Diary of a lazy gardener

[guardian]

Good morning from sunny and mild Lossiemouth; the sky is blue; the birds are singing fit to bust and it truely feels as though Spring is in the air.

It astounds me how the weather changes so drastically from day to day here; even from hour to hour. The snow has virtually disappeared from the hills almost overnight and the gorse is coming into flower and smelling wonderfully of coconut. I think these last few days have felt much more springlike; the primroses I planted are blooming well and the grass is growing already.

Taking the dog for his walk this morning reminded me that not all creatures that fly are on the go, the moles are very active and for some reason they love to dig in my garden leaving their tell-tale hills everywhere; great earth for seed trays but they have an entire field over the fence I'll never know why they choose our garden instead. I don't like to kill anything and I don't really approve of the 'thumper' things you can get, I (probably foolishly) think that it may disturb other creatures and frighten them away, so we will just have to get on together.

The rhubarb is poking it's head up aswell, I fully intended to move it earlier than this because it freaks my daughter out, she hates the huge leaves; finds them sinister.

I'm hoping that we have house martins nesting in the garage this year. Last year was a disaster for them, they reared a clutch of five babies but none of them survived, the parents seemed inexperienced and they didn't seem sure of how to feed them. The previous years had been very successful, a pair reared two seperate clutches successfully and they looked so cute all lined up on the lighting cable waiting to take off and join their parents.

Guardian

[pat t]

Hello lazy gardener,
I have just joined wab today and this is my first message. It is a fantastically sunny and frosty morning in Coupar Angus and the birds are singing merrily. You do not have a monopoly on molehills!

[guardian]

Hi Pat

He He moles have no respect do they? All our hard work in the garden and they don't care one bit. Someone told me to put mothballs or old perfume on a tissue down the holes to drive them away, I know there are some really nasty methods of evicting them but I can't bring myself to do these things, just too squeemish I suppose.

Sounds like you had a wonderful morning too, doesn't it just make you feel good.

Today is very quiet, intermittent sunshine but fairly mild.

I noticed our friend Mr Pheasant is back, he gathers dropped seed around the bird-table; he returns every year and brings his lady friends and chicks in the breeding season. It's fun to watch him call to them and stamp proudly and herd them towards it when he's found food, you'd think he put the seed out himself

I have some very poor photos of them all taken on a mobile phone and digital camera, I must see about uploading some. To be truthful I'm quite ashamed of them after seeing the quality of the pictures on this site, people are very patient and talented.

[wyevilla]

Hello Guardian and Pat t.

Hope you both enjoy WAB. Go ahead and ask questions, post news and generally have fun!

[pat t]

Hi everyone
The moles continue their activities undeterred by attempts to stop them! We have a couple of male pheasants who hang around all winter eating the bird seed put out for the robins, spuggies etc. Any time now they will be waking us in the mornings calling for their lady friends. There is also a covey of partridge around. Our garden must be on their "flight" path as they appear quite regularly. In Spring/Summer they bring their young. The oyster catchers returned about 10 days ago. It is always a welcome sound and sight.
bye for now
Pat T

[FungiJohn]

Hi Guardian and a very warm welcome to WAB. Enjoy!
John

[Owl-Light]

Hello Guardian and Pat t. Nice to meet you
I keep meaning to tidy up our garden a little but never seem to get round to it. We intentionally keep it wild for wildlife but ideally it could be a wee bit neater. No moles here, but I'd be pleased to see one.

[canonman]

Hi
A warm welcome to WAB, nice to have you with us
Mick

[Tursiops2]

Hi guardian

So you think you have a mole problem ...



Wecome to WAB
Tursiops2

[guardian]

Good Morining All, lovely to read all your thoughts , I don't envy you Tursiops2
It's pouring with rain here this morning, driech is a good descriptive scottish word for it.

Mr pheasant is fattening himself up and his plumage is coming on nicely for the breeding season, I have heard a few calls and seen a couple of territory fights, it'll be hotting up soon.

We've only seen the one hare so far, they were quite prolific last year and enormous, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more; I seem to remember someone saying that the more hares there are the better the summer will be, not sure about that but it would be nice to think so.

I can't believe it's February in north east scotland and the grass is growing already, the jolly old mower will be out sooner this year.

We've decided on the crops for this year, we eat a lot of leeks, onions, and garlic so I'll be planting the seeds soon. The soil here is very poor, mainly sand and shingle and what there is is only a couple of inches deep. I've tried very unsuccessfully to grow various types of carrot and potato but without much success. Even the disease resistant varieties end up with scab and the carrots are very tiny. I'm not happy to use artificial fertilisers so the compost heap has to suffice; there is an enormous pile of cow poo in the field and I'm wondering if the farmer would mind me having a barrowload or two.
We've built a couple of raised beds which have been heaped with compost so that gives a bit more depth of soil.

When I can I definitely need a greenhouse and a shed to potter in; the woodshed has to suffice for a potting shed just now.

Off for more tea.

Guardian.