wildgirl12

Ideas for a strawberry planter

There is an allotment group on facebook. Someone used an old pallet crate as a strawberry planter which looked brilliant! I may try this myself!

best kind of bird feeder?

Well if you want a quality feeder that has a lifetime guarantee  I would go for a droll yankee or onyx feeder. They are not cheap but are made in the US where greys come from and you can buy rain guards for them to keep the rain off. You could also try a caged feeder but make sure it can come apart to be cleaned as disease can easily spread from bird to bird from a dirty feeder. Good luck! its weel worth feeding the birds, Ive seen so much that I have never seen before! 

Plant choice suggestions please

I used excess soil to create a bog garden around my pond, I just used spare pond liner and pierced a few holes in it. Ive got ragged robin, snakes head fratillary, water avens and much more around the pond. Bog gardens are beneficial to much of our wildlife, might be worth considering if not then I would totally recommend echinaceas (coneflowers) or better still grab a wildlife gardening book and flick through it for inspiration! I am hoping my wildlife patch on my allotment will be a success this year (once the weather permits me to finish it)

Blanket Weed

I have been having problems with blanket weed! mud was washed into my pond by all that wet weather! I have used barley straw extract about 10 days ago, so far no change so I am using a cane to get some of it out and waiting for my water mind and penny royal to spread a bit, then I will put in a lilly aswell. Its important to make sure no soil can get washed into the pond as this excess nutrients will trigger blanket weed growth (as I found out!)

The Swifts are Back

We had a swift at HART Wildlife Rescuse based in Alton, I believe it was caught by a cat, perhaps it had been grounded for some reason. Its been a bad year for wildlife so far. The long cold weather has had a negative impact on our willdife, especially on hibernating wildlife.

I do love seeing the first signs of summer though swallows are my favorite!

potato problem

They arent wire worms are they? I hate those!! they look a lot like mealworms but smaller. I haven't come across any other boaring pest in spuds yet, then again last year was my first attempt.

Allotment Heavy clay heavy mud

I have heavy clay soil on my plot too. I inherited my plot in march last year so I had to make do with the soil I had (we did manage to raise the beds and manure 2 of them). I have found the soil is crumbly which shows it has been taken care of but it had been a while since it had a good composting. I dug some well rotted manure in about a week ago and raised a bed from ground level to about 6 inches above the ground. It takes a lot of work but I find it holds water better in hot weather, just watch out in summer when lumps of clay substrate turn to concrete (they are a pain to break down!). Good luck with it all!!

Bird Feeders on the allotment?