Runner Beans sown . Sugar snap peas sown.  Sweet corn sown.  Basil Sown.  Spearmint re-potted.  Tomato Plants into compost bag this evening when the sun comes off the arched growing room.  Then ran out of containers. Now have to buy a medium sized container for rosemary.... 

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Tomato Plants now in compost bag. TWO rows of three. They have grown a couple of inches since I purchased them. Roots not disturbed on taking out of original  pots. 

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You have got a wiggle on in the garden today Art!  

I’ve cleared all the Spring bulbs out of the front border, top dressed it with compost and planted it with Fuchsias.  I’ve emptied the bottom half of the compost bin, which has produced some lovely rich crumbly compost this year!  Hubby’s just cleaned the pond pump and the algae soup has fed and watered the grapevines!

We’d planned to clean the conservatory roof this weekend but have postponed it to next week!  

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All set up for the summer with bedding plants in, spring flowering shrubs cut back, and replacements planted for climbers which had died, to cover up the fence. Just hoping for some substantial rain to ease up on watering for the new stuff.

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Clouds are building up. Might not need to water today.. Just in the TWO growing rooms. 

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Clouds are building up. Might not need to water today.. Just in the TWO growing rooms. 

On a beekeeping and weather note - the nectar yield from OSR* seems significantly lower this week - and this is usually associated with low rainfall. We have just done our 2nd honey extraction of the year and it is nothing like as good as last week. Added to the weather factor, the crop is starting to "go over", so that will affect yield too. A good soak overnight would be very welcome - but I doubt we will get anything.

Never mind - the Field Beans will not be far behind.

Roger

[*OSR = Oil Seed Rape]

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At a previous address I used to teach slugs and snails how to fly. I think our neighbour also tried the same thing...

Nocturnal walks with a bucket of salty water are effective if you don't have a hedgehog in your garden. The extra large slugs certainly have huge appetites and I clearly remember the monster I found making a meal of a dead mouse on the nursery I ran at the time. Yuck.

 

https://thehedgehog.co.uk/feeding-hedgehogs/slugs-and-snails/

Apparently hedgehogs aren't great for eating slugs. That makes sense as I have plenty slugs despite a hedgehog visiting my garden regularly. I generally leave out a few dried mealworms which he seems to enjoy. 

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https://thehedgehog.co.uk/feeding-hedgehogs/slugs-and-snails/

Apparently hedgehogs aren't great for eating slugs. That makes sense as I have plenty slugs despite a hedgehog visiting my garden regularly. I generally leave out a few dried mealworms which he seems to enjoy. 

I don’t think frogs eat slugs and snails either!  We have frogs and still have an absolute army of snails that live around the pond.  This was really not what I wanted but I must sadly confess, I’ve resorted to slug pellets to prevent my bedding plants and veg crops becoming a midnight feast, like the were last year.  I really must remember nematodes early enough next year. 

I’ll take the slapped wrists on the chin!  

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I don’t think frogs eat slugs and snails either!  We have frogs and still have an absolute army of snails that live around the pond.  This was really not what I wanted but I must sadly confess, I’ve resorted to slug pellets to prevent my bedding plants and veg crops becoming a midnight feast, like the were last year.  I really must remember nematodes early enough next year. 

I’ll take the slapped wrists on the chin!  

Hedgehogs hoover up most creatures. We videoed one murdering a mouse!

The mouse was most unwilling to be eaten. That's enough information.....

 

R.

 

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Hedgehogs hoover up most creatures. We videoed one murdering a mouse!

The mouse was most unwilling to be eaten. That's enough information.....

 

R.

 

I understand hedgehogs get parasites from eating slugs!   Eeeuuww!  But anyhow, we haven’t any hedgehogs on the back garden!  Remember?  The three orphan babies we had a couple of year ago, that I fed religiously and cared for, all drowned in our pond!    It’s Ok, we’ve since installed hedgehog steps, but sadly no hedgehogs to test them out.

So, those of you with ponds beware, hedgehogs can swim but they need to be able to get out and they can’t negotiate overhanging paving slabs like we have.

On a brighter note.  We have seen a hedgehog trundling onto our front garden though!  

 

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Need some help here, please. Just looked out of a window into the field next door which has 6 tups having a bit of a holiday. 3 were busy enjoying digging into a large ant hill and rubbing their foreheads in the dust. One immediate thought was something akin to "anting" in birds to counter parasites. Could they have been eating something, pupae perhaps? Surely it could not be as simple as a "boys game" - "Who can keep their head in an ant hill the longest?" - but it seemed quite competitive - some head-to-head pushing. The damage to the ant hill is considerable. Are there any sheep experts who have seen this kind of behaviour? Your suggestions please - decent if possible!
Roger

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A good week's watering regime and the garden is verdant; no real slug problems after a run of dry days but today's th'orms will bring them out. Dust off the various anti-slug gadgets in the shed.

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At a previous address I used to teach slugs and snails how to fly. I think our neighbour also tried the same thing...

Nocturnal walks with a bucket of salty water are effective if you don't have a hedgehog in your garden. The extra large slugs certainly have huge appetites and I clearly remember the monster I found making a meal of a dead mouse on the nursery I ran at the time. Yuck.

 

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.226103?q=what+are+snails

in which A P Herbert in 'Uncommon Law' seeks to prove that snails are wild animals and that one is entitled to drive them out of one's garden by the quickest available method - as, indeed, one would if one had a tiger in the garden! Also video clips of the episode in a TV series called 'Misleading cases'.

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Nice to have 0.6mm precipitation for the newly planted and sown containers. Even the Two growing room containers did not need watering as it was a bit cooler. This afternoon will be different in the sunshine......

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Well I'm rolling out operation 'fast and furious' as this is probably the best possible timing for this sunny ,warm fortnight after putting out the summer bedding.

I reckon keeping them fed and watered to near excess will allow max growth as the plants 'bed in' and put roots out into the soils. The last number of years has been a battle of attrition between slugs/snails and me.I reckon the signals the plants give out whilst suffering transplant shock are just what the slugs/snails have been waiting for? "clean up on isle 3...." is the message they get and tootle off to clean up the 'damaged' plant. Of course once the plants are settled the issue can go away for most plants and they get left alone.

With the loss of their daytime hideaways the blighters numbers are well down!( as with the turning over of the land next to us and the 'mulching' of all the snails hibernating in the old evergreens) and the loss of legions of aphids from the old Sycamores has meant my rose buds are all perfect and un-chomped !

So max growth over this period should set everything up for a perfect flower season!

The other boon was the mulch left by the uprooting crew whose machine chewed out the roots and mixed the wood with the soils. A few barrows of that and my borders have never looked so tidy!!! Keeps the moisture in , keeps the weeds down and slowly releases nutrients as the wood rots down!

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Last container for the rosemary bought this morning . Along with a packet of Cosmos Seashell mixed seed to sow now. They will go in the trough that the polyanthus   are in now they have finished flowering. That way I can care for the plant until they need dividing..,

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I understand hedgehogs get parasites from eating slugs!   Eeeuuww!  But anyhow, we haven’t any hedgehogs on the back garden!  Remember?  The three orphan babies we had a couple of year ago, that I fed religiously and cared for, all drowned in our pond!    It’s Ok, we’ve since installed hedgehog steps, but sadly no hedgehogs to test them out.

So, those of you with ponds beware, hedgehogs can swim but they need to be able to get out and they can’t negotiate overhanging paving slabs like we have.

On a brighter note.  We have seen a hedgehog trundling onto our front garden though!  

 

 

I have a regular hedgehog visitor and put out hedgehog pellets for him (her). The pond is easily escapable too so i should have no issues there

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Well I'm rolling out operation 'fast and furious' as this is probably the best possible timing for this sunny ,warm fortnight after putting out the summer bedding.

I reckon keeping them fed and watered to near excess will allow max growth as the plants 'bed in' and put roots out into the soils. The last number of years has been a battle of attrition between slugs/snails and me.I reckon the signals the plants give out whilst suffering transplant shock are just what the slugs/snails have been waiting for? "clean up on isle 3...." is the message they get and tootle off to clean up the 'damaged' plant. Of course once the plants are settled the issue can go away for most plants and they get left alone.

With the loss of their daytime hideaways the blighters numbers are well down!( as with the turning over of the land next to us and the 'mulching' of all the snails hibernating in the old evergreens) and the loss of legions of aphids from the old Sycamores has meant my rose buds are all perfect and un-chomped !

So max growth over this period should set everything up for a perfect flower season!

The other boon was the mulch left by the uprooting crew whose machine chewed out the roots and mixed the wood with the soils. A few barrows of that and my borders have never looked so tidy!!! Keeps the moisture in , keeps the weeds down and slowly releases nutrients as the wood rots down!

  Sounds like you’ve got it all in hand GW!  

I have to say my bedding plants are intact, probably due to my desperate measures.  However, I may have another more environment friendly weapon against slugs and snails!  It’s occurred to me that the tiny gritty bits in my compost are broken down eggshells, which I always add the compost bin as they add calcium and substance.  Slugs and snails don’t like eggshells as they’re too sharp for them to get over!  So, I’m spreading a little more and keeping my fingers crossed!  

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I got stung on the face by a bee a couple of days ago while cutting one of my conifers! Really did not expect that.

As for hedgehogs - I saw one sometime last month but they are very rare to see in my garden. The last time I saw one before then was a couple of years ago, and it ended up dying for reasons I don't know.

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Spring in Chichester

 

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