todays garden

Nice weather all week which lasted into the weekend,  I got  lots of laundry outside yesterday to dry, which keeps me happy.  Seeded in the greenhouse in two medium pots are Carrot Little Fingers and Carrot Royal Chantenay. I tried to space the seeds out but its difficult.. I will thin/eat them as they grow.

Seeded directly into the middle bed, under the pallet collar/shower door ''cloche''. Carrot Ideal, Yellow Beetroot Boldor, Red Beetroot Detroit, Parsnip Hollow Crown and Turnip Sweetbell.( have marked these as 25^th because I guessed the date... lol) . 

The beetroot and parsnips are more or less 'station sown' , but the carrot and turnip seeds get more of a ''row'' thing going on because they are so small and run away from me, which means they need careful checking and thinning if necessary. ... 

Beetroot , parsnip and turnip are in small blocks about 16 inches square, and the carrots are 16 inches one way, three feet across... ish... because the wooden frame is a bit smaller than three feet. . And I must try to remember to draw plans this year because it really does not stay in my head from year to year, never has.....

Thinly scattered rock dust before the seeding and I marked out my 'squares' with calcified seaweed. I think these things do well as long term/slow release additives. The bed is dug over with horse poop so thats where most of the ''oomph'' will come from. 

In the bottom right corner of that photo is a lot of white horse hair.. I've been putting bags and bags of it into the garden which all the neighborhood birds. large and small, have been taking for their nests. its amazing watching them but have failed to get any photos. point the camera and they fly away...  

 

garden this morning

 Storm Eunice is hitting the south coast of Englane, parts of Scotland with deep snow, there isn't much here this morning. Glad I have a day off work anyway and don't have to travel anywhere.

Greenhouse temperatures show 19.5, 5.5, 1.9 this  morning

Quince had her rainsheet put on yesterday ahead of the weather so she doesn't get too wet and cold.

this is one of Abbeys old ones... as you can see by the repairs and the lack of front closures.. ... they were torn off and this has been stitched together at the front and goes on over her head....

house sparrow

female house sparrow on the bird seed feeder

this is the best I can manage with the camera.. really missing having a good camera.
 

rain rain rain

yipee... there are two aubergines, just about three inches long, i'll let them fatten up for a few days , then eat them.. lol. there are also a few sweet peppers about the size of my thumbnail, hope they get to eating size soon. both aubergine and peppers in the greenhouse and are infested with greenfly...

this is a lemon cucumber and about as big as you want them, this one and two smaller ones made it into a pasta salad yesterday.

the constoluto tomato monster !! most of them are single ones, this seems to be three squashing together! all the tomato plants now have fruit on them, but not anywhere near ripe. I'm cutting off all the extra growth now, just let ripen whats already there.

the courgette planted outside was decimated by slugs, this is a second planting, kept in the greenhouse in a bucket, its just started to flower so I hope it will produce . I'm glad it was kept inside as the second planting of pumpkin again was decimated... even with slug nematodes applied...

this is a sparrowhawk, sitting on the roof of a house opposite, probably the reason there are very few little birds to be seen anywhere.... 

after a too hot two weeks its now been thunderstorms and heavy rain for about four days, I got the front grass cut yesterday but the back is thicker and too wet... it'll have to wait till it drys up during the week.. if it drys up, this is typical of when I have a week off work, the weather does not play fair. I got some of the blackthorn branches removed from the back hedge yesterday, the main part of them will need a chainsaw massacre.... if my friend has time to do that, there's so much big stuff needing tamed all over the garden.

as I was typing , saw the sparrowhawk  fly over the top of the gardens.

cold Sunday

not giant snowdrops.... but a tiny jar... I brought them in because, though its a shame to pick them, it means I can see them as I'm tired out from work and they cheer up the kitchen.

greenhouse temperatures, outside the wind chill is unbearable.

lettuce that was germinated in the house and sat on a window sill... they haven't grown so I shoved them out into the greenhouse last week and they are still alive , hopefully will grow at some point

 and this is my broccoli harvest for today. added to some soup.

 

a lucky capture of a robin who had just picked some suet from the bird mix, sitting in the twisted hazel

Nest Box Design: Our BEST DESIGN Details from 25 years of Practice

because I always forget the words... lol

 On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drummin'
Eleven pipers pipin'
Ten lords a leapin'
Nine ladies dancin'
Eight maids milkin'
Seven swans a swimmin'
Six geese a layin'
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three french hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!

editing to add this link from the RSPB with their version of birds from the song. 

''on birds'' REPOSTING THIS OLDER POST FROM 16TH APRIL 2007

I recieved this photograph in an e-mail, its an quail, an very unusual bird to have in your garden! and such a fabulous tree full of spring blossom.

and my garden won't get such exotic visitors, due to the continuos ripping out of hedges its rare to see anything at all, a lot of starlings and thats about it.

I'm a Starling. . . me Darling. a poem by Pam Ayres

We're starlings, the misses, meself and the boys.
We don't go round hoppin', we walks,
We dont go in for this singing all day
And twittering about, we just squawks.

We don't go in for these fashionable clothes
Like old Missel Thrush and his spots,
Me breast isn't red, there's no crest on me head,
We've got sort of, hardwearing . . . dots.

We starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We'll eat anything that's about,
Well, anything but that old half coconut,
I can't hold it still. I falls out.

What we'd rather do is wait here for you
To put out some bread for the tits,
And then when we're certain you're there by the curtain,
We flocks down and tears it to bits.

But we starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We reckon that we're being got at.
You think for two minutes, them finches and linnets,
You never sees them being shot at.

So the next time you comes out to sprinkle the crumbs out,
And there's starling there, making a noise,
Don't you be so quick to heave a half a brick,
Its the misses, meself and the boys!

fly away Blossom....

I picked her up from the floor about ten days ago, she had flown into the rafters the day before but the next day she was down... an exhausted lost racing pigeon. A local falconer checked her over as uninjured but nothing left of her, no muscle .. nothing. She was kept quiet in a cat basket with proper food and today was driven a distance to be returned to a delighted owner reunited with her sister who was missing her.
Huge thank you to Gill for taking her down.

lucky shot

snapped the camera at this seagull about 20 times as it flew arround, this is the only picture I got and this is unedited apart from reducing size to upload. I like it.

by the light of the Fiesta..

last night, going up to bring Smokey in to his stable after work, it was pitch black and some of the stable lights are not working. I couldn't see to read the code to open the padlock to get Smokeys breakfast ready for the following morning, he does not 'need' this feed or the treat of apples and carrots he gets for his tea, but.....how could you dissapoint the poor horse? so I reversed my Fiesta round the barn, avoiding building materials etc. and used it as a torch...don't know what the farmer would have thought of this and I'm not sure you are allowed to take your car round there. just to point out this car is 10 years old and sooooo reliable its amazing. just realized i don't have a picture of it, will try to take and post one today sometime.

and here is my wee garden robin, unfortuately I have had resisdent robins before, one was dispatched by the cat downstairs and another by the cat next door. my cats have yet to be accused of murdering robins, Tansy has had a couple of sparrows and a bluetit. Daisy has never caught anything as far as I know and I have seen birds hopping round her as if they know she is not a threat.

food for the birds

if you look carefully you can just see a wee Robin hiding behind the bird table
I've put some food out in case he comes back
freeze dried mealy worms, yuck
I have also recently put up three seed feeders, all the birds seem to profer them to the peanuts.

Jane's new garden

lots of birdfeeders, I realy like this decorative seed feeder, there is one wee bird in the bottom if you look
attracting lots of birds
more waiting, sparrows look left, chaffinches look down
this corner was an old pond/rockery, grown over with nothing in it. love the paving stones with differet colour stones and plants, very pretty
same corner from a different angle, nice planting with lovely colours

on the fence

I took this photograph a couple of weeks ago,
chooks and cheeps adventures here

goldfinches

I opened the door to let the cats out, and these two goldfinches were on the feeders, amazingly they waited until I went back upstairs for the camera. I managed to get this photograph and three blurry ones before they flew away.

just before it rained

sitting outside at Betty's house, her cat free garden allowing birds to come close for crumbs.

feeding the birds

I love to watch birds coming to the feeder, mainly house sparrows, chaffinches, an occasional robin, blackbirds, starlings. I pile mixed bird seeds on this table and hang peanuts and fat/seed balls from the clothes poles. I also make sure there is unfrozen water every day. Unfortuntley last year some houses down the street pulled out all their mature hedges and I have noticed a decrease in birds visiting my garden, I have limited shelter so there is nowhere for them to live/nest/hide from the cat. I am unable to photograph them as the camera will not take a close enough photo from the window and if I am outside the cats are too and the birdies take sensible flight. I keep trying to photograph the robin who always comes close up for worms when I am digging manure at the farm, still too far away for a decent shot or if he comes in close I don't have the camera with me. One day I will, also I would love to tape the birdsongs at the farm, nice and noisy!