Boosting the defences

Regular readers will know that we have something that I call a living lid which covers our pond filter chamber.

The lid consists of three shallow trays in which are planted sempervivum and sedum.

Regular readers will also know that since I planted this up each year something devastates it. The prime suspects are the wood pigeons and blackbirds. This year has been no exception.

We have absolutely no idea why this planting is targeted and when we mentioned the problem at the local nursery when we bought replacement plants the guy there said that he had never heard of that happening before. I guess we must just have delinquent birds.

We had already bought some sempervivums and sedums to replant the trays but there seemed no point replanting unless we gave the plants some protection. The issue was that this is the garden and not the allotment and so we didn't want to have something that would be annoying to look at.

Whilst I planted up the trays AGAIN ...

Martyn set to and constructed a frame - one that would not detract from the planting so he used as little wood as we could get away with.

I stained the wood the same green as the summer house and at the same time stained the frame on which it was lodged - a job that I have intended to do for a while.

We brought a piece of black netting from the allotment which we stretched and stapled to the wood.

The netting is fairly fine and black so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb and the plants are still clearly visible through it.

The only thing left was to finish off the ends of the wood so it looked more as though it was meant too be there - if you know what I mean, We found some wooden cupboard knobs that seemed to fit the bill and so these were stained and glued to the ends of the wooden 'legs'.

Now it's fingers crossed that this provides an adequate deterrent to the unknown vandal.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Tree following the medlar

Our young medlar looks a bit different this month.

It is now wearing its fresh spring green outfit.

Before the tree leafs up it is quite difficult to take a clear photo as the background takes over but you should be able to see from the following photo that the first leaves open at the end of the branches like small parasols. 

The leaves are fairly large and slightly ruffled. The reverse side of the leaf is deeply veined. It wasn't until I looked at the photo below that I noticed that each leaf has a reddish tinge around its edge.

I don't know whether this is just a natural colouring or the effect of the cold nights we have been having. The reddish tinge to the leaves is emphasised when the leaf is wet.

Our medlar - Nottingham - is grafted onto a quince rootstock which throws up suckers. These have now been removed. The quince tree on our allotment does just the same thing.

As well as the leaves the main interesting feature last month was the production of the flower buds.

A single bud sits in a rosette of leaves.

The buds have very long sepals which give away the fact that the medlar belongs to the same family as the rose - rosaceae 

This post is linking to  Lucy's blog if you would like to read about more of the trees that are being followed then  pop across and visit

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ 
author S Garrett

How does it compare? - April

In my March - How does it compare? post, I wrote that our garden and plot were behind the stage they were at the same time last year and April has followed the theme.

The magnolia that I posted about throughout last year has been well behind. When it did produce flowers it almost seemed as though no sooner had they opened than the petals began to drop. This wasn't helped by the fact that the flowers chose to open when it was really windy.

Looking back this isn't so unusual in 2009, 2011 and 2014 the first flowers were produced at the start of April. However in 2012 the flowers appeared on 22 March and in 2013 the tree was in full flower on 7 May so flowering times tend to vary considerably.

The fruit trees on the plot are also behind especially the plum blossom which is usually the first to appear. Maybe this isn't a bad thing as there is less chance of the blossom being affected by frost and maybe more active pollinators.

The malus Profusion tree in the garden is also behind.

It isn't just the trees and shrubs that are slow to get going this year. The hostas are well behind. We cleaned out and repotted ours at the end of April which would have been too late last year as they would be in full leaf.

The plants in the pebble garden are now starting to produce flowers but again this is late as they started to flower at the beginning of April last year.

And finally ...

Some differences here are 'manmade'. The bamboo at the back has been removed., The crab apple had been 'trimmed' the pink camellia on the left has been pruned hard so no flowers this year, the gunnera at the far side of the pond is gone and the hostas have new pots.

The main natural difference are in the stage of growth of the hoostas andthe extent of flowering of the crab apple.

It will be interesting to see whether things catch up in May - I'd better browse my May 2014 photos.

Have things been later in your garden too?

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett