Saturday, 15 June 2019

1st April


1st April
Previously I had heard of something called a beetle bank. It is what some farmers use to provide a habitat for ground beetles who, unlike most if not all other beetles, are actually beneficial as they ferociously forage far and wide for slugs. It is a man made copy of their naturally preferred habitat to encourage them to live and breed and thus be on hand to keep the slug population down. In the March edition of Gardeners’ World Magazine there was a wildlife project page on how to make a beetle bump – a small version of the bank so today I formed one at the allotment. I took up a square of turf about 2-3 spade widths square (using a spade Dad has given me from his collection – saved some money there!), loosened the soil and added in leaf mould and bits of wood with some more rotted wood chunks on top, then re-laid the turf on top with some hefty chunks of wood on that to make the grass grow in clumps. This all provides a desirable location for this particular type of beetle. They like the long grass and the leaf mould and they lay their eggs in the rotting wood. So I now let nature do its thing, let the ground beetles move in, have families and eat slugs!


My other task at the allotment was to make a start on the wire mesh fence. I needed some more posts in so that was done round most of the plot, and the mesh was put up and secured against the posts to nearly half way round. It took longer than I thought it would do, but then, if you ask my wife, she will say that most jobs take longer than I think they will. I read somewhere that this is a fault of men in general. I certainly worked up a good appetite for dinner, but it was a glorious spring day to be out.

Back in the garden, we have 3 tulips in bloom, the hyacinths are still out and as fragrant as ever, and I have been seeing bees since about 2 weeks ago. The decline in bee numbers concerns me. The thing to help them is to have flowers that are rich in nectar that, between them, are in bloom from March to October. So the daffodils, hyacinths and the tiny flowers on the rubella bush have been providing the food so far.

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