Thank you :-)

Thank you :-)

Thank you, great you like my wildlife allotment as well :-) My allotments are my happy place, I could not think of my life without them. They give me so much joy seeing all the wildlife visiting and living there, I also harvest a lot of fresh fruit and veg.

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-)

Thank you for your comment and nice you get some inspiration from my plot. We are currently in the middle of the worst drought we ever had here as well, probably not as bad as in Spain but bad enough. I have given up watering most of the flowers, they just need to survive on their own now or die, I just water the trees and vegetables now. Anything that dies gives me the opportunity to plant something else which is more resilient and drought resistant such as many of the small Mediterranean shrubs such as Cistus. I hope all is going well with your garden and that it survives the drought.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment Indeed, there isn't any rain since the end of spring and the thermomether is over 30ºC every single day since the beginning of june without exception. As you say, sometimes it's better to let the nature make its own and observe which species are tough enough. The results often seem illogical: some annuals such as Calendula can thrive and reseed with very little water, but supposedly drought-resistant bushes like Lavandula or Polygala are quite stressed. On the other hand, bushes such as Vitex or Gaura look gorgeous and flowering in high heat and no water. Also, I spend all the year round collecting wildflower seeds in order to stablish some local plants which are proven to be both adapted and liked by the local fauna. In the end, it requires a lot of patience and learning but I'm sure that I will find the way.

Thank you, glad you like my allotment :-). You can see my allotment on the TV screen soon, in the new channel More4 program 'Garden of the Year' which starts on Monday next week (22/8), my allotment will feature in episode 3 on Wednesday, 9pm. It still looked nice and green then as they filmed at the end of June, now the allotment is a lot more brown and yellow with the drought but there are still some nice flowers which have survived so far.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment Would love you to support my wildlife & nature channel ..Blessings xxxShaz

Thank you :-) Great you liked my allotment.

Thank you, glad you like it :-).

Great you like the video :-) Had some time at the weekend as I did not have to do much watering so thought I make a new video about my allotment.

Thank you :-)

Yes you are right there are many more great plants for pollinators. Maybe I do another video, part 2, with more flowers for pollinators sometime.

Thank you :-)

The yellow daisy flowers are Helianthus mollis.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment Thanks!

Thank you very much for your comment. It is nice you try to do your bit for pollinators as well. I have a lot of wildflowers on my allotment which other people who like more conventional gardens would call weeds, but as long as I like them they can stay and most are great for pollinators as you discovered as well. I will try to make more videos this year as soon as the gardening year gets going. I have not seen many solitary bees so far this year but have seen plenty of bumblebees (mostly queens) which is nice. They seem to like my apricot tree which is in full flower at the moment.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment I look forward to seeing any more videos that you upload.

Thank you :-)

Thank you for your comment and great you find the video of my allotment useful. Start with lots of annual flowers at the beginning and over the years you can plant more perennial plants which will be easier as you don`t have to sow them every year.

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-) I do have separate veg areas, I don`t mix flowers with veg as I don`t think it works well. The separate veg areas are all quite small and in between the flower areas which keep them more sheltered and also more hidden from pigeons etc. Also the flower areas don`t get any additional compost or fertilizer while the veg areas get a covering of home-made compost every year as well as chicken pellets. So far it works well and I don`t seem to have many pest issues. I harvest around 200-300kg of fruit and veg every year.

PS: Here is an example of how these veg areas look like: mywildlifeallotment.blogspot.com/2018/02/how-to-grow-great-celeriac.html

Thank you very much and glad you like it :-) This is the best time of year to appreciate all the seed heads and grasses. I will not cut back until late winter so the allotment will not look bare and empty for a long time. Also from February the spring bulbs start flowering so there is something else to look forward too.

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-)

Hopefully not too much :-)

Yes there are a lot more suitable plants, including sea holly which is great for many different pollinators. If you plant something with simple flowers which has not been bred intensively you cannot go much wrong.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment Thank you. It's on my list!

Thank you :-) We finally have sunshine and warm weather and the plants and wildlife love it.

This is in the UK, in the South of England.

Thank you. I love spending time there, pottering around and watching all the wildlife.

Thank you :-) When the plants grow even taller later in the year I could really believe I am in my own little world.

Thank you :-) Still waiting for some warmer weather, it is such a cold spring here this year. But you are right, when it is hot in summer it will be quite nice to look back to the snowy days :-)

When I lived in Germany up in the mountains we had a lot of snow each winter so you were glad when it finally stopped snowing, but here in South England snow is so rare it is always very exciting, even in April :-)

@@MyWildlifeAllotment Now I understand! The first silent blanket of winter snow here is also very magical. - In December-. By May we have more than had enough. Time for veg gardening!😊

We hardly get snow here nowadays so any snow is quite exciting, even in April! :-)

Thank you :-) The poor bumblebees have quite a hard time this year, after some mild weather in March and early April it has gone very cold again now and they all went into hiding to wait for warmer weather. Hope they will survive the freezing cold nights.

Thank you :-) After some warmer weather winter is back now and most bumblebees are hiding somewhere sheltered, waiting for warmer weather. It is very quiet now, hopefully they will survive the cold spell.

Thank you :-) The Mahonia plant was actually not on my allotment but along the road. I would not have the space for such a large plant. It has gone cold here again and the bumblebees have mostly disappeared, most will be hiding somewhere sheltered waiting for warmer weather.

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-) Hope the first bumblebees come out in February if it does not turn really cold again. Some hoverflies and solitary bees are normally quite early as well.

@@MyWildlifeAllotment yes Hairy footed in my garden are usually the first of the early bees to appear.

Thank you. Greetings back to you from cold England :-)

Thank you :-)

Thank you :-) A shame the snow did not last very long but even the few hours were quite magical.

It is a rare sight to see the allotment in snow, soon we will probably not get any snow at all with climate change so have to enjoy it while it lasts. I am quite glad I did not cut back too many of the grasses and seed heads yet, the last are normally cut in February.