Foraging for berries in the garden

Yesterday was my first proper forage of the year. I thought it might be nice to film it, so you can see how you can get a good yield from just a small bush or area. I have 3 planter boxes about 2 meters long and a foot wide, with two small patches of ground for flowers and things too. The boxes have a lot going on with potatoes, herbs, poppies, jasmine and wild strawberries.

I bought 3 extra small planters about 2 ft square to put on the concrete outside the house, to make the most of that sunny patch and get as much on the go as I can for the insects and spiders to make their home in. Mostly flowers but I moved the goosebery bush in Spring as last year it had no berries. Must have been a good move as there are loads this year.

Ended up with a rather good bounty for the first sweep 😁

The birds don’t seem to help themselves to any of the fruit, but they have plenty of insects and bird food to keep them busy so far. I don’t mind sharing though, in fact my dog likes strawberries so as I pick them i have to share as I go!

(c) K Wicks

A little patch of wild

This little patch seems to be quite happy this year. I’ve cleared some of the weeds which were looking to clog it up, but left everything else as it is. Its a small strip at the edge of the lawn, but happily houses the redcurrant bush, bluebells, a few other plants and a geranium which is slowly raging out of control at the other end. But, I did find an angle shade caterpillar under the geranium this morning, and bees were enjoying it as well, so it’s doing a good job for now.

White winter heath
Pyramidal Bugle
Redcurrants
Geranium
Angle shade moth caterpillar
Geranium and buff tailed bumblebee

(c) K Wicks