Busy IN the GARDEN
So much to see and do.
FOR weeks now the field behind our house has been a sea of cow parsley and yellow buttercups.
Purple vetches grow amongst the nettles and thistles and by August the grass will be waist high.
However, for the moment, it’s possible to pick a path amongst the flowers, through air that’s alive with bees and butterflies and heavy with pollen.
There’s been a trend in recent years for creating gardens that resemble wildflower meadows, so I count myself lucky to have a real meadow right on my doorstep, fringed by a thick band of hedgerow made up of hawthorn, elder and wild roses.
On a warm day the combined scent from all the flowers is overpowering.
Meanwhile, back on our side of the fence, the garden has been taken over by starlings.
They hop about the grass, feeding insects to the youngsters who trail behind them.
Too often I’ve stopped mowing and hoeing to watch these fliers but this week I’ve vowed to concentrate harder on the tasks that need doing before they get away from me.
Top of the list is to pot on the dozens of seedlings that are growing rapidly in their modules.
These seedlings were all raised from one single packet of mixed perennials that came free when I bought half a dozen packets of annuals and vegetables.
The contents list promised dozens of different varieties and they’ve all sprouted vigorously, but I won’t know what I’ve got until their leaves are big enough to allow for proper identification.
But whatever they are I’ve got plenty of them and they are now at the stage where they need a little more room to grow so I’ve started moving them from modules into little pots made from compressed cardboard.
These flimsy little containers are designed to disintegrate so that by the time the young plants need potting on again I can simply pop the whole thing into a bigger pot without any further disturbance to their roots.
But sometimes you’ve got to inflict a disturbance in order for a plant to flourish and that’s the case with my Camellia ‘Moshe Dayan’.
This hasn’t flowered since I bought it, but after spending the last few months in the polytunnel, it has finally bucked up.
However, before moving it to a larger pot, I want to find out what’s been chewing on the fresh, young leaves.
I suspect it’s adult vine weevil so the cure is to drench the plant with nematodes but that’s best done in August as these microscopic parasites work best at high temperatures.
In the meantime, I’ll have to start night-time patrols with a torch, seeking out and destroying the adults before they can do further damage.