วีดีโอ

Ah has it? Ok that makes me feel better - a small part of me was wondering if I got it wrong and they weren’t blackthorn trees after all.

@@YolandeWarden hahaha! I’m a great lover of armchair exploring

@@YolandeWarden I’m glad you confirmed it because I wasn’t sure, it was just a guess based on a tiny leaf picture in a book 😃

@@mymessyplotyou say the nicest things!

@@YolandeWarden clever horse!

@LifeOnTheCroft yes thankfully we got off lightly. Some trees fell down in the fields but luckily the trees near the house stood firm.

@@SallyBarnes274 oh goodness, you don’t expect your window to blow open do you! The wind must have been battering your house to rip those nets up. I’ve never seen such relentless wind for such a sustained period of time. Overall I think I was pretty lucky though, with the exception of some trees falling or splitting in the fields, we didn’t have any serious damage. Hope you’re able to sort your curtains out without too much bother.

@@mymessyplot Yes, That wind was howling and never seem to stop for over two days. I managed to dry out my curtains, but the nets were ruined but managed to find some to replace the old ones. My umbrella took a battering in town as it constantly blew inside out from those very gusty winds and also my hat blew away. We had a lot of trees blown down and some flooding. I was glad my roof never blew off thank god xxxx

@ I’ve never gotten on with umbrellas, they always seem to catch in the wind and get in the way! Maybe I’ve just never found the right one. I was worried about my roof too - especially the one on the outbuilding. Let’s hope this is the last storm for a good long while.

@@mymessyplot Yes, Wind can cause havoc with umbrellas and can be a handful when they get blown inside out. I think you need to find the right umbrella that suits you. I found one that I liked that can cope with these sort of winds and has lasted years. my umbrella is a gustbuster windproof golf umbrella even tho it has blown inside out on many occasions, but has never broke in the strongest gusts of wind. I glad your roof survived but unfortunately we probably will get more storms like this during the winter months. I got used to fighting with my umbrella in these winds LOL 🌧🌧🌬🌬🌬☔🌂

@ I’ve never heard of the gustbuster - I’ll google it, thanks for the tip!

@@juliaforsyth8332 ha yes! Astounding how ancient wisdom of healing plants is dubbed as newly discovered!

@@myrustygarden dichondra rapens - I’ll look it up, thanks Ali. The river may well have moved but the neighbour has put up a barb wire fence. Apparently the old owner of my place kept going into the river so the neighbour put up the fence to keep him off his land 🙄 I love my new hat too, glad you like it! I’ve had to buy a whole new wardrobe since moving here. I’m wearing layers for the first time in my life and even wear cardigans now - and often have to keep my hat on in the house! This old detached stone house just doesn’t warm up and hold the heat. All safe here - we had no major storm damage other than some trees coming down in the fields.

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr I was wondering if perhaps the rubbish spring might have made an impact. Didn’t occur to me about the insects but of course you’re right - scarily few pollinators. I know there are good years and bad years in terms of weather and that does affect the wildlife - but I do despair at what humans are doing to this planet and its non human inhabitants. I wish more people cared and paid attention.

@@mymessyplot Me too!!

@@lorrainerichardson3280 I bought that RYOBI pole saw you recommended , it arrived yesterday - it looks like a serious bit of kit! I have yet to try it because I’m waiting for the wind to subside - we’re still having unexpected little gusts of it. I will look up that tree pruner too - thank you. How long have you been tending to your 1/2 acre?

@@haunce oh thanks - I’ll look that up!

@@bryansloesshillshomestead4523 thank you, I do love it 😊

@@drivealonguk7793 yes I do hope to do a walk along the entire length of the woodlands soon - I just need to clear a path through first because there are lots of brambles. It’s on my to do list 😀

@@OtterwoodCottage they’re much smaller than a ‘normal’ leek - but I quite like that. And it’s great not having to plant fresh every year!

@@lorrainerichardson3280 hi Lorraine, yes I can do that if it would be helpful 🙂 if you watch the first video I made you’ll have to excuse all the heavy breathing 🤣 I had my mic set to the highest sensitivity so when I was out of breath walking up and down the hills, you could hear it. You live and learn!

@@bryansloesshillshomestead4523 thank you 🙏

@@myrustygarden thanks Ali. Sofa, movies and hot chocolate for me today. Trying to pretend it’s not going crazy outside.

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr I was actually in Tonyrefail last night, planning to stay at my aunty’s house, but decided to rush back home before the worst of the weather. I didn’t want to be away from home and worrying about what was happening here. We drove through Pontypridd at around 7pm and everything seemed ok but the rain was very heavy so I hope all it still ok there. I thought of you as I passed Swansea on the M4 yesterday and this morning I said to myself ‘I must check if Isabel is ok’ 😂 Luckily we’ve not lost power. I’m glad yours didn’t go off for too long. Let’s hope we’ve already seen the worst of it. I don’t want to spend another sleepless night tonight listening to the wind. It’s still raging out there now!

@@mymessyplot Yes, it`s not a time to be away from home. Let`s hope things improve soon. I hope you have a better night tonight.

@@lorrainerichardson3280 yes it surprised me too but I guess hunger pushes them out of hiding - they’re being blown about like little tufts of fluff but once they land they seem to be able to hold steady. Terrifying is the right word for wind!!

@@drivealonguk7793 yes I’ve seen on our village Facebook group that some roads around us are blocked because of fallen trees. My next door neighbour has had some trees come down in her field.

@@myrustygarden glad to hear it never gets cold in Canada 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I need to find some woods near me to explore. When I was in south Wales we had a lovely forest just behind our house - a beautiful place to walk. I’ll have to do some hunting on google maps to see if I can find one local. I’ve never seen Saskatoon jam sold here - hopefully I can make some with my first harvest. Oh don’t get me started on the GoPro, I bitterly regret buying it. I got it so that I could film without all the shaky footage. I’ve now discovered I could have got a gimbal at a 6th of the cost to use alongside my smartphone. Which would have created higher quality videos and none of the battery life issues the GoPro has. You live and learn! A gimbal is on my list of things to buy when I have some spare cash. Speak to you soon Ali 😀

@@LifeOnTheCroft yes it really does get miserable! I can deal with cold and sunny, like you get some days, but wet and windy is just too demoralising. The house is just too tempting 🤣

@@NainaSolanki-uh7if 😀😀😀

😂😂😂😂😂

@@rizenarts33 lol!! Are you making fun of my attempt to keep dry 🤣

@@rizenarts33 yeh I’m looking forward to seeing them grow 😀

@@drivealonguk7793 I love seeing what other people are growing for the same reason - ideas - and plant envy 🤣

@ 😆😆😆

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr and I forgot to mention the gooseberry bushes and tiny goji berry plants! Now I just have to plant them all. I started on the hornbeams yesterday, got 35 planted out, I’ll be carrying on today. And yes, hornbeam do keep their leaves just like beech but the hornbeam is more tolerant of different growing conditions than beech, hence my choice. For example beech don’t like damp soil - I have a lot of damp soil here. But this is just what I read on the sellers website, I’ve not got any personal experience with either. I’ve read something from Monty Don saying that you have to give hornbeam and beech a trim in summer so that they keep their leaves over winter - not sure of the truth in that. And thank you again for the shoutout in your last video, one of your subscribers popped over and told me about a tool she uses to cut overhanging branches. I’ve ordered it so hopefully I can trim back the branches overhanging the hedge area next week. My Welsh family also said last year was not the normal level of rainfall. But this year doesn’t seem much better! I console myself that we wouldn’t have as much moss if we didn’t have so much moisture. I do love moss.

@@mymessyplot I`m glad someone came over and helped you out. We may yet have a little community of wild gardeners here on TH-cam. There is what I thought was a beech hedge near where my daughter lives near Cardiff. But looking at it, the leaves are more strongly serrated so I think it may be hornbeam. It certainly hangs onto its leaves over winter and gives privacy to their garden. So what you are planning should work very well.

@ oh good! I was a bit worried I might go to all that effort and then the hornbeam ends up shedding it’s leaves. But good to know there’s proof out there somewhere near Cardiff. 👍😀

@@charlyheather1822 hahahhahaaaa!!!! Yep that sounds about right. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has so much trouble with levelling. 😀

Ah thank you, yes, there are several trees on the land that are invaded with ivy. One which I need to tackle is the large hawthorn by my front gate - I'll be cutting the ivy stems this winter to stop it from swamping the tree in the years to come. Others I'll leave because they're too far gone and the ivy does provide habitat and food for the wildlife.

@@mymessyplot It does provide habitat, I thought the same and totally regretted it, now I'm having a heck of a time trying to get rid of it.

@ oh gosh! Sound ominous. I’ll be vigilant!

Oh fantastic, what make is it? I'll see if I can find it online

@@mymessyplot Mine is a Ryobi and like you I was terrified of cutting quite a thick branch but with the pole saw I just cut it at around a metre long pieces until it was done. Have fun =-)

@ fabulous, thank you. I’ll see if I can get my hands on one 😀

Oh Ali, if you think that's a lot - you should see the boxes of 'shed' stuff that are in the dutch barn waiting to be unpacked. No one ever accused me of being a minimalist 🤣

whoop whoop!!! you're able to comment Yolande - how fantastic 🤩

Trouble is, I can never keep it tidy! I'm hoping I did the right thing with the insects.

@@mymessyplot Seems OK to me. You couldn`t do anything else really, just leave them be and give them a way out in spring. The bumblebee Trust will give advice about bumblebees.

😀 someone feels my frustration!!

@@LifeOnTheCroft thank you 🤩

@@rizenarts33 yes - can’t wait until they start growing and filling up the space a bit

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr thanks Isabel - the only reason why I did and introduction is because I find it very difficult to do the hello part at the beginning of the video - I just couldn’t be natural and easy while doing it (so I stopped trying and just started the videos by talking about what I was doing instead - e.g I’m just cleaning the barn today). But you’re really good at the hello bit of your videos 😀 I think you’ll have fun creating an intro though, especially if you still have some photos of your garden before you started wilding it. It would be nice for us viewers to see before and after shots and some footage of the wildlife that visits your garden. I didn’t realise that about the lime - I’ll take extra good care of them then. You probably could get one for your garden - maybe for the bit of garden across the road even - they can get huge but they respond really well to pollarding if you need to keep them smaller to fit the space. Apparently aphids love the leaves so create a good source of food for birds in the spring. The chaffinches make me laugh, they can’t seem to use the feeders, they do try but they make a right mess of it, clattering wings and failed attempts 😂 They’re happier since I stayed feeding on the tray as well. And I’ve always loved starlings, they’re rowdy little gangster birds with so much character, so I’m happy to see them. Though I am a little worried that they’ll eat me out of house and home once word gets around the at I’m providing food 😂😂😂 I saw a jay on the tray yesterday - I was delighted because they’re usually so elusive

@@mymessyplot Well, actually, I have just ordered a Lime tree from the Woodland Trust. Once I got it in my head there was only one thing for it. The woodland trust trees are very small, but I`ve had a few and they are all growing away. Interesting what you say about our intros. I guess none of us see ourselves as others do. I hate seeing myself on camera, but you seem very natural and comfortable to me. A few people have asked about before pictures of my garden. I have some but they are on another defunct device. I`ll have to see what I can do.

@ haha! Brilliant. We can compare growth of our little trees 😀 And yes I don’t like seeing myself on camera either. In fact I dread the whole process of filming but I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone so I endure. I look forward to seeing your new intro if you do decide to go ahead and create one.

@@myrustygarden thank you Ali 😊 I’m worried about the pipes in the outdoor toilet - I need to figure out some protection for them. We’re on a water meter (unlike our neighbours who are all unmetered!) so if a pipe burst it could end up being very costly. I have tried to get the stuff out of the shredder but no luck so far. I’ll try again because as the plant material dries, it’ll shrink and possibly be easier to pull out. The friend who gave me the machine told me that the auger was damaged so she wasn’t sure if it would work. I’ll give it one more go - if I’m able to unblock it - this time without overloading it. Fingers crossed it’ll work. Good idea about the tree propagation, I’ll do some research. You always leave such great comments Ali - thank you.

@ I don’t wish to panic you I’m just relaying our stories. Last winter we had a massive desk cold spell it got down to minus 14c. Now our house the pipes “valve” is actually in the house it’s a special tap/pipe so, it doesn’t freeze as easily and we turn them right off to the outside wall. But we had pipes freeze in the laundry room (no heater). My daughters outside tap on the basement suite (her daughter lives there) burst into the kitchen and flooded the entire basement while they were at work. Took months of insurance and repairs to get to use it again. Now not to worry you but my advise is if you don’t need it turn it off. Better than something you “think” should work doesn’t. Fingers crossed there are no issues 🤞🤞🤞

@@myrustygarden I think that’s good advise. If I can just find out how to turn off the water to the outside toilet that would be ideal. Failing that I’ll close the individual isolation valves on the sink and toilet and insulate the pipes as best I can. And then pray 😂 Sounds like you had one hell of a job dealing with your frozen pipes and I’d be stupid not to learn from your experience!

@ I would never say stupid Sameena it’s all about new experiences and hopefully learning as we go along 💕

@@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr me too! Luck was with us on that day.

@@myrustygarden I’ll keep an eye out and see for there are any going in my area

@@myrustygarden 🤣🤣🤣 Hoppy would be an excellent name for a pet frog! My hair - if only it would always fall in just the right way, I’d be a happy woman! Having a friendly farmer next door must be a great help with heavy jobs like shifting fallen trees. Now I see what a small job my little overhanging branches really is 🤣 Oh goodness - I’ll have to do some research about that plant then - the last thing I want to introduce is something invasive. Thanks for the heads up 😀👍

@@OtterwoodCottage yes! someone who dislikes it as much as me 😀

@ 😂

Oh yes! Magical is the right word for it - that's exactly what I'm hoping for.