Neat edges and a bird box

There is a fine line between a wildlife-friendly garden and a total mess. The key differences are neat edges and a bird box.

The bird box can look after itself. I know some people diligently clean them every year but ... that involves ladders. I did try it once. I got three steps up and chickened out. So now the Blue Tits have to sort it out for themselves. They've been looking at the box and got into a right strop when another Blue Tit went near it.

Shaggy Edges.

It has be said though that our grass edges are very shaggy. Really the ground is far too wet to do the edging properly but I've gone round roughly with edging shears and things already look a lot better.

Hooking out mud and moss.

In a few places the edges had become a muddle of mud and moss, so I used a half-moon tool to cut a neater edge and hooked out the carved out muck with a weeding tool. The Lazy Gardener does not worry about having a straight edge. Instead, if it is beginning to look wavy, I exaggerate the bends and dents into graceful curves. No pegging out lines, no fretting over bits that don't line up. Just go with the flow.

Angle-Shades moth caterpillar

Luckily, I was going steady otherwise the Angle-Shades moth caterpillar might have come to a sticky end. I hid it amongst foliage amongst foliage nearby.

Buff-tailed Bumble Bee queen on Winter Heather.

The caterpillar wasn't the only distraction. I had to wait while a Buff-tailed Bumble Bee queen feasted on the Winter Heather and pause while the Robin checked the disturbed soil for worms!