Tuesday 7 May 2013

Ungrateful


Monday was the best day we've had in a long time with plenty of sunshine, just a gentle breeze and the warmest day of the year at 23°C.

Our resident blackbirds are really ungrateful for the food and water we supply or that they’re super opportunists is probably a more apt description.

I’d just popped into the greenhouse to do some watering and forgot to put up our wire mesh door as the main door is left open on nice sunny days to keep the greenhouse cooler. Half an hour later I returned to the greenhouse and the blackbirds had been busy uprooting my brassica seedlings.
Fortunately not too much damage had been done the only downside is it wasn't exactly clear which seedlings had been moved where so I don’t know my Hispi’s from my Crispus’s.  

These broad beans Witkeim Manita are at the opposite end of the protection scale. Sue transplanted these into the plot and the only protection they have is some weed control fabric
So far our experiment of using weed control membrane has been successful. This bed had been growing spring cabbage which just ran to seed rather than producing any useful cabbages. They had been grown under the fabric and once the seeded cabbages were disposed of to the compost heap the ground under the fabric was weed free. That’s a real bonus down on the plot. The bed was dug over and replanted. It’s now all over to the broad beans.

Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

4 comments:

  1. Naughty blackbirds. Today is going to be a warm day in N Ireland. Then I think we're back to rain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On this occasion it was definitely my fault. Especially as I know we've a few pairs of blackbirds in the garden and a nest close to the greenhouse. It's back to changeable weather for us too from Wednesday.

      Delete
  2. Blackbirds can be such pests, at least it wasn't slugs which got your brassicas, you wouldn't have had any left. Another lovely day again today, we're being spoilt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now I've moved the brassicas into the cold frame I'm expecting the slugs to be on the lookout for a tasty meal as soon as it turns damp.

      Delete

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