It’s fallow!

It’s not being lazy, it’s having a fallow year!

This year, gardening has taken a back seat.  We have a path cut through to the shed but other than that the grass hasn’t been cut.  We haven’t been weeding or crop growing, other than the perennial soft fruits and some horseradish and herbs that have done it all themselves.

The bonus of this is we have a wildlife garden.

We have a Buddleia bush attracting butterflies, nettles for caterpillars, brambles for blackberries, teasels for seeds later in the season which attract flocks of goldfinches and we have undergrowth for slugs snails and minibeasts. We have bats each evening swooping after clouds of insects, frogs are regularly seen heading towards the ponds and the cats are enjoying hunting for rodents.

OMG OMG OMG a hedgehog has just had its scrunchy-snail-lunch next to me as I hung out the washing. Haven’t had a hedgehog here in years. Very pleased. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Mr Sprig and youth think I’m slightly bonkers. Never mind! IT WAS A HEDGEHOG!

(No pic though as it was under the nettles and my commitment to you doesn’t extend to nettle rash!)

Trust me, next year I will be on top of crop growing and everything, but will plan in all overgrown edges to keep the wildlife happy. This year we are enjoying the fallow aspect and seeing what turns up next. An owl would be nice. Or a buzzard.