Some Spear Thistle pics:




Always loved thistles but my love for them is starting to grow more ove the past few weeks,might have to take some of there seeds and put them on my allotment. shhhhhhh

Nice pics again Carl,how is your allotment coming along?

Tass

Here`s pic i took off it about a month or so again it`s pretty much the same but i just have the shed on it.


It got like that cause i left it for a few months cause of me depression, and when i went back i couldn`t stop swearing was really shocked, but after i close inspection i found a few harlequinc ladybirds, a cinnabar (moth) catepillar, and a normal ladybird, and some soldier beetles, and so it`s staying like that till i get the money to get osme wildlife friendly flowers and some compost.
oh and thanks for the nice reply:-)

This post was last modified: 20-07-2009 11:54 AM by Carl.

I`ve now got my (spear) thistle seeds, going to put them on my allotment around january time i think.
Also noticed that gorse is going to seed.

Have you thought of growing Teasel? Lots of birds love it and I tried to grow it from seed but failed. Not sure why as it's supposed to be easy. Mind you, I wonder how much you can rely on magazines etc. when it comes to easy/hard as Lobelia is generally noted as difficult to grow from seed but I had no problems.

Gill

ah teasel, yer for bleedying months, but couldn`t get hold off any, well when i was doing my conservation they have some so i might take the one of the seed heads.Just to try. Thanks for the reccomendation.

Are you doing your allotment alone Carl?

Speaking of easy/hard to grow-we got 6 bramble bushes a few months back as well as a white bait,crab apple tree,rowan tree and honeysuckle-wouldnt you have thought the bramble would flourish the easiest? Well it didnt-all 6 died much to our surprise-everything else is doing great!

Tass

haha,it depends where you plant/sow them as if it was close together then i would have put my money on the trees as they have the bigger roots and so would take more nutrients than what the rest would.
I was told that bumblebees use brambles for hibernation,they use the holes the brambles make when cut.Dunno wether it`s true or not, i got told when doing conservation work.

And yer i`m doing it by myself.Which is what i like, except i`d rather have my dad helping me with it,and coming down to it but he can`t so, i`d rather do it myself, get peice and quiet get it done how i want and i get pride and satisfaction when it`s all done(how i want it).

This post was last modified: 25-07-2009 10:33 PM by Carl.

Re: The wildlife friendly flowers, you probably already know this but lots of seed companies now do mixed packs "for special purposes" e.g. you can get a pack for butterflies, or for birds etc. If you've not got a garden centre near you you can on-line mail order. Have a look at Thompson and Morgan or Unwins.

Gill