May 2008 Diary

Information, photographs and video will be added throughout the month.

This is just a diary of some of the things we have done or noticed if you want to add your information or observations click here

Click here for May 2007 Diary

Weekend 4 May

On the plot

• Still lots of tidying up to do and clearing of beds but we are getting there even though in some parts the ground is still very claggy! As the weather has warmed up this week the weeds have started to grow again so begins the battle. The grass has been strimmed again but the dandelions have developed a strategy of flowering very close to the ground thus avoiding having their heads chopped off by the strimmer!
• Rescued some limnanthes (poached egg plants) from among some weeds and replanted them between the shrub roses – maybe they will help keep down the greenfly. They are supposed to attract hoverflies which in turn will devour greenfly. I wonder if these will work on the dreaded whitefly too.
• More Juliette potatoes, have been planted but we still have some potatoes to plant.
• The onions, garlic and shallots are now starting to grow away and the parsnip seeds that we had almost given up on have started to germinate – this even after a dog or fox had a party, or so it seems, in the bed. We had to cover the area with Environmesh to give the seeds a fair chance.
• We dug up the last of the leeks and carrots which have served our table well over winter. Rather sad to think we won’t have any more fresh carrots for a while. Click here for more information on our storage methods.
• The cardoons are growing well – so well that a rosemary and a sage plant had to be rescued from under the leaves of one plant and rehoused. The rosemary that wasn’t being shrouded by the cardoon is looking well.
• Planted out peas - Purple podded (a tall variety) and Onward (short variety), and cabbage - Puma and  broccoli - Arcadia

To play directly in YouTube and have more control over the format then click in the frame (not on the arrow) and view in the small format size. The quality of the film deteriorates when rendered by YouTube so apologies for this - honestly the actual film is much better quality!

• A squirrel has just visited our black sunflower seed feeder much to the annoyance of a collared dove who couldn’t decide whether it dared approach to feed from the neighbouring feeder. It chickened out until the squirrel had finished and moved on.

In the greenhouse

• Potted up a couple of indoor hibiscus plants that have been flowering almost permanently for about three years now – (I bought a friend one at the same time and it died within several months so no more pot plants for her)! I thought ours deserved some fresh compost and just a little more space – no doubt now they will refuse to flower again. I’m also having a go at a cutting – guess who won’t be getting a cutting if I am successful!.
• Sowed flower seeds of aster – Giant Single Andrella Mixed, mesembryanthemum – Sparkles Mixed, nemesia – Carnival Mixed, petunias – Celebrity Frost, and Double Delight Mixed.
• Sowed vegetable seeds of dwarf (French) Beans- Delinel  (green) and Berggold (yellow)
• The tomato plants in the greenhouse are progressing well, let’s hope that they year our tomatoes don’t suffer from blight.
• Pricked out coriander and mesembryanthemum seedlings
• Bought some new herb plants, oregano – Country Cream, French tarragon, Pineapple sage, (it really does smell of pineapple) and broad leaved thyme and took cuttings from them  and also took cutting from purple sage and ordinary sage which is growing on the plot and various varieties of mint that were growing in a tub in the garden – they are different varieties but they all sort of mingled and now we don’t know which is which!. We have some small rosemary plants that were taken as cuttings last year too.

In the propagator

• More nemesia and petunia seeds were placed in the propagator and are already starting to germinate.
• The tomato seedlings are ready to come out of the propagator into the greenhouse.

Out and About

• The ornamental cherry trees are looking spectacular – it’s such a pity that the display is so short-lived.
• The dandelions are still providing a good show in the verges. I quite like them their but just wish that they weren’t so happy growing in the grass paths on our plot.
• The horse chestnut trees are in full leaf and are developing the buds that will in turn become the flowering candles.
• The outdoor rhubarb is growing strongly in the fields alongside the motorway.

Weekend 11 May

On the plot The grass paths have been strimmed  yet again – it’s no sooner done that it seems to cry out to be done again. In a battle against the rampant dandelions we have enlisted the support of some feed and weed. The path now have more than their fair share of dandelion clocks all waiting to add to next year’s dandelion population! The rest of the broad beans have now been planted out. Some of the earlier planted ones are showing signs of bean weevil activity - little scallop shaped bite marks along the edges - so I have howed around the plants as the adult weevils lay their eggs in the soil around the plants and howing can help the birds find any grubs and dispose of them organically! More weeding and rotavating. Planted the last of the potatoes – Pixie, Juliette and Charlotte. The earlier sown ones are just popping through. We were a bit late planting this year due to the poor soil conditions but the plants will catch up. Planted out lettuce red and green salad bowl and peas – Avola. Last year when we cut out canes from our bamboos we left them hanging to dry and have used some of the smaller ones to support the peas. Sowed spring onions and radish and also planted some additional garlic cloves. We seem to have quite a few blue butterflies that I don’t remember seeing before. In the garden The tree fern has sent up its new fronds which are now growing at speed – each time I look they have shot on. We’re always glad to see the new fronds confirming that the tree fern has made it through winter. Many other ferns in the garden are also unfurling their new fronds. All the perennials are growing quite quickly now. The hostas are doing really well and as yet not fallen prey – other than a little nibble here and there- to the slugs and snails. I gave a water iris a severe hair cut this week and there were lots of snails hiding on the leaves so we do have a plentiful supply of then in the garden. Hopefully the colony of frogs that have taken up their regular residence in our pond will be out on night patrol. We have also seen evidence of hedgehogs so we started to put out food for them, now the blackbirds have decided that they love hedgehog food too. As the dish is under the patio table the blackbirds aren’t too happy when we are sitting out. It’s quite comical to see them on tip-claws peering over plants to see if we are about and then sneaking around the plant pots to the dish. The female blackbird fetched small worms to the dish and mixed them up with the dry hedgehog food. The great tits and blue tits are busy flying back and forth to the nesting boxes. Everything that I have read tells me that these birds will not nest in boxes if the holes are too large – so why have they ignored the tit boxes and taken up residence in the ones designed for house sparrows? Alongside the box that the great tits have adopted are a couple of banana plants which have started to grow and push up the straw that protected them over winter so we have to sneakily removed the straw without disturbing the birds. Even when we are so considerate to them they sit in trees complaining when we are in the garden. The gunnera that we thought had succumbed to the forst is now sprouting well. It needed pruning. Doesn't look too much yet but we know that soon it will be of monstrous proportion so out came the saw. The 'branches' are like solid wood!

In the greenhouse

• Sowed flower seeds – 4 varieties of French marigolds – Durango Tangerine, Durango Red, Durango Bolero and Durango Bee, sunflowers – The Bees Knees, cosmos – Candy Stripe and agrostemma – Ocean Pearl. Also sowed the seeds for the sunflower competition.
• Sowed fruit and vegetable seeds,  melon – Medley Mixed, rocket, red and green Salad Bowl lettuce, cabbage – Kalibos and Red Jewel both red cabbage varieties, sweet corn – Earlibird, courgettes – Clarita, Goldrush and Zucchini, cucumber – Burpless Tasty Green, runner beans – Celebrations & Galaxy and climbing French beans - Goldfield
• Pricked out cabbage – Puma,  broccoli – Olympia. Arcadia and Long Season Mixed, earlier sowing of cabbage – Kalibos and French Parsley

In the propagator

• The propagator is now completely empty

Out and about

• It has been a really lovely week with the countryside taking on the fresh green spring look. Sadly much of last week’s spectacular display of blossom has faded although the lilac is still blooming. We should also, now be happily casting clouts as the May blossom is coming out!
• The verges are now taking on a feathery look as the cow parsley is starting to flower and the horse chestnuts are starting to bud.
• The fields are acid yellow courtesy of the oil seed rape.

Week Ending 18 May

On the plot

• More weeding and feeding to control the dandelions – some are starting to show signs that it is working, but they are tough cookies and it is probably only a temporary reprieve. It’s a shame as in the verges they look lovely but just can’t cope with all the seeds that they spread onto the cultivated areas.
• Also more weeding of the beds and strimming the grass – it’s a Forth bridge activity.  We like the grass paths though as not only do we like the look but the grass provides a home for many beetles and the like that emerge on a night to patrol the beds in search out tasty morsels such as slugs and other garden nasties. Most beds have now been rotivated. We have some bindweed in a couple of places and so that is being removed and brought back to the wheelie bin. I have tried to get every little bit of it but no doubt will have missed some and it will go on the rampage again.
• The potatoes that we were late in planting are now shooting, earlier plated tubers have now been earthed up and the broad beans are coming into flower – the mixture of red and white flowered varieties adds decoration to the plot.
• Cut all the fluffy heads from the cardoons – I was asked by another plot-holder if I had been killing off hedgehogs as the seed heads do look a bit like roadkill!
• Planted one or two remaining strawberries and surrounded them with straw that had been recycled from the greenhouse having provided a protection for some plants over winter. The strawberry bed with last years plants is looking really good – plants are loaded with flowers so we have thrown a covering of Environmesh over the bed to try and prevent the flowers being blackened by a predicted  late frost. Last year a bumper harvest was ruined by heavy rain – can’t bear to lose all the fruit again this year
• Planted more peas – Onward, Purple Podded and some mangetout peas – Sugar Snap. Peas planted earlier are showing signs of being nibbled by the bean and pea weevil. They have been hoed around so I hope the resident robin will find some of the grubs or eggs to feast on. Also planted sprouts - United and turnip – Aramis.
• Planted gladioli corms, hope they do better than last year as we didn’t really get many cut flowers from them. This year they went straight in to the ground again. Last year we followed the recommendation of a gardening programme and had the worst turn out of flowers yet!
• We have our first flower on our shrub roses which were bought for their perfume – I can’t see the point of a rose that doesn’t have a rose scent or for that matter a sweet pea that doesn’t have scent. I have a small vase of lily of the valley in the house – it’s my birthday flower so my sister picked a bunch for me – they are always reminiscent of childhood. It’s just a pity that they are also loved by slugs when we try to grow them in our garden but I am determined to have another go this year. Also the perennial cornflower – centaurea are in full flower. The Sweet Williams will soon be joining them to provide cut flowers and the foxgloves are sending up the spikes for what I hope will be a good display as we planted a whole double row of them.
• The swallows are back so it must be summer. Another wildlife encounter was with with a couple of ladybirds working hard to increase the species - well he was! See the video on the "Ladybird lifecycle" page. The video is near the botton of the page and is X rated for aphids!
• On a more unpleasant note – thieves attacked us twice this week. We guess that as they were disturbed on the first visit they came back for another try. The annoying thing is that the damage that they have caused to sheds and the like must outweigh the value of any items stolen. They seemed to be targeting stoves and fuel. It’s made us think again about our intention to buy a shed.

In the garden

• Trimmed the rest of dead fronds from the tree fern so they don’t interfere with the shoots which are growing really strongly now. We have placed one of those fleece pillowcases over the newly unfurling fronds to try and protect it, just in case the predicted frost becomes a reality.
• Cut some canes from a couple of the bamboo clumps. It took a while for us to pluck up courage to thin clumps down to just a few stems but it is now showing the effects as the canes are thickening and look much more dramatic.
• Pruned out some of the branches of one of our camellias. I don’t want it to grow too tall and wide or it would block the view from the house. It has to be pruned straight after flowering as if it is done later there will be no flowers next year. Also pruned an aucuba which was growing too large for its allotted space – it should have been pruned earlier but I never got round to it. Pruning it now means that we will probably sacrifice some berries for next year.
• Perennials are really growing well despite the fact that someone’s cat has decided to use a patch amongst them as a toilet. The smell is horrible! I’ve popped some of my bamboo prunings in its chosen spot to try and deter it by not having sufficient space to squat in comfort!
• The crab apple trees have dropped their petals – their show doesn’t last long which is why they need to have more to offer than just blossom. Malus Profusion has it reddish brown leaves and John Downie provides us with masses of crab apples. The trees also provide the birds with suitable perches when they flock into the garden to raid the seed dispensers.
• The bananas are really pushing up the straw well now but as they are near to a nesting great tit we can’t remove the straw completely yet.

In the greenhouse

• Pricked out about half a dozen salpiglossiss – that’s all that managed to germinate. Also pricked out some nemesia, petunia and asters.
• The squash, and courgette seeds are germinating well as are the sweet corn seeds.
• Several varieties of tomato (Sebastapol, Yellow Perfection, Sasha Altai, Black Crimea, Legend, Tondino di Manduria  and Red Siberia) have been placed in grow-bags to grow in the greenhouse. We plan to have at least one plant each in the greenhouse at home and maybe also one of each plant in the yet to be erected greenhouse on the plot and maybe also at least one of each outside so we can compare the progress.

Out and about

• The horse chestnuts are now in flower and the hawthorn is in full flow too – I always consider spring is on its way out once the hawthorn loses its flowers. The large horse chestnut trees look magnificent as the light plays on the leaves producing many shades of green.
• Although much of the earlier blossom has faded and dropped the lilac trees are looking good. It’s another of those childhood plants – I can remember taking bunches of it to school.
• Buttercups are beginning to take up the yellow baton from the dandelions. Daisies both common and dog daisy are also joining in the display and I noticed a big clump of red campions in a roadside verge.
• In the fields alongside the motorway, the outdoor rhubarb is also beginning to send up flower spikes.

Week Ending 25 May

On the plot

• The weekly grass cutting exercise. Even more weeding and lots of watering as now the soil is very dry – it’s either one thing or the other and never like baby bear’s porridge i.e. just right! Our soil is a clay soil (in some parts it is almost pure clay and could be used to make pots) so when it is wet it is horrible and claggy and when it is dry it forms hard lumps and cracks!
• We had a frost on a couple of nights this week and our newly emerged potatoes had their leaves nipped. I was concerned that the strawberry flowers would frost leading to no strawberries and so I covered the plants that were furthest on with some environmesh. Last year we lost a bumper strawberry harvest due to torrential rain and i didn’t want to lose all the berries again. In fact this week we harvested our first berries – the very first was from plants being cosseted in the greenhouse.
• I have started uncovering the dahlias which have been overwintered under straw and black polythene. The straw was recycled by being used the surround strawberries that still needed to be done. No doubt after the winds of Sunday all the straw will be scattered across the plot! The dahlias are showing signs of growth which is very pasty looking at the moment courtesy of the black polythene but they will soon green up. (Click here to read about how we protect dahila tubers ocver winter). One or two frogs and toads were temporarily made homeless but we did rehouse them under some herbs.

• Planted out some rocket in what is going to be a patchwork of salad leaves. We saw some pots in the garden centre with mixed leaves and took note of what they were using and also had read a gardening magazine which recommended different salad ingredients so we sent for a few seeds which we couldn’t find in the garden centre. We hopefully will get lots of produce at a fraction of the price of the pots being sold.
• Planted a couple of black lace elders in the flower bed.
• I also cut off some of the new shoots growing from the base of the tayberry/loganberry just keeping one or two strong shoots from each root for next year.
• It also seems that a fox has left the remnants of a meal under our plum trees – it must have decided that this is a good place to have a picnic.

In the garden

• There are dead crab apple flowers everywhere! Such a pity that the display is so short-lived.
• Cut the lawns
• The banana plants and tree fern continue to grow at a fast rate and at the moment the gunnera is not quite matching them – this will change shortly once the gunnera gets going it will knock them into the shade. In fact it will literally put some plants in the shade namely the rogersia growing alongside it!
• The irises planted last year are growing strongly and one is about to flower. Last year they were shredded by slugs or snails but this year seem to have survived relatively unscathed – has so far have the hostas. Maybe this is due to the dry weather or has the snail grapevine passed on news of our resident predators!. We have copper tapes around the pots containing the hostas but last year I think the snails and slugs abseiled in from nearby plants. I did see a hosta grower of TV saying that she used a garlic spray that she made herself but I can’t remember how she made it – if you can email me to let me know! I wonder if it works on whitefly but there again if it does it would probably leave the cabbages etc. tasting of garlic!
• I noticed that under the aucuba, that I chopped back last week, small plants had germinated from the dropped berries. I have potted half a dozen up – I don’t really want any more aucubas but I just couldn’t resist!
• The choisya is on flower in spite of being cut back hard last year and the climbers are starting to climb. The medlar also is showing signs that it will flower this year. I hope it manages to produce at least one medlar so that I can see what they are like. The figs are now shooting and I noticed that one has a tiny fig.
• The wisteria is looking lovely and flowering well which must be a miracle as the climber is very much left to do its own thing and I keep hearing that it has a particular pruning regime so - ssh - don’t tell our wisteria as it is doing nicely without!
• The variegated weigelas are also in full flower. We have one on the plot as well - another case of having too many cuttings!

In the greenhouse (well the one in our garden)

• We are really pressed for space in here now.
• Pricked out more nemesia and petunias.
• Pricked our courgettes and cucumbers – thankfully we hadn’t been tempted to plant them earlier. Last year we resisted when we could have got away with earlier planting and consequently ended up planting during the worst months of the summer so the young plants suffered. Generally though sticking to the unwritten rule (or is it written somewhere) that in our part of the world we don’t plant tender plants out until the last week in May/first week in June (in spite of global warming) seems a good plan.
• Sowed cauliflower seed – Autumn Giant and beetroot – Blankoma (white), Chioggia (white and red rings when sliced) and Boltardy (red).
• For a crop of salad leaves sowed chard – Bright Yellow, Giant Red Mustard, Lettuce – Yugoslavian Red, Oriental Mustards and Sorrel- Blood Veined.
• Potted up squash – Crown Prince.

Out and about

• The colour palette for this week seems predominantly white and yellow - courtesy of the hawthorn in full flower, the cow parsley and the daisies providing the white and the laburnum, gorse and buttercups providing the yellow.
• The flowering horse chestnut trees are looking lovely but sadly the magnificent specimen in the grounds where I used to work has been felled. They say it was diseased?
• The winds are playing havoc with the newly leaved trees - bit of leafy debri is scattered everywhere.

Week end 1 June

On the plot

• The strong winds of Monday gave the young plants a bit of a battering, although the rain and extra warmth seems to have triggered the plants into growth and things seem to be shooting up. Let’s hope that this continues this year.
• The straw and black polythene have now been moved from all the overwintering dahlias. Underneath one sheet a queen wasp had started to build a nest in the straw. This is the third wasp’s nest that I have come across in the early stages of development. We found one in the straw that was protecting the banana plants in the garden – this already was home to a few of the next generation of wasps but was broken up as the straw was removed. The third was in a much more unfortunate position – the top of my sister’s wardrobe. She had been aware of a large wasp coming in and out of her bedroom window and tracked its flight path. A queen wasp came into one of my bedrooms the other day and was soon despatched back outside. As fascinating as a wasps nest is I don’t want one inside the house.
• Planted Runner Beans - Galaxy & Celebration, Climbing French Beans – Goldfield, French Beans - Berggold & Delinel, Cabbage – Puma, Broccoli - Long Season Mixed, Red Cabbage – Kalibos, Lettuce - Little Gem & Webbs Wonderful, Mixed Salad Leaves and Sweet Peas - Galaxy Mixed & Bright and Breezy

In the garden,

• The plants are progressing well in the garden too.
• The bananas have now been uncovered – well all but one.
• The tree fern is continuing to grow – at this time of year the new fronds are soft and delicate looking but as the season progresses will toughen up. The gunnera is also growing although maybe not as quickly as usual. We grow the plant in a area that used to home the pond filter so it is in effect in a large container. I think now that the root ball has increased in size the ‘container’ may be causing its growth to be restricted – we’ll see!
• The hostas are still looking great – the best that they have ever been. Some pots are circled with copper tape but have been in previous years and slugs have still somehow got to them. I suppose eventually they will spoil the show but for now we are just enjoying them.
• Cut some stems from the Phyllostachys nigra – black bamboo – in the hope that we will achieve some thicker stems – it has worked on one of the other bamboos.

In the greenhouses

The plot greenhouse:

• Planted tomatoes - Ailsa Craig, John Baer, Red Siberian, Black Crimea, Tondino di Manduria, Yellow Perfection, Cucumber-  Burpless Tasty Green and melons – Mixed. These have all been planted directly into the soil unlike those that have been planted in the garden greenhouse which are in growbags. It will be interesting to compare the two lots of plants.

The garden greenhouse:

• Sowed more runner beans – Galaxy and Celebration.
• Pricked out lettuce – Red and Green Salad Bowl

Out and About:

• The beginning of this week has been a bit of a wash-out really with strong winds on Monday and then rain for the next two days. The hawthorn that was looking lovely is now looking a bit sorry for itself. After the winds and rain we had some lovely days before it was back to rain again.
• The verges have now taken on the filmy look courtesy of the cow parsley.
• The trees are losing their spring look despite the horse chestnut being in flower. Close up the flowers are more colourful than at first sight.  The greens of the trees are still fresh looking – maybe the trees are at their peak – leaf-wise.