Garden Bears' World - a New Project

We bears love playing in the back garden at Polar and Grizzly's house, as there are trees we can climb, shrubs we can hide in, grass and paths for running on, flowers with nice smells that we can sniff and fruit and vegetables that we can eat (although we always ask first).

For example, here is Endon Bear climbing in the French lavender, then running down the path to check on the lettuces, radishes and beetroot.

And here is Hanley Bear exploring the patio, looking at the flowers and the fly-and-wasp-eating sarracenia plants.

Hanley always checks how the beans are growing - especially 'his' bean - while Endon likes to look after those of his tomatoes that have been planted outdoors.  The ones in the greenhouse already have tiny little fruits coming!

The small bears like to play hide-and-seek in the vegetable patch as well.  Here's Hanley, trying to decide whether the broad beans or the Swiss chard give him better cover.

Sometimes, Grizzly or Polar has to rescue one of us, like this time when I climbed up the trellis outside Grizzly's workshop to sniff the roses, but got my T-shirt caught on the thorns and had to be lifted down by Polar.

But usually I enjoy climbing almost as much as the smaller bears.  Here, I am checking there is plenty of water in the trays for the shorter carnivorous plants, then watching Hanley and Endon play hide-and-seek in the vegetable garden.

While we were playing, Polar had been working at the far end of the garden, cutting back some lilac trees that had got very overgrown to let more light in for the quince tree in the next bed.  She sawed the bigger branches into logs and shredded the smaller ones to make compost, so we had to stay out of the way while all this was happening.  



Of course, as soon as it was safe to take a closer look, we bears scurried down the path to investigate.

Polar said that she wanted this to be a wildlife garden, so wasn't going to clear away all the ivy or even the brambles right at the back of the border.  She showed us where she had piled up some lobs and sticks to make a little den for hedgehogs. 

'When the shreddings have rotted down a little more, we can plant some primroses and cowslips for next spring,' she said.  'And we'll have foxgloves, violets and celandines too.'

We said we would help dig up and move some of these plants from where they are growing at the moment, when the time was right, but first, we had to test whether the lilac stems that were left were good for climbing - and they were!

Then it was time for tea and, afterwards, we sat in the evening sunshine planning how we could make more homes for insects and other creatures in our new wild garden.

The Interrupted Picnic

While we have been doing "Bear Hunt" window duty, we bears have enjoyed watching the flowers come out in the front garden.  One Sunday, when we were still having warm and sunny weather, Polar said we could have a picnic out there while she tidied up the roses. 

Polar put a little towel on the lawn for us to sit on and brought us cups of tea and some biscuits.  We asked if we could help with the gardening but she was feeding and dead-heading the roses.

'I'm worried that you bears will prick your paws on the thorns,' she said.  'You play on the lawn and I'll bring you some more tea when I have a break later on.'

We ran about on the grass for a while, then sat and watched Polar working, then decided to have naps before we ate our biscuits.

It was nice and shady under the plum tree and soon we were all fast asleep.

Suddenly, we felt ourselves being scooped up in Polar's arms and, when we opened our eyes, we were on the patio table in the back garden.

'Sorry about that, little bears,' said Polar.  'But the police have turned up in large numbers at a house across the street, and something very serious must be happening as there are some firearms officers with them.  I thought you would be safer back here.'

We were worried when Polar went back into the front garden to find out what was happening, but lots of our neighbours had come out of their houses too.  Later, we heard that a naughty man had upset another even naughtier man and had then been threatened by him.  Fortunately, it seems no-one was actually hurt.  

Hanley Bear said both of them deserved very *hard stares* and practised one, in case he ever saw either of them.

We saw a police car outside the house for most of the next week, while we doing our window duty but it has gone now, so we hope everyone is being sensible and that we will be able to have picnics in the front garden again when the sun comes out.

Garden Bears' World - Endon's Two Year Anniversary

Last week, it was the two-year anniversary of when Endon joined our small hug of bears, when Hanley and I helped to rescue him from a spin-the-wheel stall at the Endon Well-Dressing Fayre.

We weren't able to go out anywhere far from home to celebrate, like Trentham Gardens or even back to Endon, so Polar said we could all come to the allotment, have a picnic, then sow our wild flower seed balls in our new Small Bears Wildlife Garden.

The ground was very dry and the water butts were empty, but Grizzly had wheeled a big barrel of water down to the plot so Polar could water the plants in the greenhouse, and they said we could have some for our garden.  There is a water butt, but it has been leaking from a little split near the bottom.  The more water is in it, the faster it leaks, but Polar thinks she can fix it with some very strong, very sticky tape.

When we opened the tins, we found lots of small balls of clay inside.  The instructions on the tin said to scatter them where they were going to grow, so we scrambled up the bank behind the Bear Garden, then took it in turns to throw or roll the seeds down onto it.

We tried very hard to space our seed balls out evenly, so had to aim our throws very carefully.  Because it was his special day, we gave Endon all the seeds for bees, while Hanley and I threw the butterfly seeds.

Then we called Polar, so she could water the ground for us.  There was enough water left in the barrel to give it a good soak.

Before we left, while Hanley and I had a nap in the sunshine, Endon had a good look round the rest of the allotment to see how everything was growing.  In the greenhouse, he found some of his tomato plants, plus some of my sweet peppers and a few of Hanley's chillies.

He checked on the potatoes, squashes, more of his tomatoes and Chomper B's beans, to make sure they had enough to drink.  The soil looks very dry but is still damp underneath.

Endon decided that everything was growing very well.

'Now all Polar and Grizzly have to do is to repair the water butt, to stop the leak,' he said.  'Polar says the tape has to go inside, so the pressue of the water holds it in place.  I wonder if a bear could help with that?'

He asked Polar, but she said she was worried the very sticky tape would stick to his fur.  'I'm tall enough to reach the split near the bottom,' she said.  'So, when it's completely dry inside, I'll do that.'

For now, it was time to go home again.  Polar promised us scones and cake for tea, so we could carry on celebrating our smallest bear's special day.

Happy Finding Day, Endon!