Attracting insects and a mistake with Elder

I didn't do well with my brussel sprouts - too close together I think, but I did get a few sprouts, as well as a handful of sprouted sprouts. They are now a mass of yellow flowers which the insects are loving - including 2 types of bees this morning.

Last year I rooted 2 cuttings of elderflower which I put out in the garden to be part of my countryman's hedge. Today I have just read in a book (The Living Landscape: How to read and understand it by Patrick Whitefield that Elder is one of those plants that inhibits the growth of its neighbours - so I'll have to pull them out. I'll try one in a pot.

Bank holiday. spring, slugs

A bank holiday helps me be green and country in the city by giving me more time. As well as city things (one theatre trip, one film), usual things (kayaking Saturday morning, cycle ride Sunday morning), I had an extra cycle ride this morning (such a lot of broken glass about at the moment!), made rhubarb crumble, made some bread rolls, Will have by this evening sown most of the seeds that should have been sold in April, and started a paper mache figurine.   I've also had some afternoon naps in my hammock as the leaves on my neighbour's ash tree are just big enough to give me shade (and sometmes the greenest thing to do is nothing!).Note that tidying the conservatory and the studio do not feature in this list though both should do - perhaps next week end.

I successfully found a slug eating my indoor cucumber seedlings, but another leaf half eaten the next night. A couple of visits after dark, but still no sign of a culprit, but another half leaf gone! Yesterday I potted the seedlings into slightly bigger pots - no sign of a slug. However this morning nothing extra eaten, so hopefully now safe!

Put some copper tape round two planter troughs yesterday, one old one with a french strawberry and a succulent in it, and one new one where I had sown carrots and parsley. Need to get some more.

My wisteria looking magnificant, horse chestnuts in full bloom, hawthorn as well. Love this time of year!

rhubbarb crumble

Had my first rhubbarb crumble today. The sticks were thin and not very juicy due to so little rain.

something eating my cucumbers!

In the conservatory I have 3 small pots with cucumber seeds in, 4 of the 8 seeds have germinated, but they've been nibbled! I hope to remember to sneak out before I go to bed in the hope of catching the culprit!

Day off today, and did the winter bedding - two trips to the laundrette as well as my washing machine. This was a time when a car would have been useful, as I would then have only needed one trip to the laundrette. And I had only one bed to cope with - real problem with families to get this sort of job done!

Almond trees

What I think are ornamental almonds are in full, glorious bloom at the moment. There has also been quite a bit of planting young trees round about, including a lot on the north of the football pitches on Hackney Marshes. Some look like ornamental almond.

Pity they couldn't be real almond trees.

Would grey squirrels be a problem then? If so, in some places there is room for sweet chestnut instead.

herbal tea tasting

Last of the herbal tea tasting course last night.

It has been a very interesting way of learning about herbs. Each week we have had a herb to have as a tea throughout the week, not knowing what they are (though I'd guessed 2): fennel (pungent), vivain (bitter), hibiscus (sour), liquorice (sweet) and marshmallow (bland). The sixth taste is salty.

Last night we learnt a bit about blending teas and had a go.  I made mine of chamomile, nettle, hibiscus and borage, which I have yet to try.

I've learnt that I can leave teas to brew longer than I do (usually I dunk the teabag a few times then take it out). The bland tea we had as a cold infusion, which is less time consuming to take. I don't like tea, so usually drink water, so no waiting to for tea to brew or cool, and water can be gulped down, so making tea seems to take ages! I am also going to try making hot tea, having the first cup hot and then leaving the rest to cool.

Last night we had a fresh, green tea, made from weeds from Gail's garden. It didn't include one of Gail's favourite herbs - chickweed - but only because there is none in her garden at the moment. I usually have masses, but also have none at the moment.

I am thinking of getting an hibiscus bush for the garden - a pretty shrub, good flowers for insects, and can be used for herbal teas.

Problems with my Sunday cycle ride routes

This morning I cycled round the west bit of Victoria Park, not just the east bit; but probably the cycle ride round the park was no further than normal due to the work they are doing on it, blocking paths. In two places I cycled across grass, which is fine with the ground hard at the moment.

My long route on a Sunday is to Limehouse Basin, which at the junction with the Lee Navigation and the Hertford Union is a loop which I can do either way. Until mid June they are doing some Olympic Regeneration work on the tow path along to (and past?) Old Ford Lock. It will be nice to have that section of the path made smoother to cycle, but a nuisance while it's being done.

I'll try to find out whether anyone at work lives near Victoria Park and can tell me when the paths are open again. Though the weather forecast seems to think this dry weather will last a while, so I can keep Victoria Park as one of my rides.

Figs and lemons

I took the fleeces of the lemon tree and the fig tree yesterday.

The fig is just starting to come into leaf. It also has what looks tiny, tiny figs but I expect will turn out just to be bigger leaf buds.

The lemon tree was one that was advertised widely last year as fruiting outside even in the British climate. Despite the fleece it looks completely dead. A friend says, not to worry, it will spring back into life, but looking at it I am not very confident!

emptying the womery

When you see a picture of a wormery you imagine worms working in the food waste at the top and lovely worm-free compost underneath. Not so! There are worms at all levels, including in the trays full of compost/worm shit (depending on how you view it!).

I read last year that the method you use is lifting the lid off, allowing the worms to hide from the light by disappearing into the tray below, and then lift the top tray off, and let the same thing happen to the tray below, emptying the ones that are ready. 

I tried this today, and it doesn't seem to work!  Picking worms out of the compost before putting it in the pots I am transferring the plum trees into takes ages, so the shed doesn't get tidied. Hopefully next Sunday.

The bindweed beginning to grow - I get it coming in from one of my neighbours, having successfully got rid of it in my garden by continually pulling it up for years and years.

Vegetable garden

Today I sowed leeks outside and cucumbers inside.

I planted out a parsley plant and a coriander plant (in the garlic bed!) and put a coriander plant and a basil plant in a trough for the conservatory.

The brussel sprouts were sending up shoots, so I picked those and had them with my rice and green lentils.

herbs

I brought some pots of cutting herbs at Waitrose yesterday - basil, corriander and parsley. 

Gardening writers are usually very sniffy about buying these pots of herbs and planting them, but I have been reasonably successful.  I have some flat-leaved chives from some years ago that I have to weed to stop spreading too far, parsley which I plant fresh each year, basil which I get fresh each year, planting into a larger pot and keeping in the conservatory (they wouldn't survive the slugs for a night in the garden!), and I had a pot of mint outside last year which I thought had died at the end of the summer, but it is growing again now.

I am not sure whether corriander would thrive outside, so I will have that with the basil in a trough in conservatory.  If I see some more at the supermarket on Saturday, I might get a pot to plant out in the garden to see how it fares.