Little Green Space
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Little Green Space |
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February 2009 February 22, 2009 First Butterfly, First Bee
Yesterday Rich and the kids spotted the first butterfly of the year - a comma - out in the meadow. And today I was taking photos of snowdrops for my Peak Advertiser article - all about planting nectar rich flowers for insects which emerge early from hibernation - when an early bee rather conveniently landed on one of said snowdrops. Thanks, Bee! February 21, 2009 Sow and Sow I'm getting a bit overenthusiastic, I know. The first hint of spring and I'm out there, seed packet in hand. There are tomatoes (Gardener's Delight, Roma and Red Cherry), strawberries, chives, basil and leeks in propagators on the windowsill. And out on the patch I've put in some Jerusalem artichokes, and carrot seeds (Paris Market and Nelson). Probably too early for the carrot seeds, but they were free with a magazine, so nothing lost. February 19, 2009 Trees, Garlic and Shallots We have spent a pleasant afternoon getting another 14 trees planted in our mixed woodland area. We have planted oak, ash, rowan and wild cherry, as well as an eating cherry ("Stella") in the orchard. Then I left Rich clearing bramble and creating piles of brashings and headed to the veggie patch to plant garlic and shallots. It now really feels as though the growing season is beginning, at last. On a different note, here is a link to The Story of Stuff, sent to us by Rina, a friend at Transition Matlock. It's a brilliant summary of the social and environmental impact of needless consumerism, and is well worth a watch. February 18, 2009 On the Lookout After finishing a spot of digging this afternoon, I sat in the garden to watch the sun go down. It was actually warm enough to do this (but only just) which was a pleasant change. But I really wanted to just sit and look for a while, as we've had some more encouraging news on the barn owl front. Back before Christmas our friends Andy and Debbie spotted a barn owl in flight on the far side of Oker Hill. And we have recently had an email from Stephen Coates, who has also seen barn owls flying near Oker, perhaps less than two miles from Hackney Leys. So there is no doubt that they are out there! Needless to say, I didn't see an owl this evening. Lot of crows, though. February 13, 2009 Transition Matlock Events There are a couple of Transition Matlock events coming up in the next few weeks. Professor Bill McGuire, author of "Seven Years to Save the Planet" will be speaking at the Imperial Rooms, Matlock on 25 February. And on 13 March there will be a screening of the award-winning film "The Power of Community", also at Matlock's Imperial Rooms. Full details of both events can be seen here. February 4, 2009 The Raspberry Bed Luckily we managed to finish off the raspberry bed and get the summer fruiting raspberry canes planted before the snow came. The raspberry canes are now under a foot of snow, though - I hope they don't mind. When planting the canes we followed the fantastic advice we got at Rob and Jane's Transition Matlock Fruit Workshop at Fairfield. I've also mulched the apple trees using wood ash - we have rather a lot of that at the moment - and cardboard. I had planned to plant garlic around the trees, as it's supposed to benefit them in that magical companionable way that plants have, but, well, you know - snow. You can read more about the Fruit Workshop here. |
