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03/27/2006
Spring at last
Nice mild day on Saturday - was out in my t-shirt. See Ladybirds all year round, but there were swarms of them this weekend - no going to be a good year for the aphids, I think. Saw a couple of bees and also a solitary Brimstone butterfly - picture below.
This site says they feed on aubretia, buddliea, lavender, purple loosestrife, runner bean & scabious. We have all of these in the garden, but I reckon this one might be a bit too early, as I don't think any are in flower ( the runner beans are still in the seed packet).
http://www.overthegardengate.net/wildlife/btemplate.asp?i...
Planted the jostaberry out in the fruit cage. Advice from several sources seems to be to cut it right down to a couple of buds above ground when planting, which seems a bit harsh, but that's what I did. Used the prunings as hardwood cuttings - we'll see if they take by autumn I suppose. Also took some cuttings from the 'Congo Cockatoo' impatiens indoors, which was getting a bit leggy and also from the side shoots of the fuchsias which are intended to be trained as standards.
Sowed parsnips, with radishes as a marker row - haven't tried this before. Not had any problem with parsnips before. Also sowed beetroot - haven't grown this for a few years. Planted out lettuce seedlings under the cloche. Put all of the early potatoes out - will do the maincrop in a couple of weeks. The varieties (2 of each!) are Catriona, Celine, Mimi, Orla, Rooster and Sharpe's Express, I think, plus one other.
Cut back some of the winter jasmine now that its finished flowering. Didn't do all of it though. Cut some tulips for the house and brought various narcissi, hyacinths & muscari that were in pots indoors - a nice set of flowers and some lovely scent from the hyacinth. Had the last of the leeks for lunchtime soup. The hungry gap is almost upon us - only a few parsnips left in the garden and a few herbs in the greenhouse.
Sad garden job was burying our guinea pig 'Bill' who died at the vet on Sunday Morning. He will be missed. His brother, Jo, is certainly missing him and I think we will probably be visiting the pet rescue centre for a replacement. We will probably get Bill neutered and introduce one or two females, as I think two unrelated males might fight.
Here's a picture of the butterfly. The books say the males are yellow and the females green. I would've described this one as yellowy-green, so am not sure which it was!
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03/23/2006
Nothing to see here
Had to go and work in Milan for past two weeks, at short notice, so no time to do anything in the garden when I was home for the weekends. Got a fairly beefy looking Jostaberry plant for my birthday, plus some 8ft long secateur type things which will be very handy for sorting out the hedge on the thin strip. Various seeds have germinated in my absence - the mimosa pudica, sunflowers, pumpkins & tomatoes the boys did. Lettuce & Brussels sprouts also - have started to harden these off ready to be planted out. Peas and broad beans are up too, first tulips making an appearance and the garlic and onions are growing well too. Eucalyptus gunnii and the huckleberry are showing also. No sign of life from the Chillis, though.
So the plan for this weekend is to cut back winter Jasmine, tidy up front garden properly and do the path, plant out the Jostaberry in the spare 'slot' in the fruit cage and get going with lots more seeds.
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03/07/2006
Cold - not much to report
Cold this weekend - we had a bit of snow when I was out working on Saturday. Put some stakes up for the newly planted plum and cherry trees. Had a good tidy-up of the herbs - pruned the bay tree back into shape, swept up all the fallen bay leaves, cut back the rosemary, sage and lemon balm. Stuck a few of the rosemary prunings into my cuttings bed - they'll probably root when it warms up a bit. The rest went to be eaten by the Guinea Pigs - they like rosemary. The bay tree was attacked by bay suckers (Trioza alacris) last year, although they don't seem to have found the smaller bay trees in pots yet. I'm hoping that cleaning up the fallen leaves will be one step towards controlling them this year. Also decided to divide one of the lemon thyme plants - chopped into ten pieces, each of which had some roots, so shouldn't take too long to recover.
Started trimming one of the hedges, but quickly got bored - will take several days to do all of the hedges, I think. Pruned the conifer, whose name I do not know, which is growing on the edge of the patio - just needed a little tidy to keep its shape.
Potted up the blueberries - 3 for £10 from Scottsdales - Julia, Augusta & something sounding like September. Will need to look for more info on these varieties.
Started on the indoor seed sowing. Basil, lemon basil, naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) dwarf physalis (cape gooseberry), some french marigolds, cosmos and a couple of tomatoes (garden pearl and a yellow one whose name escapes me)
Wasn't feeling too good on Sunday, so not much done. Our new porch entrance was completed, so removed various panes of glass, dismembered front door and started work on the new path to the door - it needs to be lower because the old path was higher than the door frame, causing it to rot. Removed the previous pavers and found they were laid on top of concrete. And the retaining wall for the bed with the holly trees was built on top of the pavers. It's a mess. Have kept some of the smaller panes of glass, as they may come in handy for covering seed trays etc.
Have noted the names of ferns planted out last week, so will record them here for future reference
TDryopteris erythrosora
Dryopteris affinis crispa gracilis
Polypodium vulgare
Phyllitis cristatum
Polystichum tsussimense
Dryopteris affinis cristata 'The King'
One final note - in spite of it being freezing cold (like 4 degrees max), the boys decided to get the tent and paddling pool out. Alexander was out in his vest, while Jamie had his UV protective summer thing on. I have reached the age where I can feel cold looking at them....
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