All posts by graysummers

And so the story goes, to where? No one knows. But it involves a Volkswagen T2 Crossover Bay Bus called Billie Bud (known to most people as ‘WOW, a camper van’); a Pentax LX SLR camera loaded with black and white film; cooking vegetarian food on a basic set up of Cobb cooker, a couple of gas rings and an open fire; reading books; listening to music and the ruminations from a Staff Nurse. Well......got to fill the hours outside of your nurse job somehow.
#gardening, #Retirement Projects

The Gardening continues.

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A lot of discoveries that were always inherent, then became sparse, are being found again in the garden. Maybe having to fight against ground ivy, brambles and the prolific growers of the ‘We’re here and we are strong’ types, they just laid low for a long time. Until it was safe to pop out and show their faces again.

Allium Globemaster. Gone, but not forgotten. So will reintroduce.

Wild Strawberries, Aquilegia, Woodruff, Peonies, Primroses, Feverfew, Forget-me-not, Herb Robert, Welsh Yellow Poppies, Plantain are a few that have suddenly come out to say ‘Yup! We are still around’.

Some that were there in the past have still not been found though. Meadow Sweet, Allium, Lavender, Evening Primrose, Foxglove, Laburnum, Lady’s Mantle, Lovage, Heather, Rhubarb, Fennel, Gooseberry, Buttercups. To name a few.

Please tap on the photographs below to enlarge.

A couple of areas created with rocks and slate from the garden. Once plants are introduced it will soften nicely.

The prolific ones, like Monbretia, Red Valerian, Cleavers/Goose grass and now it’s found it’s confidence, Herb Robert, are necessarily thinned down. I have just dug up and riddled out from the surrounding earth thousands of Monbretia corms and put them into an old tall waste bin. Looking them up it was found that:

‘While it is an attractive plant, it is now listed in Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as invasive although it is not illegal to have Montbretia on your property, Whether you do or not, you must pay special attention to how you dispose of cuttings and corms if you want to get rid of them’. 

https://www.environetuk.com/invasive-species/montbretia/identification#:~:text=While

Beginning to take notice again of names and identification. The two main camps to this years reading applications are to make inroads into the knowledge re: identification of plants, insects, wildlife, etc. and the philosophy and guidance of what to consider when attempting to understand permaculture/biodiversity.

Please tap on the individual photos below to enlarge.

The rocks seen in the photographs were dug up from over the garden area a year or so ago. They will provide an edging rough small ‘wall’ and not a rock garden. Insects can find solace and live within the gaps. This pile below is now a lot smaller having found places to be used around the garden.

Please tap on the individual photos to enlarge.

There are a fair few that were in the garden in the past, now missing, that still need to be remembered. And that is just it. Remembering. Why? If they are gone surely they weren’t suited to the garden. No. I believe they struggled under the weight of invasive bullies like Monbretia, brambles, ivy, goose grass, couch grass, etc. Struggled by having their earth robbed of essential nutrients or being suffocated from sunshine and air under bully leaf growth. When they were around, without the marauders, they existed for years.

So…remembering. How? A notebook journal gives opportunity to write them down and have the information at hand. As do the seed packets and labels you may say. So why bother? Just keep the information that comes with the shrub, plant, Herb, vegetable, etc. Well yes. In the past I believed a seed packet kept safe ‘somewhere’ in the house or weatherproof label next to the plant were there for keeps. Not so. Those weatherproof labels recently have been found when digging around the garden. The plant it identifies? Nowhere to be seen. Seed packets long gone. Perennials, biennials or annuals/deciduous or evergreen are no longer in my memory. A record is required.

Please tap on the individual photos below to enlarge.

I took the photographs above of the possible seeds that could appear in the wildflower mixes of pollinators and also ones suitable in wood shade. What may appear and thrive is exciting. What can be harvested as edible wild food is too will be interesting. Safety first though. No fungi at all.

Recording is homage too. For example. The Actinidia tetramera var. maloides rosy crab-apple kiwi (syn. Actinidia pilosula), with my shade shadow all over it in the photograph below, is a wall climber and awaits going into the earth. Against the garden slate wall at back of the rocks. No label is going anywhere near it. So such a beautiful plant, possible edible fruits and with its changing to handkerchief white petals deserves a notebook entry. As do others.