Wildlife plant of the month

... is Common Ragwort!

Wasn't entirely sure what this was until it started maturing. It first became evident towards the end of last year and steadily grew into a compact, dense bush. Recently it became quite leggy and required tying-up to stop it flopping over. Often seen as an untidy roadside plant, it looks great growing in a big clump.

About a week ago we noticed cinnabar moth caterpillars (click the above photo and see how many you can count). They get fatter by the day. 

The adult moth is unusual in that it's active by day. It lays its eggs on the underside of ragwort leaves. The caterpillars feed on the poisonous plant - to which they are immune - and thereby become poisonous themselves. Their bright colouring advertises this fact to predators, who learn to leave them alone. 

Ragwort gets a bad rap. It's covered by The Weeds Act and many pet and livestock owners get het up about the supposed risk of poisoning. There was a good programme about the danger of ragwort on Radio 4 a few years ago. The conclusion was that most of the concern is unnecessary. Herbivorous animals, dogs, children and what have you won't eat fresh ragwort because it has a very unpleasant taste. The problem arises when it's dried, which diminishes the flavour. So, if it gets mixed up in hay it can upset whatever the hay is fed to. But most hay makers are aware of this and take great pains to avoid contamination, so actual cases of poisoning are rare.

We've also seen many other insects flocking to this plant: various kinds of bee, hoverflies, green bottle flies and gatekeeper butterflies. Definitely the wildlife's favourite this month.

Teasels gone wild

We bought a couple of teasel plants last year. They say that once you have teasels in your garden you'll never be without them. Certainly this seems to be the case as this year they popped up everywhere. One clump has gone crazy, reaching a height of over 7 feet:

Flowers very popular with the bees. Looking forward to seeing finches feeding on the seeds later in the year.

New patio

Noticed last year that the rafters under the decking were going rotten. Had a couple of quotes for replacement before realising it wouldn't cost much more to have it hard landscaped instead.

Note the height of the posts at the back. 10 tons of road stone needed to fill.

Old decking planks become smart new compost bins

We'd hoped the patio could somehow be constructed without disturbing the L-shaped planter (just visible on the right) but it wasn't to be.

Given the amount of infill, double wall needed for strength

End result, with plum tree and L-shaped planter reinstated

Many thanks to Kevin of F. Hewitt & Co., Chilwell (celebrating their 100th anniversary this year!) for another great job - couldn't be more impressed with the quality of work and care taken.

Winter flowers

They flower in winter but have the promise of spring!

Winter Aconite

Crocus 

Snowdrop 

Primrose

Bug house

Latest garden project is construction of a bug house

Made from plywood and self-tapping screws.
Bird box in roof gable

... and hedgehog house in the base
(enter through tunnel bottom left, turn right into chamber).
Based on these plans from RSPB.

Filling all the cells is a work in progress.
Chicken wire retains things that would otherwise flop out (thanks Struth Ravem, Beeston FREE-Recycle).
Pine cones and straw foraged from Nottingham University Park campus;
twiggy stuff from A52 verges just south of Dunkirk flyover, of all places.

New inhabitant

Iron cockerel, made from old oil drums

Bees

Seems to be a good year for bees. Here's a video of honey and bumble bees enjoying the Joe Pye Weed and Purple Loosestrife:

Joe Pye Weed, by the way, is the showy American cousin of our native Hemp Agrimony. Legend has it that Joe Pye was an 18th century native American medicine-man who used the plant to treat fevers, but the supposed medicinal powers of the plant have since been debunked.

There are several apiaries in the area. Didn't see any swarms this year but here's a video of one just outside the house last Spring:

We heard that a neighbour of the apiary on Cromwell Road got stung this year and complained to the council. Let's hope they did nothing more than offer to kiss it better.

Pond drying up!

This is the hottest and driest summer I can remember since 1976. Returned from a fortnight's holiday to find the pond level critically low.

It's not advisable to top-up a pond with untreated tap water because the chlorine can have an adverse affect on the critters. Also, excess nitrates can lead to algal bloom.

My friend Steve had already alerted me that his pond was critically low. He'd found this tap water treatment product at the local garden centre:

That 3ml pipette (not included with the product) is good for treating 30ltr of water, which is conveniently the size of bucket I use for fermenting beer.

Steve reported no ill effects other than a possible increase in algae. That figures, since - from what I gather - these Sodium thiosulphate based water treatments only remove chlorine/cholarmine, not nutrients such as nitrates. But I concur with Steve that "better a green pond than no pond!"

20 buckets later and the pond is at a reasonable level. Ever hopeful of a natural deluge, I won't fill the pond to the brim.

Runner beans

Runner beans - ornamental as well as productive

Hogweed

I was rather sceptical when Heather told me her wildflower order from Naturescape included Hogweed (a.k.a. Cow Parsnip). Why not a more dainty native umbellifer, like Sweet Cicely or even Cow Parsley, I thought. But I'm won over now. It's a very structural plant and a great hit with the local honey bees (bumble bees seem less attracted).

Not to be confused with the Russian interloper Giant Hogweed (that the media was all in a flap about recently), our native Common Hogweed 'only' grows to about 6 ft rather than 18 ft.

While we're on native flowers not usually granted space in the garden, here's a picture of a 'weed' that turned up uninvited in the pond margin:

Prickly sow-thistle

Foxgloves in bloom

Mum's foxgloves are looking lovely. Not the classic purple variety we expected but a nice collection of pastel shades. And as for our white ones on the other side of the path: completely decimated by some mystery pest.

Greenhouse

Out with the old...

... in with the new.

If I'd known this simple little greenhouse would take 2 days to erect (including re-levelling the slabs) I'd have considered paying someone else to do it. Happy with the final result though.

Frogspawn

Delighted to find a small clump of frogspawn in the pond this afternoon. We were beginning to think we'd missed out for a second year.

One frog's worth

Nice also to see the fritillaries coming back.

Emerging snakeshead flowers

Wightwick Foxgloves

Popped in to see my mum in Wightwick on Wednesday. She encouraged us to take a few of the foxgloves plants that are overwhelming her herbaceous border.

These are apparently the classic purple variety, which will go nicely with the white ones on the other side of the path.

Obelisk

Geoff Hamilton was not only a respected gardener and broadcaster but also a clever designer of simple, practical woodwork projects. His 1995 book "Cottage Gardens" contains instructions for several, including a bench, herb table, auricular theatre, planter, cold frame, compost container, and an obelisk. The latter is just what we need for growing sweet peas up!

The timer cost about £12. The decorative piece on top is a cistern ball. Geoff Hamilton would have found and recycled an old one but Wilko sell them for £1 so it hardly seemed worth troubling Beeston FREE-Recycle.

Bog garden

We'll want more bog plants than the pond margin can accommodate, so adding a small adjacent bog garden.

Many differing recommendations on depth. We went for 2 feet.

Don't want it to get waterlogged so the liner is punctured.
A layer of gravel helps stop the holes getting clogged up.

Path

Everything ready

I love it when a plan comes together!

Not a bad little worker when she puts her mind to it ;-)

No, the flint at the end of the path is shaped like a heart, not a map of Australia.

Now, what to grow in this new bed?

Work in progress - path, paving, lawn edging

Path excavation

Lawn edging will slot in here.
(The turf to the left will be replaced with a herbaceous border.)

Marking-out extension to paving under pergola

Paving extended to pond edge.
Pond dipping, anyone?

Decking ramp removed, infilled with slabs.
Also added some extra slabs down side of raised bed.
(The small area of turf will be replaced by plants, maybe a bog garden.)