The weather turned colder today, back to more normal temperatures for the time of year. Last week on some days we enjoyed 20 degrees celsius but it has dropped back to 9, and it felt cold. But we had planned to take a walk at Attingham Park, the weather failed to stop us. Walking through the woods towards the walled garden we were delighted to see splashes of colour from Primroses, Celandines, Rhodendrons and the first leaves of Horse Chestnut trees.
Occasionally a piece of sculpture surprised and entertained us. This piece hanging above us from the branches of a tree, enticed us to look up into its structure, where it captured our images in its circular mirrors. With me are son, Jamie and his girlfriend Sam.
The walled garden changes with the seasons but also as the gardeners and volunteers develop it. The big change which we were delighted to see as we passed through the gate into the protected growing area inside the walls – the pigs had returned.
Each time a new area of the old walled garden is due for re-development, pigs move in to prepare the planting areas. They clear the weeds, turn over the soil and add manure to improve soil structure and add some plant nutrients. Today the pigs we were mesmerised by were young Tamworths with their red bristles.
The veggie beds looked almost empty but the decorative borders were full of colour mostly from bulbs and wallflowers. A few veg had survived the winter and added their own colours. The stems of the chard contrast nicely with their leaves, making them most attractive plants.
In the very centre of the walled area is a large circular dipping pool, from where the old gardeners would collect water by dipping watering cans. Archaeologists have cleared it out and their explorations and excavations have left its beautiful brick interior for us to admire.
The beds lining the paths that lead from the dipping pool are lined with tulips, hyacinths and wallflowers to give colour and scent for visitors to enjoy.
The warming red brick walls that gave protection to the fruit and veg growing within them are lined with beautiful trained fruit trees. The espalliers are wonderfully trained and later in the spring blossom will clothe their limbs and in late summer and early autumn with fruit.
The garden enclosed in a wall inside the outer wall produces fruit and cut flowers and is home to renovated glasshouses and coldframes.
A border outside the gardeners’ bothy was bursting with hot colours. Polyanthas and Wallflowers in reds, oranges and reds shared the space with an impressive clump of Fritillary “Crown Imperials”.
On the return walk we passed through an area of woodland where fallen limbs from the old trees had been used by children to make wonderful dens. Let’s have a wander around and enjoy a few. We enjoyed admiring the children’s handiwork and Jamie and Sam had to try one out for size. Knowing that I would blog about our day out they decided that if they sneaked into a photo they could get themselves into my next posting.
The long-awaited and eagerly anticipated day arrives. First outdoor sowings on the lottie. A big flask of coffee, a bunch of bananas and half a dozen apples in the trug and we arrive at our plot with blue sky above and warmth of the sun making us feel good.
We began by tidying our paths, I mowed and Jude, “The Undergardener” trimmed the edges. Instantly the plot looked the business. We removed the cloches that had been warming the soil for a fortnight and discovered warm, moist soil below all raked to a fine tilth.
Cloches in place warming the soil ready for sowing.
The tools for the job collected from the shed, seed packets at the ready and the sun on our backs – ready for off! I use a range of tools by Wolf – three handles, short medium and long, and a range of inter-changeable heads. For today’s sowing I got ready a wide rake, narrow rake, cultivator, drill-maker, seed-sower and hoe.
Tools at the ready.
Where the soil had been warmed with a covering of cloches we sowed legumes, Broad Bean “Super Aqualdulce”, Pea “Sugar Ann” which we enjoy by eating the young pods whole, Pea “Oregon Sugarpod” a mange tout type. First job is to take out a 2 inch deep drill six inches wide with a draw hoe and then keep watering along it until the water stops draining away quickly. The seeds are then placed in the drills and covered with dry soil to keep in the moisture and a final topping of compost to act as mulch and to clearly mark where we have sown. Although we label our seeds as they are sown we take this second precaution against the Blackbirds who enjoy pulling our labels up and throwing them on the paths.
Waiting for the heavily watered drill to drain.Two rows of Broad Bean seeds neatly set out.The darker compost mulch marks the rows of peas and broad beans.
When we returned home we planted up our first batch of seed potatoes, Rocket and Kestrel. The Rocket will be ready first, hopefully within 11 weeks and the Kestrel a few weeks later. Kestrel looks good with its purple eyes and tastes good too.
Potatoes chitted ready to plant.We grow our potatoes in potato bags, using old compost as the growing medium.
Our allotment plot is only about 150 square metres but we cultivate it with wildlife in mind and have several features to actively attract the wildlife that can support our gardening efforts. We endeavour to garden for wildlife and with wildlife. Some we attract some is here anyway.
Many beneficial insects are attracted onto our plot to help us fight pests and pollinate our fruit and veg. The most important insect predators are probably Ladybirds. Lacewings and Hoverflies. Their larvae are voracious pest eaters.
We have created an insect hotel on our plot to attract the beneficial predatory insects. Our “hotel” is made from bricks with holes of varying sizes, wooden posts drilled with holes and every available gap filled with twigs, canes, cones, dried grass, in fact anything that may be seen by insects as somewhere to shelter and to hibernate. On its roof we grow Sedum which will flower and attract more insects and we have added a log for insects to hide under. We know it works as in the spring on warm days Ladybirds pour out to sun themselves on the bricks which hold warmth.
We encourage birds to visit our plot to feed off pests who want to eat the leaves of our crops. Our bird feeders attract Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Longtailed Tits and Great Tits who feed particularly greedily on aphids and caterpillars. We have also put bird boxes up to encourage birds to raise their young, both open-fronted boxes for Robins and holed boxes for members of the tit family, as well as roosting pouches for Wrens. the birds are so confident now that they use the feeders when we are gardening close by.
Flowers decorate the plot for our own enjoyment and the feel-good factor, but we only grow flowering plants that attract wildlife such as Sedum, Marjorams, Cowslips, Primroses and Evening Primroses that will attract butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Some species of butterfly overwinter by hibernating in our shed as adults or as larvae. The one in the photo took a fancy to my hat hanging on the shed door as his winter haunt.
The Tortoiseshell Butterfly is exploring the flower buds of our Sedum, which once fully in flower is busy with insect life.
We leave some plants to go to seed each year for wildlife. The Fennel’s yellow umbrella’s of flowers attract wasps and hoverflies. Wasps are useful on a plot as they are the only insect that will consume the caterpillars of Cabbage White Butterflies.
The seed heads of Globe Artichoke are a magnet for finches especially Goldfinches, but when in flower they bring in the bees.
Our next plan is to develop a strip of wildflowers so that we have our very own mini-meadow. This will also act as a Beetle Bank attracting beetles into the shade of the plants, and we need beetles on our plot as they consume slugs and their eggs. We leave bundles of sticks around and these attract the best predatory beetle of all, the Violet Ground Beetle, which we see whenever we cultivate soil or do any weeding. the males are large with iridescent violet wingcases.
It goes without saying that we garden organically, we mulch a lot and grow green manures to protect the soil. The health and well-being of our soil is of paramount importance. We only feed it with natural materials to provide nutrients – manure, compost, green manures, seaweed feed and our own comfrey liquid feed. We maintain two compost bins on the plot.
The front edge of the plot is planted with wildflowers as a narrow border in front of the first row of fruit bushes. They bring in insects and give a welcome to visitors. Calendula and Heartsease self seed there each year so never need to be re-sown. They make enough green growth to be useful addition to the compost bins.
The next gardening for wildlife blog will be about our garden at home and its wildlife.
More impulse buying! Plants again but not from our usual places of temptation, nurseries and garden centres. On recent visit to Ikea to buy curtains and cushions we discovered some succulents being sold as house plants. As we already have a selection of Aeoniums and Echeveria which we grow outside in pots in “The Rill Garden” in the warmer months and overwinter them in the cool end of the greenhouse, we imagined a couple of these would be useful and colourful additions. So we bought seven! Typical gardeners’ impulse buying!
They make a pretty colourful bunch!
These are the three Crassula we bought, with their slightly curled, glaucous leaves subtly edged in red.
This Crassula sports mahogany tinted leaves which are shiny and rounded, in fact almost tubular.
This close-up view of the Echeveria illustrates its metallic, pinky purple flattened succulent leaves.
The Haworthia is almost like a clump of tiny Aloe, its grass-green leaves spiky with tiny saw-tooth ends.
So we now await warmer, sunnier days when we can plant our new succulents in pots outside and see how they fare.
The weather forecast promised us sunshine, clear skies and mild temperatures in the mid-teens, so we decided to drive two miles up the road to park at the bottom of Earls Hill and walk slowly along the trail around the hill’s perimeter. The car park is in the woodland edge and stepping out of the car we look up into the canopy of tall deciduous trees to see Blue Tits flitting rapidly from branch to branch right up in the tree tops. Their calls sounded all around us.
The path inviting us into the wood.
An inviting pathway led us into the wood. It was comfortable and soft underfoot being strewn with fallen leaves and softened by recent rain. To our left we could see fishing pools through the old hedge of once-coppiced Hawthorn. The pools were almost as inviting as the woodland walk. The fisherman in me called. The Hawthorn was displaying first signs of Spring with buds bursting into the brightest green leaves. Here we were delighted to hear the call of the Chiffchaff, always the first of the Summer migrants to return to Shropshire. We always start hearing and seeing them around mid-March. They identify themselves for us as their call reflects their name.
New growth on the Hawthorn.
On the first section of track we were showered as we passed beneath willow trees by tiny pieces of the flowers as Blue Tits pecked at them. All around us the wood echoed to the sound of woodpeckers, the yaffling laughter calls of the Green Woodpecker and the territorial tapping of the Great Spotted. Further into the wood and our senses were bombarded by Wild Garlic, their bright green new leaves carpeted the woodland floor and their powerful onion-like smell permeated the trees. We could smell these Ramsoms a long while before we saw them and could still smell them a long while after passing them by.
Wild Garlic carpets the sloping woodland floor.
This early section of the walk was close to the edge of the woodland so wildflowers were stirring with the speckled light filtering through, Primroses and Pennywort were found alongside the path.
The glossy round leaves of Pennywort glow amongst paler mosses.
A patch of Primroses consisted of three solid flower-covered clumps. Those closest to the light were fully open while those just feet away but in slightly more shade were still in bud and leaning towards the extra light of the woodland edge.
Delicate yellow coloured Primrose.Leaning towards the light.
Bluebell foliage is already a few inches high so we eagerly anticipate the blue haze of their scented flowers which should grace the wood in April.
Bluebell promises.
Beyond this first patch of woodland the trail took us over an open area of rough land dotted with flowering Gorse and stunted Hawthorns. Long Tailed tits and Great Tits fed in these scrubby bushes and called continuously, the Long Tails churring and the Greats calling “Teacher Teacher”. The hills of Yellow Hill Ants were scattered over the whole of this area like a rash of nasty spots on a teenager’s skin. This ant is a speciality of this reserve.
The ant hills of the Yellow Meadow Ants.
Beyond this stretch of open land, we entered another area of woodland but here trees were thinner and spaced further apart. Here stones are strewn on the slopes and some slopes are cloaked in scree from the craggy steep cliffs of Earls Hill itself. On these crags Peregrines have nested for years, a clever choice as they are away from predators and the adult birds can look down over the scree and trees and spot passing pigeons, their favourite prey. From our garden we watch these magnificent falcons climbing and spiralling upwards so high that they disappear from view and occasionally we see their high-speed stoop from that great height. They reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour! But on our walk we saw them passing over the tree tops.
Slopes of thinly spaced trees amid scree.The haunt of Peregrines.
In one area the scree was being recolonised by plants. We were amazed to see Verbascum, commonly called Mullein, growing here in good numbers. Being biennial the Mulleins were present as last years seed heads still standing tall and stiffly upright and amongst them the rosettes of silvery and heavily-furred leaves from which the centres of which this year’s flower stems will rise.
Softly textured leaves of Mullein.The tall spires of last year's flowering stems of the MulleinSo many seeds must have burst from these pods.
Not much further along the track we came across a patch of ferns and amongst them discovered a bronze-leaved specimen. A true beauty, similar to one we grow in our garden. It reminded us of how Victorian gardeners became obsessed with ferns, collecting any with interestingly shaped or unusually coloured leaves.
The beautiful leaf structure of ferns.The bronze leaves of this unusual fern.Variation on a theme.Beautifully subtle shades of green and bronze.
As we moved back into denser woodland our paths were frequently crossed by the unpleasant musky odours of Fox and Badger. Foxes left trackways through the undergrowth but the signs of the Badgers were much easier to spot as we found their sett. One tunnel had been recently excavated and huge piles of soil and stones deep from underground piled around its entrance.
The fox's smelly trail.The Badgers have been busy extending their sett.
The commonest mammal on the reserve must be the Rabbit – we saw them throughout our wanderings their white tails bobbing as they disappeared at our approach. They must provide a useful food bank for the Foxes and Buzzards. We could frequently hear Buzzards calling overhead but we only managed to see two. One we spotted as it flew rapidly through the trees, keeping low to the ground as it tried to catch a Rabbit. The prey escaped this time! The other we spotted sat on the topmost branch of a Hawthorn bush in a field nearby, looking as if he was waiting impatiently for thermals to help him get airborne.
Throughout the wood there were excellent habitats for insect and invertebrates, some created by Mother Nature where trees have fallen and are now rotting and others made by Shropshire Wildlife Trust volunteers who create wood piles and brash stacks when they perform their management activities around the reserve. Rotting wood is particularly popular with beetles.
Fallen and rotting tree trunks are beetle heaven.
Throughout our circular walk around the base of Earls Hill we enjoyed listening to the song of our native thrushes, the repetitive phrases of the Song Thrush, the gentle ditty of its bigger cousin the Mistle Thrush and the flute like tuneful song of the Blackbird. All were males calling out to proclaim ownership of their territory and letting females know how good they would be as partners. It was noticeable that the thrushes we heard were our resident thrushes and there was no sign of the winter visiting thrushes, the Redwings and Fieldfares. They must now have left our shores to make their journey home.
Occasionally through gaps in the trees we enjoyed glimpses of views of the countryside. When walking in woodland you become so absorbed in its atmosphere that you forget what the outside world is like. These glimpses of the countryside reminded us of the thin mist overlying and obscuring the nearby hills and farmland.
One sign of the approach of Spring was the nest-building activity of birds large and small. We watched Bluetits delicately collecting lichen from branches of Hawthorns. Rooks clumsily gathered twigs too large to easily carry through the close growing trees. They were nesting in their rookery in a clump of tall trees across the fields bordering the reserve. We heard the snapping of the brittle twigs as they broke when lifted and carried by the Rooks.
While wandering we enjoyed the textures, patterns and colours on tree trunks and the shapes of fallen trunks and branches. It made us think of Mother Nature as artist and sculptress. (Look out for future blogs on the artistry and sculptural skills of Mother Nature)
We returned to the car park as the temperature began to drop, vowing to return when the woods were full of summer migrants. We have the songs of warblers to look forward.
Late Saturday night we were digging jazz at our jazz club. Early Sunday morning we were digging soil on an allotment. Double digging at its best! At Shrewsbury Jazz Network we enjoyed a brilliant young band called the JJ Wheeler Quintet. JJ the young drummer leads the band and composes and arranges their music. We had a great night.
Sunday morning we, the Undergardener and I, woke early anticipating a mild sunny day, just right for helping out our Daughter, Jo and Son-in-Law, Rob on their allotment. After a short drive we arrived and Rob opened up the gate. Jo was elsewhere enjoying learning more about jewelry. The three of us aimed to finish preparing the plot for sowing and planting. Their plot is divided up into small beds divided by grass paths and we were determined to dig, rotovate, feed with poultry manure pellets and rake them all level.
Unfortunately I forgot that essential blogging gardener’s tool, my camera so I had to use my phone.
Jude, the Undergardener, and Rob weeding the onion bed (plus my shadow)Jude, the Undergardener helping sort the onions, without my shadow.Onions weeded and fed.We finished planting and putting up supports for the new cordon apples.We finished off the luxury insect hotel.Success! Paths cut, edges trimmed and all beds ready for the sowing and planting season.
Today we held our first allotment working party of 2012. Once or twice a month throughout the year I organise working parties to develop and maintain the communal areas at our site, Bowbrook Allotment Community. These communal areas are for the enjoyment of our allotment holders, the local residents, school groups, nature and gardening clubs etc. We have a small sub-committee of the main allotments management committee which is responsible for these areas, The Green Spaces Committee. We invite volunteers to join us at our regular working parties.
At 9:00 am we opened up the site gates and collected up the tools and machinery we might need. The day started foggy and chilly, just 6 degrees bu the forecast was optimistic. fifteen volunteers turned up with trowels, forks, spades and flasks of coffee. The mowers and strimmers were fueled and readied for some hard work.
Plots and sheds engulfed in mist.Geoff on hands and knees planting in the mist.Ian popping plug plants out of their trays.Jude, Anthony and Dave preparing planting holes for the plug plants.
By coffee time the light had improved as the mist cleared. The sky turned blue and temperatures rose so jackets were removed as we retired to the picnic benches. The temperature rose to a hefty 20 degrees.
A well-earned rest and coffee for Ian and John.
After our coffee break we moved on to planting more plugs in other meadow areas, under the bushes in the Hazel Grove and on the Wildlife Banks.
Dee and John planting under the Sycamore tree.Jill and Dave plugging away.Dee, John and Tracy planting in the wetter meadow area.
After a mid-day break for lunch we moved over to the one of the orchards to plant more wildflowers amongst the trees.
Jude, still on hands and knees, in the orchard.
Finishing our day’s work planting in the orchard was extra rewarding as here we could appreciate the fruits of our labours. During working parties in the autumn we planted bulbs such as Fritilleries, Muscari, Narcissi and Alliums, and today many were in flower attracting bees and butterflies.
Native Daffodils flowering away under the apple trees.The star flower of the orchard, the Snakeshead Fritillery.Turn over, peer inside and find more magic.
So what could fifteen volunteers achieve on a sunny March day? We planted over 2500 wildflower plants to enhance our communal meadows! An amazing day!
The third wander around the allotments at Bowbrook already! We were expecting a warm bright day but it turned out misty with a chill in the air. So much work has been done to the plots with many allotmenteers all ready for the coming growing season. Tree surgeons have been to do a bit of work on our mature Sycamore tree and the resulting wood has been put to good. The shredded wood is being used by some plot holders to surface their paths, some branches have been used to create a brash pile and some logs used to create a big impressive log pile.
Our welcome message on the wall of our composting toilet.
To welcome visitors and plotholders to the site we have planted up two half-barrels outside the gateway and opposite the gate on the edge of a plot we have our posh main site sign which features a map of the site, our mission statement and photos of the main functions of the site.
Let’s begin the wander with a look at what is going on our own plot, number 37. We are just about ready for the 2012 season with soil dug over composted and raked. The kale which we have overwintered looks very healthy with its wonderfully coloured crinkle edged leaves of glaucous green, purple and pink.
The perennials in out “Bee and Bug Border” are producing new shoots. These plants are grown to attract beneficial insects both predators and pollinators, such as bees, hoverflies and lacewing.
Our bean poles, made from coppiced Hazel, are up ready for Runner Beans to climb when planted out in late May and behind them we have cloches warming the ground for early plantings of Carrots, Parsnips and Beetroot. If the weather is kind we shall sow these seeds at the end of this month.
This Ladybird sheltering near our shed lock is hoping for some sun to get warmed up a bit.
After a quick perusal of our site we began the wander around the whole allotment field, starting in the car park where Daffodils give a golden welcome as plotters arrive to work or enjoy the communal spaces. Each September we hold a “Donate a Daffodil Day” when members are asked to donate bulbs which are then planted around the site by volunteers on one of our working parties. In the first year alone we had over a thousand bulbs donated and planted several hundred in the car park border and on the grass verge alongside our entrance gates.
Moving on down towards the first communal orchard we spotted this insect hotel on Wendy’s plot and admired Tracy’s rhubarb which is well advanced.
The first of the community orchards is alongside Tracy’s lottie and she looks after its maintenance, mowing the grass paths, pruning the apples, pears, plums and damsons and generally keeping it neat and tidy. She also looks after the Fruit Avenue leading away from the orchard. She is a great asset! At the moment daffodils and crocuses are flowering between the fruit and in the avenue muscari are in flower. Bees are busy exploring these early flowers.
Our wander then took us through the Fruit Avenue with “super fruits” planted on both sides, out alongside Alan’s plot, affectionately known as “The Blue Plot”.
Blue alkathene water pipes are very popular around the site as effective ways of holding fleece or netting covers to protect crops. Wandering further on around the trail towards the Spring Garden we passed a plot that is always good to see as some interesting projects seem to on the go. Today we noticed that she had started to create a herb garden with tree stumps as seats and herbs in the ground around them and in a half-barrel planter. She is always building something – she seems very good at d.i.y. She made her raised beds which we saw have already got some early sowings in.
Behind this plot is the Spring Garden which is looked after by two other volunteers, Jill and Geoff, who keep it looking immaculate. Of course it is now beginning to reach its peak time. Bulbs are well up and some flowering, perennials are showing fresh green growth and the Violet Willow is covered in its sparkling white pussy willow buds.
Moving on from the Spring Garden, as we followed the trail, we noticed Blue Tits exploring the nest boxes. Beyond our big old Oak is the new log pile created with logs left by the tree surgeon after his safety work on our mature trees. The log pile will soon be home to Dunnock and Wren and as it begins to rot down insects, invertebrates and beetles will move in.
We soon reach the Winter Garden which continues to look impressive, full of interesting bark and stems on trees and shrubs and colourful flowers on bulbs and early herbaceous plants.
Some crops still look good after the winter and continue to give plot holders some good pickings. These brassicas, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Cabbage look very healthy and appetising.
The beautifully coloured Red Veined Sorrel in the photo above is already putting on plenty of fresh leaves ready for harvesting, whereas the beautifully coloured flowers of Purple Sprouting Broccoli are now ready for enjoying after the plant has been standing through the winter.
Lots of our plot holders displays plaques with garden related sayings on for the amusement of all. How about this one to finish our March wanderings around the site?
we can enjoy a cup of coffee in the garden without jackets on, and from our special gardening mugs,
and when we prick out the first tomato seedlings,
and when Tulips and Wallflowers flower side by side and clash,
and when all around us Blackbirds sing loudly proclaiming their territorial rights and the song of Goldfinches and Greenfinches fill the air,
and when the first fruit blossom opens,
and when you can finish the day off by making your first harvest of your “cut-and-come -again” salad and herb leaves, and then eat them with eggs produced by your own chickens.
I spent a most enjoyable day in the garden recently when our Daughter, Jo came over to create land art on a garden scale on our grass using materials from the garden. It was great fun and the results were really pleasing. See what you think!
It began with a phone call, “Dad, can you do me a favour?” Jo is currently following a jewelry course and thought that land art could provide inspiration for future pieces. I think she may be right.
All creations and photographs are by Jo Mollart-Highfield.
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