Tag Archives: Wildlife

Wildlife on the rob

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These two photos were taken quietly from the back door this morning: a parakeet and later a squirrel enjoying the seeds of the giant sunflower at the far end of the garden. It seemed that these two took it in turns to snack on the plant for most of the day and all sorts of acrobatics went on to get the seeds. We had no idea the seeds were such a delicacy!

Then again we remembered this picture from many moons ago, crazy stuff!And while we’re thinking of thieving wildlife, here’s a squirrel with a scone, from the days when we had apple trees as a fence. Luckily it wasn’t our scone.

Professional frost protection. You reckon?

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We woke up this morning and it’s way below freezing (-3 C at the moment) and the forecasters are telling us it will be like this for the next few days, so it don’t look like there’ll be much gardening done this weekend. Yesterday we did pop out and put some protection over the camelia that has loads of flower buds on it (above). This great bit of fabric doesn’t cover all of the plant and there isn’t any space between the cloth and the shrub where air can circulate but it’s the best we could get our hands on at the time. It will keep all the cats from the neighbourhood away thinking it’s a levitating ghost and may suggest to the neighbours that we’ve finally lost it but the big question is, will it keep the cold weather out?

While out there we saw this (below) in the wild bit at the bottom of the garden that made us smile. It’s some fungi growing beside our “economy” wild pond. This could be another picture for our Alternative to the BBC Countryfile Calendar that we will put into production one day. The wild pond is an old dutch pot that has one handle missing which we sunk into the ground, filled up with rainwater and the odd thinning from plants from the garden pond are popped in there every now and again.  We salute any wildlife that enjoys our “budget-friendly” pond.

And here’s a note from our sponsors (Aldi, Lldl and Argos of course!): Please keep warm this weekend!

 

 

Can you take the weather forecasters to court?

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As we mentioned, the weather here has been odd but the combination of the sun and rain is making things grow like mad! The side bed up near the house (above) is getting off to a great pace with the assorted bulbs we got from Lldl breaking through and the sweet pea seedlings started off on the kitchen windowsill not being eaten by slugs.

Even the combined wild bed and vegetable patch (above) is looking a bit structured this year rather than the usual anarchic horticultural madness! We still are pondering what to do with the side of an old shed at the back. Any ideas?

As for the weather, someone once said to us “Wouldn’t it be great if it only rained at night and was sunny during the day. Us gardeners would be so happy”. If only life really was like that.

There’s no real reason

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Yesterday with no plan in our heads we tidied up what we call the “wild bit” at the bottom of the garden. We used to grow veg there but it doesn’t really get that much sun so a couple of years ago we sowed some “bee bombs” and what other wild seeds we could find and the area went a bit wild.

We were very influenced by this wonderful pond made by Bill Shimmers at the time of sowing the wild seeds (above) and added our own versions in a smaller and cheaper way utilising a slow cooker crock pot, a dutch pot that only had one handle and a tupperware box. An example of “down at heel” pond construction at its finest and nowhere as great as Bill’s. We are sure at the time Bill replied to our tweet at the time saying kindly that even the smallest addition of water in the garden will help the wildlife. What is great though yesterday we saw the odd frog in one, a drowned slug or two in the other and some very strange moving things that could have just been the “floaters” in our eyes playing up or the effects of dehydration. That was without our glasses on as well so there could well have been more stuff moving about.

As it was very cool down there for most of the day (compared to the 32 degrees C in the sun) we just started and kept on going, taking stuff away and adding the odd different plants and herbs we have about the garden already. We reckon it will be an ongoing project as we can see a couple of plants we want to take out but we don’t want it too sparse as the wildlife needs a hiding place. There was no plan, make it up on the spot gardening innit?

Enjoy the last couple of days of intense heat as we’re supposed to be going back to the early 20 degree C next week. Here’s to more wildlife in the garden.

The Midsummer Mysteries

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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.

Freedom blues

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Since the relining earlier this year things have gone a bit haywire (in the best sense of the word) down the pond. The water is a hell of a lot clearer, the fish seem happier and we’ve seen far more wildlife in and around there.

We usually get frogspawn, then tadpoles and then usually nothing after. This has had us scratching our heads thinking “Where have they gone then?” expecting to see lots of “something” but no, nothing, just an pond full of fish and plants, nothing frog-related at all.

It’s been different of late as there’s a load of mini frogs sunbathing, swimming and some even making the trip out of the pond out to the surrounding jungle (it’s going to look like a jungle to something so small!) We’ve been watering around the pond recently as we usually just leave it to go dry so we wonder if that’s helping matters too. Nice to see a frog sitting down comtemplating what to do next (above) on this the so called “Freedom Day”.