Compost? My Arse!

Sorry, I meant  MY ANTS

: /

One of my customers asked me to empty their compost bin. It was the DALEK type and the contents were to go onto the flower beds.

Great idea:-

1. Feeds the plants
2. Improves the look of the beds
3. Mulches the plants (holds in the water)
4. Soil improver as the worms mix it with the underlying soil.
5. All this and it's FREE!!!!!

Look at what I found.....

It's one big ants nest.

Looking more like a termites nest, I felt as if I was in an exotic land, not a quintessentially English Cotswold garden. 

I never see any reason to remove Ants from the garden. In lawns, simply press the nascent nests flat with your foot. In pots? Move the pots having emptied them and refilled with fresh compost. Or, why not put up with them, see what happens, JUMP when you have to, otherwise, CHILL.

But in a compost bin, well, what can I say? The closer I looked, the more impressed I was with the structure.

How can something so small build something so big? 

All gone now. Spread onto the flower beds. It was the finest compost I've ever seen and would have been fantastic saved in old compost sacks for use as seed compost next spring.

Before spreading it onto the garden, I knocked the whole thing apart and watched as the poor discombobulated (?)  Ants went crazy. The compost was then moved to one side and the bin replaced on the same spot as before. I went away and did something else for an hour. This gave the Ants a little time to get out and take their eggs and grubs with them, which they did. If I had the time, I might have left the whole thing alone for a week to see what happened.

I wonder what I'll find in the Dalek bin next time I look?

Sometimes being a gardener has its' perks; unless you don't like creepy crawlies.

ME?

I LOVE-EM

: )

Latest Trug

This year I seem to be growing food, 

HOW ABOUT YOU?

After last year, this is like alchemy.

On the green side, salad leaves - hot n spicy, Mange Tout, basil and coriander, and immature, though delicious wet garlic.

Also, AT LAST, some new spuds. 

These were some that were chitting in December - in Green Spriit at half price. I popped them into the soil in the poly tunnel and 

HEY PRESTO! 

I've also pulled my TURNIPS  - I know, that last statement made me blush too - as they were going to flower. Its the freezer for them. They're good roasted with a load of other veges and eaten with a dip or two.

11th March 2013

And I've been picking BROAD BEANS from the poly tunnel, for a couple of weeks too. The outdoor ones are coming on well, with the tops nipped out as they were beginning to be invaded by black fly.

I haven't seen a single LADYBIRD this year.
How about you?

The Cabbage White caterpillars are here -
WOOPEE IT'S SUMMER!!!! 

Keep weeding and watering your alliums.

Afterall, you looked after them right through the winter.

Nip out the side shoots on your tomatoes.

Enjoy the garden.

Any garden!

Easy this gardening lark.

More soon.

: )

Mr McGoos' Log

Some of  our local roads have been closed for repair, so Mr McGoo asked if I could pop over and help him drop one of his roadside trees.

Off I popped, walking past the tarmac stripping monster machines, the trucks, the vans, the JCB's, the men.

The two of us managed to chop down the tree; me pulling on the rope and Mr McGoo wielding the chainsaw. 

That tree fell cleanly onto the grass verge. 

SPOT ON!

Why, I wondered, did we wait for the road to be closed?

Not bad for a blind chainsaw man and his lovely tree hefting assistant. 

EXTREME GARDENING.

The JCB stopped on its' way back from removing the cats eyes (poor cat) and offered to deliver the timber to Mr McGoos' drive. 

The drive may be a very few metres away, but we were pleased with the offer.

The driver seemed to enjoy wrangling the log, it was a slippery critter.

We enjoyed the empty handed stroll to the drive.

Gardening's like that. 

Every job has a perfect moment. 

Don't miss it.

DO IT!!

Still Bags Of Time To Get Your Seeds In

What with the freezing and dark weather, things are pretty slow on the plot.

None-the-less, I've managed to get quite a good set of seeds going, mostly in the poly tunnel.

Here's a small selection of what I hope to grow.

Do you think the real things will taste anything like as sweet as these little prize winners?!

Chez Bob

The general rule for pruning any plants is to do it just after flowering. After flowering, most shrubs have a growth spurt, which means they'll soon recover their fluffyness and be ready to flower the following year. Perennials will often become dormant, or at best, boring following cutting back. This is a good time to add a little lunch to the soil - homemade/purchased compost, or horse manure etc. Remember to allow nesting birds to fledge their young before getting stuck into pruning large shrubs and hedges.

Sadly this rule doesn't apply to all plants. I'll let you know  what to do where the rules are different.

CHOISYA TERNATA
Flowers spring

VIBURNAM?

Flowers spring - early summer, then red berries

GARRYA ELLIPTICA

If you think it's getting too big, cut off the stuff you don't want after flowering (flowers Feb, March)

LONICERA 

RHUS TYPHINA - 'SUMACH'

Pretty tree, good autumn colour, Puts out suckers. Best grown in a lawn so that the suckers are chopped off by the mower.

KERRIA JAPONICA
Flowers early spring. Cut it back any time you fancy as it can be a complete nightmare.

POTENTILLA

Cut off flowering layer once over. Remove weak and old material by cutting off at ground level.

SENECIO - 'SUNSHINE'

Flowers early to mid summer, yellow daisy like blooms. Prune hard to stop it becoming straggly.

. 

JAPANESE ANEMONE

Flowers August. Spreads like Topsy - allow lashings of room.

SPIRAEA BILLIARDI
Flowers summer

PULMONARIA  SACCHARATA

Flowers early spring with both pink and blue flowers.

ALLIUM SICULUM - 'ONION FAMILY'

Flowers May. Tends to seed fairly freely.

SEDUM

Flowers September onwards. Flowers can be left on throughout the winter to give you lovely frosty forms. Also a useful late food source for bees etc.

HOSTA

HOSTA

HEBE (Pron. HEE BEE)

FLOWERING CURRENT

Flowers early Spring.

WHISTERIA

You're already an expert on this one.

SPIREA
Flowers summer.

BERBERIS
Very spiny. Don't prune if any chance of frost.

PRUNELLA VULGARIS - Self Heal
Wild plant, good ground cover. Rip away from places it shouldn't be.

CEDRUS DEODARA - Aurea?

BERBERIS
Very spiny. Don't prune if any chance of frost, it can't take the cold on fresh wounds - but then, who can?

EUPHORBIA - 'SPURGE'?

Beware of the 'milk' given off from broken stems and leaves; don't let it touch skin. If it does, wash it off immediately. 

ABIES KOREANA - Korean Fir

ACHILLIA PTARMICA - 'THE PEARL', 

Flowers summer. Wanders through flower beds.

Small purple flower, GERANIUM.

EUONYMUS ALATUS - Burning Bush
Red leaves in autumn (if not, this is a different plant)

PHYGELIUS CAPENSIS

Flowers July - October.

Prune April, if preferred small shrub, cut to ground level; if a taller (6ft plant) is preferred, cut off dead stems and trim to shape.

THE GIRLS

Ahhhhhh!

COTONEASTER?

LONICERA

Prune any time. If cutting plant very hard back (to make it smaller) try not to cut off all the leafy branches as it's very slow to regenerate. Cut out any branch that has plain green leaves, this is really important.

PHLOMIS
Flowers: yellow, summer

LYSIMACHIA PUNCTATA - 'GARDEN LOOSESTRIFE'

Flowers summer. Spreads densely and quite fast.

PYROCANTHIA
Flowers plus berries. Berries good food for wildlife. Cut back any time as it can get out of hand very quickly.

CLIMBING HYDRANGIA
Flowers summer autumn. Prune away long stems straight after flowering. If plant's too big, prune a third of it hard back after flowering, and repeat over the next couple of seasons. Cutting the whole plant back, all in one go will stop it flowering for a season or two.

CLEMATIS TANGUTICA

Flowers summer - group 3 clematis - prune EARLY SPRING. Cut to 6 - 12 ins of the ground - make sure a couple of leaf buds are left on each stem!

LONICERA SEMPERVIRENS -' CORAL HONEYSUCKLE'

Flowers summer.

PHLOX

Flowers summer. 

PERPETUAL SWEET PEA

ASTRANTIA MAJOR - 'MASTERWORT'

flowers summer - autumn. Spreads quite slowly.

JASMINE

JASMINE

HIBISCIS?
Flowers September

HELLIBORUS - 'HELLIBORE'/ 'CHRISTMAS ROSE'

Flowers winter to early spring, happy flowering in the snow.

MAHONIA

Flowers early spring. Fragrant yellow racemes.

ACER PALMATUM - JAPANESE MAPLE - 'Butterfly'

LAMIUM MACULATUM - 'Album'

Flowers spring summer

Spreads well as ground cover, rip it out where you don't want it.

EUONYMUS

Cut back to desired size and shape at any time apart from frosty/ freezing seasons.

CORNUS 

Flowers spring or summer depending on type.  

ELAEAGNUS PUNGENS - 'maculata'?

SPIRAEA ARGUTA - 'BRIDAL WREATH

Flowers May. Never prune in the autumn, you'll get no flowers.

BRIDAL WREATH