3 Strikes and You're Out???

I've been busy again today in the garden but I will give that update tomorrow. I just wanted to give an update on the collard doves attempts at raising a family and I'm sure you can guess from the title its not good news.

Today my youngest was in the garden with me and as such the collard dove left the nest. Well she must have had a stalker as a couple of hours after she left there was some commotion in the apple tree and when I turned to investigate I saw two crows and a magpie attempting to get at the nest and its contents. As our presence is the reason the collard dove keeps leaving the nest I chased the crows and magpie out of the tree, the crows left completely but the magpie remained close by in another tree. I checked the nest and saw all was well, warned the magpie to stay away and went to get something out of the greenhouse. I was gone for all of 30 seconds no kidding!! and when I returned the magpie was gone, something told me to check the nest and when I did I noticed the egg was no longer in the center of the nest but now at the side, so I got a stool to take a further look and well the picture says it all.

When I returned home from the school run an hour and a half later there was not even any shell to be seen.

The doves are still around, I've see and heard them while I was working in the garden this afternoon, so it remains to be seen whether they will try again.

Aching Abdominal Muscles

Well today was another productive day, though I started later than I planned to I still achieved all I wanted.

I dug nine more pits today which were half filled with more rotted small mammal droppings and their bedding. And boy does my abdominal muscles hurt now from this exercise (who needs a gym). These holes are for my aubergines and sweet pepper plants I just need to construct a plastic windbreak for them which should help keep the temperatures around them warmer especially at night.

I also worked in the greenhouse pricking out my early sprouting broccoli seedlings and potting up the romenesco, cauliflower and kale plants into their degradable pots. I have continued to under sow the plants with thyme seeds to create a living deterrent against the cabbage root fly.

The weather was not as cheery as it has been, there was a lot more cloud cover and even a little cold at times so I welcomed both the digging and after the work in the greenhouse helped to keep me warm.

Well that's it for today, I'll leave you with this picture of dandelion fluff, doesn't the red tips of the sepals offset against the fluffy seeds look exquisite!

Kella the Builder

Another glorious sunny and warm day, yah!!!

I finished erecting the rest of my wigwams for the legume bed, it might be a little cramped but since I added lots of kitchen waste to the soil in the form of trenches I'm not worried about the plants running out of nutrition and the shredded paper in the trenches should aid with water retention. The only thing is air circulation, if it turns out to be a wet summer the plants may suffer with mold if everything stays to damp but if the summer is a dry one they should be OK, here's praying for a great summer as predicted by the MET.

The next structure I built today was one of two planned frames for netting my brassicus plants against the cabbage white butterflies lying eggs on my plants. I just have to drape the netting over it.

The last structure I began construction on was my outside covered tomato bed (see my posting in A4A on its use in 2008, if you scroll down I describe further on how I constructed it). This time I dug individual pits and half filled them with a mixture rotted small mammal bedding, droppings and lawn clippings from last year, I then sunk my bamboo posts into the ground to a depth o 12". I was able to do eight of the twelve poles, the last four will be done when I have cleared the rest of the bed of last years perpetual spinach and this years early radishes.

Other jobs that got done was the potting up of a couple more of my cabbage seedlings into coir pots. On the surface of the soil I under sowed the seedlings with a few thyme seeds each, which should germinate and according to some thoughts out there it should help to prevent cabbage root fly (I assume the strong smell of the thyme should confuse the fly). At best it would look pretty when in flower and attract beneficial insects like bees to help pollinate other crops and maybe hover flies who would leave their young behind to hoover up pests off the brassicus plants.

The rest of the summer savory plants were planted out in the legume bed now that the poles are in place.

On the germination front, the parsley, runner beans, french climbing beans and the borlotti beans have begun to germinate.

Went into the greenhouse this morning and was greeted by an open flower of a ....??? (can't remember the name will check again tomorrow and edit it in) squash and not a mature male flower in sight:(, so I have removed the flower and the immature fruit to prevent the plant from wasting energy. I think I will have to plant out my squash and pumpkins earlier than the third week of May like I previously planned. Will most likely start to prepare their planting holes tomorrow with the aim to plant out by next weekend. Will probably fleece and cloche the plants for a short period to help acclimatise them further.

The poor collard doves were worried endlessly as the girls joined me in the garden today for quite long periods. My eldest also found another broken egg in the grass, it must have fallen during the night as I only saw one when investigated this morning after she left the nest when I entered the garden. Hopefully it will still be in the nest tomorrow morning.

This lovely iris was blooming, it is one of a few plants that have survived the garden's makeover. Now that all the heavy digging and weeding is practically over some of missed tubers since last summer have begun to reemerge but this year is the first year any have flowered. I'm quite pleased as I thought they were long gone.

Also I saw this very pretty moth first by the flower beds then was later able to get a photo of it by the herb bed, it was very flighty so the picture doesn't do it justice. I just identified it as a Pyrausta purpuralis.

2nd Times a Habit???

Well I ran out into the garden this evening to pick some perpetual spinach to add to the pot I was bubbling for dinner and inadvertently disturbed the female collard dove. I did a quick check and yes you've guessed it another egg. From the picture I know things look dire but the nest is of better construction this time so maybe they will be more successful this time.

Anyway I didn't get round to doing anything today in the garden but I did take some photos of plants that started to flower this week to mark the 1st of May.

Strawberries
Perennial Cornflower
A Geranium
Bugle
Chive