Update - 5 years on!
By fuzexi
6 comments
Well one thing hasn’t changed since my last post: being inconsistent!
I just looked at my last post, 5 years ago, and it said my garden has been abandoned and restarted several times. Well that has just happened again. I cleared the back yard and replanted the lawn, and i’m happy with that.
The quince plant against the fence is really special to me as it first flowered the day my daughter was born. It is such a modest and assuming plant. If I move I’m digging it up and taking it with me!
Looking at my last post, I had just planted the fig tree. Well, it’s a lot bigger now, and the goji has taken over that corner, which is fine by me. I planted some sweet chestnuts last winter, which I bought at Tesco’s, and they were really big chestnuts. Most of the ones you find around here are really small. Anyway the plan was to get a chestnut tree which produced big chestnuts. However, by some magical feat which I can’t work out, I’ve got a conker tree growing. I don’t know if it’s a malicious squirrel or an act of God, but it’s defo not a chestnut tree.
Moving on, in my last post I had a picture of some Vietnamese mint in intensive care. Well that is thriving too. Same plant, five years on. It’s hiding behind some spring onions that I rescued from the reduced section in Tesco’s.
Next we have my daughters bean plant, and that’s probably the star of the show. It’s growing really well. I planted loads of peanuts and none of them have come up. They were raw peanuts, and they grew last year. Maybe I got a dud batch. Again, Tesco’s food section.
The rest is just a jungle of assorted weeds that I let live, and wildflowers that I sowed. Plus other stuff I planted and forgot about, or squirrels planted and forgot about. And where there are potatoes, they’re just volunteers.
Finally, because it’s getting late, is my catnip / potato and chamomile patch. With a coleus canina to keep the squirrels off. The catnip and chamomile haven’t come up yet, but there are tiny seedlings emerging so it’s looking promising. I didn’t photograph it, but I have another area of the yard which is overflowing with wild rocket flowers, which the bees like. And I did have a really nice tub with Californian Poppies flowing out from it, but then a squirrel decided to trash it…
So that was a long update. Me trying to over-compensate for not posting for 5 years…
16 May, 2019
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Comments
There are 4 different edible chestnuts so you may not have bought the 'sweet' one but one of the others. conker is a chestnut though, so perhaps you have got one of yours growing. that would be good. The foliage doesn't look typically horsechestnut/conker though, leaflets dont look 'blunt/round' enough.
I also have 'mingles' of self sown and gifts from the birds in my garden too. carefully selected amongst the 'garden worthy' plants they make me smile. tight planting will help keep the unwanted natives[weeds] at bay too.
I have a family of squirrels that create havoc amongst some areas of the garden. peanuts and beech nut troves are a regular feature of their digging skills.
So glad you are enjoying your garden and its lovely to see how things change in time.
17 May, 2019
A very interesting "bit of everything" mingle! Were you hoping to get peanuts or was planting them just for interest? They do have quite pretty little flowers don't they?
I tried some in a pot indoors once hoping to get peanuts but no joy, that was when I found out they bury their own seed rather like cyclamen do. Good luck - keep us posted.
PS - this blog started me thinking about warnings Ive seen on some birdfood peanuts not for human consumption I found the following rather shocking info
https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/whats-causing-all-these-peanut-allergies.html
17 May, 2019
A work in progress. Welcome back!
17 May, 2019
I think the mingling is very pretty and native insects will be happy to have something to lay eggs on and for the caterpillars to eat. Also not disturbing the ground too much gives the ground nesting bees and insects a chance.
i agree with Stera that our food is being poisoned without any real knowledge of the future health risks. All very well saying that things are non-toxic, but aren't we always being told not to mix medicines, so how does this not apply to all the mixes of pesticides on the fields and in our food? The latest programme on the TV about Hedgehogs and their decline doesn't seem to register that mono-culture fields do not contain any insects or grubs for them to feed on - let alone a snail or slug! It's not rocket-science, our farming methods are killing the wildlife!
19 May, 2019
Thanks for all your comments!
I’ll keep an eye on the conker/chestnut; I’m curious to see what it will turn in to. I’m going to give the peanuts another try, but it’s getting late now. Squirrels trashed all my sunflowers, so now they are replanted with chicken wire over them until they get strong enough to withstand another squirrel attack.
I wish I had a hedgehog, I could leave it on the garden at night but I suppose they need to get a lot of snails. I normally throw them over the fence. Sometimes I think about painting their shells to see if they come back...
I’ve been getting a few small blue butterflies: I don’t know if they are supposed to be rare? Quite a few bees now, they really like the Californian poppies and the rocket. I think it’s going to be another really hot summer.
23 May, 2019
Recent posts by fuzexi
- Silk between figs
11 Aug, 2020
- It's been a long time...
19 Jun, 2014
- Science kicks in!
4 Jul, 2012
- Whether or not to pot?
3 Jul, 2012
- The Wildflower project
29 Jun, 2012
- Peters Garden Mix
29 Jun, 2012
Give me the organised chaos over a flat lawn any day!
16 May, 2019