Green and country in the city 2 July

Lovely to have had some rain for the garden - and nice weather - sunny, but not too hot - this weekend.

• Disturbing frogs a lot this year. This week there has been a frog in the top of the wild strawberry pot who is not disturbed when I am picking berries and checking there are not snails around the inside of the rim.
• The farmers 5-day forecast on Monday morning on radio 4 was completely different from the ordinary day's weather on the Today Programme about 10 minutes later. Was it going to rain that day or not?
• First thing Tuesday morning there were 2 fox cubs playing on the grass in the next door garden. Later there were 2 adults playing together (which I've never seen before) and the small cub. Then one adult played with the cub.
• Day off on Wednesday and after breakfast I was meditating. I felt what I thought were the tip of a cat's whiskers on my forearm - but it stayed the same pressure so I opened my eyes to find a thin, black and yellow caterpillar. I didn't know what plant it had come off so put in back on the blackcurrant bushes as I had been picking some blackcurrants to have with my breakfast.
• Picked blackcurrants to make blackcurrant gin but I forgot (again) to buy a bottle of gin from Tescos. Looked to see what I had left from previous years. I had enough - and 4 empty gin bottles for the recycling.
• Many more butterflies, bumble bees, other bees and other insects this year than I have had for several years which I am really pleased about. Yesterday there were 3 bumblebees on my lavender. Recent years I was lucky to have 3 bees in the whole garden. I did notice when I left Wanstead Meeting House after being one of the storytellers at a Leytonstone Arts Trail event that there were 12 bumblebees on the lavender in their front garden!

Weather forecast: want it right for tonight and wrong for the rest of the weekend!

I still have some potash left over from the winter and wanted to try it round my beans to see if it would help keep the snails and slugs at bay.

Yesterday it was windy. Not so windy tonight and forecast for some rain so hopefully that is accurate as it will damp the ash down a bit so it won't blow away.

And then nice weather for the weekend, good for kayaking, and I can get the courgettes in and some other chores done in the garden.

And I got sugar and lemons for elderflower champagne at lunch time, and I need to pick the blossom when it is dry.

Fingers crossed!

Sunday in the garden

Yesterday I had a long session in the garden. It was dry and breezy. Excellent day for getting my winter bedding washed and dry. Unfortunately the evening before I had checked accuweather website for the weather forecast which was predicting a lot of rain between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon!

The ground on the flower bed where I dug 2 holes to put in my scabious plants was very dry despite the rain we have had the last fortnight or so.

There was a crow in my neighbour Dorothy's buddleia bush breaking off twigs for a nest. A little while later the crow and its mate where in my other neighbour's ash tree screaming at a cat climbing. The cat retreated, coming backwards down the treet The leaves are still young in that ash tree, and the one beside it, so not a great deal of cover, and I can't see any sign of a nest so don't know what the crows were trying to protect!

Weather or foxes tipping things over in the garden?

This morning I found what had been a full can of water on its side. I suspect foxes. One of the plum tree pots was also on its side. I suspect wind.

This morning in the office I nearly put a coat on mid-morning as I was feeling a little chilly!

Not very long ago they were forecasting a dry May, now they are forecasting a wet one!

Last weekend I was planning this weekend to get a load of bedding washed. The duvet and the sleeping bag (I have it opened under the bottom sheet) at the laundrette, the duvet cover, the fleecy under blanket, the mattress topper and the blanket that goes on top on the topper in the washing machine. All dried in the sun before being put back on the bed in the evening. That is going to have to wait a while!

Winter comes to Leyton - sort of!

Yesterday Leyton had it's first frost, heavy enough for thin ice on the pond and in the buckets but not enough to kill off the nasturtiums, though the ones in the back garden, away from the home, are damaged.

The rest of the day was drizzle intermingled with patchy sun.

Same again today.

On my bike ride this morning I couldn't complete my planned ride due to a large amount of water on the path under the railway line. If I needed to get through it was probably shallow enough. As I didn't, I didn't try. There was probably a similar expanse of water under the cattle creep.

I have been using this route for my Sunday morning ride a lot this summer and autumn, but I might have to give it a miss for a while. Pity, as if the weather is good for bike rides over the Christmas/New Year break it is nice to have some varied routes. I could still have one ride north, up one side of the Navigation and down the other, perhaps with a stop at the cafe at the bottom of Springfield Park for their vegetarian breakfast.

watch out for weather!

On 14 November 2007, presumably a Sunday, I spent some time in the afternoon in my hammock. The next day was the first frost of the year. The day after that there was a heavy frost and ice on my pond.

Haven't my heating yet, but might have to soon just to get clothes dry!

How can I be green when I can't trust weather forecasts?

I am a bit worried that I moan too much on these posts, but here I go again!

One of the things that annoys me about some people trying to encourage others to be green, is that they don't seem to live in the same world I do!

According to a lot of them you don't need a tumble dryer as you can dry your clothes outside. One of the sad things about being an adult is how much time I spend thinking about getting stuff dry! Even today, when the weather forecast is for clouds and sunny periods (and I've just now double checked on acuweather.com) I was hanging up sheets and towels before going on a cycle ride when I looked up and saw masses of dark clouds. I brought it all in to hang on the clothes horse. Now the clouds seem to have moved off to the west, so I might try the cycle ride but the sheets and towels stay indoors!

Last weekend when the weather forecast was for a dry Saturday, I had 2 loads of washing on the line, went out,and it poured down. That washing came in wetter than it went out!

If I had children I am pretty sure I would squeeze in a tumble dryer somewhere!

Secret garden in Regents Park

I had told my osteopath about the herb walk I went on - outside the College of Physicians near Regents Park. So last week she told me about a programme she had seen about a "secret" garden in Regents Park, where people walk by the opening without realising. It is the garden of St John's Lodge.

I looked it up on the Internet and sent that to Andrew at work, as he organises a monthly lunchtime walk. We went on Thursday, and it is indeed a lovely garden. On the way out we took a look at a vegetable garden looked after by horticultural students. I was pleased to see that although the cherry tomatoes were ripe, there were only a few of the ordinary-sized ones ripe. This made me feel better about mine - first ripe one on Tuesday and one more now just beginning to turn.

We were lucky with the weather, it started to rain on the way back to the office, but not hard until we were indoors. This morning, as I believed yesterday's weather forecast for a dry Saturday and a wet Sunday, I left 2 loads of washing on the line but it rained while I was out and it came in wetter than it went out! I think if I had a family I would squeeze in a tumble dryer, however ungreen it is!