Just a progress report.

It's that time of year again when the seagulls are nesting and the front of the guest house is scattered with bits of grass that have dropped out of a seagull's mouth as it flies off to its nesting site.

I have seen seagulls at the back of our building picking up bits of grass.  This one pictured is flying off over the North Bay.

I have had a sliver of success with bulbs despite the failure of most of them due to the slow start to spring.  Last autumn I planted some dwarf tulips and they have been flowering for two weeks now.  This picture was taken towards the end of their flowering life, but they looked very beautiful and offered a promise of more flowers to come.

Dwarf tulips

Almeria

You will see also that the Almerias I planted and that were so successful last year are now starting to come back. These ones shown here are against a sheltered wall but the others are not far behind.

Sedum

Last year I planted a Sedum; these are very popular with butterflies.  It practically disappeared over the winter to the point where I could hardly remember what it was.  But now it is returning very strongly and healthily.  This might yet then be stronger than last year.

Also, returning healthily from practically nothing is the buddleia that proved so tough last year.  It is now growing lovely healthy leaves and recovering from the long winter.

Buddleia

The cornflower seeds that I planted a few weeks ago are growing well and are still protected by the netting I put up.  Hopefully I will avoid the total disappearance that happened last year.  Nearly 10 days ago I put in some nasturtium seeds, but no sign of growth from them yet.




I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to look at composting and since then I have decided upon a dual Bokashi system.  I haven't got this yet, but I will be getting this going quite soon.

Despite everything the only wildlife of any sort that I have seen amongst my plants are baby snails.  So I can sense a season long battle with these guys coming on.

Sunshine and a Shower of Rain

Finally after such a long period of cold weather we have some sunshine.  Its warm and it feels like spring.  With any luck things will start to happen in my little garden and wildlife will start to appear. Particularly also as we have had a couple of showers of rain.

Cornflower Seeds

Over the last week I planted some cornflower seeds.  You might remember I did this last year but shortly after shooting form the ground they disappeared.  Obviously they did attract wildlife but not in the way I had intended!  This year, I have taken precautions and erected a net over them to protect them.

Buddleia

Other things that I have done are prune the buddleia plant, that survived so successfully last year.  I was reluctant to do this when it was so cold but now it appears to be starting to grow again.

Bug Log

I have also moved the bug log, that was on the carpark last year, to this area where there are tubs and more wildlife attracting plants.  It is hanging behind a bench and so protected from the worst of the elements.  It is also above the log pile I created last autumn just by a stinging nettle.

The stinging nettle was taken from an allotment rubbish heap area and died back completely over the winter, but it is now coming back strongly.  They are obviously tough little plants as they grow wild everywhere, but they are so helpful to insect and bird life, I thought I must try to keep one.

My next intended actions are planting nasturtium seeds and finding a suitably sized composter, so more news on this coming up.

British Summer Time has Arrived!!!

Well the clocks went forward on Easter Sunday morning and spring is here, but the weather remains extremely cold.  The only blessing is that this week the sky has been blue and if out of the wind the temperature has been quite pleasant.  In fact, although this morning it was cold at the front of Phoenix Court (as the wind was a northerly one), at the back the temperature was reaching the dizzy tropical heights of 9C degrees.  Scarbados indeed!

This still hasn't helped the bulbs that I planted at the end of last summer.

Green shoots 

Slightly browning shoots

They optimistically pushed green shoots through several weeks ago but no flowers have followed and in some cases now the shoots are turning slightly brown.

Daisies

The only plants that do seem to be thriving are the daisies that I 
planted in my wildlife beds last summer.

As you can see from these photos, it is indeed sunny but there's obviously not been enough warmth to generate flowers.  It might not be too late, so fingers crossed.  You will see from these photos that they were taken when it was bright and sunny.

Next week, the forecast is predicted to be warmer, if wetter.  This will be good as we haven't had any rain for quite a while now and tubs and beds are getting quite dry.  This can't have helped the flowering process either.   

The really said thing about the extended cold weather (and obviously the main reason for my planting) is the effect on wildlife.  The puffin, kittiwake and guillemot populations has been devastated as they head for land at the start of their breeding season.  Here is a link to a BBC report on this subject http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-21999947

There is also concern about several species of butterflies who have been suffering over several years now and had a terrible year in 2012 because of the wet weather.  Now, with spring being delayed and fewer flowering plants than you would expect, they are having a bad start to 2013.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21939189

Needless to say as soon as things start to perk up I will be trying my best again to extend the range of butterfly and bee friendly plants that I can grow around Phoenix Court.  So more news will follow.

  

The Arrival of Spring

Well I say Spring but we are experiencing temperatures colder than last December.

Apparently yesterday (11 March) was the coldest March day since 1986.  Consequently I am reluctant to carry out spring pruning until things warm up a little and there's not very much going on in any of my planting areas.


However, bulbs are starting to come through and green shoots
are appearing everywhere.  The star player though is this little snow drop.  It's the only one to surface and is determinedly showing it's face in the freezing temperatures.

It is to be hoped that the weather warms up soon and then the other bulbs will start to flower and I will be able to get down to business with pruning and planting.  So watch this space.

Winter's Coming

Poppy

It's getting colder and the dark nights are coming but it's sunny and crisp today.

Outside in my little wildlife patch there is still some life, which is lovely at this time of year and quite unexpected in one case.

After a summer of defending poppies from snails and slugs, this lovely flower is just about to open.  I would have thought that it would be too late for poppies still to flower, but perhaps it's taking the opportunity of flowering when there are hardly any snails around.



Also, all the autumn bulbs are now flowering and they look lovely.  They seem to
survive winds and today they are open and looking happy in the weakening autumn sunshine.  These crocuses are supposed to be bee friendly, but there are no more bees around (at least here on the cliff top where we live).  Anyway the last bit of colour is great.

October Activity

You can tell that autumn is here and winter is drawing on, but we have had some beautiful clear blue days and quite mild weather.  There's not much happening with regard to bees and no more butterflies, but things are still happening in my little wildlife garden.

Crocus Conqueror

The autumn flowering bulbs that I planted in September are now starting to flower. Here is the most advanced of all of them.  We did get a small flower from the Colchicum Autumnale Album, but that did not look anything like as impressive as I hoped or indeed as it does in the link I have given.

My home made wild flower beds now are completely dormant but I have planted some snowdrop bulbs, which will I hope show themselves early next spring to show that new life is approaching in the garden.  I have also planted some dwarf tulips in another border, where they will be protected from the worst of the winds that we get early on in the season.

To attract wildlife and provide a shelter for bugs, I have finally started a log pile from a variety of logs collected at Forge Valley Woods.   I will try to add to it over the winter in order to get a variety of wood types, but here it is as it stands at the moment.  I shall see over the next few months if it attracts anything to settle in it.

I have also now got a stinging nettle plant, which is a very important plant for wildlife in the UK.  It is used for the growth of butterfly larvae and nettle patches are good places to see moths.  I'm not sure where I am going to plant it yet, but will find somewhere in the next week.

Another project for this month will be a bug home.  More news of this later.

Autumn Shoots, Colour and Optimistic Signs

After the depressing north wind that nearly finished all the growth in my wildlife area, I can now see hope of regrowth and some late summer colour.

Nasturtiums

The colour is provided by nasturtiums that are growing strongly and managing o escape the snails that were eating them previously.  I do think the egg shells that I put around the pot has given them a fighting start.  These bright red flowers are lovely to see as summer draws to a close.  The poppies are also growing, but as soon as a flower appears it gets eaten, usually at night so I can't tell who the culprit is.


As you might be able to see from this picture, there is one bud about to flower and one eaten flower off to the left.  I cannot guarantee I will ever see the bud flower as if it comes out at night again it won't be there in the morning!

Tasty Poppies

     
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had planted some autumn flowering bulbs.  These will provide some colour and also attract and bees that might

Two tiny shoots mid photo

still be around.  I have finally  noticed some growth as you can see from this picture.  There are four coming through like this in the same pot. No sign of others at the moment, but it shows that something is happening..



The Sea Thistle (Eryngium Gigantium) that was so popular and good at attracting bees withered and died, or so I thought.  But now there is the tiniest shoot coming out of the broken stump proving that there is still life and this plant might come back bigger and stronger next year.

Sea Thistle Shoot

Finally, the buddleia which was so badly battered by the wind, is now growing leaves again and looking quite healthy.  Proving what a tough little plant it is.   I haven't seen one butterfly on it, but I have in the last two weeks seen a cabbage white butterfly and two red admirals.

Prompted by this I have now put a log sheet in the front of our Wildlife Watching folder so that we and guests can log any interesting wildlife sightings either in the grounds of Phoenix Court of the nearby area.