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The Big Lavender Chop
The Lavender path along the greenhouse has had a seriously big chop this year. I’m not sure how this story is going to end, and I guess I won’t know fully until next year! To keep your lavender looking good for as long as possible, it’s really important to trim it every year. It needs to be done as soon as the flowers have gone over, this is usually early September. It’s also important to not trim it too late in the year. It needs time to put on new growth and for this soft new growth to harden up, giving it protection through the winter. The most important rule…
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Wildflowers – My New Border
It’s wonderful that wildflowers and wildflower meadows are being appreciated again, and so many people are planting a version of them in their own gardens. At the same time it’s really sad to know how many have been lost over the last few decades. Again it’s the gardeners of the country that are helping by growing these insect friendly plants again! I’ve loved wildflowers ever since walks with my auntie as a little girl, when she used to teach me the names. Even the cultivated varieties of flowers that I choose tend to be the more natural looking ones. When I was designing our garden, the vegetable growing area and…
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Food from Flowers – With help from our little friends
Have you ever stopped to notice the flowers that become our food? A lot are small, some are insignificant, but others are as beautiful and spectacular as any ornamental flowers we grow. Fortunately, however small and plain they are, the insects that pollinate them don’t miss them. They busily fly from one flower to another, getting their reward of nectar and pollen, unwittingly pollinating the plants. The big majority of our food is reliant on our busy, buzzy, little friends doing this service for us. As they pass pollen from one flower to another they fertilise the plant and so allowing it to produce seeds. As with everything in life…
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Hurrah, hurrah, it’s Damselfly Day!
I wandered down to the pond last weekend, to have a look at the giant tadpoles. They seem much bigger than they usually are this time of year. As I crouched down, a damselfly surprised me by landing on my leg. I looked up and saw a couple of them bobbing around the pond. It was obviously damselfly emerging day! The heat of the sun, between the showers must have tempted them out. I took a couple of photos with my phone, then went off to the house to get the ‘proper camera’. Damselfly, official name – Suborder Zygoptera. If you are in any doubt, the way to tell a…
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The Frogs have Spawned!
Well I think by now, most of you know how excited I get about frogs and wildlife in the pond! So as this week has brought, only our second ever frog spawning. You won’t be at all surprised to hear how pleased I am! Getting Frogs in the pond After creating this pond, mainly to attract frogs. The first few years were a bit of a disappointment! Driving me to take frogspawn from a friends pond. But all good things come to he/she who waits! And now we are reaping the rewards! Last year the frogs spawned on 25th February, I know this for a fact as it is a…
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Making Compost
Before we moved here eight years ago. We hadn’t got space for a large composting area so we bought a worm hotel. They were all the rage at the time, and we actually got on very well with it. It was remarkable how quickly the worms broke down the material. There was also an added benefit of liquid fertiliser that you drained off, it was fabulously potent stuff! We brought the worm hotel with us when we moved, and set it up straight away. We throw almost no food away, but we do like to compost all of our vegetable peelings. It served this purpose well for the first three…
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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…
