A New Year – Not much goin’ on

Well here we are in February and the garden is a wasteland – full of weeds as the winter hasn’t really been that cold (9 degC on Thursday!) so they have kept on growing and the lawn is muddy as we’ve had enough rain just to keep it wet.

All in all I’ve not felt much like working in the garden and there have been more important things to deal with inside in any case. I’m also missing encouragement  from my neighbour (no longer here).

All I’ve done recently is a bit of hedge cutting – particularly in the flower border area as it’s the best time to give it a good cut (the section is mainly holly) while the perennials etc. aren’t growing. I’ve also chopped down the remains of the nettle patch at the bottom of the garden. I’m hoping to insert an open composting heap into that area this year as I seem to be generating so much compost now – three bins on the go!

Regardless of my efforts things are growing – the garlic is coming along nicely and the two rows of ‘The Sutton’ broad beans are now up (see below)

Broad Beans just appearing

The fact that the Autumn planted beans are up highlights the fact that I should be spending some time in the greenhouse getting some more beans planted into pots – I’ve just restored the WiFi connection in the greenhouse in anticipation – well sitting in there planting needs a bit of entertainment!

Bulbs are springing up all over the place of course and soon there will be daffodils appearing in flower all over the garden – but first of course are the snowdrops – not quite open yet though (see below) but this year there will be more patches of snowdrops thanks to some planting a couple of years ago.

Snowdrops – not quite open

Wildlife

A recent review of the trailcam set on the lawn watching the bird ground feeding spot near the house revealed a fox having a good look round, as well as the usual cat etc. Some good pictures of robins and dunnocks but strangely no mice at night. No hedgehogs either so maybe they are actually hibernating just now.

A couple of squirrels need to be evicted during the last month as well…

Summery Again

Thanks  to an extended period under high pressure (well a week or so) we now have daytime temps into the low 20’s (C) but night-time it drops to below 10 deg so a bit chilly first thing in the morning.

The other effect at this time of year of course is the shortening day – there hardly enough time in the evening to get things watered and one or two simple jobs and it’s already dark (before 8pm already too dark to work).

I’ve also had lots of things to do inside – like work and decorating – so outside work has taken a bit of a back seat. It’s been frustrating as well since the weather has been fine and sunny. It’s not that I don’t have plenty to do – there are over 70 ‘winter bedding plants’ in trays in the greenhouse which will soon need planting out.

Meanwhile I can scarcely keep up with harvesting the tomatoes, though amazingly by having pasta sauce made with our own tomatoes, we’ve been able to keep on top of the tomato situation. However, that isn’t so true of the courgettes, though production is slowing down now so maybe we’ll catch up.

The other bit of routine harvesting that has been handy is the raspberries – this time from just one cane I’ve had a few years, it is an autumn cropper and is quite prolific – so I’ve been able to have raspberries with my breakfast cereal several mornings each week, just picking the ripe ones just before breakfast – yum!

After finding a rather disappointing harvest of ‘Maya Gold’ potatoes from two bags the other week – scarcely enough for a couple of meals – with small portions. I emptied one of the bags with Maris Piper in the other day. This proved a bit more productive (see pic below)

Maris Piper harvest

So we had them mashed (with roast pork)

What’s the most depressing thing about wandering round the garden is the weed situation – boy have they proliferated – although the flower beds aren’t too badly affected, its mainly the areas around the raised beds and those bits I haven’t cultivated this year that are affected. I think an assault with the strimmer is called for….

I have harvested the grapes from the greenhouse  (pic to follow) but haven’t weighed the crops, seems like several pounds though. I’m now desperately looking up things to do with them – looks like gape juice or jam/jelly at the moment.

Wildlife

A major development for the birds is a ‘squirrel and pigeon proof’ enclosure to put over a ground feeding station (picture to follow) purchased from the RSPB. Within hours the dunnocks and a robin had worked out that it wasn’t a problem – haven’t seen any blackbirds inside yet – in theory they can get in. Sadly the pigeons have failed to appear (or a squirrel) since I put it out so I haven’t been able to gloat over their inability to get at the food yet.

Speaking of squirrels, one appeared last week, so the trap duly went out. Next morning I could see something was in it – but it was a hedgehog! So I rolled it out and after a few minutes it decided  the coast was clear and wandered off I have a picture which I’ll add). It does at least prove the hedgehogs are still around, so it served a useful purpose. Needless to say the squirrel hasn’t made another appearance, at least while I’ve been watching…..

Hedgehog just moving back to hide