All Blog Posts (1,854)

Nettles seem to be loving this cold wet weather, we have loads of them on our plot. Time to make some Nettle Soup!…

A bit of sunshine, a bit of rain and a lot of grey skies this week.  Sunday was glorious and I managed to catch up on a lot of gardening jobs.  There is so much to do at this time of year that it is hard to  know where to start.  A lot of things are ready to be planted out - I have already planted some brassicas - cabbage, broccoli - and yesterday the runner beans went out at the plot, covered with fleece and liberally sprinkled with slug pellets, just in case.…

A new post over at Southbourne Gardens http://www.woollygreen.com/2013/05/22/rain-rain-go-away/

...apple blossom time, although it's a bit late this year. This might be a good thing as there's plenty of blossom and plenty of insects about so things are looking good for an excellent harvest.

This is my James Grieve which is absolutely covered in flowers.…

A new post over at Southbourne Gardens http://southbournegardens.com/2013/05/20/our-plot-onion-bhajees/

Today in the south west we have got the first good fruit pollination day since 2011.

It is 60*f, and warmer would be better still.

No prime bee swarms this year; it is just  a little too late. good swarms perhaps.

I have not noticed a good prime swarm year for many years, but I am not involved any more.

A new post over at Southbourne Gardens http://southbournegardens.com/2013/05/15/sowing/

Wet and then dry as life springs forth…

A new post over at Southbourne Gardens http://southbournegardens.com/2013/05/14/feeling-spring/

A new post over at Southbourne Gardens http://southbournegardens.com/2013/05/13/forget-me-nots/

We had the first of the new potatoes today - nearly a fortnight later than the last two years but not surprising given the cold spring.

The variety is Home Guard and they tasted lovely but the yield was poor compared to my favourite Lady Christl. I suppose I…

I had a great time there on Thursday. I've done a round up of blog posts I've found over the weekend giving you a flavour of what there was this year.

http://malvernmeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/yesterday-at-malvern.html

Here's a view of the auricula theatre display in the Flower Marquee to tempt you over...…

A bit of a rant on the new law the EU enforced that prohibits the use of non-certified seeds.

http://www.sowandso.com/grow/…

I just got a new polytunnel, as you can imagine I have been very very busy getting it al ready for this growing season. For now I am loving it.

I have already spend an afternoon inside with 15C while we had sleet and 2C outside. I love the sound of rain on the tunnel while I am sowing and planting out nice and warm inside. Radio on and a cup of tea on the potting bench....HEAVEN!…

The spell of really lovely weather we have been having has worked wonders in the garden.  I have more purple sprouting broc than I know what to do with, the broad beans are flourishing, the potatoes have pushed through and the seeds of parsnip and carrot have germinated.  Yay!



The raised beds in the Rosebank garden are filling out nicely, the large pots are waiting for courgettes and squash, the smaller black bottomless pots have parsnips and carrots in and I still have spring…

I used to breed Bees and whilst interested in the "piping" of queens which can be heard above the rest of the colony as a lower pitched louder noise, I met a Rat hypnotist from Taiwan; yes a rat hypnotist who pointed out to me that the colony behaviour of rats is exactly the same difference as a colony of bees. They also have a "piping" noise for the King rat, and every colony of rats has a king.

I took the lady in question around some of the Dorset villages to ascertain how many rats…