Earthbeat, earthbeat

Posted on April 29, 2020 by onedeckpete

Yesterday we had some well needed rain but the dullness in the sky didn’t help spirits indoors. It’s still a but cold today but the sun is peeking out every now and again and we’ve been doing the same but with a hoe, knocking off any weeds etc.

We’ve been noticing that the spuds are starting to show through now so whilst we had the hoe in our hands we started piling just a small amount of soil around the growing tips of the potatoes to protect them from a late frost. Later on in the growing season we’ll carry on with this mounding up (AKA “Earthing up” ) which prevents any of the spuds close to the surface going green. More on “Earthing up” here.

And the seed potatoes that are growing under the black membrane which was used for under the decking are coming through too (we won’t need to earth them up but a little bit of soil can be put over the growing tips as frost protection). And even though us lot in lockdown are a bit fed up with the rain, at least the garden and the fish are loving it! #pondsnotdead #lockdowngardening

A potato finale plus animal nightlife

Posted on November 10, 2019 by onedeckpete

And here are the last of the spuds we dug up yesterday as we don’t want them going rotten with all the wet weather we probably get in the forthcoming months. These were originally from seed spuds we bought from Shannon’s and it’s taken us years to work out if you leave the potatoes in for longer they will grow larger. Sometimes it takes a while for the penny to drop. But when it does…

Also the other week we noticed a small tin of opened sweet corn and an opened bread packet down by the pond and thought nothing of it. Then we found that something had severed the lead from the little solar panel that powers the battery of the pond pump. Now yesterday we found they’ve all been severed. We have a couple of cats and they usually keep the vermin away and we’ve never had anything like this before. Any ideas?

Could the above be anything to do with it? We have a big pile of broken slabs piled up at the back of the pond (that we took from the area that has now been seeded) do you reckon there’s something that has made their home in there who likes gnawing through wires? Rodents perhaps? Suggestions please. We are putting an ad on Gumtree today for anyone who wants a load of 70’s slabs for free as hardcore for an old shed or something. That should do the trick to clear the area. Trouble is we still have to buy another pond pump next year. That’ll be the third in as many years, damn!

In for a penny, in for a pond

Posted on April 21, 2019 by onedeckpete

There’s eight fish in there, go on count em! We’re so glad those eight goldfish are still alive as we haven’t seen much signs of life over the last few months. The water has been well cloudy as the pond pump went for a burton earlier this year but one has just been ordered so normal service will resume soon.

To add to that, we spotted the Lewisham Heron on Good Friday evening on the roof of the prefabs behind our garden. It has been making regular visits to the neighbourhood of late so we feared for the worse. The picture below taken earlier this year gives you some idea of what we’re dealing with. Look closely for the pterodactyl type thing standing motionless on the edge of the pond!

And here it is again giving it the freeze frame business on the fence, there’s no stopping the thing. Thank god we stuck the pea wire obtained from Shannon’s over the pond or the goldfish (bought from Lewisham’s Number 1 pet shop!) would now be goners!

November spawned a monster

Posted on June 12, 2018 by onedeckpete

A few photos of the state of play in the Weeds garden at the moment. There’s fun and frolics in the pond with the goldfish and this year’s batch of tadpoles and it’s not looking too murky in there at the moment. There’s no sign of that thieving Lewisham heron either thanks to the folks at Shannon’s for telling us to put pea netting over the top of the pond (with a few escape routes dotted about for the local mini-wildlife).

The poppies are doing their thing too. Any seed heads that form we dry out and distribute around the garden so they’ll come back next summer.

The vegetable bed at the bottom of the garden has moved on since last month. The spuds are on their way, the alderman peas are starting to grow and we’re finally seeing the runner beans germinate. And about time too!