little green fingers

Drawing pins, long grass and village picnics

We have no drawing pins left in the house.  This can only mean one thing: we are in for a very busy June.

Yes, right now, my entire drawing pin collection is holding up a scary collection of notices around the village. And, in true Linda Snell form, I seem to be involved in all three events.  It begins with our NGS garden opening on June 9th. For some reason, I am shocked to find that this is three weeks tomorrow.  I  shouldn't be shocked; we have a piece of new fangled technology in the kitchen - a calender I think they call it - but still, in my head, we're not opening for at least another three months.

A week after this there is the village barn dance, which I won't be able to attend as I shall be gardening and crafting with children at Gardeners World Live but that doesn't excuse me from decorating duties (14 table coverings, four confederate flags, half a dozen strategically placed hay bales and 50 metres of my homemade bunting... in case you were wondering).

And in between the two we have the official opening of our village playground.  Yes, it is complete.  In fact it has been complete for a few weeks but a) I forgot to mention it at the time and b) by the time I remembered I had other things on my mind like broken arms, trips to China and very large tents.

(To be fair I still have very large tents on my mind as one of the marquee stakes managed to go through not only a water pipe but also a waste pipe. However, dwelling on sewerage and cross contamination is not a nice way for anyone to spend a Friday afternoon - unless you are an evil mastermind with a particular interest in pollution I guess - so instead I'll talk playgrounds.)

The latest cause for celebration is completing the work which has been funded by our grant from WREN for £45,000.  This has enabled us to add to the excitement of a mound (which, in these "flatlands", was already quite exciting for the kids) with a climbing wall and double slide.  We also put in a bird nest swing, more picnic tables, a basketball, football goal and cricket stump area and a very cool mini BMX track.

We have also added a couple of features for which I fought quite hard.

The first is a figure of eight pathway across the whole area so that people can walk through and enjoy the playground in all weathers, and which also doubles as a great cycle path. 

The second is long grass.

To be fair, this didn't exactly take much money - well OK, it took none - but it will make a big difference to the space.  Leaving sections of the grass long for the season will bring in insects which will, in turn, bring in birds and other wildlife.  It will give children different, wilder areas to play in, allow flowers to grow and soften the edges of the field to detract from the rigid boundaries. 

In terms of maintenance, the longer grass will be cut at the end of the summer or start of autumn, although each year we will leave one area uncut to give insects a place to overwinter.

So on June 10th we will be celebrating our new playground with a picnic and an afternoon of sports and games.  And, yes, 50 metres of homemade bunting.

Making bird feeders - the kid's cut

This is a very good time to feed any birds who've decided against vacationing in warmer climes.  What's more, it's so easy to make treats for them that I thought I would let my three-year-old, chicken-pox-ridden son explain.

 

In case you didn't get all the details, there is more information (but fewer "kissy hearts") here.

Bugs, butterflies and party planning

"But darling, you must have a theme!"

Even as I spoke these words I realised I'd become one of those appalling mothers who needs to get a grip, but I couldn't help myself. You see, this was my son's birthday we were discussing and there is nothing I love more than over-thinking a kid's party.

To be fair to me, Oscar has driven my slightly demented over the last year. He has been trying to decide on what to do for his birthday since September (which is particularly scary as his birthday is in late August).

To date he has decided he definitely wants a bowling party... no a swimming party... no a cinema party. His latest idea had been to just have a party in the garden. All well and good, but apparently, not for his unhinged mother who was now gripping his shoulders, staring wild-eyed into his face and demanding some sort of theme.

"Well, we could all go and look for snails?" Oscar helpfully suggested.

"Yes!  A wildlife party!  In fact, bugs and butterflies!  Perfect.  Well done darling!"

Oscar smiled, possibly at the idea he had apparently dreamt up, or just because I had released my grip.

So anyway, last week saw our first bugs and butterflies party and, in case you too harbour event planning tendencies, I thought I would share the ideas.

Invites: Well, OK, you could do something wondrous but I actually just texted parents (I know, I've disappointed myself there but this was the summer holidays so no chance of handing out invites int he playground). However, I did suggest the children come as their favourite bugs or butterflies (a suggestion for which I am sure every stressed-out parent thanked me from the bottom of their heart.)

Setting: The best part about this party is that the garden is your perfect, ready made backdrop.  However, if, like me, you have recently decided to paint your front door red, then you can add black paper circles to make a ladybird entrance.

We also set up Oscar's Bug Camp outside with our much used pop up tent, camping chairs, rugs and sign (made by yours truly from a stake, bits of old fence panel and acrylic paint). This created the perfect spot to serve the birthday tea (complete with Spider Cake, courtesy of Mr Waitrose - home decorated cakes are very much beyond my comfort zone),

Activities: After half an hour manic jumping on the trampoline combined with scoffing tea (akin to shaking up a lemonade bottle before giving it back to someone but I was trying not to dwell on this) we retired inside so the kids could decorate their own bug boxes (you can buy these in packs of two for £1.99 from Yellow Moon) with pens and stickers.

Next, we had the main event - the bug hunt.  As I could neither rely on bugs being about, nor on a bunch of six year olds catching them without incident, I opted for cardboard cut outs.  However, the bug collecting sheet (Download BUG HUNT) did give clues as to where the various quarry would usually be found so the kids would know where to hunt in the garden and they worked in pairs, putting the card creatures in their bug boxes as they went.

Also, to make them feel more legit, I personalised some magnifying glasses (which my very helpful mother tracked down in Wilkinsons for the princely sum of 69p each) with some acrylic paint pens.

Then we had musical statues and pass the parcel, because, quite frankly, it would be rude not to. Being me though I elbowed in the theme by making them dance and pass to bug themed music (and of course we used dragonfly wrapping paper).

In this I was helped by the power of Twitter.  Yes, never underestimate the use of social networking for playlists.  In case you wish to see the genius, and sometimes downright tenuous suggestions they are here (with thanks to @simiansuter @sallynex @patientgarden @jamesasincalir @clairepotter @vivgroskop @clairecoz @twitknitting @lizturner3 @Blundstonedlove @clairecozens @wendy_woowoo and friends on Facebook)

High Hopes - Frank Sinatra

Ugly Bug Ball - Burl Ives

Ant Music - Adam and the Ants

Henry the Wasp - The Highliners 

The Caterpillar - The Cure

The Boll Weevil Song - Brook Benton

Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper Feast - Roger Glover

Beetlebum - Blur

The Bug Song - Stompin Tom Connors

Flight of the Bumblebee - Rimsky-Korsakov

Daddy Long Legs - Tumbleweed

The Bee Song - Arthur Askey

Itsy Bitsy Spider - Carly Simon

Come Fly with Me - Frank Sinatra (I told you some were very tenuous)

Love is like a Butterfly - Dolly Parton

I Believe in Bugs (and Other Insects) - Ivor Cutler

The Inch Worm - Danny Kaye

Boris the Spider - The Who

Butterfly - Mariah Carey

Beetlejuice Theme Song

Party Bags: As always, I went for the 16p paper bags sold out our local stationery emporium and simply printed out names and bugs to stick on (recyclable, cheap and on theme - what's not to love?). These were filled with the bug boxes, magnifying glasses, assorted bug themed nonsense and sweets with more E numbers than I thought possible.

And Oscar's verdict? Apparently it was very good... but next year he definitely wants a disco party.

Radio 4, pet badgers and Hinge and Bracket

(Image from RSPB site)

I love Radio 4.  And I mean really love it.

It's been my station of choice since I was 13. Admittedly, I did have a brief flirtation with Steve Wright in the Afternoon in the mid 80s (yes, I know, and I'm not proud it) and I'll admit that The Random Jottings of Hinge and Bracket was in fact on Radio 2, but basically, I'm a Radio 4 girl through and through.

It has kept me entertained during homesick nights at boarding school, distracted me through summers grading daffodil bulbs (the holiday job of choice in Lincolnshire), and been the background to many of the key moments in my life - (John Major's Desert Island Discs springs to mind - but I won't go into details as my mother reads this blog...).

And so, this goes some way to explain why the most exciting thing to happen to me in a long time has been presenting a short feature for this week's Gardeners' Question Time. It was recorded, a couple of weeks ago, at the new RSPB Wildlife Garden in Flatford, Suffolk which has been designed by Alex Johnson and Catherine Heatherington to show how you can create a wildlife friendly garden that doesn't have to look.. well.. messy.

With a wildlife crazy son and a poncey designer outlook, I have to say this concept appealed and the garden has plenty of simple ideas you can use without being 'in-your-face' educational. It's run by Shirley Boyle of the RSPB, who you can hear in the piece, with the help of intern Jacob Hunter and a whole raft of incredible volunteers. Best of all, it's literally buzzing with wildlife (including horse-flies as the producer, Lucy Dichmont can painfully attest) which my son would love.

But I'll admit what really caught my interest was the story of the two sisters who bequeathed the land to the RSPB - Sylvia and Margaret (Gargy) Richardson, who used to run a tearoom in the garden (seriously, tea and gardens, possibly my perfect pairing). They seemed to have been that wonderfully English combination of nature-loving eccentricity with a range of interesting pets, including a fox cub, rook and even a badger (pictured above).  Admittedly, in my head they occasionally morph into Hinge and Bracket, but listening to 26 years of radio comedy can have this sort of side effect.

The piece will be going out on Radio 4 tomorrow (Friday) at 3pm and then repeats at 2pm on Sunday.(it's about 16 minutes in...).

PS On the same Radio 4 theme, my friend Bee's book, Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad is being serialised on Woman's Hour this week - OK so it has nothing to do with kids or gardening but I'm very proud. 

Wildflower seeds, Highgrove and head colds

"Please don't walk on Mummy's head, darling!"

When I uttered these pained words I realised my weekend was not going well. A husband away for a stag weekend in Amsterdam, a streaming cold and the need to entertain three hyperactive children does not make for a good combination.  At this point I had collapsed on the sofa, my body making it quite clear it could talk or stand but definitely not both at the same time.

Of course, this was all my own fault.  I had, after all, taken a whole day off that week. An indulgent, child-free, 12 hour break, touring Highgrove with fellow Tweeters (covered with far more panache that I can manage both here and here). Not only that, the trip coincided with the first day of term. This officially made me a Bad Mother so at the very least I was expecting a plague of frogs.  In the circumstances, I think I got off lightly with a head cold and an absentee spouse.

What's more, I found that the garden came to my rescue.  It began with a simple request: 

"Could you go and collect some wildflower seeds?"

This is my latest go-to suggestion, on a par with "Could you catalogue your Polly Pocket accessories?", when it comes to distracting the kids. They have become a little obsessed with seed collecting recently - not least because Ava has begun a production line of seed packets to put in her birthday guest's party bags.

Basically, they look for the ripest seeds amongst the corncockles, cornflowers, poppies and corn chamomile and then shake or scrape them into a container with a close fitting lid.  We tend to use old margarine tubs.  In fact our house appears to be filled with old margarine containers almost none of which have anything close to resembling margarine in them. 

The key is to make sure the seeds stay as dry as possible which means throwing in a few silica gel packets or you can make your own desiccant by putting in a tablespoon of dried milk powder wrapped up in a piece of napkin.

Anyway, with wildflower seeds on their mind, Ava and Oscar swiftly departed outside.  I think they returned about an hour and a half later.  Not only had they collected seeds, they had also made a sand castle city, set up a school for creepy crawlies, bounced on the trampoline and dug up some bones. This latter caused much excitement with discussions about which woodland animal, dinosaur, or mythical creature they could have come from until it became clear they were the carcass from last week's roast chicken.

The only downside? Archie appeared to be completely uninterested in any outdoor distractions. Walking on his mother's head though, now that's what a two-year old calls entertainment.

Wigwams, wildflowers and Friedrich Nietzsche

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger".

Hmmm. I don't think that Nietzsche bloke was a gardener.  If he was, he was sorely misled on the subject of climbing beans. You see the late frost this year, which did not quite kill them, has made them, not so much stronger as pathetic shadows of their former selves with about as much get up and go as... well a dead German existentialist.

I tell you this because I fear it is probably time for an update on my climbing bean wigwam which we set up in April and planted back in early May.  It should now be a beautiful and productive leaf-covered structure giving the kids a bijou hiding place from the summer sun.

It is not.

It is this.

 
Still, the wildflowers are doing OK.  We have cornflowers, corncockles, poppies, yarrow, Ox-eye daisies and probably a couple more but it's getting a bit tricky to work out where to draw the line between purposeful wildflower introductions and invading weeds.  Still, the children and bees are very taken with them and cut a few for their bedrooms each week (the children that is - I know bees are jolly good at the whole honey dance thing but I'm not sure they can be trusted with scissors yet).

So overall I have decided to term it, not so much a failure, as a partially realised success.

As Nietzsche would have it: "There are no facts, only interpretations."

Seems he was a smart chap after all.

 

Greenhouses, Georgian rectories and wigwams

Sometimes, you have to stop day dreaming and realise there are things which simply aren't going to happen.  I will never be five foot seven, I am not going to live in a Georgian rectory and, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to get a greenhouse.

Rather pathetically, I've been unable to let go of this final dream.  When I planned the garden, I made sure there was a perfect spot for my beautiful hand-crafted greenhouse and have kept this space bare for nearly three years in anticipation of its arrival.  To be frank, it's becoming a little embarrassing - it looks like I've been stood up by a garden building.

So last week I decided, enough is enough.  I put away the brochures, scraped off the bark chippings covering the area and began to dig.

The plan is to create a mini-wildflower garden with a bean-covered wigwam at the centre.  This choice was partly decided by the fact this is relatively poor soil compared to the rest of the garden and so more suitable for the range of cornfield weeds and wild flowers we have selected. 

The main job was to create a nice fine tilth to the soil which involved some raking but mostly lots of breaking clods with with the back of a fork.  Then I let the children sow the seeds - two small packets - one a gift from Grandpa Roger, the other hastily purchased at the garden centre when I thought I had lost Grandpa Roger's offering. 

The child-based sowing could have been an error - only time will tell - but if the seed was, shall we say, sown a little erratically, it's a small enough area that I can redistribute the plants when, or if, they've grown a little.

The wigwam was made from six bamboo canes, seven foot long.  We marked out the area using some short bamboo canes, pushed in the larger uprights about a foot deep and then tied the top using gardener's twine.  The twine was then used by the children to weave around each of the poles at foot intervals to create 'sides' to the wigwam and give the beans a better climbing structure as they grow.

The kids added bark chippings to form the base and we found a couple of logs for seats which somehow escaped the wood burner this winter.

The beans are due to be sown inside this week.  We've chosen two different types - the Runner Bean Phaseolus coccineus 'Celebration' which is an early variety, has lovely pink flowers and is particularly recommended for wigwams plus climbing bean Phaseolus coccineus 'Firetongue' which has reddish streaks on the green pods and is a multi-purpose Italian speciality bean used for its pods, flageolets and haricots.

Fingers crossed, it should be a picture of loveliness in a couple of months.  Plus, at a total cost of £11.80, this garden is marginally cheaper than a greenhouse. Or a Georgian rectory for that matter.

Playground planting plans, sweet shops and painkillers

My brain is aching.  If I'm honest, this may be due to the copious amounts of wine I drank last night. However, it could also be something to do with planting plans. 

Don't get me wrong, I love plants.  I love growing them, discussing them, reading up on them but it's the need to make actual decisions about them that I abhor.  It's like sitting in a sweet shop, all ready to gorge yourself, when you remember that you can only select a dozen or so sweets and... no... you can't have those, they're the wrong colour... or those, you know they make you come out in a rash... and definitely not those, don't you remember they turn your tongue purple?

Today I've been facing restrictions galore.  I've been trying to come up with a planting plan for the children's play area we're developing in the village.  Sounds fun?  Think again.  Here are just some things I've had to consider...

Making it relatively low maintenance (possibly the least welcome phrase in the garden design world)

And wildlife friendly

And colourful

Plus being tough enough for an exposed site

And full sun

And probably a pretty rubbish soil (although we will do our best to improve this)

Oh, and if it could look good all year round that would be nice....

After a couple of strong painkillers and an afternoon in which my frown lines went deeper than any Botox injection could reverse, I have at last got a plan.  Here's the plant list.  Do feel free to tell me where I've gone spectacularly wrong, but please do it in hushed tones, I'm still feeling a little delicate...

Phormium tenax purpureum

Stipa gigantea

Stipa tenuissima

Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Allium sphaerocephalon

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

Achillea 'Cloth of Gold'

Hemerocallis 'Burning Daylight'

Hemerocallis 'Black Emmanuelle'

Sedum 'Purple Emperor'

Stachys 'Silver Carpet'

Centranthus rubra

Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'

Kniphofia 'Minister Versschur'

Acanthus spinosus

Crocosmia 'Emily McKenzie'

Helianthus annuus 'Black Magic'

Helianthus annuus

Verbena bonariensis

Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination'

And yes, I know that's quite a few more than a dozen.  And, OK, you have a point, herbaceous perennials hardly scream 'low maintenance'.  What's that?  Sunflowers won't stand an exposed site?  Ummm.. well, yes, perhaps you have a point.

Look, I tried OK?

I'm not very good with sweets either...

Birdhouses, paper pants and top hats

 
Sometimes, the materials people choose seem a little, well... inadequate.  The first little pig's selection of straw comes to mind, as do those paper pants they seem so fond of in hospitals (they rustle for heaven's sake - that's wrong on every level).

And now I am facing another.  I have in front of me a 'Cardboard Birdhouse' which the children are keen to decorate this weekend.  It was a present from their Grandpa - and like him, rather cool, thoughtful and a bit left-field (he likes to wear top hats and attends all night raves - need I say more?).

Still... cardboard?

It just seems a little 'delicate' for both its function and location.  It also declares itself 'Maison pour oiseaux en carton' but quite frankly it sounds even less robust in French.

To be fair it does say the birdhouse is made of 'sturdy cardboard with water-resistant coating' but 'water resistant' just makes me think it'll play hard to get for a while before caving in completely.

Still, it'll be fun to decorate and I shall look on it as an emergency shelter rather than a long-term housing solution. Rather like paper pants in fact.

Radio Times, Doctor Who and yet another 'Review of the Year'

Today I have taken my blogging inspiration from the Radio Times - or to use its own self-aggrandising terminology - 'the legendary Christmas Radio Times'.  Flicking through you will notice it basically comprises three things - the classic Christmas episodes, 'Review of the Year' type shows and an awful lot of stuff starring David Tennant.  Quite frankly I'm a little surprised the departing Doctor Who hasn't turned up in a bonnet on Cranford, kicked off an argument on Albert Square or given us his best Cha Cha Cha on Strictly Come Dancing.

Anyway, it seems a little late for Christmas-themed nonsense, and I've yet to crack time travel, so instead I thought I'd look back at the most memorable bits of my gardening year with the kids... 

Best garden we visited - without doubt, Hampton Court Gardens in Herefordshire - I mean a maze with an underground tunnel leading to a sunken garden - does garden exploration get more exciting for those under 10 (or over 35)?

Best thing we planted - bulbs, cress and even strawberry plants can't compare to the excitement of the children creating their own gardens this year. Well, I say 'created', but this is very much in the manner the Pharaohs 'created' the pyramids - the kids sent down orders from on high whilst I played the part of Egyptian slave.

Best things we made - I would probably choose either the insect hotel or our mini-scarecrow despite the fact the latter looks disturbingly like ET and has eyes which follow you round the garden in a manner reminiscent of those ancestral portraits in Scooby Doo.

Biggest disappointment - obviously, this has to be our failure to win the school sunflower competition.  Still, I am not deterred.  If it took Doris Lessing five decades to win the Nobel Prize for literature, I'm sure I can wait another year for my triumph.

As an aside, I had hoped this would be a guest post written by my daughter, but she's too busy - apparently she wants to watch David Tennant reading the bedtime story on Cbeebies...