Spring Stirrings

Wild primrose, Primula vulgaris

A somnolent bufo bufo, a dream-state Beelzebufo not yet stirred by the beating of membranous wings.

The Tulip Turkestanica are proving popular with the early invertebrates, our efforts to provide all-season forage have had immediate effect. We love their sun spot petals, the more so when they flare in the water-sphere lenses of rain droplets.

♂ Hairy-footed Flower Bee, Anthophora plumipes

Common Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina (winter colour). Thankyou to @NHM_ID Team for confirming the ID.

Lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis

Herb-robert, Geranium robertianum

A Small Smeuse or Two...

It is a known fact that our impenetrable garden fences are attributing to the decline of hedgehogs by limiting the amount of habitat available to hedgehogs to roam. This quick 20min project is a start to putting things right - get yer wellies on.

In response to the Hedgehog Street campaign by The British Hedgehog Conservation Society and the Peoples' Trust for Endangered Species We dug a hole (it only needs to be 13cm x 13cm, 5"x5", under each of the fences bounding our garden to link our garden with the neighbouring gardens*.

This hole has become a smeuse for the resident squirrels and blackbirds

We gardeners are implicated in safeguarding our native biodiversity. We cannot urge other nations to safeguard tigers, elephants, gorillas, orangutans, panda bears et al if we are not prepared to go the extra mile needed to save our own threatened species. We need to change our view of our gardens as dominion for our own designs and acknowledge that we are only short-term caretakers of habitats which should be shared with the species we are displacing.

The London Wildlife Trust's 2011 report, From green to grey; observed changes in garden vegetation structure in London,1998-2008, assessed among other aims the amount of garden in the boroughs of London available for supporting biodiversity (p5). Counting front and back gardens as separate plots it tallied 3.8 million individual private garden plots. It estimated the total land area of garden available is approximately 37,900 ha (p.10), or 24% of Greater London. 22,000 ha of this is covered in some form of vegetation which is equal to 75% of the total area of all designated Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation in London (p19). Imagine the wildlife wonderland we'd create if we gardened to create a continuous corridor of micro habitats to support insects, amphibians, reptiles and small mammals to move about as they need.

*We would LOVE to hear from any peeps in Walthamstow who have hedgehogs visiting their gardens. We did a hands-up survey of our gardening club members and we're sad to report that not 1 out of 30 has a hedgehog visiting their garden and or allotment.

References:
Smith, C., Dawson, D., Archer, J., Davies, M., Frith, M., Hughes, E. and Massini, P., 2011. From green to grey; observed changes in garden vegetation structure in London, 1998-2008 , London Wildlife Trust, Greenspace Information for Greater London, and Greater London Authority. Published 2011, London Wildlife Trust.
© London Wildlife Trust, Greenspace Information for Greater London, and Greater London Authority, available online 20 September 2015,

Paved Paths

We recycled a stack of bricks from a crumbling garden wall which we've earmarked for several garden projects. Around the end of March, we laid out 10 or so bricks to try out a perpendicular herringbone paving pattern on a path alongside the raised beds. Pottering about, we've become aware how immediately the resident critters make any and every nook and cranny their home so we have an all-out policy of never stepping on any logs or loose bricks in the garden. The paving project was stalled by other commitments and we had taken to leaping over the bricks whenever we've needed to access the far ends of the beds (as you do, right?). This weekend we started the paving project over.

First we trans-located the beasties to the permanent brick pile.

We lifted the bricks gently without dragging them. One by one, we exposed the critters and then placed a cocked, dark, damp muddy flowerpot immediately next to them. We busied ourselves levelling another path. We returned after a couple of minutes to find the critter had taken refuge in the pot. We used this method to carry them (making sure they couldn't leap out of the pot in transit) to the permanent brick pile we built as a wildlife habitat under the medlar tree.

Do make an effort not to touch amphibians as the acid, salts and chemical residues on our skin can damage their permeable skin. Picking up a fleeing amphibian can cause fatal stress and injuries.

We worked on the two inner paths - we levelled the ground and spread a 3cm layer of sand to help level the bricks, some of which were chipped or had lumps of concrete adhering to the backs of them. We'd not planned to pave the paths when we positioned the beds so we had to space the bricks to cover the area evenly.

We used a lump mallet and a bolster masonry chisel to remove old concrete and to halve bricks.

We infilled the gaps by sweeping in and compacting a mixture of clay soil and sand and then sowed creeping thyme and lawn camomile.

We didn't use an underlay of weed barrier fabric as we feel this is a "contaminant" even though inert. We're hoping the creeping thyme and lawn camomile will create an effective weed deterring blanket and that the mass of fine roots will bind the paving together. Fingers crossed.

We've got the outside two paths to pave yet.

Pond Update - And So They Came.

The pond two weeks on - the new water algal bloom is hopefully being minimised by the oxygenating plants and pouches of barley straw. We emptied out some of the tap water to accommodate the rain we've had. The cool weather has allowed the transplanted plants to rally.

Small red damselflies Ceriagrion tenellum have staked their territories.

A toad has seized the opportunity of a newt-free nursery and spawned.

Build It and They Will Come...

We've been torn between adopting battery hens, keeping bees or creating a wildlife friendly urban patch. We've weighed the pros and the cons, attended talks and borrowed how-to books from the library. However the aged toads, the nervous newts, the bumbling bees, the curious insects, the chattering birds that claim our garden as their rightful own rendered our deliberation moot.

We decided to install a larger, deeper pond since our first pond (puddle) was full to brimming with toad tadpoles and newt larvae last spring.

The digging of the hole for the pond was redolent of childhood sandpit excavations; those earnest attempts to tunnel to the other side of the planet. Disappointingly no crystals, fossils, neolithic remains or roman or medieval debris were unearthed in the diggings.

We stopped and started and stopped to allow the blue tits time to feed their brood...

... and to rest our aching biceps - sparrow's kneecaps.

We made sure the top of the pond would be level as the garden slopes.

We lined the base of the hole with a 5cm layer of builder's sand.

We laid in the liner and checked the levels again.

Meanwhile, a quiet but overt show of protest was held in a sunny spot of the raised beds throughout the digging activities. Demands were made for a replacement sunning platform - tout de suite!.

The liner was secured in place by progressively filling the pond in stages and then back filling the hole. We patted & tamped the earth around the fiberglass shell by hand, whilst we reminisced about our mud-cake tea parties of yore.

Some plants surrounding the old pond were carefully transplanted to the new site, however the old pond will not be emptied for a couple of months to give the newts time to do their thing and to allow the new pond water to settle.

Sunny Sunday, Monday

Before we can plant our spuds we need to install a new trellis at the back of the garden ... and translocate and rebuild the compost bin. As you do.

We removed a trug load of brick rubble in digging the holes (with trowels and teeth-gritted determination). We positioned the posts to meet with the verticals of the trellis.

We had more than a GRUMBLE about the fact that we'd purchased a 2.5l and a 1l pot of the same branded, tinted wood preservative only to discover that the difference in colour between the two pots was more than several shades out when dry. Poor QA, it's not on is what we say. We were forced to sit in holiday traffic, shell out for more preservative than we needed and put in an extra couple of hours to put it right. This is supposed to be the the holiday that peeps knock back and eat hot buns and chocolate.

We held the posts upright by jamming brick rubble back into the holes. This allowed us to walk back up the garden and check whether they looked true. We didn't use a spirit level as the existing visual verticals contradicted a 90° perpendicular.

We discovered that postcrete is very easy to use, requiring no mixing. A heads-up: make sure you wear a dust mask (or pull your t-shirt up over your nose as we did) because it billows up in a great dust storm when you empty it from the bag into the hole, no matter how slowly you pour.

We fixed the first two posts and sections of trellis to make sure that the horizontals were level. We adjusted the height of the posts by pushing rubble underneath.

We fought the holly and dog rose and we won.

This old compost bin was once hidden away under the canopy of a very large fig tree...its time had come.

Before starting we searched for any wildlife that might be sheltering in the old compost bin and its surrounds (every year, when turning it, we wish for hedgehogs but to no avail). We dismantled the compost bin taking care not to disturb this sleepy toad. She's a beauty.

We re-used all the sound wood from the old bin. We had to use an offcut of new marine ply to make up the short fall. The new bin was built to fit the dimensions of the offcut which we used for the lid.

"Cat-a-stroppy"! Tubby tabby was NOT amused at the destruction of her sunning perch.

The new bin with improvements: the lid is braced to prevent it from curling. The front enclosure is split in two for easy removal and is held in place by sitting in a slot on either side.

We think it scrubbed up well.

Sadly no tatties were planted as we discovered concrete slabbed paving buried under the spot we were planning to dig. Another job for another day. Let's hope next week end is sunny.