Making the smallest difference...

My last big pots finally arrived yesterday and my plan to write a Lucy Williams cosy mystery featuring a murdered delivery driver is coming together very nicely. I shall probably do something to the delivery depot manager while I’m at it, but at least I’m only doing it in fiction. In real life, I cleared the last area of my garden and reclaimed the path around the shed that had silted up and produced some gorgeous compost and took my temper out on that while planning appropriate dastardly deeds for depot managers. Currently, top of the list is burying him beneath a landslide of undelivered parcels.

I’m a lot happier now, becauseI filled the third wildlife pond on Friday evening while being rained on, which at least helped to fill it. The solar fountain is in its place, the pond plants are on their way and that means I have three wildlife ponds because I realised that an 18 inch pot can make a difference last year when a gorgeous dragonfly used it to lay her eggs. On top of that, the frogbit plants (imagine a buttercup with two-inch leaves) are perfect for butterflies, bees and insects to perch on while they drink and the cats like a drink from them too. I use a solar fountain with the nozzles off to keep the water moving gently, and I’ve been amazed by the amount of insect life it’s brought to the garden.

So here they all are to show you how simple they are. One plant pot with no holes drilled in the bottom, one solar fountain and some plants nearby for creatures to climb in and out by.

My original pot pond, complete with dragonfly larvae

Pot number Two (That one got delayed too)

Pot No 3. came overland all the way from Chine and I learned so much geography. It arrrived 2 weeks ahead of schedule, then sat in a depot for 4 days.

The insects bring the birds, who perch on the high, thin branches and I swear you can hear them laughing as the cats climb higher and higher while the branches wobble and sway under them. Then the birds fly off to the sycamore tree where I cleared all the lower branches to add to the light and watch the cats climbing gingerly down again. They and the hedgehogs have enjoyed all the windfall apples this winter but now spring is coming and there are daffodils and crocuses and bluebells and wild garlic flowering under the trees.

The new gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries seem to be in a competition to see who can grow fastest, so there’s so much to look forward to that it’s no wonder that spring is my favourite season.

I hope it’s as good wherever you are and that you can find comfort in small things in this increasingly scary world. See you on Tuesday!