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On My Oasis – The Perfect Weather
It’s not often we get perfect gardening weather, but here in the southeast of England today’s been pretty much it; warm and sunny with a breeze turning to rain for night. It’s no wonder us British folk talk about the weather so much; it’s so darn changeable you never quite know what’s coming next. The past week has been rather busy, and filled with highs and lows in the garden…it’s definitely keeping me on my feet.
First, some good news. Remember my poor hen who got viciously assaulted? Well thank God I didn’t cull her because she’s doing great! We’ve named her Phoenix thanks to her miraculous survival. Honestly, had a human been attacked to such an extent, they’d be dead. And if they did survive, they’d have years of healing ahead on them. Despite loose flaps of thick, bloody flesh hanging around her exposed neck musculature, it seems to have mushed into one piece now. The edges are already showing signs of healing, and she’s alert and bright. There’s a LONG way to go until she’s back to health, but she’s survived a week so as long as I keep out the flies and infection, she might just survive this. As for Scabbers, her attacker, she’s out of quarantine now and in with the rest of the flock – and so far, so good.
Phoenix has shocked me in her healing capabilities
Now for some not-so-good news. Look at the picture below. Can you spot the bean plants?
Spot the bean…
Yep, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was no French bean plant in the picture. I planted out six plants, eager to get them going early and scramble up the branches and fence. Night one – attack of the slugs and snails! Luckily I’d started everything off early, so there’s still time to plant. As a result, it’s more of a hindrance than a complete disaster.
And now for some more woe…
As part of the Brimwood Farm projects, we’ve sown a wildflower meadow, started a campaign to fund owl boxes and planted an English bluebell wood. Only…the nursery I bought the first 100 bluebells from mucked up the order and, having been elated to see spots of blue in the grove on a visit this Saturday, my emotion soon turned sour. Why? Because they’re a hybrid and not English at all! *sobs*
The entire point of starting a brand new bluebell wood was to establish a native bluebell wood a) to protect the species and b) because they’re just waaaaay nicer than the invasive Spanish variety. So now I have a quandry; dig them all up and try to eradicate them, or plant new ENGLISH bluebells this autumn and then, in 2017, remove any hybrid flowers I see to prevent cross-pollination. I’m thinking the latter simply because the land is not near where we currently live and it’s going to be hard to remove them all. At least by de-flowering them over coming years we can stop further hybridisation.
A bluebell hybrid – pale pollen & recurved petals but NOT a true British native
They DO look pretty, but it is NOT what I’d intended
I was gutted when I first realised, and I’m still pretty upset. The nursery have said they’ll make good and send a new batch but I’ve lost all confidence. And with bulbs the issue is you cannot actually tell what you’ve got until long after they’ve been planted.
Finally, if you didn’t receive one, I’ve started a brand spanking new newsletter!! I’m intending on producing it once a week to arrive in your inbox on a Saturday morning. It’ll have links to the blogs of the week so you don’t miss anything, as well as Plant of the Week and Cluck of the Week features. There are also some tips and to-do’s that don’t always get posted on this blog, as well as the latest Brimwood Farm videos like the one of me putting up the owl box! Sign up HERE – it’s free, it’s only once a week and it’s fun!
A snippet from the inaugral newsletter
So, as you can see it’s been a rather tumultuous week. Nothing that can’t be fixed, but some things I could have done without. However, with this wonderful growing weather upon us, I hope the season will continue to approve on both mine, and your, oasis!
What’s growing in your garden? What challenges are you facing? Let me know in the comments!
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