The last month has been a mixed bag of ups and downs for my tiny courtyard garden.
Things have certainly been happening with the seeds that I have planted and it's great to see them pop. I've sourced some more junk to repurpose and have been gifted some wonderful pots so I now have more space to plant out my indoor starts if the weather ever warms up. Speaking of weather, it's driving me nuts and so is the pesky alley cat who uses my next-door neighbor's astroturf to sunbathe and my garden as his toilet...
My dear friend and neighbor opposite was cutting her new bathroom flooring to size and used my garden to do it as she didn't have room in hers. As a thank you, we used the leftover to place on top of the table to make it look a little better and I think in time, I will paint the legs to spruce it up some more.
My dear friend and neighbor opposite was cutting her new bathroom flooring to size and used my garden to do it as she didn't have room in hers. As a thank you, we used the leftover to place on top of the table to make it look a little better and I think in time, I will paint the legs to spruce it up some more.
I Like It Wild, But I Have My Limits...
When left alone, nature finds a way to take back what is rightly hers. I love the fact that this bramble is slowly meandering its way along my back fence. I think I manifested it as I had been wishing for a little more green and a little less red.
How lovely that this bluebell surfaced from the missing tile on the floor too. The splash of lilac and green is a very welcome sight in the yard, especially as it is still rather bare.
What hasn't been welcome is the weather. This time last year, it was hot. Not like England hot either. We seemed to go straight into summer from winter. But this year has been a whole different ball game. Hail, snow, temperatures consistently below 11 degrees Celcius during the day and almost freezing celsius at night. It had been a rather dry and sunny April but May seems to have been lumbered with April's Showers and the high winds and heavy rain have battered my basil and destroyed a fence panel. Still, at least I have a use for the tumble dryer drum fire pit. 🙌😊
Seeds Be A Sproutin'
So how are the little seeds coming along? Well, everything except the Chives has popped. I think perhaps, I should have kept them indoors so lesson learned for next time. So, in no particular order here is what I have so far...
Indoors, I have commissioned my daughter's bedroom as the greenhouse. She isn't here during the week and only has to mind them on the weekend. She commented on how waking up to seeing they had spouted really uplifted her mood. I thought this was such a lovely thing for her to notice, considering she isn't a huge fan of growing plants.
So below from left to right...
Oregano, melissa Officinalis aka lemon balm, sage, basil, cucumber, purple basil, holy basil and more basil... it might seem that I like basil haha.
No, I Am Not Going To Shoot The Cat
Two days ago I went to water my lettuce leaves which were growing really well, still small but strong. As I tipped the watering can over the box I could see only two of the seedlings and a clumped-up lump at one end of the box. The local alley cat was at it again. I thought he had buzzed off to use someone else's garden instead of following our lovely chat the other week when he jumped my fence to find me sitting in the garden. I asked him very kindly if he would please not use my vegetable boxes as his toilet. I naively assumed that he understood me when he left quite abruptly.
Boy was I wrong. I am so angry with him for destroying my food. I wouldn't go and poop on his dinner. (Do I sound annoyed? I guess I am). But I have to forgive the little dude. He is just doing what cats do. My neighbor said I should shoot him, she hates cats with a vengeance as her garden used to be the local litter box. I absolutely do not want to do that. So I have devised a plan to make a kitty litter box near the gate for him and hope and pray he gets the message.
After all, within the problem lies the solution. Right?
In the meantime, I have put lemons around the box and cannot wait to pot out the lemon balm once it is a little bigger. I have sprinkled some more seeds in the box, which is kinda out of sync with my lunar planting, but I was really hoping for some salad soon. Fingers crossed it works.
Boy was I wrong. I am so angry with him for destroying my food. I wouldn't go and poop on his dinner. (Do I sound annoyed? I guess I am). But I have to forgive the little dude. He is just doing what cats do. My neighbor said I should shoot him, she hates cats with a vengeance as her garden used to be the local litter box. I absolutely do not want to do that. So I have devised a plan to make a kitty litter box near the gate for him and hope and pray he gets the message.
After all, within the problem lies the solution. Right?
In the meantime, I have put lemons around the box and cannot wait to pot out the lemon balm once it is a little bigger. I have sprinkled some more seeds in the box, which is kinda out of sync with my lunar planting, but I was really hoping for some salad soon. Fingers crossed it works.
So there we have it folks,
Hopefully, there will be a little more growth by next month and I will have more updates. I have learned a lot this last month and will remember the lessons.
If you've made it all the way to the end, I thank you but I have a favor to ask. Can you help me manifest some better weather and offer the cat a holiday at your place? @riverflows, can he come to yours? I'll pay the shipping costs?😂
Thanks for reading,
P.S: If you like my new style of formatting, I found out how to do it from this lovely blog by @jason04, thanks, dude!
~ONE LOVE~
CommunityIIDiscord
Oh, i love this, the garden, the green leafy grown....
Weldone to you.
Aww thank you @olaunlimited 🤗💚
You are welcome dear, keep up the good work🌷
Of course I had to actually come by your post since it spurred my own on! Love seeing all those seedling start popping out. How can you not be enchanted to watch dirt make way for new life? The whole process of starting new plant life really is such fun. From the seedlings popping out, to seeing the first blossoms then the adorable baby fruits.
Sounds as though we have a lot of the same items growing! I would have happily gifted you some lemon balm. My goodness does that grow everywhere in our garden. We have already started harvesting bunches to dry as it has exploded early again.
I don't envy you the cat as my sister has the same problem. Her carport reeked of cat spray when she moved in. Luckily it seems that her efforts to spruce up the yard and her new garden have helped a bit, but those felines sure do make themselves at home!
Can't wait to see everything as the weather really warms up and all that greenery really starts to pop!
Aww, thanks for reading. Yes I just read yours too. I need some strawberries... can you send me some of those lovely plants of yours please? 😍
Ah, that's a shame about the lemon balm, if only I had known! That is very kind of you. ooh, which reminds me maybe NM should start a seed swap initiative if there isn't one already. That would be really cool.
Yes, I am hoping the cat moves on to pastures new very soon. I've even seen the monster pooping on the lower roof of the neighbor opposite! He's hardcore I tell you. haha...
I am very much looking forward to seeing how these veggies turn out. It's the first time I'm doing it all in pots.
Thanks for stopping by
hugs 🤗💚
I think the sweetest thing I've read is you thinkin g a kitty litter box is the solution. I'd shoot the cat. You are a better person than me.
Whooooahhhh the formatting on this post! Amazing. Look at you go!!! I adore the table solution - that looks really cool and wipe clean too! A can of spray paint on the legs and she's a good 'un.
April/May could be anything goes in England from memory. Snow, hail, wind, and bright sunny days where you could smother yourself in goose fat and sunbake. Ah, I miss it.
Great to see things blooming so - and I think your daughter might eventually be hooked, one day, if she's already saying that plants cheer her up!
Well it's worth a shot. I love cats, don't love their poop though.
Thanks it took me ages to jig it just right but I think I can find a quicker way now.
Yes the table was a fab find and the lino on top is quite pretty too.
I'll send you some weather with the cat if you like haha I'll have your Aussie summer's as a trade lol
Yeah S is a dark horse, she used to pretend she didn't like the cat or dog and then I'd find her snuggled up with them.
Thank you for your lovely comment beautiful
Much love to you 💚💚🤗🤗
The only one of my cats who preferred dirt as her litterbox was Deidre. She killed a few houseplants before I learned the secret: use knicknacks and happy meal toys, odd little shaped things like that, half buried in the dirt so they are poking out but not easily pulled out by kitty claws (learned that lesson when I tried using gutter cover mesh as the "thing in the way"). Then they're annoying to walk on and there's nowhere nice to step and dig. That's a little harder in a larger outdoor space, though! You might try some litter attractant in that litterbox?
like this:
Dudley the dragon tree still keeps his knicknacks:
I'll get my boys to bury some of their legos. For now, the lemons are working. No clumps this morning.
Does that attracting stuff contain catnip?
I can see why Dudley has his toys. His leaves look like kitty play heaven too. I find it amusing when I see cats stuff their butts into tiny spaces to do their business. I often think "wow, of all the places you can go and you chose there"
Haha
Thanks for your helpful tips, greatly appreciated.
Much love to you @phoenixwren
💚😁🤗
I'm not wholly sure what all the herbs are in the attractant.
Dudley's leaves AND the spider plant and her babies above him! LOL
Yuan makes what I call "litter glaciers" in that he pees over and over again in the same spot so that when I scoop (and I do it almost every single day), there's some small clumps but one GIANT MONSTER CLUMP stuck to the side of the box. He turns around and poops on one of the other sides so it sometimes goes over the side, too. He's a big cat, but he has big boxes! Maybe I should get him a sandbox. ;)
Litter glaciers 🤣🤣
Oh man that's gross yes it certainly sounds like he needs a sandbox haha. But then again, in my experience of cats once they have a penchant for doing something they will do the same thing so maybe he will poop over the edge of the sandbox too.
I'll check out that attractant stuff. Although I was thinking about just using some sand from the beach. Geez he's not even my cat haha
Xx
I was just thinking, if he keeps using the garden rather than the box, it might help nudge him over to the box at first. I don't think you'd need to keep it up once he has established a habit of using the box.
And yeah ...Yuan might just poop on the side of the sandbox, too. 🤣 Cats.
If he was my cat I might be able to do it but he isn't sure about me and normally skiddadles as soon as he sees me. Maybe he knows he is guilty lol xx
Day two and the lemons are working anyhow and my neighbour has an old letterbox she is sorting out for me. The kids didn't want me to plant any if their toys so that's out the window haha xx
all part of the blackthorn winter you were talking about in another blog ,spring has been slow . reading this blog I realize that myself and @queenoftheworld have a song for you titled "the nasty poo cat" aka "the cat that did the nasty poo" :D
It sure is although, it does feel a lot warmer today. Maybe my post broke the curse and those who read it helped to manifest some warmer weather for us.
Ooh If I make it to the bandstand on Sunday will you play it? 😁😁🤗💚
I won't take that cat of yours. I'm not a cat person, let alone of maleducate creatures like this one but I can surely send you some sunshine and warmer weather. Just give me some time.
Also, you reminded me of this old MSDOS PC Game that I used to play a lot in the early 90s:
Aww thank you Vincent, it's already a little warmer just raining now.
Haha omg that game 😂🤣 how technology has evolved. It's a shame some cats haven't though...
Much love to you dear friend 🤗💚
😂😂😂😂. Yes, put the cat on plane to Nigeria. Lol
Such a beautiful garden you got there.
The weather has been unpredictable theses days. A lot of climate a changes, our planet definitely need care.
Tell that cat to stop manifesting it's cat behaviour around your garden.
If it's keep coming you might eventually heed your friend's advice and kill the cat. Lol
Those gardens shouldn't be ruined. It's better the cat goes.
Wonderful piece.
Haha I'd love to but perhaps his owner will miss him.
I love cats but this guy knows how to press my buttons.
For now, my lemon tactic is working so I shall keep my fingers crossed it stays that way.
Thanks for your comment. 🤗💚
Grow garden grow, especially the chamomile!! Nothing like fresh chamomile tea. Maybe you just need a gigantic venus flytrap for rotten kitty.
@NaturalMedicine supports wellness of body, mind, soul and earth on HIVE.
Come say hi via Lotus Chat or drop by our Hive Community - we'd love to have you!
Wow what a beautiful tour of your garden! So much going on!
If you have some sharp pokey things to lay around your plants like raspberry canes or rose branches that deters the cats