Green to golden

Green turns to golden
Flexible stems once blown effortlessly in a mild breeze now stand rigid, skeletal, resistant to disturbance.
While colour and life ebbs away, an army of spiders take over positions in every open space, strung across the most daring of precipice, alert to every promise of reward.
Leaves fall and seeds scatter
A hope of continuation in autumn's pleasant warmth.

Acrobatic snails

This morning Ive been watching a wonderfully strange acrobatic display by a snail in my garden. Balancing on the edge of a hosta leaf, the snail was stretched upright for hours, twisting itself slowly from one side to the other. Its tentacles extending and contracting continually as if to search for something always out of its grasp.

Perched on the edge of the leaf it looked more like a diver about to jump from the high board, but the snail was actually attached to the hosta's woody stem by a thread of slimy mucus.

How and why it got itself into this position I have no idea but I shall do some investigation and report back in next months post.

What makes this display more remarkable is how it has been able to remain attached and in this position in the wind. It has been quite a blustery morning and the snail has been blown and buffeted about, sometimes losing its footing on the leaf edge but somehow still clinging on to its thread.

Ive witnessed strange snail and slug behaviour in the garden before but never anything quite as remarkable and beautiful as this. When I first started gardening slugs and snails were an absolute enemy and I battled continually to save my seedlings and juicy hosta leaves from their jaws.

Over the last couple of years Ive become a lot more relaxed with the slugs and snails in the garden and only use pellets sparingly to protect and allow seedlings to get established. After that, I'm happy to let nature take its course and the wildlife to munch away.

The sedum has started to bloom in the last couple of weeks and as the tiny pink petals emerge lots of bees have been attracted into the garden. On warmer days the flowers are a mass of buzzing sounds with so many types of bees busily working their way around each cluster of flowers.
Sadly my bees, the ones nesting in a cavity of my house, have gone. So its fantastic to see so many other bees coming back into the garden.

Ive been volunteering at my local community garden this summer. Its only a small plot of land between houses in the middle of St Mellons but around 10 or 12 people regularly volunteer, with the men doing the heavy lifting work and the women planting, weeding, harvesting (and giving the men their instructions).

Sadly for me I could only attend for a few weeks as I'm usually working when its open. But in that short time Ive met some wonderful people, learnt how to take cuttings from lavender and come home with handfuls of vegetables, from runner beans, yellow tomatoes and sweetcorn.

The tomato plant I have was a gift from the community garden when we first met at the local fete. Ive been watching for days as one the four fruits has begun to ripen. It wont be a huge harvest but I'm sure they will taste incredible once I do get to pick them.

Day lilies final fanfare

The last few day lilies are in bloom today and by the end of the week they will all be gone. Their glorious trumpets will fall silent for another year. I've loved sitting in the garden as the evening draws in and the bats skit and scat around. In the darkness the orange/yellow lilies continue to glow when everything else fades into the gloom.

The last day lily of the year

Its been a good show this year with the first of the lilies to flower in early July. This is the time of year when everything starts to change with the autumn moving closer. While the poppies and hostas have also finished, the heuchera continue to attract bees to their tiny flowers and the sedum will soon burst into colour.

Over the last couple of weeks I've not seen any bee activity from the nest in my bathroom wall. I'm not sure when they would naturally leave the nest but it seems a bit early in the year. I suspect that they have struggled with the location. On only slightly windy days I've watched as each bee would make numerous attempts to get to the hole in the wall and perhaps that has exhausted them.

Poppies and allotments

Its always good to reflect on the past and to see how life has progressed. I've lived here for almost nine years now and a lot has happened and changed in the Garden of Shaz. Just to see how much has changed I've added a photo showing the garden as it was in 2007 and how it looks today in 2015.

I am amazed at how blank the garden was to start with and so happy to see how much is going on in the garden today. 

Garden of Shaz 2007 and 2015

And the garden is still changing. Ive been moving the lower growing plants on the left side forward to make room for taller bushes at the back. I'll make a start on the right side later in the year, bringing the hostas around the washing line to break the straight edges of the patio. Ultimately I want the garden to be a mixture of plants, flowers and vegetables and no grass. The left side is almost done with broad beans to go into the gap in the middle. Rhubarb and strawberries will go into the right side. 

Its been a few years since I've grown vegetables but I've been inspired to start again (and grow fruit for the first time) by my friend Jo. I visited her allotment in Stevenage last week; the first time I had been on an allotment. It was incredible to see how much produce everyone on the site was growing and was especially impressed with Jo's plot as she has only had it for 18 months. 

Jo on her allotment

I must admit I was also a little jealous of how big her garlic and onions where. My pot grown efforts had only ever been small and disappointing. The highlight of growing any vegetable or fruit is in the eating and after countless journeys to fetch and water the plot I was rewarded with freshly picked broad beans and strawberries to add to our picnic. I lovely way to spend a summer day.

Bees at home in the Garden of Shaz

This spring has brought a new visitor to the garden; bees. Earlier in the year I often noticed one or two bees flying around the kitchen door. I didn't think anything of it until a few weeks ago when the bees became more frequent. It was only then that I realised that the bees had made a home in a hole in the wall of my house. 

The bees are tree bumble bees and having done a little research and spoken to a bee keeper friend they shouldn't pose any problem and will leave the nest in the autumn to establish a new colony. 

Tree Bumble Bees

Once they are gone I shall seal the hole but I don't want to banish them completely. I'll put a bee box at the bottom of the garden and hope that a new colony finds it a nice home.

The frogs have not been so visible this year though. After two years of tadpoles being laid in the bird bath, there were none this spring. Its not all bad though as there are frogs in the garden still, living under the shed and the bits of wood left around the garden.   

The first day lily of the year

This morning I was greeted by the lovely sight of the first day lily of the year; a bright yellow jewel singing out to the summer. My day lilies always start to bloom at this time of the year but it is always wonderful to see the first one.

The garden has gone through a bit of a transformation this year and I have been a little concerned that some plants wont do so well. Thankfully, as the season progresses it looks like everything is doing fine.

Early this spring I began to move established plants forward to make space for taller, bushier new additions. The day lilies were part of that transformation. The clusters needed splitting but that meant I had a huge amount of plants (in a small garden). Some plants have been moved closer to the path to allow the leaves to spill over the edge. The rest had to go into pots and they are doing also doing really well. The pots have two advantages; they add a little more height and can be moved, meaning I can change the arrangement in minutes.  

I have noticed a few malformed flower head on the day lilies though. I'm not sure why they would grow like this and there is always one or two each year. 

Finally spring is here and on the weekend. It's warm and sunny and just the kind of Saturday morning I want to spend in the garden. Last weekend I dug up and split the day lilies but I had to squeeze them into pots that were not big enough. So today's task was to re-pot them into bigger pots they can grow into.

There is a slight problem though. My next door neighbours have a dog which is left in the garden when they go out. While they are away the dog barks at anything that makes a noise and that includes me. I've told them about it a number of times in the hope they will do something to change his behaviour but on today's evidence nothing has changed.

I won't say any more about it but I will share a few minutes of my gardening/barking experience with you in this film.



To get back to the gardening, my second task of the day was to start planting hedges along the new fence. Hedging is at the heart of the new look garden. I've realised that I've planted low growing plants at the back of the beds meaning I am limited for depth. I want to fill the whole left section with plants so I am bringing the low growers forward and planting taller hedging plants at the back.

Today I have bought 3 Ribes Aureum (golden currant) hedges, with their roots bundled in soil by plastic. The roots were soaked for a while but maybe I should have removed the soil too? Anyway, these 3 hedges have been planted closest to the house about 50 cm apart and this group will hopefully create a nice big, thick cluster.

Shaz is back

Its been almost two years since my last post to the Garden of Shaz. Far, far too long but now I am back and raring to get into the garden and share my adventures.

To be honest I've been in a bit of a gardening doldrums, stuck in a rut thinking the garden was fine one day and it needing to change the next. I just couldn't work out what to do, so I did nothing.

But that is about to change. I have finally got a plan and I've already been out in the garden all weekend in a wonderfully cold, strong wind digging up and splitting the day lilies to move away from the new fence. Its really boggy mud and heavy going but it was so worth it, especially when I spied a single snowdrop nestled between the hedges.

I have also starting to clear the shed. Its leaning more and more to the left and will eventually collapse. So I'm throwing away what isn't needed and moving the rest indoors. I cant see this shed lasting another winter so I plan to get a new one installed this summer.

Until next time...Its great to be back.

The loneliest tadpole

There is only one tadpole left in the Garden of Shaz. Its been on its own for a few weeks now and I cant help thinking how lonely it must be.

About 4 weeks ago it had two companions, both well developed froglets and nearing their time to leave the pond. One of the two froglets had a very under-developed back leg and I didn't think it would make it out of the pond with only three limbs. But it has, its gone and I can only hope that it has survived with its back leg continuing to develop.

I noticed that the last tadpole started to develop its back legs last week. That's a good sign because now it should start to develop its front legs very quickly and then be able to leave. The worry with this tadpole becoming a frog so much later than the rest is that it has a shorter period of time to grow into a strong adult frog before the cold weather arrives.

I've been trying to make the garden frog friendly since the froglets emerged from their ponds. I've not weeded at all to avoid disturbing them and to keep more of the garden shaded. This last month has been very hot so shade has been important to keep them cool. The wide but slug ravished hostas and bushing day lily leaves should provide a dark and cool environment. The day lilies are in bloom now with the first flowering on the 20th July.

I've also made little hiding places with large stones and lumps of mud.  The birds are probably their worse nightmare and I've seen a blackbird darting into the foliage and coming back out with what could have been a little frog in its beak. I cant help lifting a few stones to see if there is a little frog beneath. Sometimes I'm lucky and its great to see the frogs growing larger.

I cant be sure but I think the frogs might be able to adjust their skin colour to suit their surroundings. I found two frogs on either side of one of the ponds. One was under a stone in the grass and was light brown. The other was under lumps of mud in a dark muddy area. This frog was much darker brown. However, I had also noticed a difference in colour as some of the first few were leaving the ponds for the first time. At that time they were mostly living in the pond so there was no difference in surroundings but there was already a difference in the shade of brown. So why would the same family of tadpoles look so different?

Tadpoles and frogs

tadpoles and frogs 2013, a set on Flickr.
This week I became the proud 'foster mother' of froglets. I've been looking after approximately 100 tadpoles this spring after frog spawn was laid in the bird bath. Its taken about 6 months for them to start to develop into frogs but now the first few have the rest are changing quickly.

I couldn't believe it when I first discovered the frog spawn in late January. Its never happened before but for some reason mother frog decided to lay her spawn in the not too suitable place of the bird bath. Its only an old frying pan but it had about an inch of water in it so I suppose she thought it was ok.

Realising that the birds would disturb or possibly eat the spawn I put a ring of chicken wire around the pan. Then all I could do was wait, top up the water when needed, and worry about the frosts that would freeze the water some mornings.

Its been incredible watching them develop; from tiny black dots in the spawn to miniature tadpoles, from huge tadpoles to tiny frogs. Its almost like observing evolution; a species changing in front of my eyes.
Once all the tadpoles had hatched the bird bath really was a totally unsuitable home. The water would cloud up with air bubbles very quickly which didn't seem right.

I separated them into three larger containers, two upturned lids from indoor green houses and a washing up bowl. They had a lot more room and I could change the water much easier too. Again, chicken wire was used to keep the birds away.

The next few months were quite uneventful. The tadpoles grew and developed very slowly. I fed them on goldfish flakes to start with but I wasn't convinced they were eating it and it made the water go cloudy. I also tried boiled iceberg lettuce but in the end I would just drop round lettuce and various leaves from the plants in the garden. They seem to like tulip leaves the best.

As the tadpoles became more like frogs the containers needed to be put into the ground to become more like ponds. That way the tadpoles could start to stretch their legs on land but still have the safety of the water. Once the first container was sunk into the ground it took only 5 minutes for the first froglets to venture onto dry land. It was incredible watching those first froglets experience their new environment.

Since then most of the froglets have left their ponds. I used to spend hours watching the tadpoles swimming around and froglets climbing out, exploring and jumping back in. Now there's a strange lack of activity and very little to see. Hopefully I'll be able to spot a few frogs in the garden, and who knows, maybe there might be some more frog spawn next year.

Day lilies in bloom - at last

Our grey and miserable summer continues to dampen all things in the garden, including my enthusiasm. But all that might finally be about to change with the first day lily in bloom in the Garden of Shaz.

And according to my own records of the past few years, this years day lily bloom is about 14 days later than  usual. Confirmation, I think, that even the plants and flowers have had a miserable summer too.

This years day lilies have also struggled to produce flowering stems and some of those that have made it, have been distorted and weird. I'm not sure what this distortion or lack of growth is caused by, but I suspect a combination of insect damage, such as beetles or ants, and the poor weather.




The slugs and snails have been having a great time munching on the hostas, but have only affected the smaller plants and those in the dampest areas. The largest hosta is thriving so well that its flowering spear rivals the apple tree for height.

Im glad the see the runner beans in flower providing something at least for the bees to get up for. I do wonder if the delayed flowering of many plants is having an effect on the bees. Might I predict a shortage of honey next year? Perhaps.

The last day of the day lily

The eighteenth of August see's the last of the day lilies shrivelled and wilted. That means the day lilies flowered for over six weeks this summer. The demise of these flowers however brings with it the realisation that summer is nearing the end and autumn is slowing creeping closer. Its been a strange summer weather wise this year with the best of the sunshine in Easter and the summer being warm, but often wet but more often cloudy. Ive not had to water the garden as much this year and when I have its been because the wind has dried the potted plants rather than the sun.

So while the day lilies fade away the garden is still bright will pink and purple fuchsia, bright yellow Rudbeckia and and the small red blooms of the runner beans. Ive had a great crop so far from the runner beans and given the amount of flowers still displaying there is still loads to come. The hosta's have bloomed and have now set seed, their huge leaves showing the first signs of dying off. Ive also had a good crop of garlic this year with the bulbs now dried and hanging in the shed.

There is the first hint of the ice plants tiny flowers starting to bloom and I would expect a brilliant display in a week or two attracting the bees back into the garden.

Lastly the four apples on the apple tree are doing well. Three of the apples are really growing well and developing a lovely red glow but its still some time before they might be ready for harvest. One of the apples is on the disappointingly scrawny side. Its tucked low down beneath the nearby hosta's and has probably missed out on its share of sunshine. Its an odd shape and what amuses me most is the strange way it is attached to the very end of the branch as if its just been stuck on as an afterthought.

The day of the Daylily

The third of July brings the delight of the magnificent Daylily. The buds began to open yesterday in the warm sunshine but it wasn't until this morning that the first buds opened fully. These large yellow trumpets tower over the Hosta's, Hebe and Heuchera. When I see these great flowers coming into bloom I know the summer has finally arrived.

Spring 2011 review - part 1

There has been lots going on in the Garden of Shaz over the last six months. Here then is a review of spring 2011 to chart the changes over the last few months.

After such a harsh winter the eventual thaw was so welcome. But it brought with it a water-logged ground that took weeks to dry out. So once the water logged ground had dried enough, I could get to the brussels and harvest. I had imaginged that I would be enjoying home grown Brussels and parsnip for Christmas dinner, by sadly they didnt make it to the plate because of the frozen conditions in December. I was concerned with the brussels and parsnip still at the mercy of the elements and how the freezing conditions would damage the vegetables. Apart from a little damage from what I suspect was caused by insect kind, I was quite surprised how good a condition the sprouts were. Once picked there was enough for a couple of dinners and actually tasted pretty good to.



The parsnip leaves had been completely destroyed by the frosts and snow which made it difficult to know where the dig. I decided to leave them in the ground until drier conditions and in that time noticed new leaf growth forming. It wasnt until February until the parsnips were eventually dug up and what a huge surprise it was so see what had been growing under ground. The was a mixture of sizes from the minisule to the massive and the weirdest growth on most. Few were neat plump and long like the supermarket type. Instaed they were mostly odd shapes with finger like growths forming miniutre parsnips. I believe this might have been caused because they were left in the ground to long and had started the growing process again, as with the new leaves.

Oddly shaped or not, they were still edilble and so with much cleaning and peeling a good amount of parsnip chunks were eventually cut.

The green, green grass

Its so green, the grass in my garden. Greener than its looked for a very long time. But how can it be after the harshest winter for a 100 years. I think its because the 8 inches of snow we have had has actually protected it from the sub zero temperatures.


During December the temperatures by day were as low -3 degrees if not lower. Before the snow, the ground was rock solid after days of the harshest frosts I have ever seen, that created the most beautiful effect on everything it touched. Then with a layer of snow that lay on the ground for perhaps as long as two weeks, the ground temperature could start to rise again. Once the snow cleared the grass was already springing back into life to reveal this lush carpet of green.


So while the garden was covered with this second helping of snow the priority again has been to keep the water in the bird bath de-iced and a supply of food for the birds.



This Christmas I was hoping to enjoy my own homegrown Brussels and parsnips. However, because of the big freeze it has been impossible to harvest anything. Hopefully they will survive this weather and be edible for a January meal instead.

After the freeze

Since the last post the only activity in the garden, until this weekend, has been to defrost the bird bath and put feed out for the birds. With temperatures falling to -5 degrees C it must have been very challenging for the wildlife, so its been a priority to keep them fed and watered. Its been interesting watching 5 or 6 blackbirds sitting together in the same tree, then later chasing each other around to defend food and territory.

The robin is a regular visitor and is often sitting on the fence before I go out with feed. It even starts to feed while I am only a few feet away. A long tail tit and thrush have also been spotted.

This weekend brought warmer weather and so I could get into the garden to tidy up. The Cosmos and Rudbeckia had been totally destroyed by the heavy frosts. The late flowering had been a great show but the remains after this cold snap had left them in a terrible mess. Other plants look to have survived although the parsnip leaves have seen better days.

Oh no, snow!

The snow has arrived. Friday lunchtime time the snow started to fall in Cardiff and within a few hours a good few inches had settled. So begins the big freeze.

Earlier in the week the days had been getting chillier with morning frosts damaging the still flowering Cosmos and Rudbeckia. The weight of the snow finally crushed the life from them and all that remains of the Cosmos is withered and broken stems. Surprisingly some of the Rudbeckia might still survive.




Since the snow arrived its been more important to feed and water the birds. The bird bath must now be defrosted each morning with hot water replacing the thick layer of ice. This morning I filled the bird bath with freshly boiled water. With the temperature at -2 the water had started to freeze again by the afternoon. Within minutes of going back into the house the Robin had arrived at the bird bath for a drink. It would have found the water too warm and drank from the cooler spillage on the floor.

Peanuts and seed is already hanging in the garden. Muesli, dried fruit, mixed nuts, meal worms and biscuits are put out each morning. Today these foods attracted the robin, magpies, a group of 8 starlings, a pair of collared dove and 5 or 6 blackbird. Interesting, and worryingly no sparrows have been seen in the garden for some days. Hopefully they have found a better food source.

There is very little to do in the garden for the next few months apart from harvest the Brussels and parsnip later in the year and plan for next year. Ive not really thought too much about the year to come apart from controlling the spread of the hostas and day lilies. These two plants have been most successful but do cover a lot of space when fully grown that other plants struggle to compete. The evergreen shrubs that should be providing winter colour and interest are disappointing as a result.

The last blooms of 2010

November has been an interesting month and its only half way through. The weather has brought the challenges of frost, strong winds and heavy rain. The perennials including hostas, marigolds and fern have completely died away leaving large and muddy gaps in the border.

The winners this month are the Cosmos and Rudbeckia. These were sown late in the year and then planted late into the borders and pots. I didn't expect them to do much this year because they were grown so late. However I have been very surprised as both have bloomed beautifully with the Rudbeckia giving a very strong display.




The apples have been removed from the tree to allow it to concentrate its energy on itself during the winter and spring months.

Autumn takes over

Its November and autumn has definitely arrived, first with warmth and wonderful colours in the trees and bushes, and now with strong winds and rain. Once these winds die down there wont be many leaves on the trees and the arrival of autumn and darkness with the clocks going back makes it all seem to happen so much more abruptly. Never mind, its still a great time of year and so much is changing so quickly.



Way back in august the day lilies were finishing. Since then they have completely died away and their spiky leaves have dried and been cut back. Schizostylis fenland daybreak then took over the boarder. Now even their vibrant but delicate pink flowers have lost a bit of their punch.

Hosta's have all but gone but still strong are the Brussels. Ive had a difficult time controlling the caterpillar populations on these plants. As there are mixed in with the flowers and shrubs of the border I have not been able to net them, hence a variety of caterpillars have enjoyed a feast. Between the thick stalked leaves are small round Brussels that should provide a good accompaniment to Christmas dinner.

The parsnips have also been doing well and it will be interesting to see how large they become when harvested. The leeks are looking good and seem to have survived the attentions of what might have been leek moth. At one stage the drooping and damaged leaves looked terminal. However in recent weeks they have all bulked up.

The apple tree is starting to shed its leaves. The apples are still on the tree and have grown to about 3cm's in diameter, not big enough to eat. I shall leave them on the tree for a while but I cant see them growing much more now. I expect that a leafless tree will be putting its energies into surviving the winter, not growing more fruit.

Lastly the runner beans have been the biggest success of the year, with much eaten and still more in the freezer. I have kept some back to dry out and provide seed for next year. Only a handful of carrots made it through the season which was disappointing. However the size of some of them has been incredible. It certainly helped growing them direct into the border and not into pots as in previous years.

The August report

Its been almost a month since my last post and a lot has happened during that time. The day lilies have given a brilliant display and are just coming to the end. I have let a few flowers develop into seed pods and will try to cultivate any seeds I collect next spring.

The apple tree produced a small amount of blossom a few weeks ago. While the blossom last for only a few days it has developed into seed heads which should go on to become apples. I am surprised by the timing of the blossom and expect the weather will become too cold for the apples to grow.

I harvested the potatoes this weekend. The plants were all suffering from blight so I didnt expect to find much. However I did manage to find enough to fill a bowl or two dinners worth. That evening I boiled some of them but after just a short time they had all split and gone to water. Disaster, and straight into the bin.

The big sucess has been the pea and bean crops. The dwarf beans produce a good amount of pods. I have also been shelling peas and picking runner beans and there is a lot more to come.