My autumn bulb list and all the tips for helping out wildlife in a heatwave
Hello friends!
I take it all back. I DON'T hate the cold. I write to you on Saturday afternoon, having spent the day enjoying a cooler, windier vibe than we've been used to previously. My notebook is just full of giant scrawls, all saying things like "I'm absolutely (insert sweary word) BOILING" and "this is not a joke. I hate this heat". Going outside makes my teeth itch because everything is brown and parched. I am worried about street trees and yes, I am watering my garden every night. My sprinkler covers about half of the garden and it's on for about three to four hours each night, so each half gets a good soaking every other day. I hate that I'm using clean water for this; i don't have a grey water system going on, but I'm not bathing my kids or myself - we just use the sprinkler to wash off all the day's grime, so I'm justifying it that way. Gardening has been extremely difficult in the heat. I have to pick my moment and go for it, fast and loose, because after about three minutes I start beading with sweat and then it's pretty much game over. Here's to cooler times ahead, and I'm off for a week from tomorrow, so no newsletter next week.
One more thing..huge sorry but silly old Tinyletter doesn't seem to want me to add any new pictures right now, so I'm putting in two pics from last week that bear absolutely no relation to anything I'm writing about...because as Alice says: "What good is a book without any pictures?"
So, in the absence of any discernible gardening except for the measly attempts below, I'm first going to relay some excellent advice sent to me by the RHS a couple of days ago, all of which are steps easily taken to ensure the wildlife in your garden can withstand this long hot summer. Here it is:
Keep pollinator summer favourites like single dahlias, single fuchsias and verbena going by watering well and deadheading regularly. Nectar flow can slow if plants get really thirsty and flowers run to seed.
Ensure wildlife can get in and out of ponds as water levels drop, extending ramps in steep-sided ponds and positioning plants so they provide additional access points.
Leave saucers of water in the garden for wildlife to sip from, placing pebbles and marbles in them to aid insects and smaller birds. Beekeepers might also benefit from chicken drinkers with pebbles in the trough close to hives.
Avoid tidying the garden. Leave wildflower and meadow grasses uncut, increase log piles, and leave in place plants that have gone to seed. These are relished as a shelter and as nesting supplies while the seeds are highly prized by goldfinches. Watch out when digging for toads that have burrowed to escape the heat.
Composting garden wastes, especially in shady areas, is very helpful to wildlife. The insects, slugs and worms associated with rotting vegetation can feed other wildlife including amphibians and hedgehogs. Moisten the compost if dry.
Supplement the diet of hungry hedgehogs by leaving proprietary hedgehog food, available from most bird feed suppliers, in shady spots. These garden favourites need moist soil to easily reach earthworms and other invertebrates that make up much of their diet.
Group container plants and keep well watered as a refuge for frogs, toads and newts.
All very good advice. Particularly the bit about NOT TIDYING UP!
My five minute forays this week:
Monday: Too hot. No gardening
Tuesday: Too hot but I do manage to yank out some brambles which were threatening to put down roots in the flower beds. These all come from my neighbours (annoyed face) but I'm genuinely glad to get the fruit so, every cloud.
Wednesday: Too hot, so I get some string out and cut it into 30cm lengths. I like to have pre-cut bits of string in my pocket at all times. It saves time and is a huge help with the five minute dash when you don't have to get scissors or knife in order to tie something in...the string is just THERE in you pocket, ready to use. Stuff like this makes me feel happy and accomplished. I am easily pleased. Armed with this string, it then seems churlish not to use some of it, so I go out and tie in some stems of my climbing hydrangea, which is struggling to attach itself to the trellis. The adventitious roots are THERE, ready and willing to cling, but the trellis wood is rather smoother I think, than the plant would ideally like, and it needs a bit of help establishing a foothold, so the string comes to the rescue. I then notice that these plants are thirsty...some of the leaves are brown at the edges, and I quickly deploy the hose.
Thursday: too hot, so I order bulbs. To be honest I'm a bit scared by amount of work I'm giving myself with bulbs this year, but you see, I have this new 'meadow' thing in the lawn and that means FRITILLARIA and CROCUS!! Here is my list (chopped in half of course, in true five minute gardening style):
1. Allium sphaerocephalon - because the bees went nuts for these, and because they flower later than all the rest. I didn't get enough last year though, so this time I've ordered 150 and hope to plant them in quick, five minute bursts in the borders.
2. Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant' - because I cannot live without crocuses and these seed prolifically. I've ordered just 20 and will put them in a corner of the lawn, and hope that they spread.
3. Fritillaria meleagris - do I need a reason? I've ordered 100 for my long grass.
Friday: too hot, and we are going away for a week, so all the pots have to be moved to a single area so they're easy for my neighbour to come and water. Small pots go in a tray of water, and I wait for my hunk to return home in order to do the big ones. We end up struggling about in the dark. I water everything profusely and hope for the best.
All the good things, as always
x Laetitia
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