Tuesday, 8 November 2022

G is for Gardens and Greenfinches

 I grew up in a house with a big builders yard all round, there were a couple of bits of garden although my Mum hardly ventured into either as far as I remember. The vegetable garden for many years was accessed off a little lane that went to fields behind the house. It seemed a long way from the house when I was little but actually only about 30 yards. I vaguely remember Dad grew potatoes. Looking back with the experience of years the soil there was black and probably very good. The house dated from the C16 and I reckon had been used for growing for centuries.

Garden 2 was behind a new build - and Garden 3 the complete opposite being a long thin garden behind a Victorian terrace - lovely soil there and that's when I got interested in growing food.

 Garden 4 was at a 1970s terrace - that was where we had out first greenhouse and two small children - Colin made a sand-pit.

Garden 5 was ¼ acre, all of it at the front of the timber framed house that we stripped back and rebuilt while living in a caravan. The greenhouse moved here and was rebuilt after we'd finished the house and sold the static caravan. Here was also when we kept our first hens.

Garden 6 was a bit bigger than quarter acre behind a 1980s bungalow. The greenhouse moved again and we grew our own food again although there were huge trees all down one side that belonged to a neighbour and took all the moisture from the garden - the soil was shallow and poor.

Garden 7 doesn't count as it was all concrete around a house we rented for 6 months while looking for a smallholding. 

So after all those years of 'practising' we ended up at the smallholding and Garden number 8 with plenty of room for the three polytunnels that we eventually needed, greenhouse, vegetable beds, soft fruit cage and orchard.





I'm hardly counting garden 9 - that was a small square behind the the Very Small Bungalow in Ipswich. 

Then garden 10 at Clay Cottage with a nice garden and room for vegetables for us and a couple of apple trees and the half acre meadow too.


And finally garden number 11, here at the bungalow - one of the smallest I've ever had, but enough for me to  manage and grow a little to eat in my greenhouse, 3 vegetable beds and a few new fruit trees.

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And why Greenfinches?

Up until a few years ago they were common visitors to bird tables and feeders but then came this..........

How serious is Trichomonosis?

In Britain, the size of the greenfinch breeding population has declined markedly, from a peak of approximately 4.3 million in 2006 (just before the onset of the epidemic) to approximately 1.5 million individuals in 2016 (66%, or an average reduction of around 280 000 birds every year).

and I'd not seen any for several years until last week when there was a pair on the seed feeder.






It was thought the disease might have been cause by mouldy birdfeed left in feeders, which, if it's true, is sad.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

34 comments:

  1. I have not put bird feed out yet because I am worried about bird flu. and bears.
    Cathy

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    1. Thankfully we don't have to worry about bears here!

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  2. What a parade of gardens! Always with a plan going. You're a food gardener.

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    1. We've always grown as much as possible to eat and never bothered too much about flowers

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  3. You are most definitely an expert gardener and have created beautiful gardens on every property you owned. Gardening is a true labor of love. You are lucky to see a pair of greenfinch at your feeder. Hopefully, they survived the disease and are making a comeback.

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    1. Definitely Not an expert - gardeners are always learning

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  4. Those finches look huge compared to the tiny things we have here. I don't think I ever quite got over the shock at the size of your wood pigeons. As to your gardens....a long and self sufficient life learned from your childhood. Are your children gardners?

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    1. None of the children are interested in gardening, perhaps it will skip a generation and my grandchildren will enjoy growing food

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  5. It's lovely that you have all those photos from the different gardens.

    Love the Greenfinches. Can't say I've ever seen one. There are several kinds of finches in our area. I sometimes see Goldfinches (not as pretty as the English ones) and House Finches in my garden.

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    1. Greenfinches used to be around all the time when we first started bird feeding in the early 90's, I've not seen this pair back yet. Plenty of Blue Tits always on the feeders

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  6. Garden 8 seems so beautifully laid out. I think if you remember your childhood garden a love of gardening accompanies you through life. Sad about the green finches, we should all be scrubbing out our bird feeders regularly I suppose.

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    1. Took 23 years to get to that smallholding photo!

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  7. Great garden memories - I hope you get to spend many more years yet growing some food for yourself. I find nothing more satisfying than eating something you have grown yourself. Happy gardening :)

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  8. Such lovely garden memories. Your current garden sounds like a Goldilocks Garden - it's "just right"

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  9. We get lots of greenfinches here. They were regular visitors to the birdfeeders at our last house, and all we had on the feeders when we first moved here (in April), but we're getting a few more now, including a woodpecker last week. We had a lot of goldfinches at our last house, in fact, they were the most common bird to visit our garden, but I haven't seen any here yet.

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    1. Good to hear Greenfinches haven't disappeared from everywhere

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  10. I didn't know about the greenfinch population but, thanking about it, I haven't seen any for ages.
    I loved your garden stories, thank you. xx

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  11. That was lovely to hear about all your gardens. My late father believed that gardens were only meant for growing food so we would have cabbages and lettuce in our front garden! For some reason he loved dahlias and they would be in among the Vegetables. Catriona
    .

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    1. Colin thought flowers were a waste of space too for many years until we had a bit more room to grow some

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  12. How lovely that you've seen some greenfinches. Nice seeing all your previous garden ventures too.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. I don't have photos of most gardens which is sad

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  13. You certainly know your way around a garden, Sue! I never had a knack for it and tried a several times but usually got feeble results. It never seemed worth the effort of watering and weeding but I was probably doing everything wrong.
    I enjoy the produce from my brother's garden! He does the work and I get the benefits! Works for me! :)

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    1. Very nice to have fresh produce from your brother

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  14. It is sad about the greenfinches. We used to have lots of them visiting our old garden but we haven't seen any for several years now.

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    1. Hopefully they are beginning to make a come back

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  15. The older I get the more interested I’ve been getting in growing food for the table and in cultivating a wild flower meadow - or should I say ignoring the wild flower seeds I collect and sew because I’m reading they do best when ignored and fall on poor soil!

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    1. It will be lovely to see your wild flowers flowering next year

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  16. I was surprised to read the most recent newsletter from Cornwall Council, which mentioned the widespread Avian Flu epidemic which is killing so many birds. Wild birds are infecting any poultry kept outdoors so now poultry farmers have to keep their hens, turkeys, geese etc. inside all the time. The advice was - Do not feed wild birds! I feel awful as I had many regular visitors to my bird table; now the garden is silent apart from the gulls which perch on the rooftops.

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    1. Poultry flocks in Suffolk all have to housed as this is one of the worst areas for bird flu with birds migrating here from the continent. It affects many sea birds but I've not heard about garden bird population. If we don't feed small birds many will not survive anyway - difficult decision.

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  17. The gardens are fantastic Sue. You do need to be dedicated. My Grandad was an avid gardener and they had a corner house ( which I still can see on a short walk from home and my heart breaks for the state of it now. ) and he had narrow beds with parallel concrete paths up and down. He grew celery and leeks- I remember being told off for pinching the straw to make bird nests. He grew peas and runner beans. Potatoes and carrots. I don't recall him having a greenhouse though. I might now have to go ask my Mum. So my Nanna and Grandad had a small front garden with lily of the valley growing by the front door, the side garden - veg - keep out and the back garden which had a flower bed and the biggest lawn or the 'back grass' as we called it. We were only allowed to play on the back grass. A huge privet hedge kept it all private and secure and I remember my grandad in vest and braces hand clipping it which must have taken him all day long! So I guess my G is for Grandad's Garden! Thanks for evoking some wonderful memories Sue x

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  18. Garden 8 was amazing, and to get to that standard must have taken a lot of your years there. I know when people used to comment on my Veggie Patch, they used to think it was so easy to manage and maintain, but then we only really take photos when something looks good don't we, most of the time I was chasing my tail trying to maintain the hillside, the tunnels, and all the other food growing areas.

    What a shame about the greenfinches, I can't remember the last time I saw one.

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