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On My Oasis – Hatches, Plant Trials and Tumblr
Oh my god. Is that wet stuff I see falling from the sky? What is this strange onslaught of liquid?
I should be asking, how have we coped without it for so long? Finally, after many months of dry, parched earth (and me scurrying around with a watering can whilst simultaneously worrying about the fact we’ve just been put on water meter) there was TWO days of rain. The water butt’s half filled. The ground is darkened with moisture. The plants have almost let out an audible sigh of relief as they’ve drunk without stopping for hours on end. On my Oasis, life is very good.
Chickens
Have you quite realised by now that I have the chicken bug? First my four ex-batts arrived to fill the void ever since Charlotte was stolen. I currently have one sickly hen – though she’s still laying. Arya, having now got over her moult, has a red comb again and finally seems to be making her mark in the pecking order and not just running around trying to avoid everyone and everything. I’m averaging three eggs a day at the moment – fantastic.
Meanwhile, the little chicks have grown fast. They’re putting on quite the show with their Las-Vegas Strip-style hairdo’s. AND, this Friday I had ANOTHER hatch. Five more this time; funnily enough it was exactly like last time – four Polish bantams and a beautiful Lavender/Cream d’anver. With eight Polish, I’ll have to raise them and sell a couple. The plan is only to have three or four Polish and d’anvers to create our own breeding flocks. IF we don’t have a cock and hen d’anver, I expect I’ll have to hatch out some more. They can nestle in with the meat birds I’m thinking about hatching next. I mean – eggs is good, but if we’re doing this whole self-sufficiency thing properly, I ought to actually raise some meat.
Two of the Polish bantam chicks eyeing each other up.
The Lavender/Cream d’anver from the recent hatch – complete with egg tooth.
Plants on Trial
The flowers have been rather neglected over the past few weeks, largely because any time spent watering was focused on the greenhouse. However, the Mediterranean bed is filling out better than I’d have ever hoped – I can’t wait to see it next year. Also ALL THOSE YEARS of believing Acers got wind-burn only to discover on Friday’s ‘Gardeners’ World’ that it’s actually water stress. Lord, I feel like a plonker. I’ve been watering my new acer like mad and the new buds are already forming, just as all the old, shriveled leaves fall off.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a few plants thrust my way this year as a means of reviewing and/or trialing new varieties. In the greenhouse, I’ve got a couple of tomato varieties (Fenda and Corazon) from Marshall’s Seeds. They’re doing exceedingly well, especially since they’re being grown in pots. I’m having to supply a lot of liquid feed as a result, but if that’s the only downside of space-saving, I’ll take it. They’re fruiting well and seem to be pretty drought and disease resistant – very happy so far, though the true review will be in the taste.
Meanwhile, I’m trialing Salvia ‘Kate Glen’ from Unwins . These three tiny little plug plants didn’t do a lot for the first couple of months, but – dare I say it – actually look as if they might throw a flower or two into the sky. I don’t mind if they don’t, of course; I’d prefer they put on good growth for next year and look even better.
Finally, my love for grasses has grown considerably over the years. A very unimpressed husband took some convincing, but as the low grasses billow amongst the lavender in the Mediterranean bed, I’ve heard a few mumbles of appreciation. I was luckily enough to get hold of a Stipa ‘Goldilocks’ by Knoll Gardens. This is a lovely compact version of Spanish Oat Grass, making it ideal for smaller gardens where space is at a premium.
Salvia ‘Kate Glen’ has suddenly come on in the past few weeks
In the greenhouse, tomato ‘Fenda’ are beginning to swell.
Stipa ‘Goldilocks’ from Knoll Gardens is still rather small, but it won’t take long….
New Tumblr
Finally, I’ve set up a new Tumblr account that’s associated with The Guide to Gay Gardening. Gardening can be a very visual thing, I don’t share half the images I take on his blog, so I thought I’d use a photo-friendly site to upload them. I share everything on Instagram too, so if you follow either one (or both) you’ll discover a lot more photos of plants, flowers and everyday goings-on.
Till next week!
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