The compost heap - off topic thread

looksee

We seem to have had a lot, you'd see half a dozen or more on a plant and them landing on you, and a few coming into the house. There was a ladybird plague a few years ago, literally swarms of them, but nothing on that scale, just a lot of them all around the place.

magicbastarder

anyone else catch 'the wild gardener' on BBC2 on friday? was a lovely watch; colin stafford johnson (himself the son of ireland's first telly gardener) decides to turn an acre his family owns in wicklow, into a wildlife haven. it's beautifully shot, as you might expect.

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208787#Comment_118208787

Got to see most of the program and there was some very good photography in it alright. Nice idea as well to turn an area like that over to supporting wildlife.

SnowyMuckish

Thanks for the heads up, is it a weekly show? Nice to have something to watch over the long winter months!

secman

Think its only a 2 parter program 🤔

magicbastarder

part 1 is repeated on BBC1 NI tonight at 10:35 AFAIK, in case you missed it.

SnowyMuckish

Something else to keep us entertained over the next few weeks Monty has announced a few winter special episodes of Gardener’s World starting next Friday.

I’ve really enjoyed the Wildlife Gardener on BBC so far, thanks for the heads up! another 2 episodes left. There’s something very endearing about Colin Stafford Johnson, what a magical oasis he’s creating……!

magicbastarder

i think the wild gardener is only a two parter, both already aired?

SnowyMuckish

I was checking the info on bbc and it said episode 2 of 4? He’s only gone as far as the end of year 1 yet I think it was meant to be a two year project. Hopefully we don’t have to wait till this time next year to see ‘year 2’! I’m looking forward to seeing how he manages his meadow after year 1 once the annuals have done their thing.

magicbastarder

you are correct! i'd read somewhere it was a two parter, that was wrong.

magicbastarder

looks like i was right after all; part 3 was mainly a badly edited series of highlights from episodes 1 and 2, with just one or two new segments.

SnowyMuckish

That’s a pity! didn’t watch it yet, is it worth a go?

SnowyMuckish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118298903#Comment_118298903

Finally had a chance to sit down and watch episode 3 tonight, I know you’ve disagreed with me magicb but I actually really enjoyed it. I didn’t see anything rehashed much….? He had the section about the benefits of ivy flower and berries for pollinators, hazel for red squirrels and the grave dangers of strimming for hedgehogs. I know for us ‘seasoned’ gardeners ( I count myself very loosely here) this is old news but for people starting out these are great pointers.

What about Steward Dunlop talking about the diversity of ‘untouched, unshredded’ hedgerows? That was a learning point for me…… leaving them totally unshredded (without the out of season council choppers shredding the insects🙈) he’s noted 2500 species of plants and insects in his tiny section….imagine if we amplified that…?

But I have to say my favourite line in his episode was when he was talking about exploring the Devil’s Glen of his childhood..

“ this was my Amazon..”

“to engage children.. to give them a sense of wonder for the natural world, once you cross that rubricon of wonder, it’s something that stays with you forever..”

The nostalgia of tearing through brambles, picking berries, robbing hazel nuts from fairies, dipping your toes in the freezing currents before the Madadh usice (grey seal) would bite your toes….For the most part, city or country we all have our own unique ‘Amazon’ ….if you look back closely enough at our own childhoods…we all have our experiences….As long as you dip your toes in nature and engage the next generation……

fryup

Price of a Job??

I've been asked to spray weedkiller on a driveway and perimeter of a house (medium size bungalow) and also scarify and re-sow a lawn (tennis court size) for a person this weekend.

But i'm scratching my head on how much should i charge??😶

looksee

New Build

'So I come back to my usual place to build for this year and its usually peaceful but this year its manic. One of those human things keeps coming and wafting me away, its very distracting and my beakfulls of mud are getting wasted. And I'll tell you what else, there is usually lots of lovely greenery hanging around, flowers even, and they are all gone. I don't know what the world is coming to!'

Alternative version. The old decking-built balcony is at the end of its lifespan, the timbers are looking very old and dodgy. Its about 20 years old. So a new steel structure is to be installed and the old one taken away over the next couple of days. The very enthusiastic Chinese Wisteria has been cut back to a 2ft stump - there is absolutely no doubt it will regrow, mostly in one season. So we don't want the martins to start building there and are shooing them off so they will go elsewhere - the eaves of the house probably. They are not a bit happy and are telling us about the unreasonableness of this and how they have planning permission and everything.

In fact the place they want to build has only so far raised one set of chicks, usually the nest falls down, probably because the old timbers are damp and mossy and the mud does not stick.

looksee

Yes, we have some of these wrens, also some other tiny birds with little stick-y up tails, don't know what they are called...

New Home

They're probably scops owls, or bald eagles. Bound to be. Mind you, could be blue footed boobies or dodos or kiwis, just as well.

looksee

Some interesting possibilities there, fancy the notion of bald eagles tho' they don't appear to be bald.

New Home

I thought it might have been an alternative spelling to bold (not as in "bad", but as in "brave"), but I have a feeling it might have more to do with this: https://www.etymonline.com/word/piebald#etymonline_v_14955

Anyway, I'm certain the bird in your picture is definitely not a robin readbreast. No siree.

looksee

Just ordered some timber from the sawmill for various jobs. Some of it is for a fruit cage for the raspberries which are just forming enthusiastic fruit, the crows fly over occasionally to see how they are doing. Hence the cage. I'm not sure how much it cost me (plus the netting, which I already have) but I know I could buy a heck of a lot of raspberries for the price.

New Home

This works for strawberries, it might for raspberries, too, if you can find a way of hanging them...

https://tinyurl.com/nhfths8h

looksee

I reckon that might work for strawberries! It would be worth a try, though I don't have any strawberries at the moment. I'm not sure it would work for raspberries, as you say it would be a problem organising them to tempt the birdies.

looksee

What sort of eejit am I? Don't answer that! A couple of months ago I spotted a beautiful Prunus in the garden centre and on impulse bought it. It had glorious dark red double flowers, very pretty. So I brought it home and rather randomly planted it in a bit of a bank close to the south side of the house, a bit near to a hedge and not at all a prime site, but I thought a flowering cherry would be lovely just there.

Just seen the two peaches on it. Persica Melred.

Normally I read the label, look it up, check it out. Not this time. Anyway it seems happy where it is so I will trim down the scruffy wild privet hedge behind it to give it a bit more sun and let it get on with it.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120732117#Comment_120732117

Isn't that just peachy! :pac:

New Home

:pac:

magicbastarder

got a message from a friend - she'd seen a twitter post about acanthus trapping bees, so went out and checked her own. three bees trapped, two of them already dead. she's dug it out.

https://twitter.com/eoinllewellyn/status/1682636802618716160?s=46&t=G1AYDoVAiFIkofmDudlWHg

looksee

Spring of '24 and the most beautiful day out there, warm and fresh and sunny and gorgeous. Been planting random stuff that has been waiting for a home for some time, also planting up pots. Not really interesting enough to photo but very satisfying.

magicbastarder

I see mulch.ie are no longer in business. They'd have possibly been one of the best known topsoil/bark/compost suppliers in Dublin I'd have known of. Don't know how long they're gone, we got topsoil off them two or three times.

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120889936#Comment_120889936

That is one plant we can do without for sure, thanks for posting, will not get anywhere near my garden.

SnowyMuckish

Lovely to see the crocuses up the past few weeks. Does the heart good to see the first signs of life returning.