Potatoes....

...Pests... and Poison...

...are among the topics in Molokoloko Garden this week...

Three different varieties of potatoes

 I think I have over-estimated how many potatoes I (and the family) will consume if we grow all the above!   That is the trouble of the specials that say buy one-get-one-free.   I am not sure I have enough room to plant all these - so hopefully G will take her fair share...there are 4 of them to my one so that is the ratio we can split this lot.   They are gently chitting at the moment ready to plant later.

Snugly chitting

The varieties are Estima, a second early,  Swift, a first early...name gives it away and Pink Fir Apple which is an unusual shape and apparently good as a salad potato.   It is the slowest growing of the trio.  Estima and Swift seem to be pretty much good all rounders for boiling, mashing, roasting.   I grew Estima last year and the results were good.

Things have been slow in the garden this week.   Mostly because other jobs have been pressing.   However there has been a little progress.

The Slug nematodes have arrived in the post.

I haven't used this product before.   My first packet is sitting in the fridge with the milk - ready for use...but not with my tea or coffee.   This is how it works apparently....

Nemaslug uses the nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, which was discovered by scientists at the government research institute at Bristol, England.  So it is a 'live' product, a parasite - absolutely no chemicals used so it will be harmless to anything except slugs and snails.   This is important because Seren has the puppy habit of tasting and chewing everything.  I think she ate her first slug last night as she came in with the typical slug-froth round her mouth and chewing as if she had a big lump of chewing gum in her mouth.   She swallowed it before I could get to her...disgusting dog!   Anyway, that is why slug pellets are definitely out of the question this year.   Kids I can control to some small degree....nosy, chewing puppy I have less chance of controlling.

One application of Nemaslug provides 300,000 nematodes for every square metre of soil, giving at least six weeks control of slugs. This is generally enough time for seedlings and bedding plants to get well established.Nemaslug is easy to apply and does not leave any unsightly residues.Slugs treated with Nemaslug will stop feeding in 3 days and die in about a week. The majority of the slugs will die underground, so don’t expect to see dead slugs lying around.  Apply Nemaslug to moist soil. The soil temperature should be 5ºC (40ºF) or over (this is also when plants start to grow). Nematodes are capable of surviving the odd frost, so don’t worry if the temperature falls after you have applied.

So you have to agree it sounds idea.   The cost has come down since it first came on the market making it just slightly more expensive than Slug Pellets which I find have to be applied after every rain shower.  Or at least every week.  

One of the products using Glyphosphate

Another well known product

Talking of pest control I was sent an interesting article from a good friend.   She knows of my huge reluctance to use anything that contains Glyphosphate, a very widely used weed killer in the UK.  It is deemed relatively safe and very effective.   You can read the condemning article here if you wish.   It goes on to discuss other products and is really drilling down into the credibility of a certain Agricultural Company, but nevertheless the bit that really grabbed my attention was a very recent report published this month.  The gist of the part of the article that I was most interested in said this:

A report published by the  World Health Organization (WHO) in the journal Lancet Oncology said

So many people use this.

That glyphosate is a “probable carcinogen” (Class 2A) by the International Agency for Research (IARC) which is the research arm of WHO on Cancer.  The weedkiller can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lung cancer and “convincing evidence” it can cause cancer in lab animals.”

IARC’s report also notes that glyphosate and glyphosate formulations have been shown to induce DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, as well as human and animal cells in vitro.

IARC is considered the global gold standard for carcinogenicity studies, so this determination is of considerable importance. The determination was published on March 20, 2015.

Often used by gardeners

Do I need to convince you further
 how widely this is used?

I think that should convince most thinking people not to use Glyphospate in their gardens and particularly not on, or near, anything they are going to eat.

Yes, I am sure many of you will recognise the products I've pictured here.   I would be very, very careful before you apply any of them.

You could, if you have the time, just uproot the weeds regularly and perhaps used clever planting and mulching as weed control.   More work, of course, but perhaps a better solution.

It is a very blustery weekend here.  Maybe I will have an opportunity to 'get out there' later - hopefully the seed sowing will be accomplished at the very least....next week the children are on holiday for their Easter holidays....no doubt we will find things to do together in the garden.   Leah is absolutely old enough to help with sowing sweet-peas and helping propagate pelagoniums.

Happy gardening everyone.

A Very Useful Grandson.,..

..,.Comes to Stay for a Week...&...

...Does Several Jobs around The Garden for me!

Euphorbia characias wulfenii

I don't know how I would get the jobs done if he didn't regularly turn up with a smile, willing heart and loads of ability.

Thank you so much Chris.

March...spring...is such a busy time...so it was great to have Chris to give a hand.   Last year he said he thought he could fix 'Old Bench', which had a couple of rotten seat planks.

Rotten struts too a bit of getting off.

Getting those planks off was awkward...we had to ask a neighbour to help remove the rusty bolts.

Contortionist

 Thank you to the person who left me that set of box spanners.  They certainly helped make the job slightly less frustrating.   See the new planks in?  Now all it needs is a new lick of paint.

Chris and Barney test the bench for strength.
Perfect!

Job well done.  You thought you could fix it Chris, and you DID.  I'm fond of that bench it is about 12 or 13 years old, seen some wonderful summers supporting family, friends and me.  Amazingly we had a week of clear, dry weather, though it was still pretty cold.   But dry and clear helps the outside jobs go more easily.

 Another job that Chris did was assemble the pond that S & R had so kindly given me, it used to be theirs and I was always envious of it.   It isn't a huge pond, about 2 meters across at the widest point. Small but perfectly formed.  This will be big enough to add that bit of water the garden needs to bring in even more birds, bees and little wildlife.

Pond assembled but not filled.
 Net on top for protection of small children and small puppies.

The reason for not putting mains water in it is because I am hoping that before the plants arrive it will rain enough to fill it up (plants - by end of April by mail order from specialist wild flower growers).  And the reason why I'd prefer rain water is it will not have any chemical additives.  Rain water should be better for any plants.  If I get the balance right, the oxygenators should keep the pond clean and clear. Certainly, I managed this in Dorset with my pond there without using a pump and filter.   The pond will look great when it is planted up.   But there is lots of work to do in the corner where it will be situated.

Another garden job Chris and I tackled was putting up a reed screen fence  over a particularly ugly bit of concrete wall that was also overlooked by my neighbours...this now gives both them... and me... privacy and it does look much better than concrete....especially when the honeysuckle grows over it this summer.

Reed screen by garden gate.

While Chris was at it he also put in a couple of strands of wire for the grape vine to climb up.  There in the front left sheltered by the willow wind protector. OK, so you can't see it just yet as it is still dormant but in the next week or two leaf buds will appear.   So all good timing to get these things done now.  It's March - crucially they have to get done now.

Last year, months ago I made a driftwood sign that encapsulates the way I feel about gardens...no, more than that ...it is how I feel all life should be lived (not saying I'm successful at living up to it all the time though!).  I couldn't get the sign up as it is too heavy and awkward for just one person to handle on a ladder.   Before I show you the sign I must tell you that originally I was going to incorporate graffiti in the garden, but I couldn't find a way to make it work.   This is the compromise...not in the meaning, but in the execution of the message.

One side of the driftwood...

...and the other side of the same piece.

I think once the Grapevine, Virginia Creeper and the Dog Rose are over the pergola later in the summer, the sign will work in with the growth.

Well, that was the construction and repair work.   There was re-roofing the little shed still to do... but we ran out of time.   It isn't yet urgent.  We did what we could and more.

Not only Chris and I working hard in the garden during the week but plants pushing through and coming into bloom.  That is, those blooms that dodged two rumbustious puppies bouncing around.

Always good at this time of year, Euphorbia.

Anemones 

Multi-headed miniature daffodil (on JP's grave)

Purple Hyacinths - and the daffodils
in this container will be out this week.

The winter salad leaves are going to seed in the warm greenhouse now.   They kept me in salads through much of winter.   Not every day, but regularly.

Mixed winter salad leaves

So, looking ahead to this week...

Seeds to sow.   I bought a packet of mixed sweet-pea seeds today.   I didn't save seed from the sweet-peas last year - stupid of me not to.   Last year the sweet-peas flowered from July to October.   I wonder if that will be possible again this year?   Other seeds needing to get sown this week are the little marigolds - to use as pest control in the greenhouse, I want to try that this year.   I also have some tall delphinium seed - Pacific Giants.   I would love to get these back in my garden.  They were lovely in my last garden and I have missed them.

I think it was a very successful 'garden week' last week.   I really am so grateful Chris and I hope you managed to get in enough 'fun' time to make up for all the hard work you put in for me.   If any of you would like to see what we did for relaxation you will have to read the latest post in Molokolo News which I will tap later this week.

Hyacinths spreading their aroma on the patio

Happy gardening, delightful digging and sweet sowing in the week ahead everyone.

Mud and Mulch...The tempo just explodes in March

...More Mucky March Garden News....

Hazel Catkins in my garden

 The garden tempo just explodes in March.  Sure there is still rain, wind and cold but there is enough sunshine and promise of spring to accelerate growth.   The birds are in spring-throat....you can tell their songs have taken on a more joyous note.

This week Seren and I planted the Morello Cherry tree.   Seren is a very enthusiastic digger.   She is also partial to a bit of the Fish Blood and Bone organic fertilizer I put in the hole to encourage root growth.   At one stage I thought I might lose Seren altogether because all I could see of her from the tree hole she helped dig was her white tip on her tail....and an awful lot of flying soil.

The Morello Cherry Tree...just give it a year or two...

The lumps of broken paving stone round the bottom are to stop Seren uprooting all our hard work.

Young Seren is also very adept at nipping off flower heads....something she has been told is strictly a BIG NO.   Mind you, if I could train her to dead-head later in the summer it would be OK.  So far she has decimated several daffodils and some blue anemones.

Surviving because they are fenced off from puppy teeth.

Yesterday I took the opportunity of the balmy day to radically prune one of my grape vines and make an attempt at espaliering it along the fence.  I reduced it to just just 4 spurs trained out along wire.  If all the gardening gurus are right (why wouldn't they be?) then this should encourage growth and fruit this year.  the second vine is just by the kitchen door.   You would think this is an ideal spot...well, I thought so when I planted it there but the wind throws itself around that corner like a dervish so I have had to protect the vine with a willow cage.   Hopefully that will give it a chance to grow stronger this year and then I will be able to train it up over the pergola.

Here's the diagrammatic  theory behind espaliering.

Hmm...not sure mine will work ....

Anyway, while I was at it I tidied up the yellow jasmine and the honeysuckle on that same fence.

Things take me twice as long to complete half as much these days ...thanks to an enthusiastic puppy helper.  JP used to continually drop a ball where I was working in the garden, hoping for me to throw it.   I found it was quite peaceful in between 'throws' so I gardened and ball-tossed.   Seren hasn't settled down to the ball ...it keeps her interested for a couple of minutes - so then she digs, pulls up plants (not the weeds - sadly), runs off with the garden tools, empties the rubbish sack....We'll get there.

So the potatoes are not yet chitted...in fact everything just happens more slowly, but nevertheless the main bit will be achieved.  I want to sow seeds on the window sill and in the propagator this week...surely Seren can't interfere with that?

Meantime, in the wild there are lovely primroses blooming.

At Parc Slip

Maybe next week I will have dozens of photos of all the progress I have achieved in the garden...maybe!

Have a great gardening week.

It's MARCH, MARCH.....

....MARCH is Marching in...

Snowdrops at Kenfig today

There is an old saying

If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.

Taking the children to school today there was a very Icy Lion lurking in the wind.  There was even a few moments of hail....ugh.   The wind was icy all day...the hail was a momentary thing.  The sun came out.

Hellebore plugs

Morello Cherry

I think March is the month I really gear up and get out into the garden after the winter.   True to my beliefs, today my Morello Cherry Tree arrived by courier and so did the plug Hellebores.   Not only that but over the weekend I bought my seed potatoes.    I bought a Swift, an all-rounder for boiling, mashing, roasting - 'first early', should be ready May-June.  The other one is Pink Fir Apple, harvest July- September, unusual shape, salad potato, nutty flavour.   Today I bought G the Estima which is a 'second early', harvest about July-August.  It is another good all-rounder, I tried it last year.   I thought we could split all three bags between us.

So the rest of the week is going to be busy potting on the Hellebores, planting the Cherry and chitting the potatoes. that link will give you a Gardener's World video clip of how to chit potatoes.

Miniature Daffodils

The daffodils are beginning to bloom in my garden.   Also the Camellia buds are almost open...in fact, one did open today as has a Hyacinth growing in a pot on my patio.

Camellia

There are even two miserable little Snowdrops flowering on JP's grave.   I am stupidly proud of them because they are so very difficult to grow from dry bulbs.   The recommended way is to grow them 'in the green' which means dividing up a recently flowering clump of Snowdrops just as it is past its best.  I have high hopes these two will multiply and eventually establish a little colony of snowdrops to enjoy every year around February/March.

Two miserable little Snowdrops
The plastic netting is to stop the next door cat using this as his latrine

The marching in of March is evident inside my house too....look at the Orchids

 Not only them but the lovely deep red double Hibiscus from AK in Sweden has a new bud or two.

Hibiscus in bud

The Chili seed I planted about 10 days ago has germinated well...it is now on my study window sill, looking healthy.  Chilies like a long growing period.  These are ear-marked for a certain person's birthday in July.   They are the Cayenne Pepper variety.   Suitably HOT.

Chilies

Yes.   I think I can safely say March is roaring in....time to get busy!   It would be lovely if some of you readers shared what you are up to this month in your gardens.  

Chat to you again soon - if I have a moment to put down the spade and pick up the pen (or lap-top in my case).

Happy gardening till next time.