The battle with the bank Feb 2019 Along the South Side of my triangle veg garden is a 6 foot (2metre) bank. It’s the remnants of a large world war two air raid shelter which was partly dismantled and in recent years, covered in layers of rubble and soil dumped by local houses that have …
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Peas and Fruit please 28.02.18
I hate having a fruit cage, but the dam pigeons and parakeets will eat everything I grow if I don’t have one. I don’t use fine net as it keeps out and sometimes traps the smaller beneficial birds, and I like having blackbirds, wrens, robins and bluetits eating the caterpillars and other unwanted wrigglies in …
Sticks as Mulch
This year I was lucky to be given a huge pile of logs and wood chips. Yipee! They make a great mulch for more or less everything. I’ve always thought of wood chips as lazy compost – my clay based soil loves them and I’m always very happy to have them. It takes a year …
Invasive species. Swapping one invasive animal for another….
I know, not such a good photo, but best I can do on the fly with a phone. This is a ring-necked parakeet, a parrot! It and a few of its family have taken up residence in the trees at the end of the garden. They used to be just summer visitors, but now we …
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Shanti comes to stay
The South side bank is a bit of a jungle – years of neglect and the dumping of garden waste over the fence means a haven for brambles, nettles, feral trees and anything else that can get itself established. By mid summer its a solid wilderness of scratch and sting! Me and my wilderness have …
The first flowers in the Garden
Mimosa in a pot – always first to flower. This Mimosa lives in a pot near the house and is always first to flower in the spring. This year it is looking the best it ever has. It is so lovely to look out of the window and have this glorious burst of yellow so …
Trying new type of Broad bean
Crimson Flowered Broad Beans These broad beans caught my eye and on impulse I bought two packets. The packet says “Heritage variety”. They look fantastic on the packet, but who knows, I’ve never seen this type of broad bean before. The instructions say plant outside Feb, March and April, and that they grow shortish, 3 …
A new fox moves in!
The fox set over the fence was empty last year and I had a fox cub free summer. This winter a new young vixen has moved in and she is busy making her home ready for the cubs which will be born sometime in March. This is a new exit hole she is digging, a …
Germinating and Planting Broad Beans (Fava beans).
In the begining… I love Broad beans! Straight from the garden they are sweet and delicious, dried they are fantastic in stews and casseroles. They’re packed full of nutrition and protein which fuels the plants vigorous and energetic growth. Growing tall, depending on what variety, they stand unsupported between 3 and +6 foot or 50 …
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Saving our native birds : Doing my bit for the wrens, robins, blackbirds and bluetits.
Logs, branches and twigs, that most difficult to dispose of garden waste, is what is needed to provide food, shelter and homes for our most loved native birds. My big ash tree on the east garden boundary was causing problems for next door and has been taken down. I was lucky to be in the …