Category: Nature

Wildlife Is All Around

There Is Wildlife All Around

Look up – look down; there is wildlife around. Scan the skies for a sighting of the Red Kite, being spotted more frequently around the parish. Common in Shakespeare’s London where they helped to keep the streets clean by scavenging for dead animals, the Red Kite has been here in Wales far longer than Homo Sapiens. Bones have been found in Gower caves dating back 120,000 years along with those of lions, bison and rhinos. In mediaeval times the birds were protected but by the 16th century, farmers were poisoning them in the mistaken belief that they killed lambs and a bounty was put on them by the king – you could earn yourself a penny for every one you killed. By the beginning of the 20th century they were extinct in England and Scotland and there were just two breeding pairs in mid Wales. With protection and reintroductions from abroad we are now back up to around 4,500 breeding pairs in the UK. It is the National Bird of Wales so look up and see if you can spot one.

Many of you have a pond in your garden, so look down and you could well find a newt or two. If you do have them they are likely to be the Smooth or Common Newt. The small Palmate Newts tend not to be found here but the very large and rare Great Crested Newt has been found in the parish but usually in larger ponds in the countryside. Create a pond, large or small, and newts will soon find their way to it. Whilst they seek out ponds to breed, newts spend much of the year on the land. They breathe air so if you are patient you will often see them breaking the surface to take in air. Better still go out after dark and shine a torch into your pond as newts are more active at night. Many residents have reported having them in their ponds but as they love eating tadpoles you might not get so many frogs. A young newt is called an ‘eft’.

 

Must Do Gardening Tips for July

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Must Do Gardening Tips for July

Jobs for July from Susan Bowen MBE

  1. Cut back growth in hanging baskets and feed to encourage new growth.
  2. Prune wisteria now. Just remove the whippy side shoots to about five leaves from the main stem.
  3. Cut spent stems of lupins to promote new growth.
  4. Dead head bedding plants to keep displays going.
  5. Don’t let dandelions go to seed.

Sylvia Davies of that lovely garden opposite the Walston Castle

  1. High potash feed will give you brilliant blooms on many flowers especially sunflowers.
  2. Use grass clippings to cover potato tubers that are near the surface to stop them going green.
  3. Keep up the hoeing of weeds to give your plants a better chance.
  4. Keep greenhouse clear of disease by clearing up any fallen or dying leaves.
  5. Check your pots for vine weevil if your plants are wilting for no obvious reason.

Watering consistently is so important as plants can wilt, become stressed or stunted. Large leafed plants need a lot more water than small leafed ones. Newly planted trees and shrubs will be in particular need of watering in dry spells. Check plants in pots, even after rain, and terracotta pots should be lined with polythene to prevent moisture loss through the sides. For plants in the garden you should water generously but less frequently to encourage roots to grow deeper and overtime become more tolerant of dry conditions. Bark or gravel around the base of plants will help retain moisture. Lawns are very tolerant of dry conditions and will recover well; on cricket pitches they cut the grass down to virtually the roots and it recovers. If you really must water, then do it thoroughly as just a sprinkle will do more harm than good.

We need to give our plants proper attention during the summer months as a lot of work went into getting them to this stage, so feeding, deadheading, and watering will prolong the display. Herbaceous geraniums need to be cut down to the floor after flowering to give a 2nd flush. Roses need constant dead heading but the results are worth it. Sid & Linda Cottle of Gwenfo Drive have a lovely garden full of roses which are always in good fettle.

July is the best time of year to sow foxgloves and wallflowers for a display next year, if you have doubts about whether you can be bothered just remember what Dick Turpin is selling them for in the garden centre. You will need to sow delphiniums now as this is the latest time to be certain of blooms next year.

At 85 years young Herbie is proof that working the soil is good for you and on his allotment at Twyn-yr-Odin he dishes out advice whether you ask for it or not. I caught him on a ladder trying to pick his broad beans and asked him for some tips to put in the gardening column. Ever obliging he said water daily and not just a splash, hoe weeds on dry days and they are guaranteed to die, always remove dying leaves from plants to prevent disease, check for aphids on the runner beans and rub them off with your hands and take the tops off broad beans to deter black fly.

The panel at gardeners question time in the library hub on the 27th May want to mention through this column that they were made to feel most welcome and enjoyed a pleasant evening. The knowledge displayed by the audience left them in no doubt that gardens in Wenvoe are in safe hands.

Take care and happy gardening

 

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Must Do Gardening Tips for June

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Must Do Gardening Tips for June

Thoughts of Michelle Morgan on patio gardening:

  1. If you are not happy with how your pot plants are looking change them as the season is too short to put up with something that displeases you.
  2. Pot stands on wheels make it so much easier to move pots around.
  3. Calendulas are cheap to buy. Three plants will fill a large pot and give a display all summer.
  4. Blueberries do well in pots with ericaceous compost. You will have to net them when fruit has formed.
  5. The downside of having a lot of pots is constant watering and feeding.

 

Advice from Gerry Crump, the gentleman gardener.

  1. Don’t plant early as it’s just a waste of resources.
  2. Take care of your tools and they should last a lifetime.
  3. When planting seeds always label them properly.
  4. Do not take too much on, or you will not enjoy the garden.
  5. Grow what you like to eat and what the ‘other half’ likes to look at.

 

June is the month when show growers put their hanging baskets up to display. If that’s what they do then it’s good enough for me. It is very tempting to put them up early but patience will ensure a better display. Once the sweet peas come into flower, start picking for the house as the more you pick the more they flower. Try not to let any set seed early in the season or the plant will think it’s job is done. Using a hoe on dry days in the boarders is a good way of killing annual weeds. If we need to water please follow the advice of experienced gardeners by watering early in the morning or late at night. When watering the borders, a good soak once a week should be adequate. Don’t think about watering your lawn unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Grass is tough and can withstand a drought but, by watering a little, you will encourage the roots to come closer to the surface and make the grass more susceptible in dry weather.

‘No Mow May’ is the latest must do according to experts and TV gardeners. Not so sure about that myself. On the plus side it has stopped your cats killing so many birds as there are a lot more mice running around in the long grass for them to bring home for you. If you have a lovely weed free lawn then letting it grow for a month it’s not going to provide much nourishment for insects etc. On the other hand your lawn may be full of weeds so crack on and spread the seeds over your neighbour’s gardens! It seems to me those popular presenters can tell us what to think sometimes. I have been bitten and stung as much recently as I have been over previous decades so will take some convincing that there are less insects around presently. I have to add though that it is probably my fault that I get bitten so often because when Monty Don told us we should have a ‘No Wash April’ I thought he meant me and not my car. No wonder I had to sleep in the shed!!

On the allotments the pigeons are testing the resolve of gardeners by pulling up young onions and eating the new growth of brassicas. The only way to combat this is by netting and using stakes as support. They are also partial to soft fruit, so be warned. They say that bamboo grows quickly but just plant a row of any veg seed on a clean cultivated patch and the minute you turn your back it’s covered in weeds. This is why growers plant in rows as weeds don’t grow in a straight line. Thinning out the crop on fruit trees is a task that needs to be done to get larger fruit. We do get a June drop where trees will drop fruit to look after the stronger ones, but often it’s not enough to prevent branches breaking under the weight.

Thank you to everyone who supported us for helping to make the plant sale such a success and helping the Wenvoe Wildlife Group continue their outstanding work all around Wenvoe.

Take care and happy gardening

 

The Village Gardener

 

 

A Substantial Contribution From The Tuckers

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

We are thrilled yet again to be receiving a substantial contribution from the Tuckers following their plant sale. This will be in excess of £800. Our thanks to everyone who manned the stands, attended on the day and spent money as well as donating raffle prizes and plants for the sale. Particular thanks to Mike and Glenys who made the whole event possible. Where would we be without them!

Dog walkers who visit the Upper Orchid Filed will have noted that the dog poo bin has been removed. When the bin was installed 10 years ago, the next nearest bin was in Grange Park. WWG members have emptied the bin ever since but as all other bins are emptied by the Vale of Glamorgan Council and bins are now also available at the corner of Walston Road, Vale of Glamorgan Council were approached to empty it. Even though payment was offered, VOGC was not prepared to help and the decision was made to remove it. We were happy to leave the bag dispenser. However, this has been abused by dog owners who have been placing filled bags in it and so this is also being removed.

Please help to keep this wildflower meadow tidy by taking your dog bags to the nearest bin and help ensure that we retain our Green Flag status. Thank you.

 

 

How Old Is That Meadow?

How old is that meadow?

Ever wondered how old that meadow is? A new method should give you an idea. Count the number of Creeping Buttercups with more than 5 petals in any hundred and multiply by 7. So if you find 2 buttercups in any hundred the age of the meadow is roughly 14 years.

The first challenge is to know your Creeping Buttercup. There tend to be 3 types of buttercup in our meadows. Bulbous Buttercups are quite uncommon in our parish but look behind the petals and if the sepals are folded back it is Bulbous. It is much more likely that you have either Meadow or Creeping Buttercups. Look online to see the differences but the easiest indicator is to see if there is a groove or furrow in the stalk leading to the flower. If there is you have Creeping Buttercup. Most buttercups have five petals but occasionally they will turn up with more than 5 and as these buttercups can spread by cloning, each new plant from these will also have over 5. Scientists have correlated the numbers with meadows whose age is known to confirm the formula.

Why not try this out with the children? All they have to do is check for a groove and then count the petals. Simple!

 

 

Must Do Gardening Tips for May

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Must Do Gardening Tips for May

Rita Edwards gives her sound advice.

  1. Be careful of late frosts, cover tender plants with fleece.
  2. Hold hanging baskets back till the end of this month, as show people do.
  3. Check roses for black spot.
  4. Sow nasturtium seeds in gaps as ground cover.
  5. Pinch out tips of fuchsias to form a a bushier plant.

Mat Holland of Dyffryn has his say.

  1. Leave daffs to die down for at least six weeks after dead heading.
  2. Take fuchsia cuttings and just plant in ground around mother plant, so you know what plant it came from
  3. Plant runner beans seeds direct into rows, for a later crop.
  4. Dead head tulips before they set seed.
  5. Make sure all plants that need support are staked by now.

 

Advice on controlling pests without resorting to chemicals has TV gardening personalities telling us that we need to strike a balance with nature and learn to live with these pests. The R H S has declared slugs are no longer pests. If my garden was the size of a Tesco car park I’m sure the critters could munch away without causing me too much concern. On the average plot a pest infection can be devastating, ruining the growing season.

These same people have said that if you have a problem with aphids you need to buy plants that attract ladybirds. For goodness sake if you have aphids you will definitely attract ladybirds, who will then breed and whose larvae are voracious aphid eaters. All without splashing out on special plants.

Another stunner of an idea was to attract more birds to your garden so they could eat the slugs. Be honest, have you seen garden birds eat slugs, because I haven’t. The best animals to have around your garden to help control slug problems are hedgehogs, frogs and toads. A lot of Wenvoe residents have hedgehog boxes and this has resulted in the village becoming a hotspot for these mammals which is bad news for slugs. Frogs and toads spend very little time in water, they prefer a damp area and cover. Toads only use the water in the mating season so you only need a small pond to accommodate these amphibians. Helen, Hugh & Mathew of Vennwood have foxes visiting their garden taking care of their Gastropods. The slug problem has been with gardeners and growers forever so the balance must still be ok. Just one more thing, the French won’t even eat them.

Right then – are we ready to plant out knowing we will have a fight on our hands to keep the plants safe? If you can be patient and hold back your bedding plants a little while, the warmer soil will give them a good start. As has been said many times, to get the best from your hanging basket display keep them sheltered until the very end of May. Sow some hardy annuals direct into the garden where there are gaps to fill. With the weather warming up and less rainfall the pots will need extra attention, try not to let them dry out or the plants will not recover to their full potential. Spring flowering shrubs that have finished blooming need to be cut back as soon as possible. Weeding is one of the tasks that has to be done but we don’t enjoy. You can keep pulling them up but your back won’t thank you for it, the best is always little and often on dry days with a Dutch hoe, just keep cutting them off and it will weaken perennial weeds and kill annual ones. Leave the waste to shrivel on the soil but do this before they set seed.

Allotment holders are busy as usual with this years rhubarb looking good throughout April. Eric & Joyce donated some of their crop to the Wenvoe Wild life Group to sell at the plant sale in April. The allotmenteers are obviously well informed about the fact that bare soil is the major factor in soil erosion as there very few patches with nothing growing. The library will be running the Village show again this year and Gordon Jones is intent on keeping his prize veg a secret with an extra high fence and a guard cat.

Take care and happy gardening

 

 

 

Last Wildflower Meadows Near Cardiff

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Visitors to the Upper Orchid Field will have seen that the field has been cut. This is one of the last wildflower meadows near Cardiff so is an invaluable resource for wildlife as well as being a popular recreational location for walkers, joggers and other visitors. An annual cut is essential to prevent brambles, ash saplings and the ranker grasses from taking over. When we started maintaining the site over 10 years ago this was just what had happened and most of the slope was covered in self-seeded trees. Our contractor, John Crockford, has done a great job, particularly in controlling the brambles which had started to take over the top of the field

 

 

Must Do Gardening Tips for April

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Must Do Gardening Tips for April

Tips from two of the nurseries that will be attending The Tuckers Plant Sale on Saturday the 30th April at 29 Vennwood Close.

Firstly Joyce Alpine Hoy

  1. Give the plants in the greenhouse a bit of space so air can circulate and prevent disease taking hold.
  2. Make sure the drainage is adequate in your pots and containers especially for Alpines.
  3. Keep potted plants near the house as this helps with shelter and when watering.
  4. Always remove the top layer of soil from pots in Spring and replace with fresh compost. Doing this removes weed seeds and pests.
  5. If you order plants by post, unwrap water and repot as soon as possible, or they will take a long time to recover.

Gordon & Elizabeth Jones of Belgrave Horticulture.

  1. Composting is essential to bring balance to the work of gardeners.
  2. If you have room plant a native tree. Crab apple are great for wildlife. If you have a larger area then an oak tree would be great as they support the most life.
  3. Put freshly mown grass under your trays of seed. The heat generated will bring them on in no time.
  4. Remove some of the leaves from hellebores to expose the flowers.
  5. Foxgloves are easy to look after and great for bees and other insects.

It is quite the thing at present to plant a wildflower patch. If you follow the instructions on the packet to the letter then a good display will follow. The main thing to do is to make sure the area is weed and grass free as the wild flowers cannot compete with perennial weeds. The wild flowers prefer poor soil, so no need for fertiliser. What they don’t say on the packet is that, if you don’t want your garden completely smothered in wild flowers the following year, you will need to cut them down before they set seed.

A greenhouse or cold frame will enable you to buy smaller, and inevitably cheaper, plants to bring on in April. Repot these young plants as soon as you can and be careful not to overwater, especially at this stage, or the plants may rot. There is still time to sow sweet peas and they will be ready a little later and prolong the season. As the weather warms stand the plants outside during the day. This may seem a bit of a fuss but will give you a lot stronger plant.

Compost. We endeavour to make our own but usually buy a few bags every year. As long as the compost used in pots growing annual flowers or veg has not caused plants to suffer from disease then it can be reused. Folks mostly put the spent compost on the garden as a mulch but it can be rejuvenated by simply sieving and adding a slow release fertiliser. The one thing it shouldn’t be used for is seed planting as it may contain pathogens that will harm new seedlings. There are loads of tutorials online which will save you quite a bit of cash

April is a good time to give roses a preventative spray against the main diseases they are about to face. To get bigger blooms on roses you need to reduce the amount of buds, this is done by growers who enter shows.

On the allotments the tenants are planting early potatoes. Runner and French beans are sown under glass ready for planting out in May when all risk of frost has passed. Peas and beans have long roots so toilet roll holders are great for giving them a good start. Planting carrots early will beat the carrot root fly but if too cold the seed will not germinate so cloches are used to warm the soil. You will always see onions grown on allotments. They are easy to grow and store well. If your intention is to grow oregano, make sure you keep it in check or it will take over your patch.

With everything costing more, it is worth shopping round. The cost of wooden fencing has rocketed and the price of plants is ridiculous. Blue Diamond garden centre at St Mellons always have a table where prices have been reduced. British Soil in Wenvoe sell their products well below D I Y stores and garden centres. If you need timber then Bruno fencing in Barry are good value. If you know of other places that give good value please share. Pam & Phyllis always make a list before venturing into garden centres, otherwise it’s like shopping in the middle of Lidl where you come out with things that make you wonder how you ever managed without them.

Take care and happy gardening

 

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Least Favourite Wild Animals

The Adder 

The Adder is possibly one of the public’s least favourite wild animals yet it has an important role in our local ecology. Maybe its reputation as Britain’s only venomous snake does not help but cases of humans being bitten are few and far between, less than one case a year over the last hundred years and most of these occur when people pick the snakes up. Between 1950 and 1972 there was only one death from an adder bite in England and Wales compared with 61 who died from bee or wasp stings.

There should be records of them in the parish but there are none on the Aderyn database. Despite that there are several anecdotal reports of them, so if you do come across one locally, do get in touch with the Wildlife Group preferably with a photograph and details of the location. The snake is quite easy to identify with its characteristic zig-zag pattern, the female brown and the male black. You are more likely to come across a grass snake which is much larger and completely harmless. They have been seen at the Watercress Beds and the Elizabethan Orchard.

Like so much of our wildlife, adders are in decline. Much of this is down to habitat loss and disturbance by people and dogs. They are also predated on often by pheasants which frequently kill slowworms as well. Larger birds of prey, like Buzzards, are likely to be a threat. The future for this unique species does appear bleak.

 

 

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