Nature 🌱

[Pesky Tarian]

I'm in a built up area, and this morning heard two wrens singing away nearby. Pretty miraculous

Also added a non flowering chamomile to my row of potted herbs this year and it makes a very nice bedtime tea with some lavender. Has anyone planted chamomile into their lawn? I'm not brave enough 🫣

I've been googling chamomile lawns and absolutely want one now!.

Got my first highly unlikely on the app last night, a yellow legged gull, showed my husband and he was like "what, they're always hanging around the chippy" .

Little listen today

 

[Pesky Tarian]

We had a late evening dog walk and the kids wanted to use the app (which I'm loving, it's like they're small again 🥹). Bumper list!

 

[Pesky Tarian]

Discovered the fabulous Merlin app from chat in the discontent thread, thanks to @Blond3g1rl .

Quick listen this morning

 

[Piff paff puff]

I'm a bloody idiot. Prepped the garden jan/feb. Thought I was clever pulling out a ton of the same looking weed, getting them before they grew. They were my flowers from last year
It's all coming along nicely though, no thanks to me

 

[Borrible]

I'm in a built up area, and this morning heard two wrens singing away nearby. Pretty miraculous

Also added a non flowering chamomile to my row of potted herbs this year and it makes a very nice bedtime tea with some lavender. Has anyone planted chamomile into their lawn? I'm not brave enough 🫣

 

[rainbowlemon]

No cricket, we wouldn’t be brave enough to sit down nearby if they were!

The doll was also a lost item.

This is the one we got:

 

[SharkAttack]

We had a late evening dog walk and the kids wanted to use the app (which I'm loving, it's like they're small again 🥹). Bumper list!

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Omg Pesky do you live very rurally?

I'm so envious. Here in London I get two or three usually

 

[GlitterFluff]

I’ve told this story many times now - but during lockdown a woman in my village spent several evenings secretly admiring the owl in a tree by her house.

The cold light of day revealed it to be a carrier bag stuck in the branches.

How’s everyone recording these? I tend to do it a good few times a day for a couple of minutes at a time. I’m thinking of actually getting a notebook to properly track what I’m seeing/hearing throughout the year.

I was fixated on an owl that was out in daylight in Fort Lauderdale last year. Genuinely obsessed.

Until I realised it was a plastic decoy

 

[Sheabutter]

ERM….

Meet the Peecyclers. Their Idea to Help Farmers Is No. 1. (Published 2022)

A shortage of chemical fertilizer, worsened by the war in Ukraine, has growers desperate. It just so happens that human urine has the very nutrients that crops need.

www.nytimes.com

 

[rainbowlemon]

Also this:

 

[GlitterFluff]

I haven’t been able to get Merlin to identify my chickens yet and they’re not the quietest birds!

 

[Ekathrina]

Has any one else noticed how many big fat bumblebees there are this year? It’s way more than it’s been for the last few years.

 

[50degreesnorth]

Thank you for the podcast recommendation.

Merlin gave me these this morning from the back door - heading a couple of hours away later so hopefully something different.

 

[Pesky Tarian]

No new birds this week. I am going to a function at a stately home tonight so hoping I might get a peacock .

Think it's this little guy that wakes me up every morning.

 

[strawb]

Is balcony gardening as it sounds from a balcony? Hope you get a great crop. Can't believe how much strawberries spread out. I heard they can spread so much they're almost invasive

yes i have a big balcony and we share the backyard so i prefer to grow there!

strawberries are crazy we have a whole planter just for them because nothing else can grow next to them

 

[50degreesnorth]

I could hear loads when I went out at the crack of dawn - but the app was only picking up one - I think the firm sea breeze must interfere with the listening.

 

[Piff paff puff]

love this thread!

the last couple of years i've gotten into balcony gardening
this year we have:

• cucumbers
• bell peppers
• a watermelon (we'll see how that goes haha)
• strawberries
• spring onions
• lettuce
• radish
• lots of different spices: basil, rosemary, etc
• chinese money plant
• tradescantia (spiderwort)
  
• lots of different flowers

i'd love to share some photos on here!

Is balcony gardening as it sounds from a balcony? Hope you get a great crop. Can't believe how much strawberries spread out. I heard they can spread so much they're almost invasive

 

[Miscanthus]

How does it fare on ‘barren’ land?! Our neighbours have an enormous eucalyptus (don’t get me started) which has destroyed our lawn and fence so if anyone has any tips on what could cover the ground I’d appreciate it. We sowed a tonne of grass seed last year but it’s all just died off because the roots sap all the nutrients out of the ground

Camomile doesn't require a very moist or fertile soil as it's a Mediterranean plant but it does like a looser, free-draining soil. If the area is compacted then dig it over. If it's clay, add horticultural grit. It will require some shade until established but then full sun so if the Eucalyptus is casting shade on the area it might be a problem.
I can help with ground cover ideas but which way does the area face?

 

[GlitterFluff]

For aaaaaages I thought we had a woodpecker down the lane but it was in fact a creaky branch

 

[Piff paff puff]

Lovely idea for a thread. I am envious of everyone's beautiful-looking plants and produce, as my efforts usually end in disaster!

I just wanted to share my little bit of nature. I have had a female duck coming to my house at this time of year for the last 3 years. Sometimes she brings her fella, but for the last 2 days we've had a bit of a ménage a trois going on

They love their mealworms and usually mill around for a few hours before flying off. I love my duckies

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Awwww twos company..........
I'd love duckies in my garden, you're so lucky.
Amazing if you get some ducklings