Tag: garden
Potting Shed Update 19th August
A quick video from the potting shed.
Allotment and Potting Shed Updates 22nd July 2016
The last week has been incredibly hot, with temperatures in the high twenties and low thirties most every day. I don’t mind the heat, but the humidity some days has made things feel quite oppressive. The plot and the potting shed are doing well though, with some exceptions. Video updates of both below.
Potting Shed Update (28th June 2016)
I shot this quick video yesterday in the potting shed. I’d been meaning to do an update on the tomatoes and peppers a while ago, when things were looking a little better than they do now. Things started off well, but the slugs have ravaged the peppers, completely destroying the Lipstick Peppers that were in the first trough, and I can see they’ve been nibbling else where too. So far there is very little in the way of peppers, and also the tomatoes, which also started off well, have stalled a bit. They’ve grown really well, but are either not putting out many flowering trusses or when they do they’re not getting pollinated (even though I’ve been trying to do it by hand) because the weather has been so poor, and there have been very few flying insects about to do it for me.
That’s gardening, and on the whole, the allotment is doing so well, that I’m not too worried that the tomatoes and peppers aren’t.
Potting Shed Update
Each year during late spring, after the risk of frost has passed I convert our “potting shed” from an overwintering area for tender plants to a growing space for tomatoes and other plants that prefer a bit of heat. The quick video below covers the basics of the new set-up.
My Review of 2015
As 2015 winds its way into 2016, I thought I would sit and review a few bits of my year.
Work
On the work front it’s been a significant year for me. About 12 months ago, I was working out numbers and calculating where I might end up if I accepted a voluntary redundancy offer. By the end of July I had gone from being an employee to being self-employed and my own boss. I wasn’t quite planning things that way, but so far my new business has been going well enough to keep me working and provide an income, as well as allow me to do some other development work, but there is still much more for me to do, and whilst I need to sit and do some planning for 2016 and how this is going to work for me, I don’t really know what next year will bring on the work front.
This change in my work, although probably one of the biggest steps I’ve taken in my life, and potentially very stressful, has given me a much better work / life balance than I had before and maybe have ever had. I don’t know how it’s going to work out in the longer term, but I feel like I’m generally moving in the right direction.
Allotment
This year has been one of my best years on the allotment. We’ve pretty much been self-sufficient for vegetables from late spring, all through the summer and into autumn, only have to buy things like mushrooms and peppers, which I didn’t grow. Next year, I’m planning on growing peppers, so that should change as well. I’ve also enjoyed my plot more than I ever have. I know that sounds a little odd, but I’ve really gotten engaged in what I’ve been doing and been keeping much better records than ever before in a pocket notebook, so that I can look back and see how things have been. As the winter has approached I’ve kept a few things going and we’ve had a supply of winter vegetables as well. I’m now looking forward to next year, with even bigger plans.
Books
Last year was a poor year for me, finding time to read, and at the start of this year, I set my sights relatively low, not anticipating reading many books. In the end I’ve ended up reading nearly 50 books (I might actually achieve 50 before the year is out), which has quite surprised me. You can see what I’ve been reading on GoodReads, here.
My book of the year has to be Common Ground by Rob Cowen it’s an incredible book, which I’ve now read twice, and still dip into again and again. It’s made me reconnect much more with urban wildlife, as Rob tells the story of his “edgelands” and the wildlife near Bilton in Harrogate. It’s full of vivid descriptions, and stories putting the reader in the place of the wildlife as well as being a really personal account. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
My other highlights are also all natural history books, including H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald, The Peregrine by J A Baker, Claxton by Mark Cocker, and Notes From Walnut Tree Farm & Wildwood by the late Roger Deakin. I could name more, and probably I’ve enjoyed nearly everything I’ve read this year. I just hope that 2016 brings more of the same. We’ll see.
Films & TV
I can’t say that I there was anything really memorable to write about here. I enjoyed the final Hobbit movie, but otherwise I don’t really remember what else I’ve watched this year. On the TV side there have been a few things, but the one that I really want to mention is Bosch which has been available on Amazon Video. This has bought Michael Connelly’s character from over 20 books to the small screen – Harry Bosch. It’s been a great series and I’m pleased that there is going to be a second season, probably early next year.
2016?
As for next year, I don’t know what I want from the year yet. I need to sit and do some planning, both professionally and personally. Set myself some targets and goals. I might come back and share this in due course.
And Then There Were Two (Well Three Actually)
I wrote yesterday about our Resident Magpie. Well he’s obviously been telling his chums, because this afternoon there were three of them in the garden. Two on the bird feeder and a third on the suet block which is in the tree just behind. Unforunately I wasn’t quick enough with my phone to get a picture of all three together. The one on the lower platform of the feeder is the one I refer to as our resident, and has the discoloured feathers.
Resident Magpie?
We’ve had what seems to be a resident magpie in the garden for a few weeks now. When I say resident, he doesn’t seem to go very far afield and if he’s not on the bird feeders, then he’s normally within sight – on the roof of our neighbours garage (which overlooks our garden), in the birch tree or somewhere nearby.
My feeling is that either he is one of this years juvenile birds or a much harried older bird. For a time he has a bald patch on the back of his head, which has since grown back feathers, but is a lighter colour than the rest of his “black” plumage, as there are other lighter patches. He seems to have the natural curiosity I’d associate with magpies although he is perhaps a little bit too fearless of us, when we are in the garden.
We’re not doing anything different to what we would normally be putting out on our feeding stations at this time of the year, but he does seem to be monopolising them, almost as if he doesn’t know where to find food elsewhere. This behaviour makes me wonder as to whether he was separated from his parents before they had a proper chance to teach him where to find food outside of our garden.
Electronic Scrapbook 