Companion gardeners, some of the best

For this post I have chosen some of my fabulous companion gardeners who assist me in my garden and in Favolosa, my greenhouse.

The above photo shows Tansy Teapot on my knee, Pickle Pixie Pantaloon and my beautiful black cat, Remus Nautilus.

Naturally, their assistance is coupled with plenty of fun and frolics of the furry and the feathered kind.

I have always found that gardening with my cats, chickens and dogs, over the years, has been such a boon to my wellbeing.

Although, I must say, my rescue hens can be a little exuberant with their turbo charged beaks and feet. However, the fun always far outweighs any minor damage they may inadvertently cause to a plant.

Likewise, when Lulu, my lovely, enormous and overexuberant golden retriever had a collision with a Procut Plum sunflower, the amusement won the day. If you are interested in finding out the fate of the Procut Plum, I have given a link below to that post.

The fabulous positivity of beautiful plants

Her gardening antics included spending every afternoon in my largest wildlife pond. I can still remember the lovely wet dog fragrance. Honestly, it was truly unforgettable.

Lulu was a very different gardening companion to my lovely Welsh Collie Meg. Absolutely no plant collisions and no soaking in the pond from lovely Meg. Naturally, I remember them both with love and plenty of happy memories. They were two of the best companion gardeners.

In addition to my furry and feathered helpers, I have included a story and tribute to a wonderful little white dog in this companion gardeners post.

So let us begin with those fabulous rescue hens of mine.

My rescue hens, tremendous companion gardeners

My first photo has to be one of my cheeky rescue hens. This was Portia Petal awaiting instructions on where to place her turbo charged beak and feet and get gardening.

Naturally, my instructions are often ignored, and the flock choose their own area to dig. I often find that the area chosen is actually part of the lawn. However, as I have so many flowers, especially dahlias, to plant, I am happy to gain another flower border.

As a matter of fact, I have about one hundred and seventy new dahlias so get digging in the lawn girls. We need another flower border or two, my feathered companion gardeners.

Recently, my head hen Rafaela found an alfresco nesting site and stopped gardening to plop out an egg. Thankfully, she clucked so loudly the first time she laid one outside, I was able to locate the egg.

I imagine her flock will follow suite soon and lay their eggs in this new leafy nest of Rafaela’s choosing.

Actually, I share the eggs with my girls as a reward for all their hard work in the garden. Although, I think they enjoy every moment that they spend with me and would not consider it to be work. Likewise girls!

I do fence off any part of a border that has been recently planted to allow the plants to get settled and rooted. In addition, any area that I have direct sown seeds gets netted for a week or two.

Other than these areas, the girls are allowed to strut about at will. Free ranging at its best.

More chicken digging fun

My next photo is an action shot of my fabulous girls on digging operations.

I have a passion for orange dahlias this year and need a new border for them. Naturally, my chickens love to assist with digging out more of the lawn.

The team, headed up by Rafaela Rooster (clearly, not a rooster) made short work of it with her team mates, Letitia Lettice, Tansy Teapot and Pickle Pixie Pantaloon.

Whilst the girls were digging, I worked out which orange dahlias I wanted in the new border. Of course, I couldn’t have orange without a bit of purple or maroon.

I love planning the colours in a new border. Almost as much as the girls like digging it seems.

I shall choose the orange dahlias out of all of the new ones I have, and add the dark dahlias, Verrone’s Obsidian and Black Touch. In addition, cosmos Fizzy Purple might be good and maybe some Scabious Black Night. Gosh, wouldn’t Arabian Night and Thomas A Edison look fantastic too.

Moreover, I have a fabulous new cosmos called Polidor which is bright orange so that one might be heading for the new border too.

As some of the new dahlias are buxom blousy dinner plate varieties and others are ball shaped, I need the cosmos and scabious so ensure I have some flowers for the pollinators.

What fun it is to plan the flowers and imagine them blooming in the summer.

I will share plenty of photos on blog posts over the summer of my new border.

Companion gardeners, that beautiful black cat

My next photo is the fabulous Remus Nautilus. One of those constant gardening companions who expects to feature in every blog post. I couldn’t find a space in the last couple of flowers for pollinators posts so sorry about that Remus Naught.

Naturally, he thinks he is a media star now, so every moment includes a pose for camera snaps.

I managed to get a snap of Tansy Teapot staring at Remus Naught. Of course, my rescue hens must often wonder why the black cat is upside down on the lawn yet again.

Whenever they are all otherwise engaged, I prick out and pot on a few seedlings. Much as my hens like to help with this task, the seedlings prefer the gentler approach. Furthermore, my seedlings do not enjoy being sat on by a black cat.

Unsurprisingly, with thirty two varieties of cosmos germinating, there will be plenty of potting on action.

Thankfully, I thoroughly enjoy pricking out seedlings and potting them on to grow, before planting out in the garden.

I am busy sowing other seeds as well now so plenty more potting on to come.

More black cat action

Or possibly, less black cat action, and more black cat inaction displayed here.

So, my next photo is the lovely Remus Naught having a snooze in Favolosa. I have had to give up part of my greenhouse staging for a snoozing area.

Whilst I really needed all the space I could get for plants and seedlings, a compromise had to be reached.

Naturally, Remus Naught was happy to snooze on a seed tray. Any seed tray in fact. However, despite the advantages of a hot furry cat for seed germination, the seedlings were getting squashed.

Therefore, the compromise was reached, and we are both jolly happy. I suspect my seedlings are also thrilled.

And on the subject of seedlings, there appear to be hundreds in Favolosa. Now how did that happen?

Of course, eight packets of zinnias, thirty two of cosmos and four of dahlias just had to be sown. Those fantastic pollinators need feeding and the garden needs plenty of colour.

However, the morning glory, asters, sunflowers, runner beans, squash, and one hundred and seventy dahlia tubers need to snuggle in there soon too.

Well, whilst I work out the logistics of that one, let us move on to that little white dog I mentioned earlier.

Companion gardeners, one little white dog

As mentioned earlier, here is the story of Budleigh, the little white dog. I met the Derbyshire Gardener on Instagram, where a large group of us share photos of our gardens and gardening companions.

The Derbyshire Gardener moved into a new garden in 2020. An unforgettable year, that like most people, he will never forget.

With the devastating loss of his partner, coupled with his dad having two major strokes, gardening became his release. In fact, gardening was the only way he found he could get out of his house and clear sad thoughts from his mind.

His little white dog, Budleigh, had entered his life at his lowest point. Thankfully, Budleigh changed his life around and became a constant companion.

Gardening became the Derbyshire Gardeners greatest help for his mental health. And he could guarantee that wherever he was in his garden, Budleigh would be with him.

In fact, he watched so closely, his doting dad felt that Budleigh could plant up a border or sow some seeds himself.

Of course, Budleigh is in every photo of their garden, supervising and making his dad laugh. A great companion gardener indeed.

A tribute from Budleigh’s dad.

A tribute from the Derbyshire Gardener to his Budleigh.

Unfortunately, in December 2023, I lost my gardening companion. My tiny little white dog had the most inflamed and largest heart the vet had ever seen.

Of course, this did not surprise me in one way. His heart was so full of love and his eyes always said it all.

Naturally, my loss was devastating, and my sadness and pain returned.

However, although I can feel so alone now in the garden, I know that he is watching me from somewhere. He is still with me, watching everything I am doing, as he always did.

I feel the energy of my beautiful gardening companion everywhere in my garden. Especially in my memory garden, where I would sit and reflect. He would always sit at my feet and force me to bend down to give that all important, tummy rub.

So, thank you Budleigh for all the years you stayed by my side. When I suffered from grief or when I laughed at my gardening mistakes.

Thank you for everything my little furry friend. And, please don’t ever leave my side when I am gardening.

Companion gardeners

I hope that the stories above have shown how fabulous it is to have lovely companion gardeners of the furry or feathered kind. Whether this is rescue hens, cats, dogs or all three together. Or perhaps, the friendly robin who follows us around in our gardens.

I currently have two robins in attendance whilst in my garden. And the Derbyshire Gardener tells me that he finds that robins are a garden friend and a huge comfort. Apparently Budleigh tolerated robins but would chase them away if they got too close.

Now, let us get back to those fabulous chickens for a moment. If you would like to look into adopting some lovely hens, I can thoroughly recommend them for endless entertainment. Also, for perching on a shoulder it seems!

My girls come from BHWT (British Hen Welfare Trust).

I have added a link below for more details.

https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-adoption/

If you are looking to adopt a rescue cat or two, the Cats Protection have many animals looking for a loving home. Link below for more details.

https://www.cats.org.uk/

And, if you are interested in adopting a rescue dog, the Dog’s Trust have so many dogs needing a loving home. Link below

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/

Do let me know if you have companion gardeners and what antics they get up to. Chickens, cats, dogs or maybe you have some children destined to be the next Monty Don or Rachel De Thame.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and will join me next time for plenty more sowing and planting of flowers in my garden.

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