62 - The mystery of the floating log.

 Mr Waddles is elusive, but now I have a new resident who is not!

Jemima Puddle-Duck

 Meet Jemima.

 Being a Beatrix Potter fan, I   could not give her any other     name.

 I told you some weeks ago   something large had pushed   one of my logs into the frog pond, and I could not figure out what. Well, on a morning a week ago I disturbed a sleepy wild duck, who was floating in the middle of my tiny pond, head tucked away beneath a wing,  looking very much at home. She is properly wild though, so when I tried to sneak up on her she was awake in a flash and having none of it. She walked out, literally, as the water level is so low it only comes up to her belly, and hid behind my neighbour's kale.

Naturally she is welcome to stay, bring her lover to dinner, have her ducklings take their first dip in my frog pond. 

My son raised a duckling when he was twelve, he used to take her swimming in the large pond behind our house (he in his rowboat, she paddling madly behind), and she came back to our garden in spring for years, proudly showing off her ducklings. We recognised her by her slightly wonky right wing.

See, Jemima, I have duck history!

We rescued ducks, pheasants, crows, jackdaws, hedgehogs, a hawk, two swans (do you have any idea how large a male mute swan is?!) and the most amazing angora rabbit. Perhaps I'll tell you about him someday. In hindsight I realise we had wonderfully tolerant dogs! I often tell Puck about those dogs, but she only gives me the stink-eye. In her opinion a good dog makes certain nothing on 4, or 2 legs with feathers, is able to get within 10 metres of me.

It being Easter last weekend  I had the allotment mostly to myself, and risked planting out my many Digitalis alba plants. They had outgrown their pots, and were crowding the greenhouse, so I said right, outside with you. They immediately greened up my flowerbeds, hurray. They will not flower this year yet, I expect, but never mind, as long as they are green. And  my clematis had grown 3", so I had something to tie up, yay. Mind you, the seeds I had sown in between the verbena on my mound seem to be sprouting...fingers crossed. I have forgotten the name (what else is new), but it is perennial, and the same colours as the wallflowers beneath the mound. Who seem happy, by the way, good!

Whilst planting my Digitalis I noticed some potatoes showing their heads above ground, but not where I had planted my first earlies! Oh dear, some stowaways from last summer I think. I'll leave them be, green is green, and bar some weeds everything green is most welcome. And I ended by sowing my beetroot now that there was some space in the greenhouse again. Let's hope it fares better than the salad leaves, which have so far been nibbled by either the dreaded slugs or mice. Or do you think Mr Waddles could be a vegetarian?

Jemima in the meantime makes a right mess of the frog pond, the silly duck. She seems to like dunking the plants. I've tried to secure them with the lava rocks now, let's hope it suffices.

More about my gardens on Instagram@songsmith2962  Have a great week!

61- Our unpredictable climate

 On Thursday afternoon I was watering my parched pot potatoes (no rain for over a month) in my t-shirt, and on Friday morning I woke up to snow and 4 below zero temperatures. 

Woolly hat back on! 

As Puck and I slip-slided through early morning walkies, I thought back to previous years. Did I experience this abrupt weather rollercoaster before, ever? Well, my memories of previous April 1st celebrations (we have a huge street party in my town to remember "we" threw out the Spanish oppressor in 1572) are mostly of getting a thorough soaking just when you have bought some chips, and there is usually a lot of wind to make all those flags snap. But this huge a change...no, can't recall.

My balcony plants have taken it in their stride, but the allotment plants, hm, don't know yet. My experience is plants usually do not react well to rollercoasters, and simply put their growth on halt. Or die. I'm especially apprehensive about my clematis and artichoke, as they were put in under near desert conditions, and now have had to deal with sudden winter on top of that.

Some of my plants simply shrug and get on with it though.

And in the greenhouse all is well.

This morning I decided to plant out my Verbena bonariensis, as they outgrew their 9" pots, and I had no soil to pot them on once again. So I gave them a pep talk*,  dug them all a nice hole (pragmatically, i.e. at places I could get my trowel in), watered them in and left them to get on with it.

* "Well, here's the thing. You have been pampered since October, but no more. You are tough, you can do this! When you spot a slug, hit it over the head with a clot, Frith knows they are like concrete. Oh, and there won't be extra watering, so dig in those roots!"

The cauliflower are growing well, and I've planted some paksoi today, in between the salad greens (which so far are disappointing, but I have since read that they like light to sprout, ah. Well, in my defence, the earlier batch were covered and did just fine). As soon as I've moved the rest of the Digitalis outside, I'll prepare a bed for the radishes neighbour Yvon has given me, three kinds, no less.

And the beans have been moved outside as well, behind the greenhouse, next to the Apple trees. They were leggy...note to self: do not sow them that early next year!!

I have 5 days off work now, so there will be a lot more planting (on the balcony as well), so I will have a lot to tell you next week.

And perhaps, hopefully, there will be some news about the frog pond. Mr Waddles has moved himself back into the greenhouse though. I noticed him staring at me from behind the garlic this morning.

You can read more about my gardens at Instagram@songsmith2962,  where there are more photos of my garden as well.

60 - Oh my, March was terribly dry! And April started with snow.

 Spending time in my garden is one of my favourite things, on a level with making music, painting, reading and eating. But these weeks it certainly takes up almost all of my free hours.

My romping Digitalis

And the thing is, most of that time was spent watering, for it was like the Sahara desert in Brielle. In March we normally enjoy 60 mm of rain, and this year we had 1 mm. Watering on my plot means carting watering cans to and fro, and as my go-to waterbutt was empty by the end of March, it meant an extra 10 metres every time.

This afternoon  (I write this on March 26th) I planted 30 Crocosmia bulbs, and I was that worried the poor little things would not survive the desert conditions (extremely dry and sunny during the day, but freezing at night) that I decided to plant half in pots in the greenhouse, just in case the same thing happened as with the Narcisii...namely they could not push through that rock hard soil. I did put my giant Lilies in though...fingers crossed.

Cup and saucer vines

Greenhouse

I salvaged the slightly nibbled but not completely destroyed vines and put them on my highest shelf. The others I composted. And I showed my greenhouse toad, Mr Waddles, the way to the pond. He was slightly bemused, but then swam to the nearest pot of Carex and perched.

Planted 6 Cauliflowers, 3 Parsley, and 3 rows of salad leaves. I still aim to sow my Spinach, Courgettes and Chard in between the flowers outside, but will have to see what the weather does in April. So far we've had snow, frost and yet another two storms.

And I treated myself to a Tillandsia usneoides, which we call Spaans Mos.

Why? Just for fun.

As I said, I read a lot (approx. 50 books a year), and that plant evokes the Southern plantations of books I practically devoured. Ever read The Vampire Chronicles (by Anne Rice)? I only have to gaze at my Tillandsia and I am in Louisiana.

I managed to keep my obelisks upright during the last storm by putting heavy paving slabs on the bottom rungs.

That made me heave a deep sigh of relief, I tell you! You can read lots more about my gardens on Instagram@songsmith2962,  and in the meantime love from Mr Waddles and myself, enjoy your hours in your garden!

59 - Not a lot of money? DIY!

Hi there! Has your garden survived that silly snow, and freezing winds? And have you?

 If you have it, gardening can cost a lot of money! I visit the garden centres almost on a weekly basis and am amazed by what they dare to ask for stuff. But I need to garden on a tight budget, so I tend to get creative.

Hanging pots

Besides, sustainability is a good concept. My predecessor left me a shed full of rusty bits and bobs, and a mountain of plastic pots. Sure, I could throw out the lot, anti-plastic that I am, but would then have to buy new clay pots which cost an arm and a leg. Is not going to happen. Instead of forking out 16 Euros each for clay strawberry planters, I will recycle those plastic pots.  I have hung them onto the waterbutts, to cheer those ugly monsters up but also to avoid the slug armies. Win-win! All you need is a pot, some wire and optionally something to mask that ugly plastic, like jute/hessian. Eh presto!

Bug hotel

The half-finished one

First I thought to do the traditional bug hotel, using wood. But then I found out my arm still refuses to have me saw wood, bother! Being a persistent type, I then used all the leftover bits from last year's Christmas decorations and a glue gun. And some pretty snail houses, let them take it as a warning!

I filled up the gaps with garden moss, and will put in reeds as soon as I can cut some.

I have also planted a self-sown Alysum in the bottom, but since then saw it did not survive the operation. Oh well, I'll think of something else then. A Nasturtium perhaps, they have proven themselves to be tough as boots last year.

Discarded wood

The frog pond 

The council cut back the old football ground hedge and forgot to take away some bits and pieces. Puck and I like to sniff around there. So I did a little round and gathered some of that wood for my pond. The idea is to gather more, and find myself some rocks as well (a challenge - strictly clay around here), because that pond edge is far too sterile for my taste.

When I came back last, I noticed one of the logs was now floating in the middle...interesting. I wonder what animal did that? Can't be my Mr Waddles, he's not strong enough.

Don't forget I will be handing out FREE Pollinators seeds next Saturday, 10.00 til 12.00, poort 2, plot 54a, Langesingel Brielle.

And have a great gardening weekend, more about my gardens on Instagram@songsmith2962