New Ideas

 I have been reflecting on this new idea for some years. I wanted an olive tree to grow in the middle of the stachys in the courtyard replacing the sundial that has been there for the past five years. My thinking was that the leaves of the olive were the same grey green as the stachys and one would complement the other. First find your olive tree! As they are so expensive John has never shown any enthusiasm for the idea however this year I managed to overcome this barrier. About a month ago olive trees suddenly appeared everywhere in garden centres and supermarkets. Prices ranged from about 150 euros to 1500 euros. I realised that if I was going to have any choice of tree I would need to act quickly. Neither of us thought that the old gnarled ones with enormous trunks would be suitable for where we wanted to put it, and any way how on earth would two increasingly decrepit old folk be able to move it, let alone plant it. Eventually the hunt took us to the tree nursery that we have used in the past. I was adamant that we were just going to reconnoiter and definitely not to buy. We bought a tree.

We returned to collect it a few days later when it had stopped raining. it was easily loaded into our trailer by the nursery staff but unloading at home proved more tricky and exhausting.

 So we parked it in the entrance to the alley. We had not anticipated 60 kilometre gusts of wind in the night so when we got up the tree was prostrate. Fortunately just a few twigs were broken but we realised that we would have to plant it without delay.

Initially we had to move the sundial, again another ton weight, to it's new home in the exotic bed. 

Originally we had planned to leave the tree in it's pot but cut the bottom out so that the roots could grow out. 

As John excavated the hole I began to have my doubts about this strategy as the lady at the nursery said it would thrive in the ground and in particular would cope with frosts much better. By this stage I was not the most popular "head gardener". 

Eventually it was planted and I plan to hide pots of agapanthus in the stachys during the Summer for added interest. Phew. However we have just got into our stride and plan to buy 3 cherry trees and replace a dying cypress.

Meanwhile Spring really has arrived in the alley.

Highlights from the Trail Camera

 It's still jolly cold here so we still have little inclination to venture outside but we have been doing a spot of wildlife watching from the warmth of the house using the trail camera set up at the end of the alley.

https://youtu.be/PJKGXLM44RQ

This buzzard seems to have learnt that the "table" at the end of the alley is worth checking out regularly. In fact we have seen him sitting on a branch above it with a distinct expression saying "what nothing today, this is really not good enough"!!

From frequent observations we have seen that the fox visits most nights and sometimes it too is disappointed as the buzzard and the magpies have had their fill earlier.

We have always referred to the fox as "Mr Fox" however investigations on Google have shown us that our visitor is "Mrs Fox". Apparently when foxes investigate possible food sites if they don't find anything to eat they urinate or deficate on the area to tell them not to waste their time searching. We have observed this behaviour frequently but now interpret the squatting to urinate as vixen behaviour. We assume that she has a den nearby but we have no idea where. It would be lovely if she brought her cubs with her one day, but some how I don't think that will happen.

It's amazing what you learn when it's too cold to go outside by searching Google or reading other peoples Blogs!