Making our Meadow Blog

Mission creep

Over the past year or so the remit of this blog has widened first to include the whole garden, and then to include the allotment. This has mainly been because the meadow is not really large enough to  warrant a journal of it's own now that it is fairly well established. I suppose I should really do a thorough survey of the plant species present and their relative abundance. But then again, what would the point be? This is a small patch of introduced grassland with 'native' species in the midst of a sea of sterile lawns. Surveying it would document how well the seeds and plants introduced had established but this is not exactly ground breaking research. In fact it would be much more useful to survey the invertebrates. This vital nugget of information comes from a book I recently read by Ken Thompson called "No Nettles Required" which gleefully overturns many of the cherished tenets of wildlife gardening. It does so with real authority as well since it is based on the only comprehensive survey of garden wildlife so far carried out, Sheffield University's BUGS project. It makes plain that the level of biodiversity on which the garden operates is that of invertebrates; while birds and to a much lesser extent mammals and reptiles use gardens, few actually spend their whole lives there. Moreover, among the huge range of species they uncovered in the urban gardens of Sheffield were a number which were quite rare and some which were completely new to science! The most important point they discovered was that the presence of native species made no difference to levels of biodiversity in gardens. So to study the impact our meadow i would need to place a range of moth, beetle and other insect traps and study the results. The problem is that unlike the BUGS project and Jennifer Owen (author of the seminal Ecology of a Garden) I don't have access to a large number of experts in invertebrate identification and while I can identify many insects to the family and in some cases the genus level, there is a limit to my skills. And my time.

This does however justify including the whole garden within the remit of the 'meadow project' since it is the biodiversity of the garden I am interested in. It makes no sense to apply one set of values to one part (the meadow) and an entirely other set of values to the another part (the ornamental and vegetable gardens) when all areas are potentially equally valuable to wildlife, as long as certain rules are adhered to. Specifically no pesticides. I have only used 'organic wildlife friendly' slug pellets but I think that these are out too now. However on the allotment the principal aim is feeding the family so I won't be so 'sentimental', and unless it is relevant to the garden I won't dwell on it further.

If I can't identify every invertebrate in the garden in a rigourous and scientific manner I can at least document at least some of them in an entirely partial and unscientific way. To this end I will:

• try to document photographically all species observed in the garden when I get time...
• continue to develop the pondcam, once I have fixed it...
• create new MeadowCam to replace the fixed point pictures. This will be a time lapse of the changes occuring across the meadow using a Canon compact and GB TimeLapse software. When I have figured out how to do it. Which  I should have got done by spring...

So here's to the future.

Limited time for activity...plenty of time for thinking

It is hard enough at this time of year to do the stuff that needs doing, with so few hours of daylight meaning only weekends are available to do things. Having a 6 week onld baby means that those weekends rapidly disappear as well. So far I have managed to do the following:

• finished off the new lawn (to give Max somewhere to play!).
• moved the perennials around in the long perennial bed.
• planted up and protected the Echium pinninana plants (see below).

Several years ago we went to the Eden Project in Cornwall and marvelled at the gigantic Viper's Bugloss plants growing there. I bought some seed and 2 years ago finally got round to sowing it. I had expected the plants to bloom this year since they are biennials, and planted them out in May, but while they have put on some growth they have still not flowered - I suppose it was a pretty crap summer. So while I was expecting them to have died off this autumn I was now lumbered with the prospect of protecting them from the frost. I checked with someone I knew at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, and they confirmed that unless they were in a very sheltered south facing spot they shoudl be protected. So I staked them and wrapped them up in bubblewrap, in one of the few spare hours I had. Sadly the very evening after swaddling them up snug and warm I saw on Gardeners World that you should not use bubblewrap since it promotes rot. It took me another month to get the stuff off and replace it with fleece. The cold snap over the new year period has hopefully vindicated this decision.

Of course all those long dark sleepless hours in the middle of the night when there is nothing else to be done does allow you to think and plan. I have had to be careful not to overplan, it is all very well deciding to do things but if you only have two spare hours per week then it is only a good way way to ensure disappointment. Plans in the offing include:

• Install fencing at the bottom of the lawn and across the two perennial beds.
• Growing asparagus from seed in one of the vegetable beds.
• Growing Green Tomatoes.
• Moving the pondcam pc box to provide better views for the pond cam, which will also require:
• Fixing the pondcam!
• At the same time setting up a new time lapse generating cam to monitor the development of the meadow through the summer.
• Possibly removing the composters and replacing them with a shed.

The composters are to be moved to the allotment. Other proposed activities on the allotment next year include:

• Creating a sheet barrier to retain the manure when delivered.
• Creating a few new beds between the manure heap, and the onions. One for growing Italian Spagna butter beans has already been made and filled with manure.
• Growing white asparagus from crowns already ordered (not the same as the seed I am planning to grow in the garden!).
• Growing as many vegetables as time will allow!

Proposed varieties include:

Variety	English Name
Argenteuil	Asparagus
de Barbentane	Aubergine
White	Beetroot
Sanguina	Beetroot
Barbabietola di Chioggia	Beetroot
Ishigura Long White	Bunching Onion - Summer
Ishigura Long White	Bunching Onion - Winter
Friverde	Bush french bean
Cupidon	Bush french bean
Precoce de Louviers	Cabbage
Greyhound	Cabbage
d'Eysines	Carrot
Autumn King	Carrot
James Scarlett	Carrot
Amsterdam Forcing	Carrot
Early Nantes	Carrot
Borlotto Lamon	Climbing Bean
Cosse Violette	Climbing French Bean
Barlotta di Fuoco	Climbing french bean
Spagna Corona	Climbing french bean
Serpette Guilloteau	Climbing Pea
Louviers	Corn Salad
Genovese	Courgette
Mirella	Cucumber
Vert Petit de Paris	Cucumber
Dill	Dill
Aquadulce Claudia	Fava Bean
Piccolo di Parigi	Gherkin
Cavalo Nero di Toscana	Kale
Cavalo Nero di Toscana	Kale
Telephone	Late maincrop Pea
Winter Crop	Lettuce
Winter Density	Lettuce
Minnesota Midget	Melon
Dorata di Parma	Onion
Keepwell	Onion
Gigante di Napoli	Parsley
Frise Vert Fonce	Parsley
Tender & True	Parsnip
Turga	Parsnip
Tender & True	Parsnip
Etna	Peperoncini Hot
Spagna Corona	Runner Bean
Salsify	Salsify
Silene inflata	Sculpit
Picasso	Shallot
Beleville	Sorrel
New Zealand	Spinach
Giant Winter	Spinach
bloomsdale	Spinach
Queensland Blue	Squash
Round Small	Squash
Harrier Butternut F1	Squash
Sunnybrook	Sweet Pepper
mini pop	Sweetcorn
mini pop	Sweetcorn
mini pop	Sweetcorn
San Marzano	Tomato
Irish Gardener's Delight	Tomato
Galina	Tomato
Amish Paste	Tomato
Gold Nugget	Winter Squash
Jaune de Poitou	Yellow Leek
Genovese	Zucchino
Nano verde di Milano	Zucchino
Goldie	Zucchino

Since writing all that (over a month ago!) I have moved the composters to the allotment (but not out up a shed) moved the pondcam pc (but not yet fixed the pondcam) and planted the asparagus.No i wouldn't normally plant asparagus in january either, but the helpful people at seeds of italy sent them and the crowns were sprouting so i have had to plant them, give them a thick blanket of mulch and hope for the best. I have sown the first pepper and tomato seeds though - spring starts in January in this house. The chilis are already up!