I've been a bit lax in updating my blog just lately, so first of all here is a quick roundup of what has been happening since I last wrote.

First of all my courgette plant, (the only one to actually germinate) has been producing a number of courgettes and the tomato plants have fruit on them, although none have actually ripened yet.

Last years Bunny Rabbits have come back stronger than ever, and I have moved their pot from the doorstep into the flowerbed in the hope they will seed themselves.

The yellow Day Lilly has done well by the house, but her orange sister has not flowered this year at all, she is usually a bit later flowering but not this late.

Sue gave me this shrub and I have looked it up in the book, but have forgotten what it is called, but anyway it seems happy enough and has lots more flowers than last year.

This is the view into the garden from the seat under the window. The bird feeder is empty because Smudge spends his time sitting on top of the archway waiting for birds! I went out a few days ago and was I glad I had a pair of shoes on. There was something soft and squishy under my feet, hidden by Montbretia leaves - a dead pigeon!

Through the archway and up the garden path.

The honeysuckle and jasmine pulling the trellis down yet again. I end up mending it every year! This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, the jasmine is in full flower now, I don't think I've ever had so many flowers on it!

And after the tour round the back garden it's time for tea before starting work in the front garden!

This is my front gate after massive clearance of the front hedge. I had a visit from the Council Man a few weeks ago complaining that the hedge was overgrown and needed to be cut back to the fence. (I had only just finished trimming it), when I pointed out to him it was illegal to cut out hedges while the birds were nesting he got all embarrassed and told me well yes but if anything happened I'd be liable and he'd be back in 2 months. You just can't win, so last week I set to work (there weren't any nests in it I did check), it took 3 days to do, but I refuse to get rid of my roses, at least you can see them better now!

Finn is looking at the pile of trash after The Great Hedge Clearance. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it as there's a huge sack of prickly stuff as well.

The mound under the tarpaulin is wood waiting to be cut up for the fire. I spent a couple of hours cutting it up this afternoon and have done about half and filled the coal bunker.

Although there seem to be lots of flowers on certain things the garden seems dead compared to last year. Since a row of old Leylandii at the edge of the field behind me were cut down last year the birds have disappeared and I really miss their comings and goings and constant chattering while I sit out there. Also there don't seem to be the butterflies about this year. Dorothy from http://www.butterflycentre.co.uk/ seems to think it's because we had a dry spell when the caterpillars were about so they couldn't feed properly. So now I'm trying to plan my garden to attract as much as possible next year.

The plan is to make a survey of the garden and really get to know it, all the different habitats and what lives in them and how I can improve and add to them. That should keep me busy for a while!