Gardening

The old uknature site will shortly be closed down and all the content moved to the current nature diary / Nature & Wildlife (UK) blogs. This should hopefully enable me to keep the content more accurate and avoid some duplication. To see a larger image of the front page and read some of the history click on the read more link below.

One thing I have noticed since moving out of London is how little the weather previously affected us in the inner city. November seems early to have such a harsh frost and the ground has been frozen for the best part of a week. I haven't really seen a frost like this for many years. I went out early one morning to take photos of all the ice cystals covering the plants. The chickens weren't as taken by the beauty of everything - one foot on the frozen ground and they hopped up on my back for warmth. The other thing you really notice is the stars. In London a clear night meant you could see the stars. Out in the country a clear night means you see thousands of stars of different size, colour and intensity and some of them really do twinkle!

I am rather fond of ladybirds and enjoy seeing them chomping away on aphids which I particularly dislike! I have recently been diappointed in seeing fewer ladybirds despite considerable aphid infestations. Last year I invested in a 'ladybird hotel' to encourage ladybirds to overwinter in my runner bean patch as well as buying some ladybird larvae which I put on my broad bean plants. I can't say that I saw much effect from that - I never saw the larvae again and there didn't seem to be many ladybirds around - certainly none in the ladybird hotel.

How to build a wildflower meadow. Instructions with photographs on how to create a meadow with wild flowers from your local environment - from UK Nature.

Some of the most common enquiries received on uknature are about wild flowers and how to create a wildflower meadow. The wildflowers of particular interest are: wild poppy, cornflower, white campion, wild daisy e.g. oxeye daisy, wild pansy and charlock. We also receive a lot of enquiries about wild seed suppliers or suppliers of native plants.

If you want to ask questions about creating wild flower meadows please ask on my uk nature and wildlife discussion forum