Tag Archives: Bee Bombs

The Midsummer Mysteries

Posted on by
Reply

That’s what’s mad about gardening, one week you’re worried about the chance of frost and before you know it you’re coming up to midsummer. Where’s those other weeks gone to?

We’ve been promised some hot weather this week so we’ll be out with the watering can in the morning. The great Joe Maiden used to say it’s much better watering the garden in the morning than at night as the dampness in the evening only helps attract the slugs and snails and he may have a point. It’s not a bad experience being in the garden early (we’re not talking 6 am though or the neighbours may mistake you for an intruder!) Another watering tip we heard many moons ago on Gardener’s Question Time was if you’ve invited friends around for a day in the garden, give it a good soaking about an hour before they come and it will look great when they arrive. Top tip!

The wild bit at the bottom of the garden is looking great and it’s a lot livelier than when it was just a veg patch. There is a line of spuds and some cardoons by the fence but it’s mainly a mixture of beebombs from the other year, random sowings of poppies and various wild flower seeds including a woodland mixture from ebay as it don’t get a lot of light down there.

There’s now an addition of a micro pond made out of an old slow cooker bowl filled with plants thinned out from the main pond. We’re not expecting much wildlife in it but as we’ve a few tadpoles in the nearby pond perhaps it may be a frog holiday home later this year. Who knows?

And finally a big thanks to our good friend The Rhythm Doctor (who does a wonderful weekly show on a Monday at 9-11am on IDA Radio Tallinn here and all his past shows are archived here) who told us about the Patate Records Bandcamp which has some brilliant tunes up on it including this wonderful one from a good few years ago from Jah Mason.

And as they say on Gardeners Question Time, may the weather be with you. And get some lollies and cold drinks in the fridge for later this week as 31 degrees was mentioned.

One last tidy

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday while watching the weather forecast (the one the farmers swear by) on Countryfile we were told that this present mild spell in SE23 will be replaced with some “normal for this time of year” weather very soon.

This afternoon we spent an hour or two in the garden tidying up, not that you’d think we did looking at the wild patch at the bottom (above) but as we’re trying to cultivate a “wild” look we really don’t know what to do for the best. Do we weed or leave?

Last year we sowed some Bee Bombs alongside more wild flowers using our random sowing technique (aka chuck them anywhere) and considering the area doesn’t get that much light we did alright but we’re going to give it another year and see what happens. It does look messy at the moment and the two random stalks of brussels sprouts don’t help either.

We also forked up some dahlia tubers (top pic) we didn’t get around to lift after the frost, got as much mud off them as we could and now they’re indoors in the dark and dry until the spring. We maybe too late as we took out some rotten parts already but we’ll keep a check on them. More info on lifting and storing dahlias here.

The raised beds at the side (above) are quite tidy and nice to see the overwintering onions and shallots doing well. The usual bucket over the rhubarb is back, to try and force some early stalks out of it come the spring.

We moved a bay bush we got years ago which was not doing well in its old location and it looks like the move has worked wonders. And below is the pond that is looking quite bare at the moment but give it a couple of months and it’ll be back to its former glory. We’re still leaving the pea netting on top as that Ladywell Heron has been seen of late standing motionless at the bottom of the garden the other week.

That’s our update, if the weather’s okay we may do a bit more but we doubt it with what was said on Countryfile!

And in the background while we write this, is the latest Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room from IDA Radio (Tallinn). Starts with some chilled Jazz from Finland and then progresses through some nice musical genres.

Played early on the show is this wonderful tune from Brenda Ray called Space Dustin’.