Fuscia in the growing has buds and flowers. Have nipped the tops out now to make them bushy. Wild strawberries in an earthenware tub have buds and flowers. I only pull off dead leaves and let them get on with it. Wild pale reddish poppies sawn last year have done well and are also in the bud.

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I've dug up my lawn, leveled it, topped with 4 ton of grit sand and an anti-weed emdbrance, and will be fitting 80m2 of artificial grass at the weekend.

Been a mammoth job, but I was sick of the sight of a patchy, moss-laden field of dandelions.

 

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In one growing room, Parsley. TWO pots  Common garden mint and a Kalanchoe.

In number TWO growing room, 6 Fuchsia, 6 geraniums. TWO apricot trees only Two years old. Runner beans in pots soon to be transplanted. Also   Tomato plants.  Baby potatoes need to go in the big tubs.   

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David said on the Model thread:

Charts for the South this morning offer no significant rain for the foreseeable future - GFS pressure forecast doesn't drop below 1015 mb for the next two weeks, and when it does dip towards that it's the tail end of depressions passing across the north, not a thundery low from France. GEFS rainfall comes in spikes suggesting local showers. Scots must wonder what we're complaining about!

Warm air comes and goes - a bit of a dip in temp around the 29th/30th - but in general not far from average.

Gave a deep watering to parts of the garden earlier today as the recent showery rain didn't do much.

Not too bothered with lawn as it will of course recover but it is showing the beginning of browning in places. The Green out front is not growing much if at all after a parish council cut a week ago.

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I've dug up my lawn, leveled it, topped with 4 ton of grit sand and an anti-weed emdbrance, and will be fitting 80m2 of artificial grass at the weekend.

Been a mammoth job, but I was sick of the sight of a patchy, moss-laden field of dandelions.

 

Yeah- who needs bee-food?

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Have harvested some single-bulb garlic and potatoes, and a mountain of different herbs: winter savoury and English mace are worth a try!

Peas have set, runners climbing well, and the garden is full of bees, hoverflies and (around the pond) damselflies.

Bought metres of false lawn for daughter's quirky bedroom fad ('the garden bedroom'); she rejected it and I can't refund it as I cut it to size. Free to good home (collect!)

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Anyone in need of a change of job? How about this one?
St Michael's Mount: 'Fairytale' island needs new gardener
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-48464266 

Roger

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Elderflower cordial - we picked elderflowers at the weekend and cordial manufacture is underway. If you do this, don't forget that diluted cordial makes unbelievably good ice lollies! I see the other half has the moulds out, ready to fill.

A recipe
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/531660/homemade-elderflower-cordial

Roger

p.s. we have an elderflower tree in the garden - or to be exact a branch from the neighbour - so this is NOT off topic!!!

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We've got a small orchard (about a third of an acre) which we have managed as perennial meadow for the last 10 years. When we came here 14 years ago, it had only recently been abandoned as a vegetable garden and so the soil is very fertile. As a result, for much of the past decade, it's been dominated by thick grasses, hogweed, creeping buttercup, etc.

We debated stripping the topsoil off but instead decided to manage it traditionally - cutting it as hay late in the summer then doing a close cut once in the autumn and once early in the spring.

Three years ago, we saw that three bee orchids were growing. Last year, there were four. This year, there are more than 50 flowering. I will post pictures later but it really is quite something. 

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We've got a small orchard (about a third of an acre) which we have managed as perennial meadow for the last 10 years. When we came here 14 years ago, it had only recently been abandoned as a vegetable garden and so the soil is very fertile. As a result, for much of the past decade, it's been dominated by thick grasses, hogweed, creeping buttercup, etc.

We debated stripping the topsoil off but instead decided to manage it traditionally - cutting it as hay late in the summer then doing a close cut once in the autumn and once early in the spring.

Three years ago, we saw that three bee orchids were growing. Last year, there were four. This year, there are more than 50 flowering. I will post pictures later but it really is quite something. 

That is really excellent, Justin. It is amazing what will start growing if you get the management right. The trick is to lower the fertility - which is easier to say than do in your situation.

Are you using Yellow Rattle to counteract the vigorous grasses? Worth looking into. One chap I've met swears the way to deal with hogweed is to scythe it, leaving the hollow stem to gather water and rot out the root.

Roger

 

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That is really excellent, Justin. It is amazing what will start growing if you get the management right. The trick is to lower the fertility - which is easier to say than do in your situation.

Are you using Yellow Rattle to counteract the vigorous grasses? Worth looking into. One chap I've met swears the way to deal with hogweed is to scythe it, leaving the hollow stem to gather water and rot out the root.

Roger

 

We have Yellow Rattle seed and may sow it on disturbed soil in the orchard at the end of the summer. To date, all we've done is just cut and remove the growth to reduce fertility (allowing a couple of days for the hay to lie to sow seed). It's been an interesting experiment in light touch meadow management. We were absolutely amazed when the orchids first flowered, wondering where they had come from and how they had been brought here.

Interesting approach on hogweed - of course we need rain to rot out the stem and root. And we have had precious little of that over the last three summers!

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I've dug up my lawn, leveled it, topped with 4 ton of grit sand and an anti-weed emdbrance, and will be fitting 80m2 of artificial grass at the weekend.

Been a mammoth job, but I was sick of the sight of a patchy, moss-laden field of dandelions.

 

Why didn't you rewild your garden and then start running through it, a bit like Theresa May?

 

We've got a small orchard (about a third of an acre) which we have managed as perennial meadow for the last 10 years. When we came here 14 years ago, it had only recently been abandoned as a vegetable garden and so the soil is very fertile. As a result, for much of the past decade, it's been dominated by thick grasses, hogweed, creeping buttercup, etc.

We debated stripping the topsoil off but instead decided to manage it traditionally - cutting it as hay late in the summer then doing a close cut once in the autumn and once early in the spring.

Three years ago, we saw that three bee orchids were growing. Last year, there were four. This year, there are more than 50 flowering. I will post pictures later but it really is quite something. 

I'm thrilled to hear this Justin. I can't add to that! 

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Harvest the hogweed early, chaps; makes a passable asparagus replacement that doesn't smell in your pee!

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Harvest the hogweed early, chaps; makes a passable asparagus replacement that doesn't smell in your pee!

Oo-er! I know it's officially edible but I'm not sure I want to try with the photo-blisters the sap raises on my skin (No, I don't mean giant hogweed which is reputedly much worse)

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Set up the trail camera last night hoping to confirm a hedghog visit and instead caught a fox tripping through the garden!
Not uncommon, I know, but a nice surprise. R

 

p.s. Got the hedgehog on camera this week - and its poo in the garden as additional evidence.

R

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Is anyone here an invertebrate specialist? I have been sent a video of some organisms from the water in a teazel rosette. The photographer describes them as: "Some sort of nematodes, wriggling around in the water-filled bowl formed by teasel leaf rosettes. How they got there is unknown. Maybe they were living as parasites within the insects that drowned in the water. Proto-carnivorous, the teasel apparently doesn't have an enzyme to dissolve the insects, but, I have read, that the resultant 'soup' is utilised by the plant to enhance seed production." Comments welcome. I'll post the vid if anyone is interested.
Roger

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Does this supplement your source, Roger?

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0017935

 

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Does this supplement your source, Roger?

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0017935

It certainly does, DEW - many thanks for that. The video illustrated the key points rather well. See below...

Roger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCfVgwPvc-g&feature=youtu.be

 

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Also, while ferreting around, found this on fly pollination.

http://urbanpollinators.blogspot.com/2014/03/flies-forgotten-pollinators.html

A good read, but watch out for the typos - crap apples anyone?

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