7th May 2017 - Newts, Nests and Mulch

This weekend hasn't been very productive in the allotment because of other commitments but I still managed to get up for a short while and was so excited to see a newt in the pond.  I have seen one before but I wasn't able to take a photo; this time the newt stayed in the same place for ages and I managed to snap a pic of it.  I am now even more hopeful that some of the tadpoles in the pond are newts as well as the frogs.

I also shared a jar full of water from my pond with 2 of my neighbours.  I can't remember if I mentioned last year that I was struggling with really green water.  I packed my pond full of oxygenating plants and I got some water treatment products but the water was staying stubbornly green!  My neighbour had a beautifully clear pond, even though hers was smaller than mine but she had brought a jar full of water from her home pond, which was also crystal clear. She shared a bottle full of water with me and it was full of tiny bugs that eat the algae.  I put it into my pond and within a couple of months my pond was clear and has stayed clear.  I had mentioned it to a couple of people so was happy to pass on the benefit and share some of my water with other people. 

The site also had a delivery of bark chippings for mulch on Saturday.  It was a £30 charge shared between 10 of us and I got 3 barrow loads to mulch my flower bed, which I think now looks fantastic.  I hoed the bed before I mulched but in hindsight should really have given it a really good soak as well.  Despite forgetting to water the bed before mulching I really do think that the value of mulching any bed cannot be overstated.  Mulching helps to keep the moisture in the bed (and this bed seems to be particularly dry) as well as helping to keep the weeds down.  In the middle of this picture you can see that I've lifted the netting that I've been using to protect my sweetpeas from the pigeons.  I'm hoping that they're established enough to be safe now and so I've just lifted the netting but I decided not to remove it completely in case I'm wrong and I need to cover them again.  


The other exciting news I have is that the nest box I have in the hedge does seem as though it's being used by a bird this year.  I saw a while ago that it had been filled with some nesting material but then it looked as though it had been abandoned.  This weekend it looked as though the old material had been pulled out and lots of new stuff has been put in there.  I still haven't see any birds near it but I'm really hopeful that there will be eggs in there very soon.  I am trying to keep as far away from it as possible (this was super zoomed in to get the pic) so I really hope that me being on the plot won't disturb them.

At the end of the day today I collected some cast iron arms of a bench that I'm hoping to clean up, repaint and restore to it's former glory.  I got them from Freegle, which is a site I love and use regularly.  I have the chairs that I put in and out of the shed every time I go to the site but it would be nice to have some seating in different places where I can sit and enjoy the plot from different places.  My plan is to use a spray paint (probably one that you would use on a car) and get some wooden slats that I will just oil instead of painting; I'm hoping they will look good.  

You might remember that I use the Chelsea Flower Show as an indication of when I should plant out.  That means that at the moment my polytunnel is pretty packed.  I've also sown over 120 peas today.  Lots of people talk about how peas don't like their roots disturbed and that they should only be planted directly outside but as I have problems with mice eating them or moles disturbing them I've found that creating plug plants has given me significantly more success than trying to plant direct.  I've also sown some cornflowers for the first time and I'm hoping to get a few of them to pop into the flower bed.

I am hoping to get back into the allotment for much longer next week and will be busy preparing the rest of my beds for when it's time to plant out.  Until I see you next week, I hope you have a fabulous week - happy gardening!