A few wildlife jobs on the allotment

Last week was a chilly week with snow again, but earlier in the week before the snow came we tackled a few wildlife jobs on the allotment.

The woodland area at the top of the allotment is an area where we can't grow anything because of the big sycamore tree which dominates. The good thing about this is that it provides a home for a lot of wildlife. I've written before about how we cleared the area to make somewhere for the grandchildren to play. They are teenagers now  and are no longer interested, but I still love this area. 

Our seating area is just below the big tree and when we sit there having our tea breaks there is so much activity from the birds flying in and out. There is a privet hedge behind the tree between our plot and the next one up. Also there is elder which provides us with lovely blossom in the spring and berries in the autumn. I pick the blossom  to use when I am making jam. It goes well in gooseberry or strawberry jam. 

When I first created this wildlife area I planted bulbs and shade loving plants. There are crocuses, snowdrops, Tete a Tete daffodils and bluebells. The bluebells do well and I am happy for them to spread. I've tried to get some foxgloves going too. 

The downside of the sycamore tree is all the leaves which fall all over the plot in the autumn and need clearing up especially from the paths. I don't clear them from under the hedge and around the base of the tree and any other nooks and crannies. Then in the spring the plot is covered with the little sycamore spinning Jenny seeds which fall everywhere then germinate and I am constantly trying to hoe them out.

The tete a tete and crocuses are flowering now and I can see the new growth of the  woodland plants I put in there.  Soon it will look more colourful like the picture below which was taken last year when all the euphorbias were out. I like them but they tend to take over, popping up all over the place as they send out runners underground. 

Last week I did one of the  jobs I do on the allotment every year at this time. That is to have a bit of a tidy up in the woodland area. It might seem the wrong thing to do, to tidy up a wildlife area, but it needs to be kept under control so that the weeds don't start to encroach on the vegetable beds and the rest of the allotment. And I pull up those euphorbias from places where they are not wanted. When it has all been tidied up I put bark chippings down on the pathway which goes around the tree. At the moment there are no chippings available to use so I am waiting for some to be dumped on the allotment site. Then it will be a race with our wheelbarrows as we and  all the other plot holders get their share of them.

Our other wildlife area is the pond. We built this a few years ago out of an old tin bath which was left on the allotment by the previous tenant. It was in good condition with no holes. We have had frog spawn each year which is always exciting. I give it a clean out every year in the spring to get rid of leaves and excess mud. 

This year I did the same, it was in a bit of a bad state with overgrown pond plants which I removed. Then I set to scooping out some of the excess mud and added more water as the water level was quite low. I soon realized that the pond was leaking because of a hole in the side where the metal had rusted. So we decided instead of getting rid of the tin bath we would leave it in place and put a pond liner in it. This was Richard's job last weekend. It wasn't as big a job as as I had thought and he completed it in one afternoon.

He needed to empty the bath completely of the stones and mud and to our delight he found frogs in the mud at the bottom and another one under one of the big stones around the edge. 

There must have been about four frogs and we think a toad. We kept them safe in a bucket while he finished off lining the pond and when the stones were back in place I gently popped them back into the pond. It must have been a bit of a shock to them, to be wakened up from their hibernation. We're hoping we haven't upset them too much and when the weather warms up will soon have  spawn back in the pond.

Muddy work in the pond

This is our allotment pond as it looked last summer, but it has been neglected over the last few months. It has been on my job list to 'sort it out' for a while now.  It had got into a mess, full of mud, in fact there was more mud than water, so I decided it was time for a good clean out. This job had been put off many times because of the weather. I didn't fancy putting my hands into a cold muddy pond in freezing cold temperatures. Although the pond is only an old tin bath, so not very big, the job was still unappealing. However on a fine day when it was dry and not too cold, with rubber gloves and wellies I set to work.

First job was to get the pond plants out and these were well and truly stuck in the mud. They were in pond baskets and they had grown so much the roots were poking out of the baskets and had got embedded in the mud. Well I managed that with a bit of help and they were placed on the side of the pond to be dealt with later.

The next job was scooping out the mud.  I used a plastic jug for this and it took ages.  The mud had to be got rid of--there were two or three bucket loads. Also in the pond was an underwater plant.  I can't remember it's name but I realised soon after I had planted it that it was not meant for small ponds.  It had almost taken over with roots all over the place. So all the roots were pulled out. I decided not to put any of it back in the pond, but to look out for something more suitable for small ponds.

Once the pond had been cleaned out it was refilled with rainwater from the water butts and the stones were put back in. I left the pond plants at the side of the pond for a few days to enable any little pond creatures to crawl out.  On another day I took the plants out of their baskets and split them up.

Some of these went back into the pond. They are plants which I am quite fond of. There's a lovely marsh marigold, an iris with variegated leaves, an Acorus grass which has green and yellow foliage, a water forget-me-not and a Geum Rivale. It was looking much better by the time I had finished. The plants will soon grow again and provide shelter for the wildlife.

We've had quite a bit of rain recently and the pond has overflowed into the surrounding area. But as this is a  bog garden, that's OK. The bog garden is another area which now needs a bit of a sort out. Having split up some of the pond plants I would like to replant some of the spare plants in the bog garden, especially the marsh marigold which I love. At the moment though, the plants in this area are only just starting to come through again so I don't want to start digging and planting  as I might disturb something which is yet to emerge from the ground.  Every time we go down to the plot there are more shoots appearing so I'm sure it won't be long before I can start work.

 The good news is that since I cleaned out the pond, in the last week the frogs have visited us and there is a big clump of frog spawn clustered around the marsh marigold.

A few little jobs

On Saturday I popped down to the allotment  to do a couple of jobs whilst Richard was busy in the garden doing repairs to the fence. I went just to fill up the bird feeders, pull some leeks and the last of the cabbages. But once I was there, I decided to hoe and tidy the beds where I had been pulling up the veg. Then I decided to give the leeks a boost with some chicken manure pellets. I also noticed that the purple sprouting broccoli needed staking so I sorted that out too. There are always jobs to be done even in the winter.

When I arrived at the allotment site there was a pile of bark shreddings on the car park which had been left for the allotment people to take. I was quite pleased about that as I had been wanting to renew the bark mulch which I had put down on the path through the woodland wildlife area at the top of our plot.

The woodland wildlife area was originally made as a play area and den for the grandchildren. But they have grown a little older and have lost interest  in the allotment. Not me though, I love this little space. There is a bug hotel, a nest box on the big sycamore tree and shade and woodland loving plants. There's an old bench at the top, where it's good to sit and look down on the allotment. I found that putting the bark down has helped to suppress the weeds and it looks good too.

So another job I decided to do was to take a couple of barrow loads of bark from the pile on the car park. We both returned on Sunday to continue with the work, Richard barrowing the bark whilst I did a bit of tidying up and then spreading out the bark. The woodland garden is looking much better now.

Along the canal

We've had some bad weather recently and haven't been able to get out much in the garden or go down to the allotment. It's been a case of make the most of any occasional fine spells and get out to sweep up some leaves or tidy up a bit outside.

Last week we made the most of one beautiful sunny, autumn day to go out for a walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal from Bank Newton to Gargrave.  Gargrave is on the edge of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and it was a perfect day to admire the scenery.

I like canal walks, because they are flat.  They are also really peaceful and the scenery and wildlife is usually worth looking at.

At Bank Newton there is a group of about four locks close together.  There were a few canal boats moored there and the lock keepers cottage looked very pretty with an equally pretty garden. I love the little gardens that the canal boat owners create.

There was no signs of life on the boats, but there were plenty of  ducks about on the bank.

 

 

Gargrave is a sleepy little place, with the canal, the river, a train station and one or two shops.

 

Gertrude's Gardenalia shop caught my attention. But we were more interested in having lunch first in the Masons Arms. After a good lunch we went back to see what Gertrude's Gardenalia had to offer. There were some interesting vintage things--galvanised baths and pots etc., but the word vintage usually means expensive and so I thought I would stick to picking up the odd bargain from the local car boot sale.

Walking back to the car along the lane towards Bank Newton there were plenty of berries in the hedgerow and I collected rosehips for my Christmas decorations.

A garden for wildlife

 

We do quite a lot of garden visiting during the summer, some of them large gardens, others quite small by comparison.  I like to visit other peoples' gardens to get ideas for garden design, planting schemes, spotting how well  plants grow in different conditions.

A few weeks ago Helen and I visited an NGS garden which was open for the first time and quite conveniently was only just down the road from where we live. Park Head opened this year for the first time under the National Gardens Scheme. The garden slopes down to a woodland stream and beyond that is open countryside and farmland--quite a beautiful setting.

We entered  the garden through a pergola covered with clematis and the occasional tinkling mobile hung here and there. Through the pergola I caught a glimpse of a lawn bathed in sunshine and a summer house. There was music coming from the direction of the top end near the house and we spotted a saxophonist. We've done a couple of garden visits this summer where there has been a musician. Maybe it's the latest trend to have music at open garden days. I prefer not to have music as I walk around a garden,  I like gardens to be peaceful places. I found the music intruded on my thoughts.

Out of the pergola we came  to the wildlife pond where we did a bit of frog spotting. Across the lawn was the summer house where a dry river bed led down to the wildlife pond and beyond this  to a wild flower meadow. There were fruit bushes and a few salad and vegetable beds amongst the borders which contained many perennial plants and shrubs. This was a garden for wildlife, amongst the natural planting in the borders were bird feeders, bird baths, logs left to rot, plants attracting bees and other insects.

Up near the house pots of herbs arranged along low stone walls and a few vintage pieces added a bit of quirkiness.

 Apart from the music I loved this garden and will probably go on my favourites list. It was my sort of garden and one I would like to return to.

 

Rebuilding the bug hotel

The first bug hotel we built on the allotment was a bit thrown together. It was done as an activity for the grandchildren when we made the woodland den a couple of years ago.  It was quite untidy, but wildlife like untidy places.  However being used as a step by an intruder to climb over the fence from the next door plot hadn't helped with its stability.

So one of this years projects was to build a new bug hotel. I was really looking forward to doing it, but  I couldn't get the grandchildren interested in helping this time. That didn't matter, I could build it to my own design. There's a lot of wildlife on our allotment, we have a big tree at the top of the plot, a hedge along two sides, plenty of debris and places for creatures to shelter and find food. So building a bug hotel may not be all that important.  But I think they look really good.

 I wanted to build the new bug home in a different place so I decided on the top of the plot behind the big sycamore tree and next to the privet hedge.  It's already a good place for wildlife with plenty of rotting logs, leaves, twigs and places for little creatures to hide. Hopefully it's also out of the way of any intruders who might want to stand on it.

foxgloves growing under the sycamore tree

Richard made a frame out of an old pallet which just fitted the space.  I collected pieces of bark and twigs from the woods across the lane outside our plot.  We had bricks, old tiles and pieces of drain pipe on the allotment already. Twigs with holes, pieces of wood, old broken plant pots, straws, stones, pine cones and leaves were used.

rotting logs

 I spent a very pleasant afternoon putting it all together and felt that the grandchildren were really missing out on this activity. Now it's finished, it looks really good and I have left  plenty of spaces where we can add more nature stuff if we want to. The grandchildren came down to the plot recently and were quite impressed by  my super deluxe bug hotel.

The wildlife pond

 

I really love our little wildlife pond and bog garden at the allotment. It was new last year and I loved finding plants which would grow in those wet and boggy conditions. It was a whole new area of gardening which I had little knowledge of, so I learnt quite a bit.  As the new plants started to grow, the wildlife came along to live there and by midsummer it was looking great.

Over the winter it has looked a bit sad and dreary. The heavy rain flooded the area and the pond filled up with silt. Earlier this year we had a few sessions of removing as much of the silt as we could. In the bog garden the weeds started to grow and I didn't want to disturb the ground too much by digging them out as I couldn't remember where I had planted some of the plants. So I left them until the new plant growth appeared.

Weeks ago we heard frog activity in the next door allotment pond and wondered if we would get any frogs. And yes, a few days later we spotted frog spawn and a few little frogs in our pond. Later there were lots of tadpoles, but we have only seen two recently.

Here come the frogs

The pond plants are now growing, the marsh marigold flowered for weeks and was a lovely patch of bright yellow which brightened the place up. It's finished flowering now so I cut it back to allow room for the other plants to grow. In the bog garden the plants are coming back to life. Every time we go to the allotment they seem to have grown another few inches.

lovley blue iris

Most of the hostas which I planted at the edge of the pond are showing no signs of coming back though, I think they may have got drowned when the pond overflowed in the winter rains. They may like damp conditions, but perhaps not so damp! However last week I was really excited to see that one of them is now coming back, no sign of the others though.

Last year when I put the plants in I thought I would see how they looked and grew and then assess it again this year. There is a grass which I have found to be a bit invasive so I have been digging it out but instead of getting rid of it completely I put some of it into pots to contain the roots. There are two pots which I have placed on the rocks around the pond. My sister-in-law gave me some little candleabra primula plants last year which she had grown from seed. I planted these out this week. I've always admired the displays when I've seen them growing by the streamside at RHS Harlow Carr and by the lake at Rosemoor, so I was keen to have some in my own damp garden area. They're on a much smaller scale of course, but they are still a delight to see. One of our local garden centres has just started selling pond plants, which pleased me, and of course I couldn't resist buying a plant-- a little geum rivale.

candleabra primula

We find the pond fascinating and spend a lot of time insect and tadpole spotting. There's a lot of movement in the silt at the bottom too, like tiny little wriggling worms.

        

A new addition to the area is a pile of rotting logs, for insects and frogs to hide in. I also made a small animal house with the help of the  little girl from the plot above us who likes to come and chat to me and we often do jobs together. This is a little box with a hole in it, which we filled with leaves and twigs and covered with more twigs. Hedgehogs or toads will be welcome to make their home there.  Whoever claims it first. Finally as we so enjoy looking at the pond we put an old bench by the side, so when we take a break from our gardening we can sit and enjoy watching the pond life.

Pottering around the plot

strawberries all over the place

At the allotment in the last few weeks whilst Richard has been putting up the new green house, I have been pottering around doing other things. Pottering around is about all I can do at the moment with the damp weather. 

The fruit bed badly needs sorting out. The strawberry runners are all over the place, but the ground is still too wet at the moment to do any digging up. I managed to tidy up the strawberries in the bath and that looks much better.

a bath full of strawberries

The rhubarb which had been on Helen's old plot got dug up before Christmas and I left the crowns until I had more time to divide and pot up. They have now started to show signs of new growth, so I spent some time splitting them up into smaller plants and potting up. I was amazed at how big and woody the roots are. I have planted some on the allotment and given some away to friends but there are still rather a lot left.

just a few of the rhubarb plants

I didn't get chance to clean out the wildlife pond in the autumn, so that's another job I've done in the last couple of weeks. Armed with rubber gloves I got down on my hands and knees, scooped out the leaves, dead plant foliage and some of the silt from the bottom. A week later there was even more silt so I was back doing it all again. The silt is coming down the drain into the pond from the plot above us and with all the rain we have had recently there is  more coming down the drain than usual. I know that a certain amount of silt is needed for the pond creatures, but this is a bit excessive, I want a pond not a bog.  So my next plan is to empty the pond of all the plants and rocks, so that I can get more of the silt out and then start again with a fairly clean pond. That's if it doesn't rain too much.

murky overflowing pond