GARDENER'S WORD

The difference in weather and the flowers in my garden between end March 2012 and end March 2013 is as wide as the difference between Alaska and the West Indies.   29 March 2013:      30 March 2012  

Despite it now being officially spring and despite it being only a couple of days until Easter's Good Friday, the snow is still falling, the air is still freezing, and the birds still need feeding.   There are icicles about 24 inch long hanging from my home's gutters that look exquisitely beautiful, like crystal, not to mention lethal.  I've knocked them all down once as they are suspended over a path, but they have formed once again.  Meanwhile, the birds continue to free-jock (eat for free) in my garden, taking advantage of my soft heart.   Below is an image of my home-made fat ball for birds.  I melted 500g of beef lard in a big pan and then let it cool and start to solidify.   I then stirred in lots of raisins, wild-bird seed, and oats until most of the fat was taken up by the ingredients.  As the cool ingredients hit the fat, it started to solidify and this is the point where I scooped up good portions of the mixture and squash...

While clearing snow that had piled up against my kitchen door and clearing a little path to the dustbin, I noticed a fabulous snow shape that had formed off my neighbour's roof.  It is simply a heap of snow hanging in mid air, attached to the edge of the roof and gutter.  Obviously, it is formed from snow that has been slowly sliding off the roof and I think it's called a 'snow cornice'.  You wouldn't think that snow, which can weigh quite heavy, (you soon find that out when shovelling it!) could do that but, then again, that is exactly what happens all the time in places like the Arctic and Antarctic, isn't it?   Suspended snow It's actually thawing while still snowing.  I snapped a few photographs while I got the chance.  This, below, is the prettiest I have ever seen my dustbin and recycling material bags. I still have the hanging baskets up from last year and was silly enough to imagine that I might be refilling them soon to hang out on...

Sorry to say that the weather forecasters got it just right this time.  Overnight, West Yorkshire has been smothered in a blanket of no-go snow and there's plenty more still to come.  Looking out of the window from the warmth of my home, I feel so sorry for the birds and have been throwing out whatever food I can think of: wildlife seed that was bought for the small bird feeder, seeded bread, and I've even broken up Shredded Wheat.  The pigeons are the bully boys of the garden and have crowded out the blackbirds and the medium-size birds but, happily, they cannot obtain seed from the cleverly constructed bird feeder that has feeding holes for four small birds.  You can barely see the bird feeder which is hanging on the washing line at the top of the garden.  It's centre photo, near the top, and at the time of my taking the photograph, there was at least one Robin, on the left, eating the wildlife seed within and another bird opposite with a little ye...

For my birthday, a friend bought me a bucket growing kit with Lathyrus Odoratus 'Little Sweetheart' seeds to grow in the compost provided.  Although it says on the label that the seeds can be sown indoors in March in the small bucket provided, I am holding off.  The winter of 2012 has extended itself right through to late March 2013 and I am wondering if this dreadful weather will ever end. If I sow the seeds now and they germinate, I can imagine that by the time I get the opportunity to put the bucket containing the plants outdoors, they will have grown weak and spindly.    It wouldn't be so bad but we are getting very little by way of interludes between snowfalls this year.  A little sun would be most welcome.  I recall that in April 2012 we had a lot of snow in West Yorkshire . Growing kit for Lathyrus odoratus 'Little Sweetheart'   Lathyrus Odoratus 'Little Sweetheart' is a low growing type of s...

At last, there is colour in the sunny trough at the front of my home despite the fact that, although it is nearly Easter, we are still getting plenty of snow and icy temperatures.  In fact, it is snowing right at this moment.  I planted Iris Reticulata Harmony, which is a fabulous, bright blue and not very tall, right at the front of the trough and there is such a pretty row of them now.  The tulips and hyacinths are still pushing their way through.  Iris Reticulata 'Harmony'   I love the strong mustard yellow on the downward curving sepals, called 'falls'.  The yellow patch is called the 'signal' which I assume is the part that signals, or attracts, insects like bees.  The upright petals are called the 'standards'.  The blue stripes on the falls, going through the white, are called veins.    Typically, iris like full sun and if we have any sun at all, here in my part of Yorkshire, then my trough sho...

Apparently, although they say that coffee grounds kill slugs, if we in Europe use such coffee grounds on our gardens for that purpose we are breaking the law because anything that is used as a pesticide has to go through safety tests first before the chemical involved is placed on a list of approval or disapproval. So, while we coffee lovers can pour coffee down our throats, as much as we like, as strong as we like, until we die of the caffeine shakes, or whatever, we cannot give our sluggish garden slugs an invigorating shot to speed them along their slithery way. So, with all that in mind, being a person who always abides by the law, I put coffee grounds on my garden because I hear that it improves the soil and if the slugs just happen to die because of it, well, they should keep away.  Daily Mail News Article - EU Pesticide Police against Coffee Grounds for Killing Slugs.  (external link    The primroses, primulas, or polyanthus (whatever they a...

My first little snowdrops, Galanthus 'Woronowii' are putting on a show, albeit a very modest one.  I think there are less than a dozen of the pearly flowers, so far, in the pot that I planted last autumn.  Still, all good things are worth waiting for and if I don't disturb them but let them grow and spread within the pot they should put on a better show eventually.  One thing a gardener has to be is patient.  If and when the snowdrops spread and start to fill the pot, then I will remove the whole lot from the pot in one clump and plant them in a border somewhere where I just might not accidentally dig them up.   Memory like a sieve! Galanthus Woronowii More detail about this little gem can be found here at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens webpage on Galanthus woronowii (snowdrop)  and at the Royal Horticultural Society . Meanwhile, in the sunny trough, the bulbs that I planted last autumn are growing strongly and healthily.  They d...