Badgers after Dark

The wildlife has always been an essential and integral part of our outdoor space. It might cause a few headaches but the thoughts of being able to share and coexist with minimal (or modest) mutual disruption is a very pleasant thought. Watching the wildlife is a challenge, as a lot of the activity is nocturnal.

On occasions we can get a peep into the badgers world from the bedroom window which overlooks the lower pond. These video images were taken a few weeks ago.

However, I have been intrigued to learn a little bit more about the garden at night so I have invested in a basic night time camera trap. The first results are quite encouraging. These images were taken around the back of the shed, directly outside the entrance to the set.

And the next morning the night time activities seemed to be of interest to more than just the human residents. A curious Hecate has a good sniff around!

Hoping for a Bright Tomorrow.

I could not resist  a brief entry to highlight this snap taken yesterday before the sun finally set on the Pennines. It seemed quite fitting in these dreadful times of global pandemic that we try to keep a sense of perspective. A beautiful sight and a reminder that .......every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher and poet

Let us all hope that the new dawn is not too long off. The gorgeous sky is simply a product of the sun being low on the horizon, meaning sunlight passes through more air than during the day, when the sun is higher in the sky. More atmosphere for the light to pass through, means more molecules to scatter the violet and blue light away from your eyes.This is why sunsets are often yellow, orange, and red. 

A moment to enjoy but also to look forward with some positivity and to appreciate that nature is transient and, no matter what, seasons like pandemics will all pass with time.

Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful but because they are fleeting.

Richard Paul Evans' US author

Bringing the outside in and taking the inside out!

Agapanthus needs to be acclimatized

This is the time of the year when the plants in the conservatory have to be taken outside on a daily basis for hardening off. When dusk approaches they are brought back inside. I keep an eye on the Met Office weather forecasts and if it is likely to be a mild night then the plants may be left outside. But more often than not they are brought back into the safety of the conservatory.

The conservatory is also a space for relaxing and by the beginning of May the notion of bringing the outside in becomes more important. This essentially involves trying to make a natural transition between the greenery of the conservatory house plants and the vegetation of the patio and pond.

Inside meets outside

Lilium Queen of the Night

 
It is now rather dated to want a neat border between home and garden, apparently the latest dreadful buzzword in home design is “transterior” – where there’s an utterly seamless segue from one to the other.

The ideal is a much more symbiotic outcome, where buildings are more sympathetic to the landscape outside, and vice versa. Twenty years ago, the must have was the ‘outdoor room’. Today the indoor and outdoor are being designed merge, with elements of greenery joining the spaces with more natural materials  inside, and the architecture flowing outside.

Top tip: while most of us cannot easily redesign the architecture of our homes, we can bring the outside in with the judicial placement of seasonal pots by the front, back and conservatory doors. A simple illusion of bringing the garden closer to the indoors. Combined with a plant pot on the windowsill enables the "bringing of the outside in and the inside out."

Newt

Wildlife in gardens can sometimes be a challenge, as selected blog posts will clearly demonstrate. However, sharing our garden will always be at the very heart of our gardening philosophy. As much as we enjoy the planting schemes, outdoor living spaces and general sense of well being that the garden provides, it would be immeasurably diminished without the diversity of wildlife which will visit on occasions.

It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to discover the upper pond is now home to newt(s). The little creature was discovered when I was raking out some of the surplus oxygenators. It swiftly returned to the safety of the pond and I did not get another glimpse until yesterday.

Although not the most distinct of photographs, the newt (which I suppose to be a palmate newt, if its throat is a pale colour?) can be seen in the water just a little deeper than the tadpole. I must confess to being mesmerized by the little fellow for quite some time!  Of course afterwards I had to do a little research and found some particularly interesting facts.

Newts are members of the Salamandridae family, and there are over 60 species. All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts....

Newts are small semi-aquatic amphibians that look like a cross between a frog and a lizard. Newts possess several interesting characteristics. For example, though they may look cute and harmless, they can be dangerous; toxins secreted through the skin as a defence mechanism could kill a person. Newts also can regrow lost limbs and organs. That ability makes them important subjects in medical studies on regeneration. Also, some newts have flown on space missions
Livescience.com

However, not all stakeholders in the Pennine garden are quite so fascinated.

Hecate looks for something else of interest

Lawn Care

The garden has sprung into life and the grass has started to grow. Sadly our grass has been hindered by some compaction and moss growth, not to mention digging and scraping by our short-legged omnivores from the family Mustelidae.

Fortunately, the usual raking and scarifying has been made that much easier this season thanks to the wise counsel of a golfing buddy who suggested using a mechanical rake. It works a treat and I have filled a complete "brown bin" (the council green waste recycling bin) with dead material. It is surprising  how much thatch, moss and dead material builds up, despite the work done at the back end of autumn.

 

I suspect some healthy grass was damaged with the power rake but there is plenty of growing season to come. The lawn looks rather scruffy afterwards but that is inevitable whether raking by hand or with the lightweight garden machine. Top tip the time spent raking and top dressing at this busiest time of year will pay dividends later. 

As usual the works inspection team were on hand to check the job has been done properly!

Garden Springing into Life

The garden is beginning to come alive now Spring and some seasonally pleasant sunshine has arrived. The Pennine garden is also alive with the night time scuffling of the badgers. It is noticeable that the set under the shed is being well used and trails of bedding are found leading to the entrance most mornings. The video was taken last night as the badger came down to the pond, so the light levels are obviously quite low.

The snake's head fritillary are also looking pretty and qualifies for my plant of the month. I am aware that ours are somewhat behind (as a long time friend and gardening pal, has already noted) but its plant of the month status has been prompted by his keen observations in his own garden.

Frugal Gardening part 1

Gardening can be quite an expensive pastime, specimen plants, proprietary feeds and hard landscaping can all quickly consume a budget. However, over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my best money saving top tips, to try to explain how I make our money go that little bit further. After all, it is the least you might expect from someone with my birthright, a proud Yorkshireman. 

My first top tip for saving money is to buy small and grow big. Most years I will succumb to one (or more) offers to buy an instant summer display. For a very modest price an online nursery or garden plant  supplier will send through the post a positive cornucopia of delights. Normally supplied as tiny plugs they can, with a little care, be grown on to make healthy plants ready for mid may planting out.

You can easily grow a hundred or more plants that might otherwise cost £3.99 or more at your local garden centre. Of course, they will have invested in the time and the trouble to grow their specimens into something of a sale-able and garden ready size. But it is good fun to watch and tend your own specimens grow by the day.

I accept that growing from seed is in many ways preferable but most of use have limited propagator space so this short cut is an additional strategy. Besides a dozen packets of seed, needed to match the variety of these offers can amount to pretty much the same or more than the initial outlay on the plug plants.

Tiny plugs are posted in plastic containers

Plugs can be as small as your thumb nail

 A healthy root system

I like to tease out the roots before potting up

Each plug is put into potting on compost

Standing in a bath of water for about 30 minutes

Be sure to label each tray of plant cells

Save more money with these labels (but they do not last terribly well once damp)

In a matter of weeks you will have a greenhouse or conservatory overflowing with plants. This is just a small selection of those I grew last year.

 

Finally, you might want to pot on one last time or at this stage it can go straight out into the garden. However, given the possibility of cold Pennine nights, even into May, I usually like to pot up and take outside to a sheltered spot or the cold frame to allow hardening off.