Starting August 24th, we haven’t heard the Sparrowhawks and we have wondered if they have left the area. At the same time the small birds seem to have returned with bluetits, great tits, long-tailed tits and coal tits at the bird feeder and great spotted woodpeckers in the trees. It will be interesting to see…… Continue reading Sparrowhawk Saga – Continued
Category: Blog
Sparrowhawk saga
Those of you who follow us on twitter or facebook will have seen a number of posts about our local sparrowhawks. To summarise: Back in May we saw a pile of sticks in our oak tree and noticed a sparrowhawk sitting around and carrying twigs to (what we assumed was) its nest. We’ve seen sparrowhaks…… Continue reading Sparrowhawk saga
Spinach Harvested
For many years I’ve tried to grow spinach but it always seems to bolt and go to seed before it’s ready to pick. So this year I chickened out and bought some plants from the local garden centre. I also put a good helping of garden compost on the vegetable bed which may have helped.…… Continue reading Spinach Harvested
Sowing Tomatoes 2025
Slightly later sowing this year than usual, trying to see whether sowing later actually makes a difference (other than hopefully reducing the length of time I spend carting the seedlings in and out). I’ve also reduced the number of cultivars (we’ve still got lots of tomatoes in the freezer from last year). Only three new…… Continue reading Sowing Tomatoes 2025
Tomatoes for 2025
It has got to that time of year again when making decisions about what to grow. My plan this year is to significantly reduce the number of cultivar’s, probably only around 10 different varieties. The main reason is that we’ve still got a lot of tomatoes left over from last year, we’re not eating anything…… Continue reading Tomatoes for 2025
First Snow of the Year
After weeks of dull weather, last week we saw the sun again. It didn’t last long as this morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow and overnight temperatures below freezing for the first time. Over the garden, it looks quite pretty but the roads are turning to slush already.
Northern Lights
Collapsing Tomato Plants
A lesson learned. This year, I decided to reduce the use of plastics in the tomato greenhouse by using ordinary garden string to support the plants, rather than the plastic string I have used in previous years. What I do is to tie the string through the holes I have made in the bottom of…… Continue reading Collapsing Tomato Plants
Crows & Moss
I mentioned the other day that the crows are having a go at the moss in our “lawn”. Just to prove what they are doing here are a couple of photos and videos. Raked up Moss A wheelbarrow full One Crow working on their own Two crows working harder Now, I don’t know what they…… Continue reading Crows & Moss
2024 – Comma Butterfly
We’ve seen a number of Brimstone Butterlies so far this year but this feels like the earliest I’ve even seen a Comma (as ever all that means is they’ve flitted away before I got sight of them). A brief video of it sat there in the breeze.