What I did today 2025

[Nicos]

^^^^. Chatting is good… almost the same as ‘touching base’ me thinks?

[Peanut]

06.10hrs Monday 5th May, I am in the bathroom brushing my teeth, looking out at the garden, only to see a b**dy munjac! I have been checking for signs of the nibbling little b**ger all winter and there were none. This morning after the first, albeit small amount of rain, it decides to show itself.

I grab a skirt and jumper, whilst heading to the back door as fast as I can, slipping on my gardening clogs, I open the door quietly.

As soon as I get out there and the pigeons, who hate me and I them, give me away by flapping loudly up into the air, in turn this causes the muntjac, who is happily destroying my hibiscus, to spot me and turn on his heels and run.
It almost felt more insulting as he flashed his white under tail at me as he bounced off.

I am now giving chase as I need to see where he is getting in (my garden is very long), but I also don't want to corner him if he can't get out, they can do serious damage!
He disappears down at the end of the garden into the snowberry bush. The opposite side of where he used to get in!
I squat down behind the water butt half way down and wait...

Then I remember I am right next to the berberis where the long-tailed tit nest is, so I get up and stomp down the garden, picking up a long multi-pronged stick on my way!

As I approach the snowberry bush, which is very bushy, I tap the stick on the ground, only to realise this makes no sound and is a pointless act, so I resort to speaking loudly, telling it to get out of my garden instead.
As I get closer to the snowberry bush I use my stick, waggling it into the foliage...

Nothing.

I venture closer and finally stick my head into the bush, only to discover a long forgotten dalek in there, (that's handy I thought).

The bl**dy muntjac had climbed the log pile and hopped back into next-doors garden and over their fence into the fields behind us.

Of course, after months of no rain, we finally had a little last night so all the plants are nice and wet and now so am I.

I shall be gathering wire mesh, cable ties and bamboo canes and when I am more suitably dressed, and have had a cup of tea, I will be climbing into the wet undergrowth and rigging up yet more b**dy munjac defenses.

Happy Bank holiday folks!

[Bren In Pots]

Hope your new defences do the trick Peanut.

[Peanut]

Thanks Bren In Pots you and me both!

[Bren In Pots]

Potted on, marigolds, Basil, Beth alpha cucumbers and a couple of courgettes.
Planted some rooted sage plants.

[ameno]

Laid the black plastic in the greenhouse ready for planting through.
Dug some more of the big bed at the allotment, and dug up half of last years runner bean roots.
Potted up the good runner bean roots, and potted up some sprouted runner bean seeds.

[Andraste]

Forgot to mention having taken some impromptu cuttings from our Tayberry (knocked off unintentionally). I was planning to try rooting a couple of tips a bit later in the season but decided there was no harm in sticking these cuttings in a pot & seeing how they do. As expected, they wilted a little straight after but they seem to have perked up slightly & I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Mark Rand]

Hmm, hadn't thought of growing on runner beans from last year's. How well do the roots survive the Winter?

[Snoop Puss]

Ground like mud everywhere, but have found a patch of what is normally terracotta but this year is clay with a load of sand washed into it from a pile left by the builders. Now or never for the Jerusalem artichokes, which were budding and even producing thin filaments of roots in the bag. So in the ground they've gone. Fingers crossed they are as thuggish as everyone says. They'll need to be if they are to survive.

[Peanut]

Pricked out Duncan cabbage, summer psb and wok broc. Put hoops over the strawberry bed, now to find some netting to keep the pesky blackbirds off and let the bees in, they got the lot last year.

[Vince G]

Dug up first green garlic, a little larger than a golf ball - will probably dig up another one and eat them as a veg, baked in foil in the oven with salt and pepper and a blob of butter. A fab spring treat.

[Bren In Pots]

Ground like mud everywhere, but have found a patch of what is normally terracotta but this year is clay with a load of sand washed into it from a pile left by the builders. Now or never for the Jerusalem artichokes, which were budding and even producing thin filaments of roots in the bag. So in the ground they've gone. Fingers crossed they are as thuggish as everyone says. They'll need to be if they are to survive.

Snoop one year my Jerusalem artichokes didn't re-grow then the appeared a year later 3ft away amongst my bean row.

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop one year my Jerusalem artichokes didn't re-grow then the appeared a year later 3ft away amongst my bean row.

They're a fair way from my veg patch. The nearest thing to them at the moment, apart from sky-high grasses, is a pomegranate tree. Hope they don't interfere with its roots.

[ameno]

Did a bit more digging.
Washed the greenhouse glass.
Planted out my overwintered cape gooseberry plants. They were getting a bit overgrown - even after a good pruning they were still over 3 feet tall.

[Peanut]

Pricked out the tomatoes.
Potted on dwarf french beans, cucumbers, aubergines, sweet peppers, squashes and courgettes.
Potted on thunbergia and Chilean glory vine.