Tag: garden wildlife

A Wander Around Our Garden in March

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 9, 2012
7 Comments on A Wander Around Our Garden in March

This is the third of the garden wandering posts already. Why is this year going so quickly? Could it be that we have had so many days when the weather has been amenable to gardening? So what is happening here in our garden? The bulbs are at last flowering well after such a slow start but in contrast the birds are responding quickly to warmer periods of weather. Robins are nesting in the box on my fishing tackle shed, House Sparrows are using three boxes around the garden, Great Tits are using the box on the summer-house and Blue Tits have started building in the box opposite the front door. They are so busy! Blackbirds are collecting moss from the lawns and dried grass stems from the borders so are nesting somewhere close by. The early morning bird song gets louder and more birds join in the chorus each day.

We have spent most sunny days continuing to clear borders, cutting down and adding new mulch. Clearing the “Beth Chatto Garden” is a hands and knees job. Jude the “Undergardener” pulls up weed seedlings by hand. Very tedious but made more enjoyable by the constant song of Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Robins. Calls of Buzzards high above us provide a good excuse to stop occasionally.

In the front garden Euphorbias are bursting into growth and some have already sent up their flower stalks curling over like shepherds’ crooks. New growth on the later ones is showing bright colours as they emerge from the bark mulch.

The flowering quince at the end of the drive is covered in bright red blooms scattered amongst its thorny angular network of stems – it will flower for months giving a warm welcome to visitors.

At last our first daffodils are fully in flower! We have waited so long. Muscari are also now bursting into bloom adding their own shade of blue all around the garden.

The Primroses we grew from seed a few years ago now give us big clumps of flower in their own special shade of yellow. They are self seeding and spreading around the garden, with an occasional plant producing flowers of an extraordinary shade of greyish pinky. Not sure I like them!

One of the delights of this time of year are the Pulmonarias with their flowers coloured pink and blue on the same plant and their beautifully marked hairy leaves.

Helleborus have featured in both the January and February garden wanderings and they are still going strong. Two of the last ones to come into flower are this red hybrid and the magnificent near black variety. It looks good in bud and full flower and has the added attraction of interesting foliage. The clump of mixed Hellebores in the “Chicken Garden” give us plenty to look at on coffee breaks when the March sun bursts through and its warmth feels so good on our backs.

The bees appreciate the early flowering bulbs especially purple crocuses but soon they will be flocking to feed on the Flowering Currant, the exceptionally large flowered variety Ribes sanguineum King Edward VII, which is on the point of bud burst. The buds on the Daphne bhulua “Jacqueline Postill” have opened to reveal highly scented flowers in several shades of pink.

March in the garden is full of promises with buds developing and preparations underway for the productive garden. The photos show buds of Clematis, both climbing and herbaceous, and Apples and Pears.

The Sempervivum in the alpine troughs and on the slate scree bed are all budding up nicely but one pure white-flowered one is out and glowing in the March sunlight. They are such precious little jewels of plants.

Our two newest areas of the garden, the Chicken Garden and the Secret Garden, are turning glaucous green with Allium leaves. One area is like a lawn of Allium. They seem to enjoy our soil too much and are spreading and self seeding madly!

The productive side of our gardening mostly happens on our allotment but we have a big greenhouse in the back garden where we start off many of the veggie plants. Some seedlings have germinated in the propagator and lots cells and 5 inch pots are full of compost ready for us to sow peas, broad beans and sweet peas.

In our raised wicker beds just outside the back door the cut-and-come-again salad leaves are almost ready for the first cutting – and of course the first eating. So many different textures, colours and tastes! Delicious! Much is still to happen in March and on into April.

Our Comfrey patch is showing strong growth. This is one of the most important areas of the garden for in this 2ft by 10ft bed we grow a comfrey variety called Bocking 14, which we can cut 4 or 5 times a year. The leaves can be put in the bottom of potato trenches before we plant the potatoes to feed them and prevent the disease “Scab”. We also put them as a mulch under fruit trees and bushes as a feed and as a weed suppressant, and use them to make a liquid feed mixed with nettles.

So much is still to happen in the March garden. It is a busy and exciting month. So much to look forward to.

Tags allotments, apples, birds, clematis, foliage, foliage plants, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, harvest, March, organic gardening, winter

conservation garden wildlife gardening natural pest control wildlife winter gardens

Frog Chorus – it’s frog time in the garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 5, 2012
1 Comment on Frog Chorus – it’s frog time in the garden.

We have been gardening with wildlife in mind now for four decades.We have endeavoured to include a wildlife pond in each of our 4 gardens in that time. Each year the frogs attracted to the ponds gather together towards the end of February to croak loudly day and night, to mate and leave piles of spawn. They have been so consistent up till now – whatever the weather the spawn appears in the same weeks of the year. If there is snow on the ground or if a mild spell gives bonus sunshine and blue skies they still perform in late February.

But this year they have waited until the first few days of March! I wonder why? We can’t complain about their lateness though as all this spawn will provide lots more frogs to live in the garden and act as natural pest controllers.

Tags conservation, frog spawn, frogs, garden wildlife, gardening, wildlife, wildlife ponds, winter gardens

allotments fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials Uncategorized

A Wander around the Allotments in February

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 19, 2012
1 Comment on A Wander around the Allotments in February

My blog reporting on “A January Wander around the Allotments” was all about the cold, as my wander then was on a bright, sunny but cold day with the thermometer registering minus five. Today my wander was a real treat, with temperatures of plus seven, it felt so mild. The sky however was grey and produced the occasional bout of drizzle. The bird life definitely appreciated the improvement, with so many to see and hear.

My walk over to our plot was halted by the whoosh of wings and the sight of a Kestrel in full hunting mode, its grey and rufus back curling low through the plots in search of its favourite prey, Field Voles. In a matter of a few minutes it had covered half the site, stopping occasionally to peer from a post or shed roof. The birdsong didn’t diminish with its presence but later when a Sparrow Hawk appeared, in threatening mode over the plots, silence reigned.

As I went to open up the shed I noticed how the recent freezing weather had shattered the little orange glazed dish I keep shells in on our coffee table, exposing the white china below its glaze.

The feeders on our plot needed topping up before I set to work. My first task was to prune the Autumn fruiting raspberries, so pulled back their hay mulch and cut each stem down to just a few inches above the ground. Then their warm mulch blanket was replaced ready for the next cold spell.

After tidying the edge of the plot where Calendulas had died down messily, I cut down perennials in the “Bug Border” alongside our central path, Sedum spectabile “Autumn Joy”, Linaria and several different Marjoram, all grown for the butterflies and hoverflies. As I pruned down the Sedum a few “slips” came away which I popped into my trug to be potted up at home.

A coffee break was called for to rest an aching back. A chance to do some bird spotting and listening out for their calls and songs. It was noticeable how some had moved on from calls to songs with the changing light of February. The Great Tit was giving a good performance repeatedly calling out “Teacher Teacher” just as it says in the books, but I often think it sounds more like the squeak of a tyre foot pump in need of lubrication. Its smaller cousin the Blue Tit sang gently from all around the site.

The peace was shattered as soon as the Rooks from the rookery on the northern boundary lifted as one and poured overhead, a cacophony of “cawing” and “rarking”. They are busy now restructuring last year’s nests. When one returned to the tree tops with twig in beak all its neighbours objected vocally craning their necks threatening and warning others to keep their distance. They live together in huge nesting groups but argue all the time! Their little corvid cousins, the Jackdaw, are quieter and more social. They pass overhead without any argument.

Signs of things to come! New growth is appearing at the base of perennials and the Globe Artichoke plants. Disappointingly the green manures have grown very little but just manage to cover the bare soil.

Buds are fattening on the Black Currants and the Blackberries. Promises of autumn bounty.

So once the work on our Plot 37 was completed I wandered off around the site, with wheelbarrow loaded – secateurs for pruning the roses in the Summer Garden, camera to take shots, surgical gloves and step-ladder to clear out nest boxes. As I walked along the established hedgerows flocks of chattering finches moved away, keeping close top the hedge and to each other – Goldfinches, Linnets and Greenfinches. A surprise sighting was a flock of about 15 Yellow Hammers, the first time they have been seen here. Unfortunately one of the loudest noises was the dry screech of my wheelbarrow’s wheel! A quick detour to the shed for a squirt of penetrating oil cured it.

Where the hedge has been left uncut for several years (where the council flailing machines can’t reach) the bushes are tall and busy with finches and tits. A Song Thrush was throwing leaves and under-hedge debris out onto the path searching for its lunch. The calls of Nuthatches and Great Spotted Woodpeckers echoed around the allotments all the time I was on site, but one call was unexpected. It stopped me in my tracks. I had never heard the piping call of a Bullfinch up here before. It wasn’t hard to find – a male with its pink, almost cerise breast glowing from a tall Hawthorn.

Nestbox cleaning can be a painful business if the nests have been colonised by nest fleas, hence the surgical gloves. Luckily none in residence today! Four of the five tit boxes had been used last year. The open-fronted Robin boxes were ignored by our population of redbreasts.

This photo shows how the Great Tits who nested here used their tails for added balance when feeding their young through the hole. The wood stain has been worn away.

The box in the photo below was used three times in 2011, but the third attempt was thwarted by cold wet weather in the early autumn, so the clutch of eggs remains. When I emptied out the nesting materials I could see the three layers of nesting material. When I had emptied all the boxes the old nests were put in the compost heap.

In the meadow areas seedlings cover the ground, so our plan for self seeding meadows seems to be working out. In one meadow area a lone cornflower continues to throw up an odd bloom of the most beautiful blue.

Tags allotments, bird boxes, birds, community gardening, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grow your own, nestboxes, organic gardening, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

conservation garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs The National Trust trees

A Walk in the Park – with snowdrops.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 15, 2012
4 Comments on A Walk in the Park – with snowdrops.

Today as the weather has warmed up and the sun is seeping through a thin cloud layer, we decided to take a twenty-minute drive out to Attingham Park for a walk through the woodlands where snowdrops are the stars in February. It was half-term so the woods were colourful, bright coloured anoraks, scarves and hats as families took to the paths. Every child seemed to have found a suitable rustic walking stick from the undergrowth. It was great to see young families out enjoying the natural world.

As we passed through the stable block the sound of vigorous hammering filled the air echoing around us. A noisy coffee break but we enjoyed watching youngsters wielding hammers busily constructing nest boxes. A great idea from the National Trust. Every family leaving Attingham today has at least one child clutching proudly a newly built nest box.

Once into the wood itself we seemed to be guided along by Robins who entertained us with their songs.

The snowdrops are small this year and very slow to develop. Many are just at the early bud stage and those that have come our sport small blooms. The swathes under the tall bare deciduous trees were far less vibrant than expected so the beauty was to be found in the little clumps hidden away deeper into the woods.

But there was far more to the woods than Snowdrops and the temptation to photograph the textures and patterns found there was easily given in to.

The earliest of woodland shade loving plants are beginning to appear taking advantage of the light filtering through the veil of bare branches above them. The arrow shaped leaves of the Cuckoo Pint are glossy and shine out amongst in the monochrome leaf litter.

Leaving the woodland we took a track across the Deer Park. A warden appeared on a mini tractor closely followed by herds of excited deer. The tractor was pulling a trailer full of feed! This was an unexpected opportunity to see the park’s deer close up.

The deer may be the biggest and most obvious creatures here but the littlest are also of equal importance. Where the trust have been clearing dead and damaged trees they have taken the opportunity of creating habitats such as log piles, brash stacks etc to attract insects and invertebrates and small mammals. The woods here are now well-known for the population of Lesser Stag Beetles. In some places fallen branches and larger trunks are left to rot away to become hosts to fungi and multitudes of minibeasts.

This fungus seems to be leaking from the cracks in the dead bark, like woodworker’s glue seeping from a joint.

This dead tree left standing for fungi, invertebrates and insects looks dramatic alone in a clear area of parkland. Woodpeckers will enjoy attacking the peeling bark and rotting wood in search of tasty morsels.

Tags Attingham Park. parkland, conservation, fungi, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, insects, National Trust, trees, wildlife, winter

bird watching birds garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs winter gardens

A Wander Around Our Garden in February

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 4, 2012
2 Comments on A Wander Around Our Garden in February

This is the second of our monthly garden wanders designed to give an insight into what is going on each month. Our February wander will be a colder one so don those thermal gloves and woolly hats with silly bobbles and join us. We hope you enjoy what our garden offers in the second month of 2012.

The day dawns frosty but with a bright blue hat on. A lovely fresh winter’s day, with the quiet plaintive song of the Robin as company – he always comes around the garden with us and entertains us with a song. Overhead Buzzards call from their thermals high above the slope of the hill. It feels a perfectly calm day to us but these big, broad winged predators always find movement in the air. Why does the call of the buzzard always sound further away than the bird itself? Have they mastered the art of ventriloquy? We see them most days but we never lose the desire to watch them enjoying their freeform flight.

I fed the chucks and topped up their frozen water with some warm, before collecting their eggs from the nest boxes. Today the hens’ contribution to our larder had added benefits. Handwarmers! Holding these little warm parcels of food felt more special than usual. As I passed the shed on my way down to the chuck pen three Wrens burst out of their roosting pocket – late risers. A pair nested in here in the summer just a few inches above the shed door. They took no notice of our comings and goings. They filled the roosting pouch with moss, feathers and delicate grasses which now insulate them on cold nights.

The garden is full of birds once more after a quiet few months. We were beginning to wonder where all the birds had gone, but today Goldfinches have reappeared in busy red and gold flecked flocks. mixed feeding flocks of titmice invade every tree and shrub and Linnets sit on the highest branches. Long Tailed Tits in groups of a dozen or more flit from tree to shrub and from feeder to feeder, never still, always fidgeting like a class of infant pupils awaiting a favourite story. The odd Bullfinch and Blackcap conduct their business more quietly.

On the feeders Jackdaws attack the peanuts dropping morsels for the Dunnocks and Chaffinches waiting below. Jackdaws are long-lived and today two old favourites are to be seen, one with a white wing and one with a wing that droops low when he settles. Overhead their much larger relatives pass over, a “cronking” trio of Raven flying effortlessly with outstretched fingers.

It is noticeable that the clusters of berries on the Hollies and Cotoneasters are much depleted as greedy groups of resident Blackbird and Mistle Thrush are joined by migrant members of the thrush family, the winter visiting Redwing and Fieldfare. The small yellow crab apples on Malus “Butterball” have now been stripped by these members of the thrush family.

Our horizontal cotoneaster is a favourite of Blackbirds, Redwing and Mistle Thrush.

There has simply been plenty of natural food for our avian friends this winter. It has been mild enough for insects to be on the wing, for invertebrates to be creeping and crawling, and the hedges and trees have heavy berry crops. We want to see them in our garden but we are being selfish. They come to us when they need to and not before!

The blackbirds have finally discovered the windfalls.

The re-appearance of the Goldfinches gives us close-up entertainment as close to the conservatory window grow Onopordon, the Scotch Thistle, and its seed heads tower into the blue sky. Goldfinches love them and soon dig in for seeds, bursting the heads open as they do so, and the white fluffy insides overflow like raw cotton.

Scotch Thistle seed heads towering into the blue.

The intensifying of the cold sucks structure from leaves and hardens the ground beneath them. The accompanying frost layers the ground and plants with lines and layers of frozen crystals. The blueness of the skies on a clear February day is more intense than earlier in the winter. The sunlight seems brighter.

The deep cold has taken the structure out of the young self-seeded sunlit Hypericum.

Fennel seed heads still stand strong while its delicate bright green seedlings shelter below.

The deep blue February sky increases the purple tints in the tracery of the Birch's finest branches.

The frost gives an extra line of silver along the leaf edges of these grasses.

Something special happens to light in February. There is something about the quality of light that changes. It makes you feel better. It makes plants look better, their flower colours intensify. If, like both “The Undergardener” and I, you suffer from SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) then you will feel and experience this change. You feel the tunnel of winter has brightness at its end. Monty Don, in the book “Fork to Fork” refers to this improvement in light quality, writing that February displays a “tangible promise of a better time” and talks of a “surge of energy and hope running through the garden”. This will be tangible from about the middle of the month but even now the hint of that promise is in the air. It isn’t just S.A.D. gardeners who believe in the wonder of February however, as we have a pair of Blue Tits taking up residence in one nest box and a pair of House Sparrows in another. Spring is in the air! Well, maybe not! No, these two pairs are just like serious sun-bathers on a busy sandy beach, just getting there early to “bag” the best spots.

Nowhere is this new hope more obvious than in the flowering of the bulbs and the bright green signs of new growth of perennials. Snowdrops, Crocus and Aconite, the pearls of the month.

Marbled foliage of Cyclamen with golden flowers of Winter Aconite

New growth on the oriental poppies - promises!

The leaves of Day Lilies spear the frozen mulch.

But some new life is out of sinc. Buds appear and surprise. The blue anemone with its metallic sheen on its indigo bud is a special treat and is reflected in the blue berries of the Viburnum davidii. The last of the rose buds however that gave promise of flowers have given in to winter’s grasp.

The promise of a rose flower stopped by the frost.

No February garden can be complete without Hellebores so here are just two of ours. But my true favourites to finish our February wander around our garden are the Witch Hazel “Jelena” and Cornus mas.

Upright growth and rich reds and purples make this a special Hellebore.

Cornus mas, the Cornelian Cherry, a modest beauty.

Tags birds, foliage, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, shrubs, trees, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

bird watching birds conservation garden wildlife natural pest control photography Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust wildlife winter gardens

A Day at the Original Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre – Slimbridge

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 22, 2012
5 Comments on A Day at the Original Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre – Slimbridge

Our recent visit to Barnes, the WWT centre in London, reminded us that we hadn’t visited Slimbridge for a good few years. Bitterns were being spotted regularly so a relatively mild day in January seemed a good day to visit. A long and very slow drive down in the drizzle failed to dampen our enthusiasm. So having arrived an hour after we had planned a welcome cup of coffee was gulped down before we headed for the hides. Trouble is we had to begin by walking passed the flamingo enclosure – an assault on the eyes and ears. Not our favourite birds – the Dame Edna Everidges of the wildfowl world.

The walk to the first hide took us through wildfowl enclosures. We don’t stop here much but it was a favourite when our children were young, and is still a favourite for young families today. it is a great way to introduce youngsters to the joys of the bird world. It is safe to say that many children who marvel at the beautiful fowl from every corner of the world become birdwatchers – their interest is sparked here at Slimbridge.

In this area pollarded willows with wands the colours of fire glow against the storm-laden sky. Some newly pollarded trees look like they are sporting designer stubble, others throw their stems rigidly into the air.

Flames of willow lapping the airforce blue sky.

Winter light gives so much colour to a dull day.

We arrived at the first hide after a twenty-minute walk through the wildfowl pens regularly distracted by the low winter sun and its magical effect on stems and stalks. The view from the hide was one of flat landscape of reedbed, river and shallow pools. Shelduck were relaxing on the grassy bank of a patch of cold looking water while mallard and teal flirted in the edge of the reed fringed pools. This was a quiet place with just the wind rustling the reeds, the whistling calls of the teal disrupted by the quarreling mallard. A small bird flitted from one reed seed head to another never settling, a brown backed warbler with rounded end to its tail – a cettis warbler. This is a sight worth the long journey to see. But Jude quietly whispered to me “I can see a bittern”. There it was, so hard to find and so easy to lose, skulking in the fringes of the reeds a few metres from the hide. Stripes of brown on warm beige, provided the perfect camouflage, the bittern moved so slowly like a clump of dried reeds. Jude saw it with head and neck stretched up – lucky lady!

We remained in this hide long enough to get cold and stiff after perching on the hard wooden seating, revived somewhat by regular coffees. Eyes soon become tired staring over such huge areas of wetland, so blinking and rubbing them was a necessity. But our tired eyes did see many delights, Pintails, Shovellers, Water Rail among multitudes of Pochard, Wigeon, mute swan mixed with Bewicks and the occasional heron flying in and landing on fenceposts. The only birds of prey we spotted were several buzzards all lined up on fence post on the edge of the river. Our eyes needed a rest and luckily the nearby Kingfisher Hide provides just this as the views are smaller, the birds more intimate. Here bird feeders hang in a tree just outside one of the hide’s windows. A half hour of close-up views of finches and tits while eating lunch is an enjoyable interlude.

As Jude read an information board about kingfishers she informed me that they moved elsewhere during the winter but returned in March, but as she told me this one flew across the water low and purposefully. You can’t mis-identify a kingfisher, there is nothing else like it. Then it flew back across the water to prove he really was there. Beneath the feeders opportunist pigeons, blackbirds, moorhen and jackdaws joined by a squirrel picked up the seeds and peanut crumbs dropped by the messy small birds above. We enjoyed watching the antics of a Little Grebe as he swam around just feet from the hide, a delightful ball of feathers.

Picnic eaten and eyes rested we continued our tour of the site visiting smaller hides and enjoying the walkways in between. We passed the Rain Garden with the most wonderful, sculptural insect shelters.

The art of the dry-stone wall-builder provides shelter for wildlife.

Many of the birds have become so used to human visitors that they let you take photos without huge telescopic lenses, just compact digital cameras like the one I carry in my pocket.

It's not just me that appreciates pollarded willow.

The moorhen, common but beautifully marked and subtly coloured.

The coot creating his own patterns in the water.

It was between some of the smaller hides that we spotted the first good-sized clump of snowdrops of the winter so far bursting from the leaves that had dropped in the autumn to give the ground a warming duvet. Nearby gnarled old bracket fungi clung to equally gnarled old willow bark.

Bright lights in the gloom under the bare stemmed trees.

Such varied texture and so many shades of brown.

We reached the Holden tower as the poor light was fading further. The multitude of waders, geese and ducks were almost in silhouette now. A flock of Tufted Ducks had taken over one small pond exclusively, but the other pool was busy with Lapwing by the hundred interspersed by a scattering of their cousins the Golden Plover. Out on the far estuary Pintails could be seen feeding in the margins and Curley in the muddy banks. A real treat was spotting a female Reed bunting close to the hide atop a twiggy bush. She was a bird of subtle beauty. Completely unlike the black hooded male, she sported black and cream streaks all over.

The fading light that makes the afternoons in January too short, made us hurry to the South Lakes for a final half-hour bird spotting. Gulls, waders and ducks galore greeted us, unaware that they were being watched by a Buzzard in one tree and a Peregrine in its neighbour. We were entertained by a group of Black Tailed Godwit feeding in the shallows close to us and Lapwing moving across the shallower water feeding incessantly. Scanning the Lapwing flock with the telescope, I spied a small gang of Redshank, easily identified by their red legs. But amongst them was a different character, a slightly longer and down-turned beak and marked eye stripe and more marked plumage identified it as a Spotted Redshank. What an end to the day! Our time watching and appreciating the waders on the South Lake was forshortened when the Peregrine launched itself from its tree top perch. The waders disappeared.

But it is not just the rarities that it is possible to see at Slimbridge, and we certainly revelled in seeing our Water Rail, Spotted Redshank, Bittern and Cettis Warbler, that makes this such a wonderful place to visit but is the enjoyment of seeing the commonest of birds in such a varied range of habitats. Journeying home we looked back on a day when we spotted over 50 species of birds some of them in their hundreds and satisfied with a short glimpse of the ubiquitous Bittern.

Tags birds, bittern, conservation, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, insects, lapwing, organic gardening, Slimbridge, teal, wildfowl, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control ornamental trees and shrubs photography trees winter gardens

A Wander Around the Allotments in January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 18, 2012
10 Comments on A Wander Around the Allotments in January

As I decided to create a blog at the beginning of each month illustrating what is going on in our garden, so I have also decided to publish a blog in the middle of each month to show what is happening on our allotment site.

So today we braved the cold and went for a wander. The weather although cold, at five below, was bright sunshine in a clear blue sky. the air felt freezing as it entered my lungs but the sight of the lotties cheered me. As we stepped from the car a kestrel was hunting low between the sheds in search of the abundant field voles. A day never goes by without seeing at least one kestrel quartering the site. A buzzard soared overhead in the thermals created by the warmer air above the cultivated plots.

First job was to fill the bird feeders at the two feeding stations. They were busy with blue tits, coal tits and great tits feeding from the hanging feeders and blackbirds, dunnocks and robins beneath picking up the feed dropped by the clumsy birds above them. All the while we could hear the call of nuthatches in the site’s mature oak and sycamore trees.

Frost sits on the bare ground and helps the gardeners by breaking it down and improving the texture in readiness for a final preparatory rake over. The fine tilth can then be home to seeds.

The plots themselves look very sad at this time of the year, drooping brassicas, frosted leeks and steaming muck heaps and compost bins, the warmest spots of all. The scarecrows have fallen in the recent strong winds, their clothes wet and bedraggled and their structures weakened. Frost emphasises leaf structures, settling deepest along the veins.

The strongly veined wrinkled leaves of the Savoy Cabbages withstand the cold wrapped into tight balls.

Kale defies the cold and stands upright and proud even with ice droplets and frost splattered on their tightly curled leaves.

Sunlight makes the old runner bean pods translucent as they hang on the dead remnants of last year’s plants.

On our own plot the rows of Mooli, Broad Beans and Leeks look delicate in the frozen soil but will sit until spring arrives when they will have growth spurts and give us early crops.

Plastic bottles on canes support last year’s netting and still protect any overwintering crops from hungry Wood Pigeons.

Blackbirds move low across the lotties settling onto any sun-warmed soil and dig for grubs, but this one sat looking sad.

We took a leisurely walk around the “Interest Trail” which took us through or close to most of the community gardens – the orchards, wildlife borders, seasonal gardens and meadows. Near the car park the first green bursts of new life have appeared, the leaves and catkins forming on the birches. The young catkins stand bolt upright at this stage but will soften in colour and structure when they dangle down in the spring.

The purple catkins of the alder sit on the branches with the darker cones.

In the Autumn Garden seed heads of Asters remain long after the flowers of autumn, like tiny dandelion “clocks”.

In the first orchard th frost still lingered strongly on the logpile especially on this old chunk of bark.

When we reached the Spring Garden we were struck by the contrasting leaf texture, shapes and structures.

At the back of this garden the silver tassels of the Garrya hung in profusion and the new buds of the Amelanchier promised early flowers and foliage.

Further round the trail we arrived at the “Winter Garden” where the low rays of the sun sent long shadow lines of the fence right across the border between the coloured stems of the Betulas and the Dogwoods. It also illuminated this peeling bark, giving it the impression of slithers of orange brittle toffee.

The blue spruce looked bluer than ever with the whiteness of the frost laying on its needles.

Our Winter Garden has so much of interest that I shall publish a blog just featuring it within the next few days, so for now we shall move on to the second orchard where the golden fruits of Malus “Evereste” have escaped the attentions of the winter visiting thrushes but I suspect they will soon be discovered and devoured. The insect stack in the orchard is there to attract beneficial insects who provide our very wildlife-friendly pesticide. The stack should give them some shelter to help them survive the winter cold and wet.

As we wandered back towards the car park we passed through the wildflowers meadows long since cut to the ground, but showing promise for next summer in its tiny seedlings. One lone flower braved the cold – a pale blue cornflower. Leaving the lotties we noticed promises of flowers from the bulbs in the car park border and in the half-barrels in the gateway.

Tags allotments, community gardening, cornus, foliage, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, insects, meadows, organic gardening, ornamental trees, trees, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

allotments community gardening garden wildlife natural pest control

Wildlife Banks on the Lottie

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 19, 2011

On our allotment site at Bowbrook Allotment Community we try to keep all green waste on site, either by composting or re-using it in new situations. In earlier blogs I showed how we have made an array of insect shelters but the idea of creating wildlife banks to re-use turf is on a much larger scale.

When new beds are created in our Green Spaces around the lotties we have piles of turf left over. Some of this we stacked to make loam piles but we came up with the idea of making raised areas full of wildlife habitats and shelters. The photo above shows Jude, Geoff and Pete part way through the construction. Turves have already been layered alterating grass side up and grass side down, in our chosen shark’s fin shape, a design decided upon to reflect the shape of some of our mini-meadows. The first habitat is in place, the dry-stone wall.

The final layer of turf was laid grass side upwards and we planted insect-attracting plants in it, such as oxe-eye daisies and geranium phaeum. In the following autumn we planted small tulips and muscari and in spring we augmented this with bulbs “in the green”, snowdrops, wild daffodils, crocus and scillas. Some of these flowering bulbs provide a life line for early flying bees.

The buttercups soon burst out of the turf and added their yellow cheerfulness. The photo above shows another wildlife habitat – logs with holes of various sizes drilled in them – which we hope will attract solitary bees and provide shelter over winter for their eggs and larvae.

We have now constructed two such wildlife banks within our Green Spaces and keep adding odd plants as they are donated by members. Yesterday we planted some geraniums for example. The photo below shows one of the bumble bee nesting sites we have added. During the summer one of these was nested in by Field Mice and as bumble bees love nesting in old mouse holes we see this as a positive thing, giving us hope of bee residents moving in next year.

The final photo shows our second wildlife bank just after completion.

Tags allotments, community gardening, garden wildlife, wildlife shelters

garden wildlife natural pest control

Summerhouse Winter Lodgers

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 24, 2011

As we spent the day clearing out the pond we opened up the summerhouse alongside it so that we could periodically collapse into its comfy seats and enjoy our tea breaks. While sat there our eyes were drawn to the lacewings already hibernating on the wooden framework. They were almost invisible with their delicate green bodies and translucent wings set against the cream painted woodwork. It is good to see them as they are central to our natural pest control, their larvae being voracious aphid eaters.

Similarly camouflaged against the cream woodwork a pupa of a butterfly hung vertically – gentle yellow but almost white with small black dots. I don’t know what butterfly it will turn into in the spring but it is usually Small Tortoiseshells that emerge from our garden buildings. I just hope I am not looking forwards to a Cabbage White!!

On the roof the third of our hibernating shed lodgers hang stuck fast to the ceiling. A clump of spider’s eggs has been stuck to the woodwork with a sticky version of webbing. Spiders of course we like in the garden as predators and as master builders of webs. As we await the first frosts of this autumn we anticipate the beauty of the spiders’ spinnings when they are highlighted by frost under the spotlights of the early morning sunlight.

Tags garden wildlife, natural pest control, organic gardening

garden wildlife gardening grow your own

Greenhouse Pest Control

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 22, 2011

This has to be the greenest method of pest control any gardener can have in the greenhouse. He is one big frog! We are so lucky to have not just frogs but also toads and newts to help rid the greenhouse of slugs and bugs.