"Gardening for Adventure"

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I used to start off all my posts with some sheet music.

I haven't done recently so I shall try again.

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"A Blighted Gardener". A clever play on words here.

Not only did he lose his girl,

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he also got blight on his cabbages & turnip tops!

Sad really.

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I bought this book "Gardening for Adventure" in 1968.

Bring a bit of excitement into gardening, I thought.

It's all about the unusual; things like the -

"Squirting Cucumber"

"Spaghetti Marrow"

and the "Walking Onion".

I grew many of these in those early days. It was all great fun.

But like most things, the novelty wore off.

(There is a video of the cucumber squirting,

here on YouTube.)

But here we are forty years on and I still have a few around.

My "Walking Onion" is still walking.

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This one is in a pot, just in case I lose the ones in the garden.

I call it my "Tree Onion" actually, and

use the little onions that grow on it for pickling.

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Here's a closer look.

When they grow larger and heavier, the stalk collapses and the

little onions take root, so the plant tends to keep 'moving on'.

Another plant still going strong from those days,

is the Alpine Strawberry.

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These have been self seeding in all of my gardens,

for over 40 years.

The berries are very small.

However this tends to concentrate the flavour.

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You don't need cream with these.

Though you do need to get out there early,

before the birds see them!

And finally for today - my 'Ice plants'.

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These are "Echeveria",

and I have lugged these from garden to garden,

every time I have moved house.

I used to have around fifty or sixty.

I used to use them as edging in the good old days,

usually with blue Lobelia, as here.

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They would have been killed off by frost,

so all had to be potted up and kept nice and warm

in the greenhouse.

I gave up on all this, as the cost of heating the house

is extortionate, never mind the greenhouse!

Shame really.

But I still keep a few of these reminders

in the porch & conservatory.

Oh well, back to conifer lopping!

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No Shortage of Wildlife here.

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Well, it certainly doesn't look like rain here in 'Beechy Bucks'. It's wall to wall blue sky this morning.

The south of Buckinghamshire is renown for its Beech woods. The trees seem to thrive on the chalk soils here and whole industries sprang up in area making items from the beech wood (chairs in particular).

I love the woods around here and in fact, love trees of most shapes and sizes.

My back garden reflects this and is a mini haven for wild life.

The four cherry trees were out in blossom a few weeks ago, as were the greengage and apples.

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I have never had a good crop of cherries. The Bullfinches go for the buds, next the wood-pigeons go for the young cherries and finally the blackbirds and squirrels the ripe fruit.

I used to net the trees when they were young, but now they are too large for that.

Look what I found down amongst the cherry blossom.

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A sleepy little mouse.

I read today that some of Britain's most endangered wildlife - from red squirrels to native crayfish - are vanishing from the countryside at an alarming rate.

The report, from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, revealed that 88 species are in decline, including skylarks, pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies and red squirrels.

It is a pity that didn't include grey squirrels and then I might get a look in with the cherries.

Nothing seems to want to attack the Bramley Apple tree, so at least I get my apple crumbles.

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I have two Mulberry trees in the garden whose young and tender buds are attacked by Wood-pigeons. The lawn beneath the trees is littered with half pecked twigs and buds. It wouldn't be too bad if the eat the buds, there are thousands, instead they just "bite off more than they can chew" and drop the rest!

Now this little 'Tubby Dove' never seems to do any harm. The official name is Collared Dove and this one below is a youngster whose 'collar' has not yet darkened up. They nest somewhere in the garden every year and I've counted a good dozen feeding and queuing up for the bird bath.

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Another visitor, or local resident turned up the other evening.

I was glad he (or she) survived the winter.

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The year before last they started a family and I was feeding baby hedgehogs

with Hazel's left overs.

Must try to did out the photos I took.

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"Toadstools and Strawberries??"

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Gather in the Mushrooms,

Put 'em in a pot,

Pop 'em in the oven,

And serve 'em piping hot.

One of many of Benny Hill's songs.....you either like him or loathe him.....I leave it to you.

But....

This damp, mild weather has brought up toadstools or mushrooms of all shapes and sizes all over the place.

I must have found six different species on my lawn yesterday.

Here's just one batch....... Pity you can't eat them.

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Ah, now what have we here......it looks like a mushroom with a red nob on top!

Actually the red object was on the grass behind and was.......a 'strawberry' that had fallen from my 'strawberry tree' above.

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The correct name for this tree is 'Arbutus unedo' and is native to the south-west of Ireland.

I planted mine about ten years ago and seems fairly happy here.

This tree is very unusual because it produces this fruit from last years flowers at the SAME time as it produces new flowers for next years fruit. If you click on the above picture you will see the little flowers which will produce fruit in twelve months time.

The word 'unedo' seems to imply that the fruit is inedible, but it is in fact not poisonous but totally unpalatable. I have tried......exceedingly tart and dry.

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It is soft and juicy just like a strawberry, but not to be recommended and even the birds in my garden give it a miss.

Well, we had a bit of music about mushrooms and yes there is also a song about an Arbutus.

I found it in my book of Irish ballads and I also found a choir singing it on YouTube here youtube.com/watch?v=CfhZbQEfKEk (I didn't bother with a link)

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My love's an arbutus

By the borders of Lene,

So slender and shapely

In her girdle of green;

And I measure the pleasure

Of her eye's sapphire sheen,

By the blue skies that sparkle

Thro' that soft branching screen.

But tho' ruddy the berry

And snowy the flow'r,

That brighten together

The arbutus bow'r,

Perfuming and blooming

Through sunshine and show'r,

Give me her bright lips

And her laugh's pearly dower.

Alas, fruit and blossom

Shall lie dead on the lea,

And Time's jealous fingers

Dim your young charms, Machree;

But unranging, unchanging,

You'll still cling to me,

Like the ever-green leaf

To the arbutus tree.

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I'm taking up 'Land Art'.

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No more of this Mucking about for me!

I have just read two articles which are ‘Music to my ears‘.

Mind you, I’ve been going this way for years. Low maintenance and all that.

Garden writer and television presenter Monty Don has called on gardeners to stop their diligent digging and weeding in favour of letting nature take its course.

Monty decided to change tack. From now on, he has announced, his intention is to create "land art", altering the wild landscape as little as possible to create a more natural garden with paths winding through long grass and hedges left to grow bushy rather than being clipped.

“Fighting nature is a losing battle, whether you are growing wheat or wisteria,” he said.

His comments come as scientific research revealed that the average British garden often contains more wildlife than the countryside, which has been stripped of life by intensive farming.

Yes, yes, yes........leave it nice and wild, like this.

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This little fountain is in my 'meditation' patch, right down at the bottom of the garden. I don't really meditate, I just call it that.....it's really my fern garden in the shade of vine covered pergola.

The second report was encouraging biodiversity....

Dr Thompson, who was speaking at the British Science Festival, said that people should actually do less to increase biodiversity.

“Relax, don’t do so much gardening,” he said. “Let it grow. Let shrubs and lawns grow. By increasingly the volume of your garden you will increase the number of creatures living in it.”

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Good , I can sit back and do my bit for horticultural diversity and let nature take its course.

This morning the vine leaves were a gorgeous red and many beginning to drop. I took those two pics. a couple of weeks ago.

Adam and Eve in the Garden dwelt,

They thought vine leaves were jolly.

I wonder how they would have felt,

Had all of those leaves been Holly?

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"Oh Nuts!"

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Seeing that picture of Kopi with the walnuts yesterday....I thought today, I'd show you my nuts.

But first some suitable music.

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We actually used to sing "Here we go gathering.....", but never mind, local variations I expect.

But the strange thing is I have never seen any nut in May, especially on a cold and frosty morning.

These probably didn't mean real nuts, but knots, meaning something twisted together for the May Day celebrations. Posies maybe.

The word 'knot' gave its name to the weed we call 'knot-grass' and to the 'knot-gardens' of formal pattens and shapes we find today in the gardens of old houses.

I also believe that Purcell wrote a 'Knotting Song'.

But back to my nuts.

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This is the first year that the squirrels have not stripped my walnut tree completely.

In the past I had to get out before them in July and gather the small soft green walnuts and pickle them for Christmas.

But this year I noticed last week that there were still loads on the tree and that the green outer shells were splitting and allowing the nuts to fall out.

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Gathered up quite a load. What happens now I don't know.

Will they dry up in the shells and end up not worth eating?

Those in the pots are the one's from last year that the squirrels buried and then forgot. I get them coming up all over the place. I even found one in one of my hanging baskets!

As a engineer I know all about a different sort of nut......usually a six sided nut with a thread on the inside. As an apprentice we were always taught to use the correct washer behind the nut before tightening. There was this little reminder stuck on the workshop wall.

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Hang up the Wellies.

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Every five years or so I have to drain and clear out my 'brook' and ponds. There are seven in all and the whole job takes weeks (well it takes me weeks). I showed you here what it looked like in August and how the 'brook' no longer babbled!

On Friday I finally cleared the last one and filled the whole set-up with nice clear water.

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You can actually see the bridge now!

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And finally Hazel came up to check out

that the frog population had returned.

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Thank heavens that's over for another five years.

Time to hang up the wellies.

Wellies in the corner

And jackets on the pegs,

A gorgeous smell of cooking,

A basket, full of eggs.

Cosy slippers close at hand

All ready on the mat…..

Don’t take that fireside chair please,

It’s reserved for the cat!

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English Country Garden

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I have been admiring some of the gardens that appear on other blogs, like here and here.

So neat and tidy, colourful and everything in its place.

Years ago I would have spent hours in the garden, but these last few, maybe ten, years I have seen things go downhill.

First...my Plum tree died, then the Russet apple followed....a couple of years later a Greengage went the same way.

In the shrub garden things were no better.

Winter after winter I noticed that things no longer reappeared in the spring.

Even things like Primroses withered and died during the warm summers.

Of course, plants get old and 'tired'....I have got older and 'tired' and things are just not the same anymore.

Over the last five or six years I have been noticing what the National Trust do with their gardens. Lots of hardy shrubs and Lavenders and things like that....low maintenance. Yes.. I like it.

But......it still needs working on .....just look at it this morning!

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Grass is growing, lawn wants mowing,

Edges shearing, rockery clearing.

Time for sowing, all that hoeing,

Seedlings feeding, borders weeding.

Peas need sticking, fruit needs picking,

Plants want staking, leaves want raking.

Deadheads snipping, hedges clipping,

Brambles chopping, branches lopping,

Nettles hacking, bonfires stacking,

Limbs are aching, back is breaking…

Think I’ll sit…..a bit.

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Oh, yes......I nearly forgot.....that first picture at the top, was my garden here about ten years ago before I got 'tired' and 'old'.

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"England is not an Island"

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Following my post on the search for an English Anthem, it has been pointed out to me by 'Singing Chicken' that England is not an island and is only part of an island. Therefore, the words in the song I suggested are not accurate or appropriate.

In this following old print it certainly does not seem to be an island....it looks more like a Jester with a pint of ale riding a sea monster! Looks a bit foreign to me.. maybe French with a hat like that.

(click on the picture to enlarge)

So, let me dig into my music chest and see what else I can come up with.

How about this one?

This time, a march by Ivor Novello called “Rose of England”.

It was written 1937 for the Show ...”Crest of the Wave”.

Rose of England, thou shalt not fade here,

Though forgetful ages thunder near.

Red shall thy petals be as rich wine untold

Shed by thy warriors who served thee of old.

Rose of England, breathing England’s air,

Flower of chivalry for ever fair;

While these proud walls endure to cherish thy prime,

Thou shalt blossom to the end of Time.

And a English Rose in Kipper's garden this morning.

Looks like being a nice day....for a change!

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What? No Silk Worms

I was just reading the blog by Jan, at Consumne Gal, and she mentioned that the birds there, were enjoying the Mulberries. I have a couple of trees here but the fruit are still hard, green and no bigger than a pea! The birds won't look at them until they are big, black and juicy.

Of course, she is in California and tells me the climate there is very similar to the Mediterranean.

As children we all lived in Mulberry Road and none of us knew what a mulberry looked like.

We had sang about Mulberry bushes but never tasted the fruit.

The trees I have now are some twenty years old and I grew these from seed, having never seen them for sale as plants in a nursery.  I had quite a few germinate and planted some out, but each time I moved house, I had to leave them behind. When I came here to Bourne End I planted out the last two I had kept in pots. 

 

Well after fifteen years they finally fruited and it turned out I had one Morus nigra and one Morus alba......a black and a white.

The ripe fruit are still on the small size, I will probably have to wait another fifteen years before they reach full size!

And before you ask.......no I do not breed Silk Worms.