We are lucky that we have lots of wildlife in our garden. I do my best to encourage more and tend to leave wild areas for the birds as well as leaving quite a lot of the fallen fruit on the floor for them to eat. I also tend to put food out for  them and am often surprised by the birds that come to the bird table. We have groups of crows and starlings that visit regularly but I was recently surprised by this group of jays that visited as I have never seen them in such large numbers. In all there were seven birds but they didn’t all land to feed.  I was, however, able to get a few pictures of some of them. Click on the images for bigger versions.

We have quite a few plums trees in the garden and being plum season I have been looking for ways of using up the seasonal glut. I made this plum chutney the other day and it turned out rather well. It is quite sweet but is the perfect compliment to gammon, fish and strong cheeses. The recipe is from the Reader’s Digest book Food From Your Garden.

Ingredients
2lb (1kg) stoned plums
1lb (500g) apples
1lb (500g) shallots or onions
1lb (500g) raisins
6oz (175g) brown sugar
1oz (25g) salt
1 teaspoon each of ground ginger, allspice, dry mustard and nutmeg
1 pint (600ml) vinegar

Method
Chop the stoned plums, the peeled and cored apples, the peeled shallots and the raisins. Place in a pan with the sugar, salt, spices and vinegar. Bring to the boil, simmer until soft and thick. Put into jars and leave to cool. The recipe makes approx 4.5lb (2.25 kg) of chutney. That’s around 5 medium jars.

This is one of my favourite recipes for using up the lavender in the garden. It makes about 40 biscuits.

Ingredients
125 grams of butter
100 grams of caster sugar
1 egg
150 grams of self raising flour
Four or five lavender flowers depending on taste

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the egg. Add the lavender flowers and mix well. Add the sieved self raising flour and mix until it is all incorporated. Grease the baking trays. Use a teaspoon to take out a teaspoon full of mixture. Mould the mixture into a ball and squash to form a small biscuit shape. Be careful not to place the biscuits too close together on the baking trays as they will double in size during cooking. Cook for 170 degrees Celsius/ 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes until just starting to turn golden brown around the edges.

This was the scene that greeted a homeowner when they were awakened by a splashing noise in their garden. It is thought the fox cub has fallen into the pool during the night and being unable to get out has taken refuge on the lilo. Mr Barnes managed to help the fox cub out with the use of a pole and although it was exhausted it is thought it has made a full recovery.

Tesco have recently started selling a flat pack house for £9,999. The Finnlife home has four rooms and an upstairs storage area with some models also including a terraced decking area. The log cabin style homes are self assembly and can be adapted for a number of uses from a gym to a playroom. They are made of Scandinavian whitewood and are constructed with tongue and groove boards which slot together. Measuring 32ft by 16ft 10 the building has eight double glazed windows, French doors and a shingle roof. They are available online only and customers are advised to check planning permission and building regulations before installation.

That’s according to one lady who is selling her collection of 17 wallabies. She claims that they are the perfect alternative to a lawnmower because they keep the grass well grazed and will work 24 hours a day. They do, however, have a tendency to eat all the other plants in the garden as well so might not be a solution if you are a keen gardener. It you would like a wallaby then you need at least an acre of land and be prepared to take two as they like to be with a mate. They cost between £300 and £1,000 each.

According to this article many people are causing damage to the wildlife in their garden ponds because they don’t know how to properly maintain them. A survey of garden ponds found that many had high levels of nitrates usually caused by topping the pond up with tap water. Creatures such as water boatmen, beetles, snails, alderflies and damselfly larvae are adversely affected by high nitrate levels because they cause excessive nutrients in the water. This encourages plants such as duck weed and blanket weed which tend to suffocate the pond. Tempting as it might be to top your pond up with tap water when the water level is low it seems that most freshwater creatures are adapted to changing water levels. Most can apparently survive in just 2cm of water. The message here is to refill your pond with rainwater where possible although I can see that if you also have fish in the pond sometimes tap water might be the only option.

A rare wild flower will be protected by police patrols and CCTV to prevent it being stolen. The flower is a Lady’s Slipper Orchid and is thought to be so rare that only one flowering plant example exists in the UK. Located at Sliverdale Golf Course in Carnforth, Lancashire the plant is due to flower later this month. Efforts to re-introduce the flower in other areas have so far failed and with cuttings from the plants selling to collectors for anything up to £5,000, this is one very special plant. The orchid is protected by the by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is coded with a security mark so that anyone who tries to sell a cutting of it can be caught.

An exotic plant which was thought to have died out 50 years ago has been discovered at a country house in Dorset. The 100 year old Rhododendron beanianum was discovered after Ray Abraham took up the role of head gardener at Minterne House. It is thought to be the only one in existence in the country. It is thought it was originally planted at the house in 1910 and later it was forgotten until being rediscovered recently. It is now hoped that it might be possible to cultivate and propagate the plants in order to sell it to Rhododendron collectors.

According to this article jam making is starting to become more popular. Whether it’s due to the fact that people are trying to make more food from scratch or that they are becoming more creative in the kitchen is not clear. It does seem, however, that there has been a recent rise in jam making equipment such as clip jars. Personally I have never tried making my own jam, but having recently moved to a house with several fruit trees in the garden, I might have to give it a try.

This lotus plant is unusual because it was grown from a seed that is thought to be 700 years old. The seed which dates back to Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty was one of 10 discovered during the excavation of an ancient castle last year. Scientists have confirmed that at least two of the seeds are 650 and 750 years old. All ten seeds were planted to see if anything would grow. So far three of the others have spouted and the other one has produced this plant.

Spring is here and with several fruit trees the garden is full of blossom. Here are a few pictures of the cherry and apple blossoms. One of the wild primroses and some shrubs that I am yet to find out the names of. And of course I have also included a picture of one of my cats surveying his garden. Click the images for larger versions.

Dog owners have been warned that slugs and snails could prove fatal to their pets. The warmer wetter weather we have been experiencing has led to a rise in molluscs. However, many people are unaware that they can harbour the parasite lungworm. This parasite can prove fatal when eaten by dogs. Although dogs do not normally choose to eat slugs and snails they can easily get into food or onto toys and be ingested. Dog owners have been warned to look out for symptoms of bleeding and fits as well as coughing, lethargy, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness and paralysis. If their dogs do experience any of these they should seek advice from a vet as soon as possible.

Three cases of Legionnaire’s disease in Scotland have been directly linked to compost. The cases of the disease which occurred between 2008 and 2009 have been linked to water droplets in packs of potting compost. They are the first cases to be linked to gardening within the UK but have led health experts to call for health warnings on packs of potting compost. The disease has previously been linked to gardening and potting mixes in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. Legionnaires disease is normally linked with contaminated water and air conditioning systems.

This is interesting its a scheme from the Co-op to try and rebuild honeybee numbers. Under the scheme people would be encouraged to keep bees in an urban environment. It would take advantage of areas such as allotments and roofs of buildings which can support bee populations. The Co-op aims to encourage 300 new people to urban beekeeping in Manchester, London and Inverness and will provide free training and equipment to those who are interested. In a trial of the scheme last year 60 people out of an initial 100 went on to become beekeepers. Honeybee numbers have more than halved in Britain in the period between 1985 and 2005 due to a number of reasons such as pesticide use, warmer winters and infections such as varroa mites. With their pollination of fruit trees and other crops being worth £165 million every year lets hops the scheme is successful. I would certainly be interested but am not sure my garden is quite big enough for a bee hive.

A recent Which? report has found that vegetable plugs produce poor value for money. The report found that a carrot plug plant that costs £1.09 each and produces one carrot is poor value when compared to a pack of seeds which would work out to just 10p. One company Gardening Direct has since withdrawn it’s carrot and beetroot plug plants facing the criticism. Keen gardeners have been advised to choose seeds instead and only to buy plug plants if they are priced fairly.

According to this article the number of bugs in Britain’s soil has increased by 50% in the last ten years. In the first study of its kind scientists have analysed the soil. They took more than 2,600 samples from different geological and climatic areas across the country and measured them for invertebrates, nutrients, pollutants, acidity and carbon. They found that in the top 8cm of soil, there are 12.8 quadrillion living organisms. Whilst the number of invertebrates has gone up by nearly 50% it appears that the diversity of life (the number of types) has decreased. Scientists say that both of these things are caused by the rise of annual temperatures and rainfall, the warmer and wetter summers that we have been experiencing.

If you like the idea of eating fresh produce from your own allotment but are not to keen on all the hard work involved, then this scheme might be for you. Launched by Wimpole Home Farm in Cambridgeshire it allows people to own a plot of land on an allotment. A grower will then plant, harvest and maintain the plot and for just £8 the owner will receive the fruits of their labour. An acre of land has been put aside by Wimpole Home Farm for the scheme and this has been divided into 50 sections which are being offered to individual owners. The land is owned by the National Trust and they have pledged to create 1,000 similar plots across the UK in the next 3 years. It seems like a good idea for those who want seasonal fruit and vegetables but don’t really have to time to spend growing it themselves.

According to this article feeding the birds can affect the way that they evolve. Scientists have carried out a study on blackcaps which has found that they follow a different evolutionary path if they spend the winter eating food people have put out for them. The birds normal wintering ground is in southern Spain where they would feed on the fruit that grows there but some birds are now wintering in the UK because they can survive on the food we leave out on our bird tables. Studies have found that those birds which do this are now in the early stage of forming a new species. As the UK is closer to the birds breeding ground these birds also return early and claim the better territory than those that winter in Spain. The researcher found that the two groups of birds have different chemical signatures and have formed two distinct populations even down to the fact that they only mate within their own group. There are also differences emerging in the birds beak, wings and plumage with the birds that winter in the UK having rounder wings and longer narrower beaks more adapted to eating seeds and fat from bird feeders. It will be interesting to revisit this story in the future to see whether they have evolved further.

It started snowing here in Sevenoaks last night and we now have a good covering of snow. Whilst the foxes have been jumping around in it and playing the cats are not impressed. Our white cat Ollie (pictured) ventured out for a look but the other are all curled up inside. Below is a view of the trees in our garden.

According to this article tomato and potato plants kill insects in order to help fertilise themselves. The plants have sticky hairs on them that they use to trap small insects. When the insects die they fall to the ground and the plants absorb the nutrients through their roots. Although the technique is more commonly seen in wild plants, it is thought that garden varieties still retain the ability to this but that they have no need to do so because gardeners tend to provide the plants with food. Botanists have recently been conducting a study into carnivorous plant species and were surprised to find carnivorous behaviour in many plant species that have previously been overlooked. Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, some varieties of potatoes and tomatoes and shepherd’s purse.

This orchid has recently been discovered in Eucador and is thought to be the world’s smallest. It measures only 2.1mm wide and its transparent petals are only one cell thick. The tiny flower was found among the roots of much larger plants and after it was studied in more detail it was found to be an entirely new species.

Our cat Oliver is notorious for being very timid, he usually hides when we get any visitors and get beaten up by our other cats. Bearing this in mind we were very surprised when a large fox wandered into the garden and approached him. Oliver and the fox regarded each other for a while before the fox rolled on the ground. It was obvious to us that the fox wanted to play but Oliver seemed to miss the point and chased him away. You can see pictures below of the encounter, click on the images for a bigger version.

If you are planning on building a bonfire this bonfire night, then make sure you look out for hedgehogs. Unfortunately this is just the time of year that hedgehogs are looking for somewhere warm to spend the winter and a pile of logs makes the perfect place to hibernate. If you are planning on building a bonfire the advice is to assemble your fire a few hours before the event rather than several weeks before hand. It is less likely that animals such as hedgehogs and frogs and toads will have chance to crawl inside. As scientists predict that hedgehogs could be extinct by 2025 they need all the help they can get, so taking this simple step could mean far less casualties.

I have come across many cool hedge shapes in the past such as the hedge whale, the hedge sea monster and the hedge elephants but this is the first time I have seen a hedge car. The 11ft car is made up of six plants and there are also some 6ft high mechanics which are made from two plants each. The plants have been carefully trained over a wire frame to create the shape and are then trimmed.

According to this article if you want bigger fruit from your tomato plants then you should try urinating on them. A study has found that urinating on your tomato plants can make the crop up to four times bigger than usual. The discovery was made by a team of Finnish researchers who found sprinkling the tomatoes with human urine mixed with wood ash made the ideal fertiliser. Its an interesting idea but I’m not sure I would fancy eating the fruit.

This is interesting its a device that allows you grow plants without using soil. The seeds are put on a sponge rather than being grown in the soil and a mains generated system sprays them with oxygenated water to keep the plants hydrated. It is available from Firebox at a cost of £34.95 and according to the comments at the bottom of the article it is also possible to buy larger devices that are suitable for growing other things such as tomatoes, beans and peas. I have grand plans to start a vegetable patch in the garden next season but this looks quite useful for a mini window sill herb garden. I think I will put on of these on my Christmas list.

This scary looking plant has recently been discovered in the Philippines. The plant which has been named after Sir David Attenborough grows more than 4ft long. It is able to eat prey such as mice and rats which it traps by secreting nectar. Once close enough the animals fall into a large pitcher within the plant. Unable to get out they then drown and acids in the fluid break down the remains.

This is interesting, its a scheme being offered by a farmer that will allow people to grow vegetables above their dead relatives. Under the scheme people will be able to buy a plot for their relative to be buried in and will then be able to farm the land above to grow their own veg. The plots will be available at Richard Sibley’s farm in North Somerset. It will cost £1,400 to bury someone there and £13 a month to continue farming the land.

My new garden has quite a few fruit trees in it, including various types of apples, plums and pears and I have already started using the cooking apples. I made some apple sauce the other day from apples picked the same day and it put the shop brought stuff to shame. Looking at all the fruit still on trees, I think I will fast run out of ideas on how to use them. Any recipe ideas will be appreciated.

One of the best things about our new house is the large garden which is full of wildlife. On the day we arrived we discovered a hole at the bottom of the garden and were curious as to what might be inside. A few days later I came across a large fox sunning itself on the lawn and it now appears that we have a whole family of foxes. I have also noticed several squirrels and there are signs of hedgehog activity although I haven't actually seen one yet. We also have a variety of different birds. The most abundant appears to be the big fat wood pigeons and doves which sit in the tall trees surrounding the garden. I have also seen blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, green finches, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, wrens, crows, magpies, starlings, gold finches, woodpeckers, sparrows and some type of small hawk. As a keen birdwatcher I can see I am going to like it here. Once I have found where I packed the camera I hope to have some pictures of the wildlife so expect these to be posted shortly.

I have noticed a huge number of greenflies in my garden over the past few weeks and it appears I am not the only one. According to this article the recent hot weather has created the perfect conditions that’s the flies need to reproduce. The cold winter has also meant that many of the larger insects that eat the greenflies have been killed off. The insect explosion whilst it is not good news for gardeners like me is however, good news for garden birds that rely on insect numbers to flourish.

Something that has been puzzling researchers for some time is the amount of frogs that are found around the world with missing legs. It was originally thought to have been caused by chemical pollution but it appears it might have a more natural cause. According to this article dragonfly nymphs are rather partial to eating the legs on developing tadpoles. The nymphs rarely eat the tadpole whole and instead grab it and chew on its limbs often removing them altogether. The tadpole usually survives and later turns into as adult frog with missing legs. It appears that the adult frogs are able to survive for a long time with missing legs which goes some way to explaining why there are so many legless frogs hopping around.

We have a large hedge all around the outside of our property which can be battle to keep under control so I can sympathise with this man. Tired of his unruly hedge he decided to turn it into a herd of elephants. He spent two days cutting the overgrown hedge into the shape of elephants and now has a 100ft trail of hedge elephants to the side of his house. I’m guessing that as my husband would not let carve the hedge into a cool hedge monster or a hedge whale, that a herd of elephants will be out of the question, but we will see.

This is interesting its a plant that pretends to be ill in order to deter predators from eating it. The plant produces patterns on its leaves which mimic the damage done to plants by mining moths. The picture shows actual mining moth damage on the left and the fake damage right. It appears that moths do not lay any further larvae on leaves that already have damage so they avoid the plants with the fake leaf damage. The idea was tested by painting white correctional fluid on the leaves of some plants to mimic the moth damage. After three the number of leaves affected by the moths were counted comparing green leaves and the pattered leaves. It was found that those with the patterns were significantly less damaged than the plain green ones.

I am used to seeing butterflies in my garden but in the last week have noticed an unusual concentration of painted lady butterflies. The usual butterfly population in my garden tends to consist of a mix of cabbage whites, small and large tortoiseshells, comma and peacock butterflies so I was wondering if there was a reason for this high concentration of painted ladies. This article just might explain it. It suggests that there is a mass migration of the butterflies this year with around 18,000 of them arriving on the north Norfolk coast from North Africa. Apparently the migration began last Thursday when large numbers of the butterflies were found in Dorset but since then they have been spotted pretty much everywhere. If you don’t know what one looks like, there is a picture on the left but chances are you could be seeing quite a lot of them this year.

According to this article it is a particularly good year for dandelions. The combination of lots of rain followed by sunny days seems to have created the ideal growing conditions for the weed.  My garden definitely backs up the theory. As quickly as I dig the plants out, more seems to take their place. I am starting to wonder whether I should just leave them there and try to use them for something. Apparently they are quite nice in salads.

A gardener from Anglesey who has a rather a lot of snails in her garden has started turning them into food. Oriole Parker-Rhodes has been making meals out the snails that she finds in her garden and has now devised several recipes for them. She has developed her own preparation methods which include feeding them lettuce, onion and stale bread to clean out any grit in their guts. The snails are then purged fro 48 hours before being plunged into boiling water to kill them. They can then be boiled in stock or cooked with parsley or butter sauce. Whether this is a sign of the credit crunch setting in or that the creatures are actually quite tasty I’m not sure, I do have rather a lot of snails in my garden, however.

Below is her recipe for snails in wild herbs and you can find other ideas on her blog.

SNAILS IN WILD HERBS
Using a good book, collect seasonal weeds. Wash and chop finely, then Blanch for 5 mins the wild herbs you can lay your hands on. I used the following: Water parsnip, Wild sorrel, Water cress, Nettle tips, A little ribwort plantain. Sieve , pressing out the water. Finely chopped ramsons (if in season, otherwise use onion or garlic with the blanched herbs) Add all these to melted butter. Put a snail in each hollow of a snail plate and add as much paste as possible. Bake for 20 mins. Serve with cubes of bread and salad.

I came across this picture of a cool hedge whale today. It was created by Nicki Leggatt who decided she wanted to do something a little different with the hedge in her front garden. I have a large hedge in my garden I wonder if my husband will let me turn it into a whale.

If you have just killed your favourite plant and are finding it a little hard to cope there is no need to suffer on your own. There is help out there from the Royal Horticultural Society. They offer a service that can help those who are suffering from plant grief. They have a dedicated team who have studied bereavement counselling. They will try to help you determine why your plant has died and you can even send them a sample to help determine the cause of death. According to an expert "That can help them reach the final stage  -  acceptance  -  and then they can move on." Apparently many of the people that use the service treat their plants like their family and these cases of plant grief are becoming more common.

I have a very swollen foot where something has bitten me. It started at the weekend when I noticed a small black beetle type creature on my ankle. At the time, I just brushed it off and thought little more of it. Now, however my whole foot is swollen and is covered by a very itchy and painful rash which surrounds a single puncture wound on my ankle. I'm not entirely sure what the creature was that bit me, but this is a different type of insect to the normal ones I have. It seems to be more painful and it is taking longer for the swelling to go down. Do you think you know what it was that bit me, if so let me know here?

The recent wet weather seems to have encouraged the frogs in the garden to leave the pond and start hopping around looking for food. Unfortunately this means that in our garden they are almost certain to come into contact with one of the cats. The cats obviously think frogs are lots of fun. You can pounce on them and they jump, let them go and then they jump again. Frogs also scream when they are cornered and stressed. They make a very high pitched screaming noise which doesn't seem to deter the cats. It does, however, alert me to the fact that the cats are playing with another poor frog. So far this morning I have rescued two frogs and returned them unharmed to the safety of the pond. My cat Oliver has also learnt this morning (after picking a frog up in his mouth) that whilst frogs are great fun, they actually don't taste that good. I wonder whether he will remember this when the next frog comes along, my guess is that the urge to pounce on another jumping frog will be stronger than the memory of the bad taste.

With costs of conventional fertiliser rising, farmers are turning to a new way to fertilise their crops. Many have now started using human waste in the form of treated human sewage. Water companies are no longer allowed to dump this into the sea but appear to have a ready market in supplying farmers. In fact Severn Trent Water have said they are struggling to keep up with demand. Human fertiliser costs farmers around a fifth of the price of the more expensive alternative but does have the disadvantage of being more smelly. However, farmer Jonathan Barrett says the smell can be reduced once it is incorporated into the soil and turned regularly. He also said it is best to take into account the wind direction when using it. Human sewage is currently allowed to be used on grassland and crops but not on salads, fruit and root crops.

According to this article gardeners are likely to see an invasion of slugs this year. Apparently the warm and damp spring has provided the ideal conditions for slugs to breed. It certainly seems to the case in my garden. The slimy little critters have been enjoying my nice ripe strawberries before I can get to them myself and I took this picture of a particularly large and slimy slug crawling down my patio door this morning.

I have a grow your own venus fly trap kit. It all looks very easy from the instructions. You simply soak the compost in a little warm water, put it in the pot and plant the seeds. Then cover it with a plastic bag and wait for your little fly traps to grow. I have done all that and three days later, no little fly traps. Perhaps I am being impatient or perhaps I have done something wrong. Anyway, I will keep checking every few days to see if anything happens.

We always find that no matter how many times we clear out the shed it always becomes full again very quickly. I think I have finally found the answer this huge shed. It costs £13,000 and is available from Argos. The only problem is, its just a little bit too big for our garden.

I'm still playing with new Nikon D40 and in just a few weeks have already taken hundreds of pictures. Rather than bore people with the details, in future I will just post a selection of the better ones every week or so with a short caption. Starting with the picture on the left which I was quite pleased with.

Yellow Rose in My Garden

This interesting looking treetop walkway has just opened at Kew Gardens. It is 200m long and has been designed by the architects behind the London Eye to allow visitors to enter the tree canopy and get a closer look at the birds and insects that live there. It certainty looks like it will be interesting to visit, although I will probably wait until it has been open a little while before going.

I have been playing with my new camera and have taken a few pictures using various different settings. The first is my purple clematis in the garden, the second my waterfall in our pond and the third a female newt swimming in the pond.

A new system is being tried London which will put a value on trees. Trees will be assessed on a number of factors including size, how many people enjoy the tree and the life expectancy of the tree. Taking into account all of those factors a plane tree in central London has recently been valued at £750,000. The system is designed to make it harder for trees to be felled. For example if a developer illegally destroys a tree, then the fine imposed could now be a better reflection of the tree's value, meaning they should be less likely to consider felling a tree in the first place.

We have spent most of today trimming the hedge that surrounds our garden. Whilst this may seem like an easy task, its not, this hedge has really large thorns. During the day I managed to step on a thorn which pierced through my shoe into my foot and have sustained several other injuries where the thorns managed to get through my gloves. On top of that I managed to get sunburn, despite the fact that it was overcast and windy for most of the day. I hate that hedge...

I can’t be the only person to notice that all the wet weather in the UK has had a massive impact on the slug population. Usually I see a few slugs but this year they are everywhere, crawling around and devouring all my plants. I was interested to read this article that suggests the slug population has in fact doubled this year. Experts estimate that there are 15 billion in Britain, that’s an awful lot of slugs, and I think a couple of hundred are in my garden. I think its time to get the beer traps out.

I have an intense hatred of garden gnomes, so much so, that not even one is allowed to set foot in my garden. This article represents one of most nightmares, a garden full of the little critters. Jean Balcombe from Willesborough in Kent has 1,500 gnomes in her garden which she has collected over 20 years.

My cats have been hunting frogs for several months now with no success. So little success in fact that I had become secure in the knowledge that the frogs were too smart to be caught. Yesterday Oscar (pictured) came running into the house with a large frog firmly between his teeth. At first I assumed he had caught a bird but upon further inspection I found it was a frog and was still very much alive. After a bit of persuasion I managed to get Oscar to drop his frog and returned it to the pond. Oscar was left with a very bad taste in his mouth, but is still hunting frogs.

I read this article about people that have managed to grow unusual plants in their gardens. A lady in Essex managed to grow a pineapple by putting the top part of a pineapple fruit in water and then planting it when it grew roots. I'm off to Tesco next week to buy myself a pineapple to try growing one myself.