You win some, you lose some

A trip to Ireland, then Milton Keynes (this girl knows how to travel!) and bad weather intertwined with bouts of illness equals very little time spent in the garden over the past few weeks.

Came back from Ireland to find that something had eaten all the leaves off my carrots despite the use of netting and some slug pellets! Still over the past few weeks my pea pods have appeared, the sweetcorn is flowering and I've been able to eat my own broccoli, rhubarb and some teeny weeny beetroot (well, I had to thin them out so one or two small ones have made their way into my salad for tea).  The broccoli wasn't huge, but enough for me in a meal, and there's still some florets coming on the plants.

Looking forward to eating some of these straight from the pod

Weeny beet; grated on a salad they're...
well....great!

Really delighted to see the peas coming on though; considering I got nothing at all from planting dwarf beans seeds.............I wonder if mice got to them?  Haven't seen any holes in the soil though.

Managed to strim a third of the field before the bad weather came in a couple of weeks ago (it is July isn't it?!! sure it's not October?) and now I keep looking at the rest of it growing and waiting for a chance to get out with the brushcutter again. I was hoping the weather would be kinder this month so I could keep on top of the strimming. Ah well sometimes you just feel like you're losing the battle.....but I will win the war!

at least it's not brambles and thistles this year

still got access to the shed........just about!

The Plympton Pippin apple tree that had the frost damage seems to be none-the-worse so far. I've wrapped up the damaged area using a piece of that fibrous material you use to line hanging baskets with.  It's good for retaining water, which will help the scar to heal.  One of the Sunset apple trees got attacked by Blackfly and several of the leaves were curling in and wilting as a result and it generally looked tired and poorly!  There was only one thing for it.....the bug spray I'm afraid!  I try not to use chemicals on the garden but every now and then I don't feel I have a choice.  If anyone knows of any other non-chemical way of getting rid of Blackfly from an apple tree I'd really be interested to hear about it.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some herbs from People and Gardens who are based where I work;  Basil, Lemon Basil, Purple Basil, Sage, Thyme and Oregano.  I've planted them in the bed with the cauliflowers in, as most of the caulis died off and left me with some space to fill. I haven't had much success with herbs in pots for some reason so I'm hoping they'll do well in the bed.  So far everything seems to be surviving. I also bought a pumpkin plant and a courgette plant and planted in the same bed.  The pumpkin has already started to spread along the bed but it shouldn't interfere with the herbs and both are flowering nicely.  Once the fruits start to show I'll mulch around them to keep the moisture in the ground.

Today was a goo day for getting out in the garden so it was time to attack the weeds that have grown up along the path into the garden and the Alpine bank I'm trying to create as you enter.  An accidental dislodging of a stone on the bank revealed an ants nest.  Talk about frantic! Operation 'Rescue The Eggs' kicked in instantly and I was so fascinated to watch them that I just had to record a little of the highly coordinated recovery plan!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention - I was surprised and delighted to discover recently that my two surviving cauliflowers have grown hearts! Brilliant - I thought I'd failed on that one.  Fingers crossed they grow a bit bigger. I read somewhere that it's a good idea to bend the leaves over the hearts to keep them white, so I've done that today and I'll be keeping a close eye on them - the Cabbage White butterflies are hanging around - time to get more fleece I reckon.

Past, present and future

Well I didn't win the National Lottery over Christmas and New Year so my plans of being able to retire early and spend more time outside (obviously in a larger house, possibly a small holding where I can have chickens, goats and pigs) have been foiled yet again!

Today has been my first real productive day out in the garden since before Christmas - bearing in mind that the flu kept me indoors for a week and then my energy levels have taken most of the two weeks over the festive season to get back to normal. The garden looks tired and beaten. Not surprising since the hard frost that lay on the ground for weeks has taken its toll on the plants and the lawn. Everything has been covered in a heavy layer of dead autumn leaves, despite my efforts to clear them last year, and after the overlaying frost thawed at Christmas everywhere is sodden.

So it was just a tidying up session today. I raked up what leaves I could from the borders and the lawn and trimmed back some of the Canary Clover, it's got quite stringy last year. With everything so wet it's probably best that I let the lawn and borders dry out a bit more before I do any weeding and to see if there's been any damage to the grass.  I was a little concerned about raking the leaves off it today so I was careful not to be too heavy handed - I didn't want to tug on the grass and do any damage to the roots. I shall have to wait and see if the Siddalcea and Aquilegia have survived.  I can see some bulb leaves coming through, I think it's the Grape Hyacinths (I forget to label my plants a lot of the time!) and the Alliums that are trying to peep through.

Up in 'The Field' it's a similar story - the soil is too wet and heavy to dig.  I suppose one good bit of news is that the frost has really given the ground weeds a beating this winter.  You know what spinach looks like when it's been cooked? soggy, shrivelled mush?  Well that's what the ground weeds look like in the field at the moment.  No doubt, they'll be back with a vengeance as soon as Spring arrives. Again I'll have to play the waiting game and hope that the ground dries up a bit over the next few weeks before I can start any digging up there.  There's still plenty of hedge clearing to be done though, so I can crack on with that in the meantime.

I have been faithfully keeping the bird feeders full though, which at the rate the birds are going through them is very regular indeed!   I've hung up a couple of those 'anti-squirrel' bird feeders with wild bird feed in one and peanuts in the other and about 5 fat balls and it's like an 'all you can eat for free' buffet out there!  Last year I had a normal bird feeder up and a sweet little peanut holder shaped like a house.  The squirrels took these to be educational toys.  They quickly demonstrated their level of high intelligence by chewing the wood on the peanut holder and ripping the wire frame out and also enlarging the hole in the bird feeder so that they could just pour the seeds out onto the ground and eat them from there.  Lets see how these new feeders stand up to their shenanigans!

So, did I get any of those tasks on my Winter List done?  nope! The fruit cage stills needs to be put up, the area for the future chicken run still needs to be marked out and the hedge laying will have to wait until I've brought a good quality billhook.  That's a task that may well make it on to the Winter List for 2011.

I shall, however be coppicing one or two of the hazels in 'The Field'.  The raised vegetable beds are ready for me to start growing this year and I want to use some of the hazel as support for plants like runner beans.  I'm also hoping to have a go at weaving a short hazel hurdle just to screen off the compost container so that it doesn't spoil the view when your looking up the field.

Sorry there's no photos of the garden at the moment, I completely forgot to take the camera up with me today. However, whilst I was visiting family over the New Year we went for a lovely walk in a local nature reserve called the Sence Valley Forest Park, not far from mum and dad's.  It was once the site of a colliery but is now landscaped and planted as part of the National Forest.  Despite the drizzling rain, we had an enjoyable walk around the lake, watching the birds, meeting friendly (and very wet) dogs and their owners and generally blowing away the cobwebs from New Year's Eve! So how about some pictures of birds on the lake and ice instead?  Hopefully I'll remember to get some updated photos of the garden next weekend.

Whatever 'ups and downs' we may all face this year, I hope that the 'ups' far outweigh the 'downs' for everyone. I also hope that I have lots to write about the garden this year, and that means me taking more opportunity to crack on with jobs and get things done.

One present I had from my parents this Christmas was a little wall plaque that said "A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever"....how true; how very true!

graceful swans

this duck hadn't learnt to walk on water....I don't think he dared to move on the ice!

lakeside walk at Sence Valley 

The Leicestershire Golden Oldie....resident in the area, friendly, jovial and good natured!

The Furry Capped Warbler - mainly resident in Cornwall; makes loud laughing noises, generally approachable

Sunday sunshine

After being in London twice in 2 weeks, travelling on trains, driving up and down the motorway to Northamptonshire and back, it was so good to get out in the garden on Sunday.  I did a quick sweep around the lawn and borders first, checking to see if any urgent jobs were required.   Thankfully not, but I'm noticing that some of my summer plants are still flowering - the Sidalcea (variety: Elsie Heugh) and the Hairy Canary Clover.  This time last year, they'd both died down and I'd already cut back the dead stems on 'Elsie'.....could be the weather affecting them, or they just enjoying being where they are!   Mind you, I don't have borders brimming with plants and seasonal colours yet so what little colour is still hanging around I'm very grateful for.  I need to think about putting in some autumn/winter plants to get more colour in the garden this time of year.

Canary Clover

Sidalcea 'Elsie Heugh'

Walking around the borders I spotted a large, dark hairy caterpillar munching it's way through a leaf. He/she was so handsome that I had to take a photo and later identified it from a website.  Turns out it was a Knot Grass moth caterpillar - never heard of it!  I was surprised that such a beautiful caterpillar becomes such a dull coloured adult.  Anyway, I left him/her where he/she was as I didn't have the heart to interrupt lunch!

Mr (or Mrs) Knot Grass Moth caterpillar

beautiful markings of orange/yellow and white

Next, it was on to inspect The Field.  I did a quick sweep of the top area just to make sure that the rabbits haven't returned to try and dig back into the old warren.  I'm a bit bothered that they might start to try and get in for the winter but I have a suspicion that the presence of Jasper the Rabbit Killer might just be keeping them at bay. I'm always going to have them as visitors because my garden backs onto open fields; I can live with that, I just don't want them as tenants!

I love being in The Field when the sun shines.  I've begun to pick out places where I'd like to sit; places that offer a view as well as shelter and shade at different times of the day.  One such space is an overgrown Box shrub which forms part of the hedge on the right hand side.  Luckily for me it's growing over into the field and has developed an ideal shape to shelter a bench; plus the view from there looks straight through a gap in the opposite hedge and out across the fields that sweep up to the horizon on the opposite side of the road.  So on Sunday I decided to do a little bit more to open it up.

Every now and again my neighbours children come and help me in the garden and one of their favourite jobs is gradually cutting back this Box ready for a seat to go in. I'd no sooner got the tools out of the shed when I was joined by the rest of the 'Tywardreath Highway Gardening Team', as they like to call our little trio.  I swear they can hear the shed doors opening!  So they set about clipping the Box and I'm pleased to say that, due to all their amazing work, it's about ready for a seat.

2/3 of the THGT at work 

A Box with a view

So, let's end with a question for any budding Sherlock Holmes out there.......when I was putting in my raised beds a few months ago I came across a tree stump which was hiding amongst the weeds and nettles.  It refused to come out of the ground, so I cleared as much off the top and around it as possible and left it.  When I went to check the field on Sunday I found this cluster of mushrooms growing on the top of it.  I think it's an old Hazel stump.  I've no idea what these 'shrooms are, can't identify them from any of my books.  So if anyone knows what the name of them is (I'm pretty sure they're not edible so I'm not even going to touch them!) - answers on a postcard please! 

unknown 'shroom!

any ideas?