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Chit Chat Garden ( 2017 )
Chit Chat Garden ( 2017 )
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The hedgehogs are hibernating in the compost heap, it's warmer there.
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I hope not! I am still forking stuff into it
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Rats
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hurry up blackbarn ...
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My lawn is growing again
The birds are singing like it is spring already.Talking of birds, i have an odd couple in the garden for about a week or so now, a Starling and a Pied Wagtail ! They walk around the lawn together, and only appear in the garden together. The Starling is a bit of a surprise as i haven't seen one in my garden for donkeys years. |
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Still got peppers turning red on plants in the back bedroom on Xmas Eve .
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-6.1°c in the polytunnel last night
 My Sweet pea seedlings are still looking well in there. |
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I like a bit of hard frost, it puts the slugs in their place. Hard crunchy snow and ice here. Having to feed the birds twice a day. Mr Robin perches on a twig near the shed making sure he's the first to the suet pellets as the hit the ground whereas Mr Blackbird sits on high waiting for me to go inside before venturing down to scavenge for mealworms. Loads of activity while the food lasts.
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blackbarn
disappointed no mouse bait update! Zeina cucumber seeds still on exhibition seeds for 2018 @ £4.50 for 5 Thompson & Morgan ceased their retail packet but their wholesale arm direct2grower are getting rid of the last of the seed at £10.50 for 100, if you are interested |
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Delta - Sorry mate! Nothing in all four first time round, then discovered Mrs Barn had changed our usual brand of peanut butter - Discovered by Grandaughter 1 - "Grandma, I don't like this peanut butter".
So back to Sun Pat! and Bingo, back to normal, six of the bu88ers in a week, and nothing since. Sophisticated, those Long Tailed Fieldmice  Might get some Zeina for this coming season. We grew a new exhibition variety last year - cant remember the name or find the label. They were really good. Straightest we have ever grown and very tasty too. I will let you know when I find the label. |
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tar
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It was a lovely morning today so went to do some tidying up on the allotment.
The garlic heads that were left in the ground last summer are growing strongly now and are ready for transplanting when I get around to it. There are a couple of dozen of these so plenty to eat fresh too.  |
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done me first bit of digging over
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First time planting garlic and had about half of them sprout. The trouble is a handful of times I'd go up to the plot I saw some had been dug up. Any advice in stopping whatever it is from digging them up? Is there something in particular that likes to get at the buried garlic?
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net them ?
its time again [end Feb] for Garlic planting 2 for your later crop |
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Hank, they are being pulled out by birds who see the straw coloured tips poking out and think there might be something interesting to eat underneath. Just bury them a bit deeper so they are properly covered, they will still grow through.
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meant to start this years plantings yesterday, but minus 6 overnight for Monday and Tuesday has put paid to that!
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Gardeners' World
Episode 1 of 29 | Season 51 Fri 9 Mar 8:30pm-9:00pm  |
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Anyone got trouble with thar Rhubarb flowering ?,forced mine and got a nice load of stems a month ago then bang ,goes wild with rapid growth of flowering heads ,now a mass of flowers .Thought it might just be due to forcing but every Rhubarb patch I see is flowering .Must be temp related and possibly due to the warm period and then the cold blast from the east .Any know if the flowering heads should be removed or left ? And is it ok to eat ,some saying it does not taste so good once in flower but can't say myself . Anyone make wine from it ? Was reading you should not eat the leaves and some say not to compost them ? Must have a resident Rhubarb expert ,also what is best to feed and when ?
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I have got three different spots with Rhubarb, all shot up to about 4 feet tall in a very short space of time. I was warned by the person who gave it me though that it did nowt but flower. I thought a change of ground/care might change that.
I have always composted all of my Rhubarb leaves, my compost gets mixed into everything i grow without any problems. |
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Yea ,notice the slugs don't bother with it ,sometimes chop some leaves up and put around the young Runners ,seems to work . Have a main patch of traditional thick stem stuff but it's not the best tasting after a month or so and a couple of smaller patches of "champagne " but they don't seem to be so vigorous ,taste better (sweeter) and have smaller stalks but can't take too much or they seem to slow right up ,the older traditional stuff is supposed to be best suited to forcing ,a lot of the traditional crop strains have been super ceded but the knew gens don't like cold spells /wind/wet and it can all go wrong ,more low nighttime temps forecast this coming week but 3rd week in May is about the long term average for late frost . Hardly any bees on the go and if the pear trees fail again they going on the fire .Been fed and it's last chance saloon time,going to try and do some pollination with a fine brush just to see if that is the issue but pissed off with them and if they don't set fruit the axe awaits .
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Apple trees flowering , one is a 3 in 1 variety.
Pear tree after five years growing but still no flowers just lots of leaves. At least 100 strawberry and pineberry plants growing Gooseberry , raspberry , blackcurrant and blackberry all look like flowering and fruiting 11 bags of spuds , purple salad , pink fir apple and shetland black varieties vegetable patch has about 30 pea plants climbing up the netting that surrounds it to keep my and other cats out......and cabbage whites. garlic broad beans parsnips New Zealand yam(oka) ....supposed to produce potato like legumes , but not until the end of its life , so not to be picked until frost has killed the plant. |
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gonna be a bumper year for fruit, is my prediction!
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Looks that way ATM but not so sure the end result will reflect the current apparent abundance ,a bumper year for tree fruit a cheap lay imo . Gave my Pear trees a shake last and the set fruit is falling fairly easily ,there is a huge amount and although it's natures way but for some reason Pears are notorious for shedding the lot.
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Light Frost here in the sunny East Midlands this morning !
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wow
Been a great year in the garden sun loving plants have done really well and my herbaceous borders have looked a treat Sunflowers in their pomp at the moment though the dahilias have been a tad disappointing. Summer feels as though it has now gone and the beginning of Autumn is just around the corner, Bedding plants now beginning to fde and rudebeckias in full throttle. Sweet peas have been a disaster this year and for some reason my fuchias have been disappointing. Echinacheas have done really wellas have roses and marigolds. Preparing for Autumn plantings soon and coming up with some bulb design ideas for front and back gardens, Dont you just love it when you have the time!!!! |
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Poor looking fuchsias and sweet peas here. Best looking Geraniums i have had in many a year though.
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yes sun loving plants havinig a ball this year
silver birch trees have had it grim . loads have died around here |
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Are there any bugologists in the house?
Can you tell me what these wee beasties are and how to get rid? Suspect they're hatching from hundreds of wee green eggs on the same sapling. This is the only plant in my garden that they are on. More pics awaiting approval ... for a change  [ This image is no longer available. ] |
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For bugologist, read entomologist
 How many people knew that? |
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what plant is it trilb?
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It's a sapling I potted that was growing in my veg bed. Some type of tree. Will post pics w … hold on - I'll get one now ...
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looks like a caterpillar of some description bit like cabbage white?
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Bols, forgot I can't do that trick on Win10 & my Win7 takes an age to fire up.
Will post pic when it's authorised. Just a regular tree, I think! |
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There are white cabbages here but are they catapillars with so few legs and only at the front?
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They look a bit like newly hatched but nothing like the yella fella
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieris_brassicae |
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and the eggs are green - not yellow
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just checked on internet and they are most certainly sawfly larvae and i bet the tree is a hazel tree
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Gardeners Sawfly caterpillar questions
How to control or eradicate sawfly caterpillars ? Rose Sawfly © 2014 Steve Ogden Once identified, gardeners understandably then want to know how to control sawfly caterpillars. This isn’t always so simple as the use of pesticides can have a detrimental effect on beneficial insects, resulting in a loss of pollinating bees and natural garden pest predators such as hoverfly and ladybird larvae. Prevention and removing recently hatched caterpillars is the best solution. A little time spent checking susceptible plants such as Roses and Solomon’s Seal in the spring and early summer is often effective. Adult sawflies may be spotted and any dark slits in stems containing eggs can be scraped out. Small sawfly larva early feeding signs © 2014 Steve OgdenTiny windows appearing in leaves are often the first signs of hatching and feeding larvae. These leaves, complete with clusters of caterpillars, can easily be removed before the caterpillars have time to grow and spread to the whole plant. Another effective method is to place a bucket underneath the leaf and flick the caterpillars into it using a feather or paint brush. If large caterpillars are found it’s surprising how effective it can be to spend a little time picking them off. Fortunately, even during the day, when many other caterpillars hide, sawfly caterpillars are often easy to spot. |
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When will sawfly caterpillars stop feeding and disappear?
Quite often it’s just after a period when the caterpillars are at their most destructive that they suddenly disappear. This may be because either the food source has become depleted and they have to go in search of another plant, or they are fully grown and wander off in search of somewhere to pupate in the soil or leaf litter. The time period from hatching to pupation can be less than a month for many species. Will plants recover from a sawfly caterpillar infestation? Concern for the welfare of the plant is understandably the gardeners main concern. In general, a healthy tree, shrub, fruit bush or perennial flowering plant won’t suffer long term damage as a result of a single sawfly infestation. However, repeated attacks may cause weakening of the plant, leave it susceptible to disease and fungal infection, as well as stunt growth. |