Went to collect the recycling bin and found a very small hedgehog tucked up next to its space. I wasn't happy about my prickly visitor's chosen location or behaviour, so researched. Found him in the garden and weighed him, about 200g.
Of course what I didn't have was a box to put him in but neighbours found a small one and had some cat food. Not interested in food, but lapped up water and then hid under the newspaper. He's now with the local rescue, assessed a severely dehydrated and underweight. He'll be returned to the garden when he's trebled his weight at least.
The person who has not made a mistake, has made nothing
Used to help roll big bales down a pier and onto a mooring boat and go across perched on top. Madness.
Rained all day & quite midgied here - so much rain. More cars and bikes zooming about which is annoying after all the peace and quiet.
Little getting done outdoors at the mo as it's too disgusting out there. Raked out more clutter and listed in on the bay. One egg yesterday - a small one. I've had them a month at least. Dave your plot looks mega neat and all organised. You could sell your plants on-line.
Did get some more Blackcurrants picked yesterday & frozen - lovely big berries. I may make some cordial that is so much tastier than Ribena. I have enough jams & jelly to see out the siege.
Sheep getting really bother about their eyes with midgies so will get some jollop on them again tomorrow - well, that's the plan.
Our plants may be tidy, Ted, but pictures can hide a multitude of sins or problems. For example, you can't see how many of them get red spider mite, or the terrible trouble I've had with compost since the manufacturers started adding much more recycled material to it. I had all that trouble 15 years ago, when I had access to incredibly cheap composted waste and thought I'd found the Holy Grail. It was OK till it rained a lot and things just sat there, cheerfully dying in the soggy mush! Well, much the same thing is happening now, except I'm paying dearly for the materials!
So, I'm glad to be getting out of ornamentals as a business thing. With one eye on the not-too-distant future, I'd say growing your own will boom, but what happens to create that boom won't be pleasant. There's also the problem of the millions who have nowhere to grow, just as they had nowhere to go when incarcerated earlier this year. My advice is get in early and buy up the seeds/plants you need for the next few years; don't leave it till everyone else is doing likewise.
I think you’re right about seeds a Dave. I’m picking up what I can when I can, and have ordered from real seeds on the basis that I might even manage to start saving my own. My mum brought me her old seed tin last time she came over. They moved 7 years ago so she hasn’t grown veg since then, but there were still seeds in there and I have nothing to lose by trying them.
Ornamentals have gone really well this year; the psychology being that people who've been deprived in some way give themselves little treats as compensation. It's like chocolate consumption rising in recessions.
And we're heading into a mega-recession now, when ornamentals will possibly become an irrelevancy, because of more pressing issues. This year is just the prelude. History teaches us that things reach a certain point and then the old order is swept away and society re-defines itself....
...or you can believe everything's engineered by secret cabals who control us from behind the scenes.
Either way, it doesn't look great, so saving non F1 seed is the way to go!
I really like Real Seeds and Brown Envelope seeds but I'd also suggest getting some standard seeds in foils as they will keep longer. And don't worry too much about F1 for tomatoes as a lot seem to produce very similar results as F2.
Obviously, some things are much easier to save seeds from than brassicas, but at least brassica seed keeps a few year even if the packets been open, if kept cool, dry and bug free.
Peas, French beans, most tomatoes, some peppers and lettuce are easy, as long as you stake the latter well although I find the dried foliage dust irritant.
And consider fruit and perennials like African kale. I'm still eating it several times a week.
I'm going to experiment with leek pips this year.
The person who has not made a mistake, has made nothing
Now I've got the greenhouse up and running I'm going to aim to use that for tomatoes, peppers and aubergines next year (I think I probably get through more peppers than I do tomatoes TBH). And I need to rethink how I use the raised beds. The high-level planters seem to be best for the lettuce and radishes. I might put some chard and kale in them over the winter as they're nice and close to the house. I don't eat much fruit so the existing raspberries and strawberries are enough (they need de-runnering though!). Courgettes and squashes will also get eaten, and I'm back in the habit of using lots of fresh herbs now they are there.
I've got automatic watering set up for my raised planters and one of the raspberry beds (and although its probably wasteful as I know the tap is weeping when it is on all the time, it's a god send at the moment with the post-covid fatigue). I'm struggling with the raised beds as the connections to the timer I've got for the water butt leak so much that I'm not sure how long a full water butt would last! I guess I should try this week and make a decision.
Greenhouse watering system isn't in as I still haven't got a water butt set up close enough. However, it has occurred to me that I could do a temporary set up with the butt that hasn't been installed elsewhere yet and see how it goes. I just need some energy and braincells at some point. And to do it a bit at a time...
The hotbin is being VERY tempermental. While it shifts a lot of material very quickly, it does need almost daily TLC. I really need to get the shredder out to stick some bark through (actually, I might just try standing on the bark, it's old enough) as that should help. I have LOTS of cardboard and paper, and no shortage of garden and kitchen waste. The compost heap is obviously much slower, but is at least proving to be a good disposal mechanism for the water parsnip, grass clippings and cardboard, leaving room for weeds and deadheading in the council garden waste.
I need to remember to cut some foxgloves down and scatter the seeds in the long grass before I start cutting it back. It's going to be a slow process as I use a small hand scythe and have limited energy so do a bit at a time to get it short enough to strim and then mow immediately so as not to leave too much material behind. But it's been a success this year in terms of wildflowers, so I'll be doing it again - stop mowing a large part of the garden in May (cutting paths through it) and then start cutting it back slowly from mid-July as the wildflowers set seed. I'm putting the long grass in the council collection as it has set seed.
For me, the pandemic has had a massive upside, which is that I've been able to finally spend a decent amount of time in the garden. I'm currently looking for another job (mine is at risk of redundancy - not a surprise, except that it has taken them about a year to work out that they're not actually letting me do my job...) and while I still expect to travel, I'm hoping it won't be quite so much!
I'm going to be away for a week and a bit in August, so really need to sort out the watering and/or find someone to water and pick the toms/courgettes/peas/beans etc!
greenbee, I'd seriously think about sowing some seeds so you've some plants to take over after the summer crops in the greenhouse. Even outside Winter Imperial lettuce, mizuna, rocket, several endives, landcress and mache overwintered last year. Inside, add a hanging basket of mangetout peas. I also grew pea shoots from some very cheap culinary peas, although they weren't the most tender.
The person who has not made a mistake, has made nothing
That's a good idea - although I might wait until I'm back from holiday! I'm definitely open to suggestions. I've got one 8ft x 4ft raised bed with a veg cage over it, and another 3ft square one - both against south facing walls, plus 4 90cm square pots that the courgettes are in. The greenhouse is 8ft wide and 6ft deep. The tomatoes are currently in large gravel trays along the back wall of the greenhouse. It faces N/S, so they're on the sheltered (by the trees the other side of the stream) north side facing south. Raspberries shelter it from the west, and next door's hornbeam hedge from the east. There's a 6ft trellis to the south with climbers on it, but above the 6ft it gets plenty of sun as there's an access lane to the sewage treatment plant!
I've just remembered that I did sow some kohlrabi. I must have another look at what I've got and work out when to sow it. And importantly remember that there is only me eating it, not 25 people! I also have sprouting seeds and a couple of sprouting jars which helps with variety over the winter. And I could use up all the ancient lettuce seed in trays as micro-greens.
Just finished dinner - red potatoes from the big tub, Runner Beans and fresh peas. Plus chicken (from the Co-op). All was lovely, but the potatoes were particularly good, compared to the ones that have been sold recently, which have been very loose in texture. I've spotted a couple of feral spud plants about the weedpatch as well (Himself has a somewhat lax attitude towards vegetable matter and composting), so we might get some extras at some point, too.I caught the spuds in the pot just before blight got them and the peas were just developing powdery mildew, so in the nick of time, really. The beans are quite happy and resisting the nectar thieving larger bumblebees and the pigeons rather well.
Still wondering whether the courgette/pumpkin/cucumber mystery plants are ever going to throw out female flowers, but one essentially free dinner (beans were from about 8 years ago, peas from a box of soaking peas, spuds were again his 'composting') isn't bad going for about 3 foot square. And I've now got some more room to deal with some late summer/winter planting.
And the blackberries are coming in. There are a lot of those - best eat them this year, as I've still got loads in the freezer from 2019.
I could dream to wide extremes, I could do or die: I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch the world go by.
Replies
Of course what I didn't have was a box to put him in but neighbours found a small one and had some cat food. Not interested in food, but lapped up water and then hid under the newspaper. He's now with the local rescue, assessed a severely dehydrated and underweight. He'll be returned to the garden when he's trebled his weight at least.
Rained all day & quite midgied here - so much rain. More cars and bikes zooming about which is annoying after all the peace and quiet.
Little getting done outdoors at the mo as it's too disgusting out there. Raked out more clutter and listed in on the bay.
One egg yesterday - a small one. I've had them a month at least.
Dave your plot looks mega neat and all organised. You could sell your plants on-line.
Did get some more Blackcurrants picked yesterday & frozen - lovely big berries. I may make some cordial that is so much tastier than Ribena. I have enough jams & jelly to see out the siege.
Sheep getting really bother about their eyes with midgies so will get some jollop on them again tomorrow - well, that's the plan.
Obviously, some things are much easier to save seeds from than brassicas, but at least brassica seed keeps a few year even if the packets been open, if kept cool, dry and bug free.
Peas, French beans, most tomatoes, some peppers and lettuce are easy, as long as you stake the latter well although I find the dried foliage dust irritant.
And consider fruit and perennials like African kale. I'm still eating it several times a week.
I'm going to experiment with leek pips this year.
Now I've got the greenhouse up and running I'm going to aim to use that for tomatoes, peppers and aubergines next year (I think I probably get through more peppers than I do tomatoes TBH). And I need to rethink how I use the raised beds. The high-level planters seem to be best for the lettuce and radishes. I might put some chard and kale in them over the winter as they're nice and close to the house. I don't eat much fruit so the existing raspberries and strawberries are enough (they need de-runnering though!). Courgettes and squashes will also get eaten, and I'm back in the habit of using lots of fresh herbs now they are there.
I've got automatic watering set up for my raised planters and one of the raspberry beds (and although its probably wasteful as I know the tap is weeping when it is on all the time, it's a god send at the moment with the post-covid fatigue). I'm struggling with the raised beds as the connections to the timer I've got for the water butt leak so much that I'm not sure how long a full water butt would last! I guess I should try this week and make a decision.
Greenhouse watering system isn't in as I still haven't got a water butt set up close enough. However, it has occurred to me that I could do a temporary set up with the butt that hasn't been installed elsewhere yet and see how it goes. I just need some energy and braincells at some point. And to do it a bit at a time...
The hotbin is being VERY tempermental. While it shifts a lot of material very quickly, it does need almost daily TLC. I really need to get the shredder out to stick some bark through (actually, I might just try standing on the bark, it's old enough) as that should help. I have LOTS of cardboard and paper, and no shortage of garden and kitchen waste. The compost heap is obviously much slower, but is at least proving to be a good disposal mechanism for the water parsnip, grass clippings and cardboard, leaving room for weeds and deadheading in the council garden waste.
I need to remember to cut some foxgloves down and scatter the seeds in the long grass before I start cutting it back. It's going to be a slow process as I use a small hand scythe and have limited energy so do a bit at a time to get it short enough to strim and then mow immediately so as not to leave too much material behind. But it's been a success this year in terms of wildflowers, so I'll be doing it again - stop mowing a large part of the garden in May (cutting paths through it) and then start cutting it back slowly from mid-July as the wildflowers set seed. I'm putting the long grass in the council collection as it has set seed.
For me, the pandemic has had a massive upside, which is that I've been able to finally spend a decent amount of time in the garden. I'm currently looking for another job (mine is at risk of redundancy - not a surprise, except that it has taken them about a year to work out that they're not actually letting me do my job...) and while I still expect to travel, I'm hoping it won't be quite so much!
I'm going to be away for a week and a bit in August, so really need to sort out the watering and/or find someone to water and pick the toms/courgettes/peas/beans etc!
I've just remembered that I did sow some kohlrabi. I must have another look at what I've got and work out when to sow it. And importantly remember that there is only me eating it, not 25 people! I also have sprouting seeds and a couple of sprouting jars which helps with variety over the winter. And I could use up all the ancient lettuce seed in trays as micro-greens.
Still wondering whether the courgette/pumpkin/cucumber mystery plants are ever going to throw out female flowers, but one essentially free dinner (beans were from about 8 years ago, peas from a box of soaking peas, spuds were again his 'composting') isn't bad going for about 3 foot square. And I've now got some more room to deal with some late summer/winter planting.
And the blackberries are coming in. There are a lot of those - best eat them this year, as I've still got loads in the freezer from 2019.