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Gardening highlights of 2021
Firstly let me start by wishing you all a very happy new year. Yet again we find ourselves, not sorry to see the back of last year. Which is quite sad as life goes by so quickly, we really should be enjoying every minute! Luckily, with a love of gardening, it is easy to forget the world’s troubles. At least temporarily when you’re absorbed with the tasks in hand. Sowing, potting on, planting out and then tending to those precious plants. Not to mention all of that thinking time. Sitting looking at the borders & pots, planning what to do next. I’ve said it a million times before, but gardening…
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Outdoor Wildlife Camera
Having spent eight years creating a garden to encourage wildlife, we decided to invest in an outdoor camera. We especially wanted to see who was visiting the pond, and the night time garden…. We decided on a Toguard H200 Hunting trail camera, with night vision. It was very easy to set up, just putting the batteries and a memory card in, and we were ready to go! I started off so enthusiastically, placing it in different positions around the pond. But I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of material it was capturing, and didn’t feel I had time to look through it all. Summer is such a busy time…
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Rare White Sparrow
Although our beautiful little white sparrow is not albino, as he has dark eyes not pink. He is still a rare sight, as he has complete leucism (a hypopigmentary congenital disorder), meaning there is no pigment in his feathers. It is much more common to have partial leucism, which causes patches of white, known as ‘pied’ affect. White sparrow accepted into the flock The wonderful thing is, that the rest of the flock have accepted him, which is not always the case. Plentiful Sparrows in our Garden! Living in this part of North Wales, it is hard to imagine that house sparrow numbers are sadly plummeting countrywide. We are lucky…
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Wildlife Finds the Pond
I’ve been dreaming of a pond since I was a little girl. After my first pond dipping trip with an inspirational teacher. Reinforced in later years by watching Geoff Hamilton on Gardeners World. He was a great advocate of wildlife in your garden, and there’s no better way to encourage it, than a pond! Like Geoff I want to garden organically, especially the food production. This means tolerating imperfections and some damage to your plants. If you completely wipe out the undesirable wildlife, slugs, greenfly etc. then the desirable ones will have nothing to eat. The idea is to encourage the maximum diversity of wildlife, this way you create a…
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Dreaming of a pond
Garden transformation Part 12 – My first pond I’ve always felt incredibly grateful for the childhood I had. Growing up in Cheshire meant lots of ponds and ditches. There is a wonderful site Cheshire Wildlife Trust telling you all about ponds and wildlife in Cheshire. They do a lot of good work to try and protect Cheshire wildlife. I was a child that liked water very much. Even when my dad was washing his car, I’d be there trying to dam the water to stop it reaching the grid. My love of ponds really started though at primary school. When we were seven the wonderful teacher we had, was a…
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Biological slug control, after a G&T
If you garden organically, then nematodes are really the only option if you want to kill slugs. Slug pellets are an absolute no no, as they are poison. They contaminate your soil and can lead to the deaths of beneficial predators of slugs like, hedgehogs, birds, frogs, or even worms. They can also cause harm to your pets. The RSPB offer advise on different methods for deterring slugs. Using Nematodes Firstly order Nemaslug, it should take two to three days to arrive. When it arrives, start by making yourself a nice Gin & Tonic. You need to have more than one to use up all of the tonic. Put the…
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The Majestic Walnut Tree
Garden transformation Part 8 – Freeing the walnut As you’ve probably realised by now, I love our walnut tree! In fairness I love all mature native British trees, but this is the first one I’ve had in my garden. It goes back to my childhood and lovely walks with my dad. It’s when he taught me all the ways of the countryside. Including, always walk towards the traffic on narrow lanes, that way you’ll see the car before it hits you lol. NEVER shelter under a tree when it’s lightening! Always shut gates behind you. Keep your dog on a lead when there’s livestock around. It all seems so obvious, but…
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Ladybird plague? Hopefully not quite that many!
I’ve never seen so many ladybirds overwintering in the garden, as I’ve seen this year. I’m really pleased that they all seem to be our classic 7 Spot Ladybird ‘Coccinella septempunctata’, rather than some non native invaders. Every pile of leaves I started to clear had ladybirds under them. All of the covers on the raised vegetable beds, when I lifted them to get at the kale or Brussels sprouts had a few under them. Every nook and cranny more ladybirds. When I was winter pruning the apples, I started to loosen their ties, only to find ladybirds under every one. I’ve just remembered to go around loosening the ties…
