Eco Garden Maintenance

19/06/2026

A warm day for gardening in Barkston Ash, the village where I grew up. The village is blessed with really good soil. Derived from the underlying limestone, it is neither clay nor sandy. It holds on to nutrient well, is mostly free draining and is easily worked. A pH above seven means it is slightly alkaline and plants that prefer acidic conditions can struggle..

Today's gardening jobs were mostly mowing, weeding, pruning and watering. The wildflower meadow has quite a few Orchid growing along with birds foot trefoil, buttercup, red clover, old man's beard, selfheal and others. There are some lovely non vigorous grasses as well. I'm still waiting for the common Burnet to appear.

17/06/2026

It's rose season everywhere. A few pics from my gardening at Thorner yesterday and Camblesforth Hall today.

13/06/2026

We have had pet rabbits for the last twenty years. All rescue rabbits (bonded pairs), I don't think supporting breeding is a good idea. There are too many neglected and abused.

Ours have given a lot of joy over the years and continue to do so. There have been sad moments as well . Ours work for a living althoughthey dont realise it. Every day they are let out in the secure back garden where they run about (or laze about) and eat the grass.. I haven't had to cut the grass out the back all year. The ultimate in environmentally friendly mowing 😁 They don't do a very even job but I can forgive them for that.

An added bonus are the droppings which I collect from their run. Luckily, they do them in one particular place. Rabbits do a lot of eating and what goes in must come out. A large amount of plant food is the result. Rabbit manure is one of the best for nutrient content, even beating chicken pellets. It has the added advantages of being odour free, doesn't harbour disease and is one of the few cold manures - it can be used straight away and doesn't burn plants. That is a big plus as by the time you have left other manures to rot down , they have lost some of their goodness. I know exactly what those bunnies have eaten and know for sure it will not contain any chemicals harmful to plants.

You can use the manure straight on your plants but I prefer to make rabbit dropping tea. Bunny brew as we call it 😆. Ummmm, it sounds delicious I'm sure you'll agree. This stuff is like liquid gold for plants. About a litre of droppings in a large bucket which is left for a week to brew . Some of the cute little droppings float to the top. A good stir every now and then. I get very excited on the big day that I apply it. I can see my plants smiling at me as this luxurious earthly goodness is lovingly applied. There is always a bit of slop in the bottom which is left over. I don't waste that, it all gets used. Once it's applied, I start the next brew.

This is the future of sustainability 😘

12/06/2026

Cute. Say no to slug pellets.

09/06/2026

Today's gardening occurred in Thorner. A showery day. I lost count of how many times my waterproofs were put on and then taken off again. I trimmed rather a lot of box and then did some weeding. Need to get goosegrass pulled out before it goes to seed and makes a million babies for next year. The land is gently undulating around these parts. This property is on a hill so you get the odd view across a shallow valley.

30/05/2026

Box tree caterpillars are everywhere now. Destroying Box plants as I type this. If you've done nothing about it then your Box will soon look like this photo.

27/05/2026

It was a good day for gardening at Camblesforth Hall near Selby today. Thank goodness the temperature had calmed down some. I did some pruning, weeding, dead heading, watering and lawn mowing.

Whilst going past the wood I noticed the foxgloves looking amazing. They have popped up in a partly shaded clearing and seem to be loving it. There are others dotted around but nothing like this dense gathering.

It's sad that Hawthorn blossom is fading but the Elder blossom has appeared to replace it, as it always does. Elder flowers on last years growth so ones that have been cut back late in the season don't flower the following year 🙁. If you want berries then you can't prune after the flowers fade. The only solution is to have a few Elder trees and prune some one year and others in different years. Or do selective, invisible pruning where only the longest stems are removed to their origin, leaving an evenly spaced number of shorter stems to produce berries. Handy if you use the berries for wine or want the birds to enjoy them (Starlings love Elderberries and they are in decline).

25/05/2026

Gardeners Salaries and Rates Guidelines from the Professional Gardeners' Guild for Head Gardeners and Self employed Gardeners

22/05/2026

22/05/2026

Today's gardening adventures took place in Barkston Ash near Tadcaster. It was a very warm day but the grass took until lunchtime to dry out.

I mowed the path around a wildflower meadow and spotted my first Orchid of the year. Probably a pyramidal. It was all on its own, I hope some friends for it appear soon. The meadow is awash with buttercups, red clover and pignut at the moment. Other things will follow. The clippings are always collected so as not to raise the soil's fertility, which encourages aggressive plants we don't want.

A deer let me film it and wasn't too bothered about my presence. Anything regarding wildflowers and wildlife is usually the highlight of the day. 👌