by Emma | Jan 13, 2018 | books, gardens, pests
For two glorious years, this garden was cat-free. And then just at the point where the garden was mostly ‘finished’ and all I needed to think about was playing with plants, a feral cat moved into the neighbourhood. And started leaving ‘gifts’ in the raised beds. I had...
by Emma | Sep 21, 2017 | pests, science, What can I do?, wildlife
The morning after last week’s storms, our morning walk was littered with ‘conkers’, the large and shiny seeds of the Horse Chesnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). Ryan started picking some of the nicer ones up. “The people at work”, he said, “have been discussing whether or...
by Emma | Jun 28, 2017 | general, pests
It’s not that long since it was spring, and cold, and my young plants needed hardening off, but it has been long enough that both of my raised bed covers had been put away for the year. Their plastic covers are great for keeping out the weather, but once it’s warm...
by Emma | May 19, 2017 | citizen science, environment, ethnobotany, food, pests, tendrils, unusual, veg, wildlife
Hello! Welcome to Tendrils. We’ve had some proper rain here at last. The wild strawberries are flowering and beginning to fruit in the fruit garden, which is starting to look very lush. There’s some clover competing with the wild strawberries for ground cover space;...
by Emma | Sep 5, 2016 | food, fruit, Greenhouse, nuts, perennial, permaculture, pests, planning, thoughts, wildlife
When I was younger (so much younger than today), I learned how to ride a motorcycle. Whilst discussing the effects of weather on road conditions, my instructor said, the most dangerous effect comes from a type of weather you can’t see. What is it? I confidently...
by Emma | Aug 15, 2016 | flowers, fruit, pests, unusual, veg
Last Sunday I wanted to buy some wooden planters for the vines, so that they can clamber up the arbour, so we set off on a bit of a garden centre ‘crawl’ to find what we wanted – for them to fix to the arbour they had to be within a certain size range. And to fit...