Garden Journal - It's Still All Scruffy, But There's Life !

I should post garden journals more often ! It's more a case that occasionally I potter around the garden and just happen to have the phone in my pocket and remember to take a few photos.

It is fair to say that my garden is not a super-manicured one, pressure of work means it suffers from a certain amount of neglect. But it's quite productive and the wildlife seems to like it !

Raised Beds

First things first, how are our raised beds doing ?

We've got three in total. The first is the one we bought last year. We've added a little more compost to it and planted shallots. They've already come up and are growing rapidly despite the cooler weather. You might have to zoom into the photo to see them clearly !

They're a type which is intended to be grown over the winter and harvested in early spring. Hopefully they'll be frost-resistant ! But we doubt they'll be slug-resistant, so we've spread slug pellets liberally around them.

Below is a view of the shallot bed and one of the new ones half-filled with compost. We massively under-estimated how much compost we'd need to fill them ! This one will get a couple more bags and then we'll probably plant tomatoes in springtime. On the right of this shot are buckets and tubs filled with compost ready for potatoes.

The shot below is the second of the two new raised beds. With a serious shortage of bagged compost, what I've done is swept up a load of the leaves blown down by last week's storms (tidying the garden a bit in the process !) and plonked them in there mixed with a bit of compost and another bag-full covering them to stop them blowing away.

The plan is to let them compost down and settle over winter adding any other suitable organic matter, then top off with a bit more shop-bought compost and some fertiliser in spring. I'm not yet sure what we'll plant in this one yet. Probably more tomatoes !

The Hazelnut Tree Is Not Doing Great

We've got a hazelnut tree just behind the house near the kitchen door. It was ancient when we moved in, and is starting to look like it's on the way out.

I'm hoping to keep it alive as long as it's safe. It provides a huge amount of protection to the corner of the house that catches the worst of the winter weather, and enables half the patio to stay sheltered and dry when it's raining. There's nothing better than standing outside watching the rain fall but staying totally dry !

It also makes a great harvest of hazelnuts each year, although this time around a pair of squirrels stole the lot. I'll be having a word with the local foxes when I see them, it's their job to keep the squirrels under control....

This photo is the main trunk, and as you can see it's got ivy growing on it. Ivy is harmless to it as long as there isn't too much, and the berries and insects living in it are good for the local birds at a time of year when food is scarce for them.

As you can see from the photo, the tree has a lot of different types of fungus. Our tree surgeon has told us that the bracket fungus isn't a problem; it won't harm the tree, and just adds a bit of character.

The one in the photo below is the biggest concern. Hiding among the leaves, it looks like honey fungus. Our whole town is apparently plagued with the stuff, and it is almost impossible to eradicate (you'd have to strip away the top 10 feet or so of topsoil). We've already lost an apple tree, cherry tree, willow and two privets to it, so I have a bad feeling it's going to take the hazelnut too 😟

This photo below shows a third type of fungus the tree has. I have absolutely no idea what it is, so if anyone knows I'd love to find out !

Holly

On a happier note, the holly trees just behind our house have made loads and loads of berries !

These trees actually live in the garden of the house behind us, but I'm pretty sure they are self-seeded. All these berries are going to be a wonderful food source for the birds over the winter. I guess I'll be pulling holly seedlings out of my lawn all next spring....