Bought some bedding plants today and some seeds for late sowing. I'll keep the plants under cover until Monday and then plant them for some natural watering -n.

Before our first child, when we were still in our first house, I went through a phase of growing bedding plants from seed.

By the third year, I'd taken it a bit far. We had no greenhouse so used the spare bedroom.

The missus wasn't happy. But I had loads of pots and baskets  abundant with my home-grown plants. 

I kind of lost interest after that year, though.

After we moved to this house (another newbuild), I designed the gardens to be much more low-maintenance. No bedding. Not even any bulbs. Mostly foliage plants and shrubs. 

My wife and I have a runner bean competition between ourselves to see who has the most coming up each day in the containers. At the moment 11/ 10 in my favour. It should be an equal 16 each.

Time to take out my old straggly heathers from a narrow border at the front.

In their place, I shall be putting in 6 French Heathers. They are 3 for £5.00 in Lidl this morning.

3 new additions to my planters and tubs this morning. New Cherry tree, A holly bush, and some golden peppers. To go with it TWO of garden compost and a tub on wheels. 

Took advantage of yesterday's weather to spruce up the garden; short back-and-sides for the ceanothus now the bees are no longer visiting it, hoed up several hundred self-seeded opium poppies (puzzle - why can't my resident slugs go to work on these instead of my French beans?)

More a botanical than horticultural link this, with a mathematical spin that I hope will appeal to TWO readers...

How the cauliflower got its mesmerizing fractals
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/how-the-cauliflower-got-its-mesmerizing-fractals/

I hope Bertie likes it!
Roger

Flying Ants - a weather-related phenomenon.
With the prospect of this summer turning hot and humid we might start to see the annual swarming event of winged male and female ants; "Flying Ant Day" as it is popularly and inaccurately known.

Timing will depend on local conditions, which is why your ant reports across the county will be interesting. If you do see this, look up and see if the Swifts and Housemartins are enjoying them.

Here is the Natural History Museum account.

Flying ant day: when winged ants take their nuptial flight
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/when-why-winged-ants-swarm-nuptial-flight.html

Ant ID on Naturespot:
https://www.naturespot.org.uk/ant_ID

Enjoy.

Roger

And the gulls if you're near the coast.

This is great news for seagulls, because scientists have suggested the ants produce an acid that gets the birds "slightly" drunk - and - and an RSPB gull expert has said gulls are 'mad for them' and gobble them up like 'M&Ms', which can cause them to be even more excitable than usual.

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/flying-ant-day-explained-wonder-4242257

Not quite sure whether to post this link because like Devon Live the outlet tends to get overexcited about snow in the winter which bears little relation to what is on the ground or might fall from the sky. God forbid I think there might be a Dorset Live on its way.

Looking at some of the other Cornwall news I wouldn't want to be there right now. 

Before you start fretting about wasps, have a read and listen to this British Library clip! Great!

In the depths of a wasp nest.
https://blogs.bl.uk/sound-and-vision/2018/11/in-the-depths-of-a-wasp-nest.html

Roger

We have an amazing display of hollyhocks this year, and until a couple of days ago all were still upright. Now I've had to go round with the twine.

A couple of observations on bees and hollyhocks (a) bees prefer those closest in colour to red (b) there are fewer bees visiting this year than usual and although the flowers were always more popular with bumbles, honey bees are all but absent this year. (This may be a function of where hives are being kept, of course)

But the fennel is proving very popular with hoverflies, though not bees.

My borage is late this year from self sown stock but bees love the blue flowers. Fennel is a popular plant with hoverflies of which there are many this year as indeed bumble bees in various kinds. But honeybees are noticeable by their absence this year. A plus of the damp weather is the general verdant/odoriferousness of the garden which encourages me to give this summer an 8/10 up to now for gardening.

Not gardening but sea related. Whitebait (young herring or sprats), a staple part of bass and mackerel diets are completely absent this year off Dorset. Whether that's a result of the long cold spring or a worrying crash in herring/sprat stocks, or even something else I have no idea. It's noticeable off the South Coast in general from other anecdotal reports.

Colour [as perceived by bee eyes] is a significant attractant, but bees are totally red-blind. Also, bees make informed decisions.  They can tell when flowers are secreting nectar. Scout bees are constantly monitoring this and reporting the information back to their colony. Foraging workers will act on this information and go to the specified location. Periodicity of nectar production varies between species and conditions.

What garden flowers look like in bee vision [left] compared to humans [right]:

https://www.jolyon.co.uk/2020/07/garden-flowers-in-bee-vision/

Roger

I knew that bee colours were different to human ones, but not the detail. It would be interesting to see my hollyhocks in bee vision, but what I saw was a definite order of preference [Red, pink, maroon] > white > [cream, pinkish-yellow]. It is of course possible that the red group were producing more nectar; pollen amounts appear similar.

Exactly, David - only the Bees can't appreciate red!

You may also have noticed in the bee vision pictures that the "this way" nectar guide markings on petals show up more obviously.

Roger

A few more interesting links on bees, conservation and related issues. Enjoy.

Life lessons from beekeepers – stop mowing the lawn, don't pave the driveway and get used to bugs in your salad
https://theconversation.com/life-lessons-from-beekeepers-stop-mowing-the-lawn-dont-pave-the-driveway-and-get-used-to-bugs-in-your-salad-164591

Why invertebrates should be included in animal welfare protections | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25133452-200-why-invertebrates-should-be-included-in-animal-welfare-protections/

Garden of weeds takes home gold at Royal Horticultural Society show
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/25/weed-thriller-garden-weeds-takes-home-gold-royal-horticultural/

Invasive species have cost UK at least £5bn since 1970s, study reveals | Invasive species | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/29/invasive-species-have-cost-the-uk-at-least-5bn-since-1970s-study-reveals-aoe

Roger

French beans and Japanese raspberries in full flow

After a couple of years on the waiting list we've managed to get an allotment! It was completely overgrown so I've strimmed it and covered with black membrane to leave over Winter. 

One section had been covered so I'm just starting to work on that and the soil looks very nice indeed. There's one or two things I can plant now and I'm starting with some potatoes which I hope will be ready for Christmas. 

Hello Roger.

Our daschund has been busy licking the odd ant off of the patio slabs but when the fly day came he was overwhelmed and wouldn't go out, shaking on the doormat (pathetic)  leaving them to the mercy of the customary dozens of gulls.

On a bee note, the weather conditions have been ideal for perpetuating our flowering plants this year and we have many different bees and hoverflies busy in the petals. It's no doubt thanks to both these groups that our flowering veg is doing so well. As yet, barely any wasps though.

Here's a green idea....
"Cannabis plants with a street value of £1m have been found at a flooded property in Bury town centre. About 1,000 plants have been destroyed after they were discovered on Silver Street, Greater Manchester Police said."

Cannabis farm worth £1m found in Bury town centre
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-58267564

Roger

I usually grow a row of runner beans that get unruly, difficult to pick and produce far too many.  So this year I set just nine climbing French beans up three wigwams, to make them easy to pick.  

We’ve been harvesting them for a couple of weeks but today, I’ve supplied my sister with a bag full to freeze, have frozen some myself and supplied my neighbour, who pegs a bag on the fence, labelled ‘Wendy’s bean bag’. 

I’m actually getting a much better crop, possibly because I can see them all!  

Are you going to grow them under cover? Even if you are, it's not at all easy to produce potatoes in the autumn. Apart from falling temperatures, the days are shortening and by late September, day length will be equivalent to late March. Even if you have them under cover, a severe frost could still do for them. I have heard of people doing it successfully but I would have thought it possible only in favoured areas. If you do make a go of it, please let me know how you did it as I would like to do it myself and have new potatoes for Christmas dinner some year! 

I think it's really great that there's wider benefit from your growing skills. Runners have caused us grief for some years, mostly due to blackfly and drought, but this year they are doing well. But we too have had the issue of nearly-none, then too many, then none again. But I'm hoping the crop will spread across the season this year.

Fingers crossed!

Did not use the garden due to bad summer and many days was unusable.  My neigbboour flowers look very poor quality and not fully thick bloom as you expect in August peak.  Only few bloom well that grown next to the house wall as it warmer and sheltered.