I unexpectedly met a rhino beetle...

I was up at Eliot nature reserve on Swift's Hill at the opening of the new Laurie Lee Wood nature reserve, a woodland recently purchased by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, when I stumbled across my first rhino beetle!

The view up there is amazing, a beautiful sweeping view across the Slad Valley, that favourite haunt of Laurie Lee.

The afternoon was serendipitous and I enjoying the atmosphere; soaking up that rare day of warm (and surprisingly not wet) weather.

 The balmy afternoon and gorgeous view were topped off with an unexpected meeting with this rhino beetle.

 

Though tiny (about 1.5-2cm big) it was brilliant to see this little beetle with it's big personality, I think it had come over from the ancient beech woodland next door.



I took a few images and then it splayed it's wings, and flew.



I wish I could have got the other angle and seen it with it's wings wide open but I still think it was a great experience and one which will stick with me. It was my first rhino beetle.

It was in was in a beautiful location. I was happy!

All for the frogs...

In the middle of my garden are three large raised beds, neighbours have said they used to be large fish ponds before the previous occupant aged and turned their use to less strenuous planting. Consequently, frogs and toads frequently emerge from seemingly no where to fulfil their reproductive urges in the ponds which no longer exist. Their migratory instinct is strong, and the frog and the humble toad can live as long as 40 years! So, imagine how sad I was, when during the first spring in our new home all these hundreds of frogs and toads turned up in our garden. They popped out of drains, through bars that really looked too small to fit them, sometimes already grasped in their lovers embrace searching with futility to find water in which to deposit their precious cargo... in our bone dry garden...

When ever I saw them, I tossed them gently into our neighbours garden pond hoping that I'd caught the vast majority and given them a second chance. Imagine my surprise when, upon doing some tidying during the heat wave in May, I found a small dog bowl (left our from last summer) pushed back into the corner... containing frog spawn, a very tiny amount of water and a female frog looking a lot less wet than it should be. Evidently this poor girl was one I'd missed, but she'd tried to make the best of bad situation. I quickly tossed it into the neighbours pond and dunked the frog spawn, dog bowl and all into an old fish tank which I filled with rain water. Sadly, I must have found the frog spawn a little too late as the little black dots polarised, much to my dismay...

Shortly after digging and filling the pond.

Now, determined, I declared to my other half that we must have a pond... a wildlife pond, all for the amphibians which evidently are missing a water source in our garden. He looked at me strangely, protested a little on the grounds that the dogs will sit in it and then conceded that the trickle of water on a warm summers eve would be quite nice after all (see how I sold it?!). 

A couple of months later we've now purchased a second hand preformed plastic liner, a waterfall feature and a pump for £80, dug the hole, fitted the pond, and filled it with rain water.

We finalised the water fall placement. 

I found my first frog in it yesterday whilst positioning the waterfall feature, and I've already counted two species of damselfly (over 10 separate pairs of large red, and a couple of blue tailed), I've also found a nymphs casing left on a rock by the side of the pond (must have been amongst the pond vegetation that my neighbour donated). 


Rather than filling the gap underneath the water fall with solid soil, after putting the supporting rocks around the edge, we have in filled the space underneath with some of last years left over firewood logs and some of the turf and soil we removed from the border of the pond. Hopefully amphibians and bugs and beasties can have a kind of cubby hole to hide in. 

Now it's almost finished, we only have some cobbles and plants to place and a bog garden to excavate on the left hand side of the waterfall... What do you think so far?

It's not quite finished, but we're getting close. We've got to dig the bog garden bit to the left of the waterfall, put some plants around the edge and some lovely cobbles we've got waiting to finish it off... Can't wait until next year when it's matured and weathered in a bit!

Can you spot the damselflies? Ten pairs turned up within 10 minutes of filling the pond up and putting in vegetation.

I've grown quite accustomed to not buying vegetables over the last couple of months, and have been playing around with getting the most out of what I'm growing.

I put carrot tops, dead strawberry leaves, and pea plants that have gone over into a tub with a little water because I've read that they will make a hideous gunk that will act as a wonderfully nutritious summer snack for my veggies (liquid fertiliser in the more well know language).

I've also discovered that radishes aren't just for salads! I've been roasting and stir frying them with my other home grown veggies, and even chucking in the radish leaves! They're a great addition to stirfried veggies - which I hadn't ever considered before!

I had a nice surprise today whilst watering my small veggie garden, as the water eroded a some loose dry soil from the base of my radishes I got the glimpse of little baby radishes peeking out. It's the first time I've grown the these little red gems and, despite hearing that they 'grow so quick' from countless individuals and in everything that I read, I never actually expected them to grow that quick!

So far they've survived the slugs and snails but I'm going to have to tuck them back into with little beds with some little soil blankets tomorrow properly before the rain comes... of they'll disappear!

Been in the garden all evening, giving it some TLC. With all the hot weather and minimal quantities of rain, my water butts have run dry and I've had to resort to the hose... :o(

Quite proud of my efforts this evening though re:house and garden. Painted the architrave for the new built in cupboard, gave all the birds a good soaking with the post-move rediscovered spray gun, and I managed to clear out another bed, and successfully plant out some grown from seed broccoli, cauli's and brussel sprouts. I've only ever grown purple sprouting broccoli and cauli once before and that feeble attempt went more than a little awry, so I'm hoping I'll have more luck this time. I have a feeling it's a little late to plant them out, but hopefully (I'm refusing to look it up out of sheer pig ignorance - I've sown so shall endeavour to grow) we'll get some produce from them...

I read that planting onions between them helps them grow as a companion plant so I've put white onions in rows between them. I miscalculated though and have a whole batch of red onions of medium size (due to my tardy planting regime) which I haven't got room in the bed now. I guess I'm going to have to lift a few potatoes early and dig over the bed for the remainder of veggies which I've grown but not factored into ground space... I've also got some baby leeks which need to be planted out, so I think that I'll be doing that sometimes later this week... I love this gardening lark, I love getting the produce. I hate the slugs and snails which rob me of all my hard work, but that's another story...

Me and my boyfriend have just bought a house, the garden swung it for us. A victorian semi with a garage and a nice big garden.

It has three large cicular flower beds which used to be fish ponds, and a shed which I immediately claimed as MY place for potting and growing! So, now I have a garden and a shed and I'm trying to grow food to make some attempt at living the 'good life'.

Nothing food wise goes to waste in our house, we'll eat all we can but if it's slightly slug chewed or over ripe the parrots and the chinchilla gets a nice share; offcuts, skins and extra that the birds don't eat go to the dogs (brilliant as they're on the BARF diet - Bear is particularly partial to strawberries and mange tout), and in the unlikely event that there's anything left after that chain of consumption then the worms get a look in...


To feed this little lot I've planted quite a range of veggies, and am now practically watching them grow until the moment I can pick them. So far this year we've had mange tout, carrots, strawberries and of course salad leaves, and I'm waiting for my little courgettes to swell to a pickable size, and my toms to blush in the warm summer sun.

Now I just need to work out what to start sowing and when to try and get autumn and winter veggies for my table, my dogs, and my birds. Google will be my friend... :o)