Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
1st May 2021
Be Supportive
It may seem a bit early, as most plants are dawdling a bit, but now is the time to get your plant supports in place.
Letting the plant grow up through the support is far better than waiting until the heavy rain (it will come, trust me) flattens it all and you then have to try to gather all the floppy stems and tie them up so they look like a green leafy egg timer.
If you have the inclination, you still have time to get creative with your supports. I love the idea of using a bicycle wheel horizontally for herbaceous plants, or even veg, to grow through the spokes. Of course you will have to fix some ‘legs’ to it to keep it off the ground but I am told that’s easy enough.
When pruning coloured stemmed shrubs like dogwood, keep the branches to use as plant supports for shorter herbaceous plants as they will add colour and interest. Just push them into the ground around the outside of the herbaceous clump to add support.
Or have a go at making your own twisted willow supports. They will only last a season but I think they add to the beauty of any border. Make a sort of wreath shape, insert cross pieces inside for the plant to grow through and use more sticks or bamboo for the ‘legs’.
Sweet Ideas
Sweet peas can be grown up an old bed frame at the back of a border or used to make a temporary trellis partition. Or make a large wigwam for them with canes or cut hazel and as the sweet peas grow and cover the framework, they will naturally create a little den underneath. Or weave a willow archway and plant your sweet peas to scramble over it – putting a bench under or near it will mean you can get the most from the scent too.
Trailing nasturtiums will do much the same if you train them up the canes and, as nasturtiums are a favourite for chickens, I always grow some up the wire on my chicken run. The hens enjoy stripping the leaves and flowers on their side but there is always enough foliage and flowers to provide some colour and interest on my side too! Remember nasturtiums need poor soil to flower well, if you sow them in compost you’ll just get lots of leaves – which would probably be the chicken’s preferred choice.
Of course there will be a huge range of plant supports at your local garden centre too, and ones that can be used year after year so they’re not as expensive as they first seem.
You can ‘clothe’ an arbour, arch or swing seat (or something similar) on a patio or balcony too just by planting the sweet peas or nasturtiums, for example, in a big tub or pot (use poor soil for nasturtiums, remember). And be brave – what about using runner beans or peas to climb over your framework? The tall pea varieties like Alderman or Telephone will reach around 6 ft and some runner beans, like Moonlight, will reach in excess of 3 metres (about 9-10 feet in old money). It’s a fun way of growing veg and you can veg out under your pea or bean canopy!
Hello Blackbird
My heart always goes out to the busy blackbirds at this time of year. They are so dedicated looking for food for their young and can be seen foraging on the ground, turning over leaf litter in search of worms and insects. Similarly they are often seen kicking about on the side on the country lanes in search of food, (or nesting material) so it’s no surprise – though sad – that the most common causes of death for ringed blackbirds are cats and cars.
Blackbirds also enjoy fruits like apples, pears, strawberries, cherries and grapes and often I will buy some fruit from the reduced section in the supermarket just for them. I have four or five pairs nesting in the garden and they are very territorial. I’m sure one male was here last year as he has an unusual coloured beak. Blackbirds will make their way back to a ‘safe nest’ in the spring, although sometimes they will have been beaten to it by one of their young who were raised there the previous year. If that’s the case, they will just build a new nest nearby – very Welsh!
It takes a pair of blackbirds about a fortnight to make a nest, with most of the construction work being done by the female. In a good-weather year they may have three broods and as the nest is made from grass and small twigs, it often needs a bit of repairing in between. There’s a lot to be done in the Blackbird World, so helping them out with a bit of discounted fruit is the least we can do!
Sing A Song
The song of the blackbird is probably the most beautiful and well known. Studies have shown that the first birds to sing in February are year old males – the enthusiasm of ‘yoof’. The older birds won’t start singing until the middle or end of March. They will all sing well into the summer, but it is unusual to hear sustained song much after the middle of July.
And strangely, blackbirds like to sing after rain – which is what Terry Walton will be doing after this dry spell.
Blackbirds are quite happy around humans and are very adaptable, nesting in busy parks as well as quiet woodland. It’s not unusual for these sociable birds to become tame and Mum used to have a pet blackbird when she was young. It had been injured and after being nursed back to health by my mum for a couple of weeks would still follow her everywhere – much to the irritation of my granddad, apparently.
Surprisingly, the oldest ringed blackbird was twenty years old – obviously an expert at avoiding cars and cats.
Sing A Song of Sixpence
You are probably familiar with the (now politically incorrect) line ‘four and twenty blackbirds being baked in a pie’, but the original version actually had ‘four and twenty naughty boys being baked in a pye.’
Since Nan used to tell it to us – and tweak our nose as she said ‘pecked off her nose’ – another verse has had to be added apparently to avoid frightening young children. A little ironic in the age of Angry Birds and other similar video games, I thought.
Anyway, it now reads …
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Wasn’t that a dainty dish,
To set before the King?
The King was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose.
There was such a commotion
That little Jenny wren
Flew down into the garden,
And put it back again.
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