UFO found in Kitchen Garden

Whilst keeping an eye out for bees in the garden over the weekend, I happened across this rather peculiar flying beastie. Furry like a bumblebee but with long spindly legs and with slightly sinister looking bat like markings on the wings. Having a lance like proboscis and drinking nectar like a hoverfly or hawkwing moth. Initially I thought this was a hoverfly but further investigations via the trusty Interweb has identified this UFO as a Greater Beefly (Bombylius major).

Rather alarmingly they are parasitic on solitary bees which we have plenty of in the garden. I hope they don't have a negative effect on the rather healthy population of bumblebees in the garden.

Found Objects - glass insulators

I am always on the look out for quirky objects, either for the home or garden I recently found these glass insulators in Lenham and they I believe they are from USA. They are a lovely rich turquoise blue and I can see them topping hazel or copper poles in the kitchen garden perhaps so the light can shine through them. I have a few other decorative items in the garden and I'll write about them soon.

NEW - Book of the Month

Carol Klein - Grow Your Own Vegetables

I have just added a "Book of the Month" to the blog. Not necessarily newly published books, but ones I have been reading or referring to in my quest for knowledge and self improvement - or else just ones with yummy pictures!

As I mentioned previously, my friend Sian designed the book and it has scrummy photography and is really inspiring. She used to work for Gardens Illustrated, so you can imagine how wonderful the book looks. I caught some of the series on telly last year and tt has fired up my enthusiasm for propagation. It turns out not nearly as complicated as you might think, especially following Carol's step by step instructions (and all those free plants - so satisfying).

These are some other books by Carol following the grow your own theme which I have and would recommend. I don't know if the following links will be of use as I can't seem to get this to work on the UK site of Amazon - however the link in the RH column will take you to the right page for the book in my Amazon shop along with a few other suggestions.

More from the Kitchen Garden

I managed to charge up my phone and take some pictures around the kitchen garden today. First project was to plant a perennial sweet pea - a pink one and construct a hazel peastick wigwam as a support. The chickens were happy to help! I have chosen the middle of the comfrey bed for the sweet peas. 

I planted up this bed several years ago when I was short of ideas and now the comfrey is here to stay - it is remarkably vigorous and has even regenerated from cut leaves used as mulch on a potato bed. It puts down very deep, fibrous roots which are very challenging to dig out of clay soil. Still, it is another plant which is full of bees when in flower and can be cut several times a year. It is high in nitrogen and makes a great addition to the compost heap. I keep meaning to make compost tea with it but am too cowardly as it is supposed to stink - perhaps this year.

In the background are some of the galvanised dolly tubs I use as planters. last year they had potatoes in them followed by courgettes.  The bottoms have rusted through but that doesn't matter. I have one still intact which I use for Horseradish as it likes wet conditions. Rhubarb and mytle are both planted in barrels.

I potted up some dog's tooth violet bulbs at christmas and they are nearing flowering now and are in a coldframe waiting to be planted out. Also with them is a frame full of cowslips which I bought cheaply from B&Q (3 plants) and divided up to make 12 plants. Beyond the cowslips are some 5 inch pots of sweet peas. 

Two of the pots are dwarf sweet peas sown from seed I saved from last years plants and three pots have overwintered from seedlings which potted up in the autumn. By the way, these lovely victorian style cloches were presents. The latest one was a Christmas present and came from Crocus - I love browsing the Crocus website see http://www.crocus.co.uk/

I also put some hazel twigs around the broad beans which I planted out last week. I have now sown in the greenhouse (in loo roll tubes) some seeds of the Crimson broad bean to provide a succession. I first came across this variety from the Heritage Seed Library as they were donated to the library by a lady living in Kent, just down the road from here. They have proven so popular they are now available from several seed companies.

I have just harvested some carrots for dinner. I planted these last august in a barrel with some old growbag compost. I like using multicoloured carrots - have a look at the picture of the ones I pulled up today. I just broadcast the seed on the surface of the compost and lightly covered with vermiculite. The carrots then grow to fill the available space - they vary in size but you do get a whole barrel of them and best of all - no carrot fly. The carrot fly flies close to the ground and up in the barrel the plants are out of reach. You do tend to pull more carrots than you need as its a bit like playing lucky dip! 

I have finally given in and bought some organic slug pellets. The slugs have a particular fancy for my pansies and violas and some have found their way into the greenhouse and are having a go at some emerging shoots.

April in the Kitchen Garden

Hooray some sunshine this afternoon and I spent some time in the garden. I lured the hens into the fruit cage where they happily spent a couple of hours turning over the ground and hopefully finding some slugs. I spent some time weeding raised beds and transplanting seedlings into the new bee plant area as well as scattering seeds on bare patches. I put down some crimson clover and tufted vetch seeds in the meadow. I bought some mixed viola plants during the week and have edged the beds with them and also used them to plant up a lovely purple glass container for the house.

The bees were out in force and finding red dead nettle in flower as well as a speedwell and lesser celandine. I walked around the meadow and the violets are out and some self heal. Cuckoo flower and cowslips are on their way. Suddenly all the fruit trees are in bud and the hawthorne is showing green. I saw a couple of ladybirds (of the English variety), the continental ones are still crawling around the window cills in the house.

I planted out little gem lettuces which have been growing on the greenhouse. I have a raised bed (6ft x 4ft) with an integral cold frame made to the Geoff Hamilton plans (gardeners world).  Follow this link to the HDRA Garden Organic website for instructions on how to make one using timber, water pipe and plastic sheeting  click here  Under here from left to right, I have mixed leaves, radiccio, little gem, hispi cabbages and radishes . There are also lots of corncockles appearing under here which I will move. I planted a couple of roses, a Charles de Mills and a David Austin lucky dip from the bargain bin at Notcutts - it didn't have a label so I have no idea of the variety.

My friend Sian has designed Carol Klein's new book - Grow Your Own Garden and it has inspired me to divide perennials and take cuttings for the first time. I potted up a whole tray of hardy geraniums divided up from a small clump and also taken softwood cuttings of sage and garden pinks. Last autumns penstemon cuttings survived the winter - unlike the ones planted in the garden - and are now growing away happily.

I have separated the poorly hen from the flock and she is now in an ark by herself. She has damaged an eye and is not coping well with only one eye working. Today she looked a bit brighter, I am dosing her with Baytril and bathing the eye with aloe vera so fingers crossed.

Here is a picture of the potted up geraniums in the greenhouse. Behind them are lavender Hidcote plugs which I am growing on. They arrived as mini plugs a couple of weeks ago from Thompson & Morgan (84 in total).

More tomorrow as I plan to spend Easter Sunday in the garden if the weather is not too bad.

Growing Plants for Honey Bees

I thought you might like to know about the easy plants you can grow to encourage bees in your garden. Since putting my hive in last year, I have been sowing hardy annuals and perennials to provide them with a rich source of nectar and pollen. As a rule, simple flowers are easier for the bees to access the nectar although early compositae such as dandelions are in important early food source - so leave them to flower if you can.

I am raising crimson clover and sainfoin in modules to plant out and have also been scattering seed on bare soil on an area we have recently cleared by moving the compost heaps. I read in the British Beekeeping magazine that bees are highly attracted to these plants so am trying them. They germinated really easily and are often used as a green manure so the seeds are readily available. visit the bbka website to find out more. http://www.britishbee.org.uk/

Phacelia is an old fashioned garden plant which seeds itself easily and flowers for ages. I have sown lots of seed using last years flower heads and have also transplanted seedings appearing in the vegetable beds. This plant can also be used as a green manure and dug in before flowering - which seems a shame. Borage is also self sown. If you are growing comfrey for making compost or plant food, these flowers are also very attracting to bees. I also have corncockle which seeds itself freely around so have added this to the mix. A traditional wildflower of the cornfields, its is a highly decorative plant, 2-3 foot high with magenta flowers.

Later on in the season, alliums are also popular bee plants and I leave some of last years onions and leeks in the beds to provide some useful food sources. I have included a picture of a bumble bee on a garlic flower taken in the kitchen garden in July. I also have californian poppy seeding around and young echinops everywhere which are popular with the bees.

Even in the smallest of gardens you can dedicate a corner to growing flowers to help the bees.