Carrots and Kids

Make a Bird Nest Building Buffet

Things have been extraordinarily stressful at Carrots Cottage this last week and a bit, but one of the most soothing things I've found is watching birds in the garden.

I stand at the kitchen window sipping coffee, thumbing through a very old copy of The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe. It's old, priced at £1.75, but we got it in a charity shop.

There's not as many feathered visitors as I'd like but we've had dunnocks, great tits, chaffinches and bullfinches as well as the usual robin, blue tits (currently building a nest in the box as they do every year), blackbirds, sparrows and the ever present pigeons who, I know, are just waiting for me to sow some peas.

Nest building is going on aplenty. Every time I see a bird in the garden they either have something in their mouths or are eating at a feeder.

So I thought I'd help them. We collected some moss, clipped the hairy dog and cut up some wool. I wondered how to make this tip top material available for the birds.

The garden's currently in disarray thanks to a major patio building project so I wouldn't have any where to place yoghurt pots or dishes of wool. Plus, they'd blow away. Oh, I know there are doubtless countless posts and tutorials on making such a thing but y'know, I couldn't be bothered to look. Sometimes you just want to get on and do it your way.

So I fudged my own idea.

If you fancy having a go here's what you need:

• a small piece of wood
• a drill
• hook for hanging it up
• nesting materials
• pieces of wood or nails for the birds to perch on

We (well, Hubby, I was deemed too accident prone) drilled holes all the way through the wood then the seven-year-old stuffed them. Our holes could have been bigger I reckon but they're full of material.

I've hung it up near the most popular feeders but have yet to see a bird visiting their buffet. "It's not like it's been posted on Facebook love, the birds aren't telling each other there's a load of dog hair for nests at number xx," commented Hubby.

Hmm, well I hope they're not going to be fussy. This is prime nest building material here.

:: Today on Birdoosh I'm talking about Monday mornings and routines ::

{eggs}

We used to have back garden hens. They were enormous fun, until a fox made off with the lot of them. A friend had loaned us a broody chicken which we named Gladys and gave us some fertile eggs and away we went, having fun and enjoying the resulting eggs for years.

Would I have chickens again? Yes, if I had the space. Oh, I know you can house them in an Eglu thing but it doesn't seem overly spacious to me. And right now we need the space for things like football.

Plus, if you let them roam, and why wouldn't you, they tend to wreck your lawn. And we had a rat in the garden. I know not everyone does but we did. Although they tend not to need much by way of encouragement to visit us. Bird food? Rats. Chickens? Rats.

So I make do with buying my eggs, which we seem to get through at a rate of knots. They are perfect though, versatile and coming complete with their own packaging which can be recycled in so many ways.

I try to keep the empty shells in a container or bag next to the Aga. When I have lots, I pop them into the bottom oven for a while.

Then I either crush them to add as a layer to pots of tomato seedlings when I'm potting on or as a slug deterrent around the base of seedlings.

Sometimes I also use them to grow seeds in, gently breaking them when it's time to transfer to the ground. Occasionally they go in the compost bin but they never seem to break down well plus, when they have so many other uses it seems a bit of a missed opportunity.

Now I also have a new use - I'm going to whiz them up in my food processor and add them to home-made bird food. I read this weekend (and can't remember where) that commercial bird food doesn't contain any calcium, essential for the baby birds. It's always nice to make your own fat balls so this is no extra work.

What do you use your egg shells for?

Allotment Wildlife

On one small part of the allotment I have some old carpet. I'm not sure what purpose it's serving but it's there and not hurting anyone.

The other day I thought I'd peek underneath and turf out any hiding slugs (there were a few but not as many as I thought). I also discovered this little visitor.

Of course, not being very knowledgeable about such things, I thought it was a newt but was puzzled as there wasn't a pond nearby. No one has a pond on their plot as all but two of us have half plots which are actually quite small so every available space is given over to growing.

 But Hubby, who knows about such things after an idyllic childhood immersed in cow poo and countryside, said it was a lizard and started reminiscing about how he used to catch them when he was a lad.

I won't bore you with those tales but I was chuffed to find this little creature at home on my allotment. What's the most unusual wildlife you've found on yours?

Earth Day and a Pink Batman

A rather hot and sweaty pint-sized Batman appeared at the back door yesterday. "Phew," he said, "I'm tired." His dad asked what had he been doing out in the garden with his sister to make him so tired?

"Well, we've been busy looking after the world," Batman replied.

Which is, when you think about it, quite hard work. No wonder he was tired. Plus, he still had his shorts and t-shirt on under his bat suit. He did look a bit pink, underneath his freckles.

That's the thing isn't it? Looking after the world is second nature to Batman and his alter-ego, a four-year-old boy. While they need to expend some energy, make some effort to do so, really it's natural. As natural as breathing.

And that's why I'm not going overboard about Earth Day. I mean, thinking about the planet, our individual eco-systems contained on our plots, trying to ensure we don't do any harm, to nurture what in turn nurtures us, that's what people who garden do. Every single day.

I'm sure that's what you all do, or try to, or make plans to at some point in the future once you get a garden or allotment. Anyway, there are a myriad ways in which to look after the planet.

In my job as a freelance writer I have talked about ways to recycle in the garden, looking after wildlife, great flowers and veggies to grow with children. Yesterday I was on the BBC gardening blog talking about gardening with children.

Here at Carrots, I think of it as my garden and if you happen to peek in you may see me gardening with the children, reading a book or stuffing cake in my mouth (most probably the latter). And what you do see is just a small portion of what goes on.

We're just doing what comes naturally here, on Earth Day and every day.

Our Big Garden Birdwatch Big Report

So they came, they gobbled and we counted. Or rather I did. Almost everyone had wandered off by the time some feathered action took place in the garden for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch at the weekend.

This year, in my new incarnation as Organised Gardener, I hotfooted it to my local garden centre to stock up on the cheapest bird feeders and a selection of food last week, in good time to entice a few birds.

Then I filled, hung and waited. I must say, and bear in mind that I'm not the most patient of people, I wasn't disappointed. We have a surfeit of blue tits who appear amazingly greedy for such little, flitty creatures.

Now, I know I must not be fussy. And, really, the garden and my offerings have hardly been a smorgasbord of top notch delicacies but I aspire to having one of those gardens, usually created by retired grandads in my experience, that is positively teeming with birds of every description (and having just read that back, I don't mean in the way it sounds...).

So, my count was nine blue tits, three blackbirds and two house sparrows (the latter being new arrivals folks at Deb's All You Can Eat Buffet For Birds). Could do better I reckon.

I plan on making some bird cake and, if funds allow, buying some live mealworms from Wiggly Wigglers. Let's see how they like that.

In case anyone is interested we currently have on the menu here black sunflower hearts, white ones, songbird mix, plus some dried mealworms and raisins for those species that like to feed from a tray (the picture is my bowl bird feeder hanging from a tree).

Go on, hit me with the squillions that you counted!

A Weekly To Do List

Now this may seem utterly boring, but I am always so nosy that peeking at others' to do lists is not a chore. This is, of course, no ordinary one but my gardening list. Now that I am waking up a bit I need to Get Myself Sorted.

Of course, I could merely write it in a notebook but those have a habit of going missing or remaining unopened so if you do find it all tedious it's probably best to look away now...

• Take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. It's only for an hour and I'm not overly hopeful about seeing much (particularly if our neighbour keeps up with his pneumatic drill) but still
• Start chitting my seed potatoes. As of writing I haven't bought any but am planning to nip to the garden centre to remedy this. As we all know, all work and no play is very boring
• Make some bird cakes
• Order my tomato seeds. Yes, I know I am horribly lax
• Sort out my greenhouse. You seriously do not want to see it as it is but I may post a picture of the result. After all, there's no point in all of us being depressed
• Have a bonfire. I have waited months, months I tell you, for The Husband to transport some very large cuttings from the front garden as promised. Now I'm taking matters into my own hands
• Finally, finally sort out a plan for the front. Quite frankly, I'm so fed up with it that I would happily restore it to its former "glory" of two small flower beds under the windows and lawn. Although don't hold me to that....

At my current work rate I reckon I should get one of the above crossed off. And that may well be the one involving me staring at birds from the comfort of a kitchen chair.

Birdhouse Gourds

I have a confession to make: there are some things that I just seem incapable of growing. Massive pumpkins? Gourds? Purple sprouting broccoli? Not a chance.

Admittedly, I've not tried terribly hard with the broccoli, after seeing all my tender plants demolished last year by caterpillars. So that's partly my fault.

But the pumpkins? And those ornamental gourds? I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Last year I bought a packet of Japanese Birdhouse Gourd seeds from Chelsea Flower Show and this year I got around to sowing them.

I transferred one of the plants up to the allotment and promptly forgot all about them. I remembered when I spotted the strange white flowers but, knowing my track record, I really wasn't hoping for much. The best I ever seem to do with squash (apart from courgettes) is one per plant. Hardly sucessful.

But the other weekend I spotted three very strange looking gourds. And, wonders will never cease, there was a plant marker nearby. Yep! I "grew" three of the birdhouse gourds!

Now I am going to turn them into birdhouses, naturally. It does not appear to be a simple process, there are lots of instructions. Fingers crossed this will actually be a project of mine that is successful from start to finish! I'll let you know how I get on...

Dragonfly

Can you tell I'm a bit tired? I mean, what sort of title is that? A concise one is what. Life is, as ever, hectic. I rather wish it wasn't but I guess with a large family it will be ever thus...

Which is why I like blogging. It gives me a reason to reflect. To look back on my pictures, like the ones I've posted here. And I remember a lovely day, something wonderful and take a five-minute breather. Because without this blog, I probably wouldn't look at these pictures for a while.

These were taken while we were up at the plot, having the best allotment visit ever. We chanced upon this dragonfly very sleepily clinging onto an old bean which had long ago given up the ghost. The dragonfly looked like it would soon too.

But we were very excited as we don't normally see them and never up at the plot. And never close up. I was particularly excited as it meant I could take lots of pictures.

It left us with a dilemma though; we wanted to clear the plot (and realistically, this was my one chance). So we carefully moved the dragonfly, complete with bean tendril, out of the way. I'm not sure what became of it but I guess it died as that night was very stormy.

The five-year-old wanted to keep it as a pet. As much as I love dragoflies that was one step a bit too far for me. So we'll have to make do with looking at these photos, which bring back lots of lovely memories (not really an alternative to a pet, I realise...).

Flowery Allotments

I am so thankful that my allotment is on a laid-back site that allows me to grow what I like (which is generally veggies but some flowers too). I think the bees must be glad too.

What Wildlife Do You Have In Your Garden?

When we moved into this house many, many years ago the first thing we did was fill in the pond. I know, you are all throwing your hands up in horror aren't you?

We had a six-month-old baby and had moved to give him a more rural upbringing complete with, what seemed like to us, a large garden. In order for us both to enjoy the garden, we felt the pond had to go.

I know there are grids and such like you can place over the top of them but money was exceedingly tight and this was, for us, the simplest option. Plus, all thoughts of gardening had fled from my mind.

Now I think it would be lovely to have a pond. Unfortunately there's no room. Plus, my youngest is still too young. Perhaps we shall get round to a pond in a pot. However, the frogs and toads haven't deserted us and we still find them in the garden, having hopped over no doubt from neighbouring ponds.

We also get a fox, never seen but the evidence (including the removal of hens and baby partridges) and deposits in the garden will attest to the visits as well as hedgehogs (much to the dogs' annoyance).

And, while the chaffinches have resolutely ignored my enticements, I have spotted a woodpecker at the bottom of the garden. Really, it is a pitiful tally.

But if I sit still long enough this Bank Holiday weekend I'm hoping I can spot some more wildlife and take part in the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trusts' wildest Hide and Seek survey which only takes an hour.

There's a list of 14 species to look out for in your garden. Whether you can tick all of them or none will be useful information to the WWT. You have until Monday May 31st to carry out your survey. And in case you need any more incentive, you'll receive a 2for1 voucher to your local WWT centre as a thank you for taking part.