Category Archives: Wildlife

Picking up the pieces

Posted on November 20, 2020 by

Two tomato plants, in the small bed by the back door, decided to make their move sometime during the autumn. They’d been spindly little things all summer, then suddenly they were bushes, flowered and started to grow fruit in late … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

It wasn’t me!

Posted on November 10, 2020 by

Well, the start of another working week commences but first I took a short trip round the garden and now I have a curious event to report. The phone camera doesn’t do the best job of close-ups, so what you … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

NFFN Cymru and a Green Recovery: How farming can be the solution

Posted on October 30, 2020 by

I love the line ‘The wonderful thing about food is that you get to vote three times a day.’ HB The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of our dysfunctional relationship with nature, environment and our food with studies linking the … Continue reading →

Posted in Good for the environment, Wildlife | Tagged | 10 Comments

A scream in the garden

Posted on October 11, 2020 by

Friday was an unexpectedly sunny day but cool enough for some heavy-duty work in the back garden. In view of the recent rat activity in the dakek compost bin I was keen to eliminate the issue. Having made the holes … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, soil management, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

A walk along Ripon Canal

Posted on September 7, 2020 by

I was recently introduced to wetlands near Ripon, a small city in North Yorkshire. In spite of going to nearby Old Sleningford Farm for six years, I still don’t know the area terribly well, because we have largely driven to … Continue reading →

Posted in Days out, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Another wire to trip us up!

Posted on August 15, 2020 by

I’ve just read a blogpost about how even plants sold with a ‘Good for Pollinators’ label could still be harmful. This is because they may have been grown with insecticides which kill the pollinators they have attracted. In other words, … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Wildlife | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Some vigour at last!

Posted on July 7, 2020 by

The information I gleaned about my dwarf water lily (Nymphoides peltata) was that it was a vigorous plant, so much so that it could be invasive. However, last year it showed no such characteristic. Then of course it died down … Continue reading →

Posted in Pond and bog garden, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

The closest I’ve been

Posted on June 26, 2020 by

I got a surprise this morning when I got in the car to go and collect my provisions from the local organic farm. She’d been sitting there while I’d been doing my usual inspection of the front garden as I … Continue reading →

Posted in forest garden, Wildlife | Tagged , | 6 Comments

‘Be kind. Be compassionate. Have patience.’

Posted on June 18, 2020 by

How have you been doing for exercise recently? At my end, things have been decidedly poor. A couple of weeks ago, I therefore realised I had to take myself in hand and find ways to incorporate more walking into my … Continue reading →

Posted in Days out, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Taking shelter

Posted on June 11, 2020 by

Well, we’ve gone from impending drought to a bout of extended rain. Not that the garden is complaining. For example, after a hiatus of a few weeks, the rhubarb is starting to poke its head above ground again. And I … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Wildlife | Tagged , | 9 Comments