May Time

Well, today I've come away from working in the garden feeling tired with a sore back but also with a sense of accomplishment. It's safe to say that I am finally catching up with garden chores, although there is still lots to do.

So, what have I done? As it was a bank holiday here in the UK, we had a three day weekend and I wasted no time in getting stuck in. The weather may not have been the most cheery but it certainly gave me some advantages.

The Front Garden:

Firstly, I got some work done in the front garden. My ambition is to create a very full floral, English cottage style garden. The idea is to make sure that wildlife always has plenty of food resources there. When we moved to our current location the front garden just had very woody lavender and grass, with a weigela in one corner that was never pruned. I now regularly prune that weigela and every year it comes back bigger and better with a huge abundance of flowers. The lawn came out, as did the old lavender, and now there are younger lavenders and plenty of different plants but there's still plenty of room. This weekend I planted a Euphorbia Miners Merlot and a Ceanothus Italian Skies, along with some Crocosmia Harlequin bulbs. 

I also tended to most of the containers, adding some white antirrhinums among others. I don't know about you but when I was a child I was fascinated by the bumblebees climbing inside the antirrhinums. I could sit and watch for hours! Also, as my husband was clearing one of our sheds, he found an old hanging basket made to look like a hedgehog, so I filled that with a Calibrachoa. Another basket was added with Ameranthus in the hope that they will dangle down over the front door. You remember me saying that the weather gave me some advantages? Well, with the front garden after planting it rained over night, which should help the new plants get established.

Lots of plants but still more room! In the foreground are some tulips next to a cineraria. My new euphorbia is in the background.

To be honest I'm surprised that this basket has even survived. It may not look much but there's a young calibrachoa, which should grow and trail down.

All these flowers from just one shrub! There were quite a few bumblebees and honey bees on this. 

The Polytunnel:

This is where I did most of the heavy work and my back is paying for it now! I removed the old top soil from the raised beds as it was looking to be lacking in nutrients. I used it in the garden in areas I'd already composted this year. I then added some well rotted horse manure and fresh compost from one of my heaps. Raking it over carefully to level it up set the raised beds up for planting my tomatoes that were aching to stretch their roots and keep growing. I've got three varieties in now: Rosella, Cour de Bou and Marmande. I have two more varieties to plant next weekend. 

I also stung them up. I don't use canes for my indeterminate tomatoes, instead opting to use string. That way I can just create a string frame and carefully wind the plants around their support strings, a method I learnt to use when I worked for a commercial grower.

As you can see here, each tomato plant has its own string which can be wound round the plant as it grows taller, giving it support. 

Wildlife:

It's been a busy last couple of weeks for the birds. The blue tit eggs have hatched. It's hard to see how many eggs successfully hatched but the hard work for the parents starts now. Both mum and dad have been busy finding small caterpillars in the garden for their chicks. From the camera I have which, by the way is very old and only makes black and white film, I can see seven chicks so far. 

Elsewhere, I have spotted dunnock and robin fledglings. I keep the bird bath cleaned and topped up everyday, especially following the warm, dry weather recently. The swifts are now turning up, which is always delightful to hear as they sound excited to arrive when they call. 

I've also spotted lots of butterflies, including holly blues, which seem to be having a great year so far.

A holly blue settled on clematis. 

Jobs for May:

• Sow sweetcorn and beans (French or Runner)
• Keep bird baths clean and topped up
• Plant out summer bedding
• Watch out for any possible frosts still - I have put out my dahlias but in sheltered positions for the time being as an example.

I hope that you have all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. Till next time. 

 

 

No April showers this week!

 Hello,

I hope it's been a great last couple of weeks for everyone. I've managed a lot in the garden but I wouldn't say that it looks that way. Most of my work is hidden in one of my greenhouses and the rest is on film from my camera traps.

The greenhouse:

The shelves are creaking under the weight of the seed trays and pots but I've still got plenty going in. I've not been too successful in some seed germination - mostly flowers rather than fruit and veg but there's still plenty of time. I remember being at Kew Gardens a few years ago on a glorious day in May and was looking at the seeds for sale in the shop when a woman passed me by and said rather loudly "it's too late to think about seeds". She couldn't have been more wrong and I hated her for not stopping to talk to me. There's always some seeds that can be sown in any month. Some actually germinate in cooler temperatures. Anyway, enough of my gripe! The top greenhouse has been my busy place. I've sown more salad crops, including rocket and lambs lettuce. There's also French beans and cucumbers. 

Lots of pak choi seedlings!

Hanging baskets:

I've also got some old hanging baskets that I've filled with edibles. The only thing I'm not happy about is that the baskets came lined with plastic that after only a year's use, are worn out. Disappointed with myself for buying them really - I should have stuck with wire ones that I could line with something environmentally friendly. So, these baskets are filled with cherry tomatoes and cucamelons. I love cherry tomatoes and luckily there's some great varieties that grow determinately, which means that they will grow to a certain height and stop. I also love cucamelons. A lot of people who I know that have grown these aren't so keen on them but I think they're great in a salad or simply on their own. You also don't need a lot of plants to get a good yield. There's only one basket with four plants, which should be enough for my family this summer.

Looking rather small still and not used to the outdoor temperatures yet, my cucamelon basket is hanging up safely in the greenhouse for now.

This is a young cherry tomato plant. Like the cucamelon basket, the tomato baskets will continue growing under glass for now.

Wildlife:

It's been a very busy time for the blue tits. They have a nest box which I have connected to a camera. Sadly, the camera is quite old and only has black and white images, but I can still see the nest fairly clearly. At the last count there were nine eggs and an adult is now sitting on them all the time. 

I'm also elated from other images taken from the ground level bird bath. The camera trap there has taken video and photos of a goldcrest. This bird does frequent my garden but never before caught on camera. I once stumbled upon a male dancing for a female and thought I'd captured it on my camera but when I eventually decided to download the footage it wasn't there! The camera trap did me good! The same camera also captured greenfinches - two of them together. This is fantastic as we had these delightful little birds in the garden when we first moved in. I would grow sunflowers for them but over the next few years their numbers dropped until there were none. Now at last, they are making a comeback and I'm hoping that I'll see more. They look healthy from the film, so fingers crossed!

Lastly, I've also been putting food out for the hedgehog as it's been quite dry. I only use kitten biscuits. please, please, please never put out milk or the hedgehog food that you can buy in the shops as it's not good for them at all. Better still, don't use any chemicals in the garden. No pesticides are required if you have plenty of wildlife as the wildlife will do the pest control for you.

Nine tiny blue tit eggs waiting to hatch.

Jobs for now:

I'm going to emphasise watering - especially if you ave planted something new in the garden or have pots. Mature plants should be okay as their roots will be deeper down. 

Lately the RSPB have issued warnings about bird feeders. They aren't saying don't feed the birds but what they are saying is be responsible. Don't feed peanuts or seeds from 1st May until 31st October. Clean your feeders. This is why I may not have seen greenfinches for so long as their numbers dropped due to disease. Keep them clean and clean bird baths too. 

There's still lots of seeds you can sow such as herbs, carrots, beetroots, courgettes, beans. Flowers too, such as calendula, marigolds, sunflowers. The list is long so choose what you'd like to see in your garden so you can manage your seedlings.

Enjoy the rest of April - keep gardening!

 

Fresh Start

Hello and welcome to my blog!

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. Well, it's been a few years. Mostly because a lot has happened at home (not that I'm making excuses) but I really wanted to start again and pick up where I am in the garden.

Not a lot has changed, to be honest. I still have my polytunnel and greenhouses. There's still a pond in the back garden and still plenty of wildlife thriving.

I don't know about you, but I'm finding that time is flying by! It's already April but I'm happy to say that I'm now catching up with everything at last. At the beginning of the year my husband was in hospital and I'm not going to lie, it was an awful time. Luckily, after a scary moment, he recovered and we now know what's wrong - vitamin B deficiency. 

Let's have a look at what's been happening in the garden:

Planting - 

I've been adding lots of extra plants to the front and back gardens, including Euphorbia, Ceanothus and Hydrangeas. With the front garden, I want to create something that will produce a mix of colours and attract wildlife. There's a bird feeding station and two bird baths there, while by the front door there are some pots to have even more plants.

The back garden is slowly being sorted out but I've lost a small tree over winter. I don't don't know why I lost it but it was a dwarf willow. I had been regularly pruning it and it had water but somehow it died. I will find a replacement but a different species, maybe a shrub. Underneath it is a ground level bird bath, which is popular with small birds species such as house sparrows and dunnocks, so I don't want to lose that cover for them. 

I've also been preparing my veg patch. A new difference is I'm creating a permanent fruit area. I've already planted some currants and gooseberries. A few more of those to go and some jostaberries. There's some blackberries there, which I've cut back and which I'm going to try and train to grow in two lines.   

Pots - 

I've been pruning and adding fresh compost to a lot of my potted plants. On the patio there are some small trees (olives and a magnolia) and lots of Chilean guava. As I don't use any pesticides I tend to check for weevil larvae in the soils. It's easy to spot them and take them out. That then gives me the chance to refill with new compost at the same time to boost nutrients in the pots. 

I bought some new plants recently and added them to a pot where I previously had some annuals. Here I have planted carnations and hardy fuschias.

After adding fresh compost I now have some new growth on the Chilean guava. My whole family love these fruits and I particularly like them in a soya yogurt or just on their own!

Years ago I had blueberries in pots and sadly now have just the one. I rescued this one and trimmed all the dead stems, then added new soil to the pot. It's started flowering now and although there's not a lot there to expect, it's a great sign that the plant is much better.

Wildlife - 

The camera traps are coming out! So far I have spotted our hedgehog in the garden, busy as always. He likes to have a drink at the ground level bird bath. I sometimes leave out kitten biscuits for him if I think that he needs extra feed.

The birds have been busy too. The robin follows me in the garden for any mealworms etc. She has a nest at the moment (back of the garden). The blue tits have also built their nest, where I have a camera next box. So far no eggs but in the past, they have sat on eggs from around the second or third week of April so nearly there! This year also sees plenty of house sparrows. My best moment so far though, was spotting a green finch! It's been a long time since I've seen one. They used to be so common when we first moved in and it was a joy to plant sunflowers for them but then they stopped coming. I put this down to trichomonosis, which is a disease that has reduced the green finch population. I hope that we are getting an increase now. I'll keep you posted on that and add any photos if I manage to capture some on camera.

Jobs - 

So, for this weekend I've been sowing seeds mostly. 

Here's what you can do during April:

• Sow any seeds - fruit and veg under glass if they need warmer temperatures or outdoors for plants in the garden that are hardy.
• Clean any bird baths and feeders - this should be done regularly. I mentioned the return of the green finch in my garden, but if you don't keep feeders and baths clean diseases spread all too easily, which can cause a decline of bird populations.
• Keep protecting tender plants if frost is forecast.
• Indoor plants can now have more water. I have started to feed my houseplants as they are waking up to warmer weather now. 

Some seeds that I sow are tiny! These snap dragons (antirrhinums) are very small, so I use a cocktail stick that I dip in water to catch individual seeds and pop them in a tray of soil. 

Steve bought me this lovely miniature rose for Easter. This will join all my other plants in the dining room. 

So, I'm hoping to keep on top of this blog now and will let you know what's successful and what isn't!

For now, enjoy Spring and a very happy Easter to you all.