Garden Management

Nature Calendar: February in the British Garden

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
WEATHER This month is generally not so wet as January, but the early part may be the coldest period of the year. FLOWERS Early crocuses such as Crocus imperati are in flower. The rampant Petasites fragrans, though growing so vigorously as to be regarded as a weed, is welcome for its fragrant white flowers. Among the wild flowers, the lesser celandine is the first member of Read more ...

Nature Calendar: March in the British Garden

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
WEATHER The traditional March winds may be expected to roar sometime during the month, but there will be compensating mild, still days as spring approaches. GARDEN FLOWERS Many flowers appear with the first signs of spring. Muscari are beginning to bloom in most gardens, as well as all varieties of crocus. The early saxifragas, including the wild golden saxifrage, are starting Read more ...

Nature Calendar: January in the British Garden

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
NATURE observes no strict time-table, and to begin a Nature calendar on New Year’s Day is to set an artificial limit to the cycle of plant and animal life. Climate, above all, determines what will be seen in garden and field at any given time of the year. In a mild, wet season, plants may appear as much as a month earlier than usual, while in a cold, dry season they may be Read more ...

Notes on Garden Law

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
WHEN legal advice is needed about matters concerning the garden, a solicitor should be consulted. The following notes can serve only as a guide to some of the legal problems relating to the garden. ANIMALS The owner of a domestic animal is not, in the absence of negligence, liable for any vicious, mischievous act done by the animal, unless the vice or ferocity is contrary Read more ...

British Butterflies and Moths

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
BUTTERFLIES The best way to distinguish between butterflies and moths is to examine their antennae. In butterflies the antennae swell out at the tips to form minute clubs; in moths they are very varied and often feathery. Butterflies normally rest with their wings folded vertically above their backs; many moths fold their wings backward so that the forewing covers the hind Read more ...

ANTS, BEES, WASPS AND ICHNEUMON FLIES

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
These are of the order Hymenoptera (Membrane-wing). There are over 6,100 species in this order, some of them having great economic importance. There are 36 species of ant in the British Isles, several of which occur in gardens. British ants are all vegetarians, taking nectar, seed juice, fruit and, in particular, the sweet exudation from greenfly known as honeydew. Ants are Read more ...

Flies and Mosquitoes, etc.

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
This is a very big order, there being over 5,200 species in the British Isles. There are nearly 300 species of crane fly in Britain. The larvae of this species are the leather-jackets, notorious to both farmer and gardener for the damage they do to the roots of grasses. The one most generally seen is the daddy long-legs, which is brownish and, including the unstretched legs, Read more ...

Beetles in the British Garden

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
There are 3,690 species of British beetle. Their forewings have become hard (usually horny) sheaths, which meet in a straight line down the back and are lifted in flight, though not all beetles are capable of flight. The softer hind wings are folded beneath the sheaths. Their mouth parts are robust for biting and chewing. The devil’s coach-horse or cock-tail beetle frequents Read more ...

Insects of Great Britain

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
The following insects are more frequently noticeable in the garden. GRASSHOPPERS These are divided into two groups, short-horns and long-horns, depending on the length of the antennae. The short-horns are the common grasshoppers of the British Isles. They live chiefly in long grass and are vegetarians. Their chirping song, known as stridulation, is made by rubbing the hind Read more ...

Insect Categories of Great Britain

Posted in Featured Articles, Garden Management, Gardening Calendar on February 16th, 2012 by Dave Pinkney – Be the first to comment
The host of creeping, crawling, burrowing, swimming and flying creatures known loosely as insects are so numerous and varied that zoologists divide them, on the basis of relationships, into smaller units to narrow their field and facilitate identification. Nearly all the small creatures to be found in a garden belong to one of three great groups: Annelida (or ringed worms), Read more ...
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