Today there were around 200 waxwings / sidensvans in the garden most of the afternoon and I saw them eating berries on Sambucus nigra, Viburnum opulus, Berberis, Crataegus and, in this video, a white berried rowan, received as Sorbus fruticosa! I’d planted this tree right outside my front door to try to attract waxwings….I was able to sit right outside the front door in full view of the birds and make this little film only about 2-3m away:
In this video we see a bird feeding on a rotten apple still hanging in the tree, a second bird, presumably this year’s young, is seen begging for food, and when a second bird turns up it actually feeds it…a bit late in the year for this!
…and waxwings on hawthorn and Berberis before they are scared up by a passing bus!
…and waxwings on Viburnum opulus (guelder rose / krossved)
Waxwing on Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose / Krossved)
Waxwing on Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose / Krossved)
I like to cook on the wood burning stove in winter…here’s a scene from the preparation of last night’s home grown veggie curry with Basella, Swiss chard, the two leeks I managed to dig up from the frozen ground, onion, garlic, dried chantarelles and winter chantarelles, apple, chili, coriander, golpar (Heracleum persicum spice) served with onion bhaji and rye (svedjerug) “rice”…it doesn’t get much better
Today’s main job – Apple harvest now safe in the cellar, not bad for two trees which have never had more fertiliser than nature supplies…. :) Mostly the variety Aroma…
My forest garden continues to be super-productive, my udo is on its way back to the soil and is preparing for next year as are my three devil’s walking sticks, Aralia elata as well as Aralia racemosa and A. californica.
There are a lot of apples to start drying soon!
Udo (Aralia cordata) collapses early autumn under its own weight….
Ostrich fern, udo, apples and devil’s walking stick (Aralia elata)
Aralia racemosa (I think) is growing next to my udo and is now quite big, with ostrich fern growing underneath it!
Aralia racemosa fruiting heads…
Aralia racemosa fruiting leaves…
Aralia elata from Honshu in Japan is the youngest of 3 trees
Aralia elata (devil’s walking stick) is in fruit for the first time here
Apples galore…producing large amounts of fruit every year without any fertiliser, growing next to it, also produces well every year on zero fuel!
Apple trees in full bloom are a wonderful sight, aren’t they? I’ve seldom seen so many flowers on them as this and the rowans are also flowering well which probably means that the apple tree moth (rognebærmøll), which prefer rowans, will keep off the apples this year! (here’s a page about the moth http://ukmoths.org.uk/species/argyresthia-conjugella )
The rate of growth of Udo (Aralia cordata) from Japan is phenomenal in cool spring weather, even outgrowing Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach)!
The first picture was taken by Christian Odberger during my permaveggies course and just two weeks later the plant is taller than me! The view is or less the same and the apple tree at the back is now in full bloom! The fern is ostrich fern.
It wasn’t planned at all (the best things aren’t), but our Swedish guests Christian Odberger and Dante Hellstrøm stayed over until Monday evening to dig up a few (!) must-have plants from my garden. Our “camper” Berit Børte also accepted the offer to stay over until Monday. Christian had brought grafting material with him and kindly volunteered to do a grafting course for us, so here are the pictures of Christian, Berit and my garden helper Lorna from Belfast grafting some 6 varieties of apple on to a wild apple tree, the seeds of which I collected at Warsash (on the solent), Hampshire UK some 13-14 years ago!! AND it was a beautiful afternoon too! See also http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=4617
Lorna taking notes next to my Udo (you can almost see it grow at this time of year!) and ostrich fernsWe discovered that Rheum palmatum, ornamental rhubarb, has a pleasant taste, less acid than common rhubarb!Udo and ostrich fern
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
