WHAT JOBS ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2018

Done most of my last retaining wall for this year.
Ordered some ball post caps and some stone plaques to jazz it up a bit.

Those are salvaged ferns in the pots.
If they come back I'll plant them in that border.

 

I am not sure of the ins/outs but theirs a new law/loophole that's managing to gain planning permission on farm land etc, maybe due to the lack of housing , if your serious about doing it have a google there are specialists out there to help.

 

After a frantic weekend (but our anniversary bash went well, and the garden looked great!), I took it easy today. A little weeding, deadheading, and topping up the pond. It needed another 4-5cm water added! I topped it up with the hose on "shower" over the pebbles, and just enjoyed watching the wildlife as the level crept up. Then I realised that ... I was being watched! Not sure if it was a frog or a toad, but there was a triangle of nose, and a pair of eyes, watching me from the other side of the pond!!

 

Best left then

 

@Sian in Belgium that is excellent new re your new aquatic friend . You are so lucky with your pond. Even fewer insects in mine now no idea why. Hubby thinks it's because it a preformed pond - he wanted the preformed pond over the liner pond .

 

Mines ok the birds love it i bet i have over 200 visits a day its non stop, a few flys about and lots of snails the other day i think i spotted a dragonfly larvae.


Maybe you shouldn't have rushed into it luci

 

I'm not sure I understand this comment. I have not " rushed into it " as you put it. I thought about the pond for quite awhile before actually doing anything about it. I would have preferred a liner pond but as I am going to put one in myself later on that is something of a moot point. Hubby was convinced that the pond would be teeming with frogs, toads, newts as soon as it was set up. I thought that was unlikely but did expect to see insect life. There was quite a lot of insects in the pond at one point. There appears less now. I don't know why. Could be several explanations as to why but unlikely to be linked to rushing into it.

I haven't encouraged the birds to use the pond as there are so many of them I think the water would become quite polluted very quickly. The Starlings are the worst . The smaller birds and the Blackies will use the Belfast sink.

 

PS From yesterday’s post. After we got back from the Lottie and had cooled off and eaten we drove over to the local Wyevale GC as I had a £2.50 voucher to spend and Mr Kandy wanted to buy some of those round carrots as a last sowing but they were all sold out

We did spot though a tray of Parsnip seedlings (Palace) for £6 so as we had the voucher and our sown parsnips hadn’t shown we bought them as they were the last tray So while Mr Kandy prepared his red currants for eating I set about potting up the seedlings to go alongside the Celeariac seedlings I potted On when we got home from our hols

It took ages to do as the parsnip seedlings were close together in the tray cells and I know we shall end up with stumpy parsnips but that can’t be helped.Altogether I potted up 54 seedlings which works out at just under 7p each and as we can’t buy a single parsnip in the shops for that price I think we have got a bargain.

Just hope the bunnies don’t nosh them this year like they did last years crop

 

@luciusmaximus i think that a lot of my good fortune with wildlife is due to what is around me. There is a marsh about 200 metres away, and we have had a barrel pond in the garden for nearly 6 years now. If it helps, the pond skaters that were on the wildlife pond have now moved off - and onto the barrel pond instead! What's that all about?!

I think it's like feeding the birds. If you put out some birdfood for the first time, and within 48 hours you have a nuthatch and a red squirrel at your feeder, it does not mean that you have some magic nuts, have a fantastically designed (pre-formed?) feeder, or you are a wildlife-whisperer....
The animals may have just "lucked out" and found your food in passing;
There may be a resident population of nuthatches in the area - this would certainly be the case with red squirrels!
Now, if you continue to put out the food, then a local population will be (better) supported, or a nearby population might be able to expand. With an air borne population, be it birds or dragonflie - eventually, if you provide what they need to thrive and survive, there is a good chance that they will find the little haven you have created for them, and tuck into the peanuts, or lay eggs in your pond.
However, it doesn't matter many peanuts you put out, if there are no red squirrels nearby, you will not be blessed with one in your garden. It is no shame on you, and yet it is still worth putting the feed out.

I hope that helps!

 

Hi Luci that's what was meaning you did give it plenty of thought sometimes we can look into thing too much sorry luci i didn't mean to offend, you would have to know me personally to understand my warped humour,

Ok for a starters you need to remove half of the plants you have far too many in there there will be no oxygen in the lower half of the pond.

 

I did a bit of weeding today. It didn't make much difference. My front yard is overrun with weeds. Many are well anchored into the subsoil. The back areas that have not been planted out are overrun with weeds. These are not so much of a problem but they still make the garden look scruffy. The plants I recently dug up, divided and re planted are now looking half dead. They were looking great before I dug them up. Other than that things are going great.

Do Irises re flower or do you only get one. If you only get one then I won't bother with them next year.

G.