Foxgloves potted up

The foxglove seed I sowed on the 3rd of August has germinated like crazy. I potted some up today. In previous years I have just scattered the seed around the garden, but I thought I'd try this approach for a change.

Foxes attack lettuce

A fox has attacked the lettuce plants, digging up those at each end of the trough.

Wallflower seeds sown

I sowed some wallflower seeds today. The variety is 'Vivaldi'. In the pot on the left (with the piece of cane in) I sowed some seed which I gathered from the same variety of plants growing in the garden in the spring. The seeds I gathered were smaller than I expected, so they may not be viable. We'll see.

The fish incident

When watering the strawberries this afternoon I noticed a lot of flies around. Then I spotted a partly-eaten large fish under a nearby bush. I buried its remains at the bottom of the garden - the pic above shows it just before being interred. A couple of paving slabs were placed over its final resting place to prevent the foxes digging it up again.

Where did the foxes get the fish from? Is a local pond missing an occupant? Why didn't the foxes eat more of their aquatic prey? Very strange.

Pentland flowering

One of the Pentlands growing the garden is flowering. None of the spuds in bags are flowering, and a couple of the plants are looking a bit tired so harvesting of the bags may be approaching.

Shed roof

The garden shed has been leaking for some time - in fact I bought the materials to fix it about two years ago, but hadn't got round to replacing the roofing felt until the last couple of days.

On removing the old felt I found that one corner of the roof had rotted - the pic above shows the affected part of the roof from above. I patched the corner up as well as I could then secured the new felt over the roof. Hopefully it'll keep the shed going for a while longer

Foxglove update

Lettuce seedlings thinned out

Fox drama

This morning at about 11:00 I heard a fox screeching. When I looked out I saw a fox running in my neighbour's garden, carrying something in its mouth. The fox then appeared in my garden. Whatever it had in its mouth was grey, at first I thought it was a squirrel but it may have been a pigeon. I went out in the garden as I didn't want the fox to dismember its prey on my property, and the fox ran across the garden and over the fence into the neighbouring garden on the other side. The two smaller foxes followed the adult.

Soon after, I heard a fox jumping over the fence and found when I went out that it was one of the fox cubs, which I chased off. A while later I looked out and saw the adult fox lying in the garden, now without any sign of whatever it had caught, and presumably satisfied after having provided a meal for its young. I pursued it off the premises yet again.

Spud update

Foxgloves germinating

More netting-crappage activity

This morning I heard a noise in the garden and looking out I saw a fox jumping off the netting over the strawberries. On inspection I found that another 'deposit' had been added to that from the previous night.

It seems that the Fox Defence Technology needs improving in the light of this biological warfare.

Lettuce germinating

Foxhole

A few weeks ago I noticed a fox had dug a hole in one of the borders. I put a couple of paving slabs over the hole, but today I noticed the fox had managed to make some further excavations, throwing a considerable amount of earth onto the path in the process.

Pic one above shows the hole as I first saw it, pic two shows a view into the tunnel, and pic three shows the situation after I filled in the hole and put more slabs on top.

Fox crappage

There has been a high incidence of fox crappage around the garden in the last few days. I wasn't going to mention it, but today I noticed that a fox had left a dump on the top of the netting over the strawberries! I guess a fox climbed onto the netting, which obviously won't support its weight, then did the dirty deed while the netting was depressed, before jumping off, leaving this delightful gift for me to discover.

I did take a pic of the offending article, but thought better of posting it, for the sake of any readers of a delicate disposition.

Marmande ripening

The first of the Marmande tomatoes is ripening.

Tomato blight?

It's always prudent to sow more tomato seed than are actually required in case some seed fails to germinate. This means I'm usually left with more tomato plants than I actually want. However I can never bear to dispose of my spare plants, so I plant them out at the bottom of the garden in an area which is not ideal. I don't give these spare plants as much attention as my 'main' plants.

I noticed today that one of my spare plants is looking a bit ill. I was worried that this might be tomato blight, which can spread rapidly and also infect potato plants, so I pulled up two of my spare tomato plants which seemed to be affected. The fruit looks ok, although not yet ripe, so I kept the tomatoes and put them on a sunny windowsill. I put the affected tomato plants in the recycling wheely bin, not in my compost (I'm sure the council ensure their compost is sterilised).

First tomatoes picked

I picked the first of the Gardener's Delight tomatoes today. As they are a cherry tomato, they are usually the first variety to ripen.

Potatoes earthed up

Today I earthed up the Pentlands in the garden.

First plums picked

In a daring raid on Wasp City, I picked these plums.

Fox Defence Technology tested again

When I opened the curtains this morning I saw two foxes near the strawberry patch. Evidently they had been probing the strawberry defences. I chased them off, but later when I went out to take this photo I disturbed a fox that was sleeping under a nearby bush.

New batch of lettuce planted

I have been cutting a few leaves off the lettuce plants most days since probably June (don't seem to have recorded the date on which I started harvesting the lettuce), but the plants are now starting to look a bit ropey, so today I pulled them up and sowed some more seed. Maybe it's too late in the season for a second sowing, but we'll see.

When I originally planted up the trough in which I have been growing the lettuce, I used some (supposedly) anti-snail copper tape around the edge of the trough, but when pulling the plants out today I discovered a snail on the inside of the trough.

Potato bags earthed up

I earthed up the potato bags today.

Foxglove seeds sown

I collected some Foxglove seed and sowed them in a couple of large pots.

Toms ripening

The Gardener's Delight tomatoes are starting to ripen.