenced of a nice little area so hopefully next weeked he'll be bidding for some birds at the auctions. We are going to start off with birds for the table, now I know I'll find this difficult, but we eat a lot of (free range) chicken here so it makes sense to have a go at rearing are own. I reckon I'll be a total wuss with this side so hubby will be in charge and when I start stocking up with layers (and all the other birds I'd like for all my plans) we've agreed (well I shouted, had a tantrum and shed a few girly tears) to keep them seperate from each other.
I just hope there are more silkies at next week auctions as some so and so outbid me on a pair last time, if not I might happened to bid for a few ducks when the mr isn't looking, unless my little eggs hatch......

The photo of Tom and Barbara is included because, well why not.

My lovely ladies.

Its occurred to me that I haven't featured my hens here yet. So let me introduce the girls to you.



This is Pixie (please note the slightly deranged look in her eye)
Pixie is a light sussex with a bad attitude. When we first got the girls Pixie was an absolute little poppet so sweet natured and gentle and she was the easiest to handle. But.... that sweet little girl has grown into a monster. She's bad tempered feisty and the pull no punches lieutenant of Margo. If I go near her she shouts and bawls, unless I've got food and then she might be a bit more pleasant. When she went broody a few months ago I literally took my life in my hands trying to turf her off the nest box. Her favourite things to do are to wind up and chase Alfie, seek and destroy slow worms and frogs, and peck my wellies. Seeing her in a strop you can really see the link between birds and dinosaurs.



This is Margo
She a glamorous maran x, in fact I'm not sure what she is I think I bought her as a maran koovey (sp) (if anyone can tell, please do)
She is queen bee of the bunch although she hates to get her beak dirty so sends in Pixie to do her dirty work. She was the first to start laying last Autumn and hasn't missed an egg since. She likes to strut about the garden looking beautiful. Pretty as she may be though she has a mouth like a fisherwomen. She's always shouting. If Alfie is up to no-good and I tell him off Margo is like an echo. If I shout into the house for a cup of tea, Margo shouts too. If I over sleep or the corn runs dry Margo lets me Know. Whatever room I'm in I'll hear her. She also likes to lead the others on expeditions to areas that are out of bounds, like the rose border and organise the digging up off daffodil bulbs.




This little angel is Tallulah.
She's a bluebelle or blue maran and don't tell the others but I think she might be my favourite. She is such a gentle little soul always pleased to see me, never prone to fits of rage or torrents of abuse and likes to perch on the bench day-dreaming. My husband laughs at me because I often have little murmuring and clucking conversations with Lu-Lu, I'll cluck and she'll cluck back. The only time she raises her voice is to announce to the world that she's laid an egg, and then you could probably hear her half way across Devon. She likes sneaking down the steps to the flower garden when the others aren't looking. She'll peak around the rose's at me then run back up to the hen house and look all Innocent.



Finally we have Ethel (Margo was getting annoyed that she wasn't being centre of attention so snuck into Ethel photo)
She's Pixies sister and she's the chalk to her cheese. Ethel is a really lovely chicken. She's polite, well mannered and very friendly. She seems to have the most common sense, and level headed-ness of them all. She's quite a laid back little lady although occasionally if Pixie is being particularly bossy she'll give her a peck on the bum and a stern talking to. She likes to gossip under the cherry tree with Tallulah, and she loves rolling around in the dirt. I actually seen her do somersaults.

Ethel is very special at the moment because hopefully in a few weeks she'll be a mummy. She's siting on some fertile eggs I got from the Devonshire traditional breed centre. My lovely husband took me there on Monday to window shop for chickens, I really really want a silkie but they didn't have any. So I bought a few eggs because Ethel's broody. Also I have this huge exciting project that I'm embarking on (more about that later).
Anyway if they hatch (fingers crossed) I'll have a Silver Dorking a Cochin and 2 Cream Legbars. Ethel has of course taken this all in her stride even the fact that because this was spur of the moment I haven't build (yet) a proper broody coop, so she's sitting in a cardboard box in a recycling bin in a dog cage under under my standard rose. So wish her luck and wish husband luck for tomorrow, as We're off to a poultry auction.

birds+herbs?

I'd really like some of these cute plant labels, to label my herbs with.



But I'm not sure I could trust the under-gardener not to pull them out and chew them.

There is a lovely little shop in totnes called inspired buys that sells them or they've got them here.

Sometimes words just fail me........

and then as soon as I put it down...



He's just lucky he's such a cutie.

I might also add he has a bit of a fetish for plant labels too, I end up with countless seed trays of unknown plants because someones pulled out the labels.

£20 is not enough

So at the weekend I convinced husband to take me bedding plant shopping, now I love bedding plants I get all excited at the beginning of April planning containers and colour schemes for the window boxes and baskets (hey it keeps me out of trouble) so off we went to (nearly) all the little local nurseries. One of my favourite places is hill house nursery. Its a fairly small place tucked away in the south hams with old greenhouse's stuffed with their own grown plants, total plant heaven. Anyway husband set me a budget of £20 to spent which was a nightmare because i could spend a fortune there. So i got my mix of bedding plants but sadly had to leave behind a Melianthus major that i really wanted and a clematis viticella "purpurea plena elegens" that i also really wanted to replace the clematis that the naughty puppy decided to chew through. So a return journey is on the cards.

so here's my stash of bedding plants

Now there are still a few more I need like some white and purple geraniums and some trailing plants for the window box and basket at the front door

this year I'm going to have yellow, pink and blue at the front. The sun disappears at lunch time so the yellow with brighten it up. In the back garden I'm going for pinks and purples mixed with lime greens and orange. I like a bit of clashing

I love these Nemesias aren't they gorgeous, berries and cream on the left and blue buttons on the right, and they smell lovely.

happiness is a noisy little brown bird

I got woken up really early today by my puppy, (somebody didn't shut the door properly last night) after sorting him out and then getting back into bed I was then kept awake by bird tweeting outside the bedroom window, really noisy birds who wouldn't stop tweeting so I got up.
whilst making a cup of tea the flipping scratching in the wall started up
(ok so I live in an old cottage with eaves and beams and old brickwork and over the winter we've had cheeky little wood mice coming in and living in the walls)
So fast forward half and hour or so and I'm siting in the kitchen watching the birds feeding in the garden and i see this unusual brown and grey bird hanging of the peanuts, then another and another .
Sparrows in my garden
ok so to most people that wouldn't be that exciting but in the two years I've lived here I've never seen a sparrow, ducks yes, barn owls sometimes, a family of buzzards that sit on the fence posts all the time (and many other birds that you don't often see in most gardens), but never sparrows. Anyway they were the culprits tweeting outside the window and hopefully making the noise in the wall under the eaves.

If your wondering why I' so excited it's because in the last few years the once common sparrow has been on the decline, I only ever see them in towns and villages never this far out in the sticks. Also it makes me happy to think that this little troop of birds likes the look of my garden and wants to make their home in my brickwork