trees that fell like dominoes More trees down this morning which means 5 separate events have brought trees down from our neighbour’s scrub onto our chestnut orchard. The trees fell like dominos down the hill mostly roots and all falling on other trees creating a cascade of stringy barks piling on top of each other, spilling out and coming to rest into our orchard and some as far as the valley raspberries. more trees to clean up The weather has certainly been challenging with unusually strong winds and rain. This has come after 10 years of below average rainfall which saw our valley and springs dry up earlier this year for the first time in our 33 years here. Our Spring in March this year It was just mud In the last 48hours we have had another 39mm of rain and it’s still falling. This year’s rain fall figures Jan 73mm Feb 32mm March 57mm April 21mm May 190mm June: 228mm July:276mm August:121mm Sept:337mm . So far in October 181.5 mm in 18 days. While ou...
I am amazed at some of the things called ‘RAISED BEDS’ I see advertised or in articles, whether for sale new or plans for do it yourself, these are NOT raised beds but CONTAINERS. They are filled with all sorts of growing medium and people think they are growing healthily vegetables. Please think again. Healthy food comes from healthy soil. I know, I’ve heard it all before ‘ my soils no good’ Well the essential art of gardening is to enhance the cycle of life by finding ways to restore humus to the soil . All g ardeners find their own way to achieve this. All Soil can be improved, sure it may take time but quality produce only comes from quality soil. As you observe your soil .like any other living thing it is always changing and telling its own story. There is more life beneath the soil than above therefore you need to encourage and cultivate its existence. Understanding your soil is a basic requirement for the success of your veggie garden . You can build tremendous satisfac...
The winter garden excels in quality and taste . The winter chill produces sweet crunchy carrots, parsnips, turnips, beetroot and salsify all planted in February and March ,all perfect for winter stews, soups and roasts. The range of greens is equally impressive but the cold has slowed their growth to the extent that they are not growing as fast as we (and the chooks) consume them. Crunchy salads are part of most meals even in winter.To ensure a continual supply of crisp greens I move some seedling from the garden into the polyhouse. It is amazing how a thin piece of plastic can change the growing conditions. Wind chill and cold temperatures outside, inside toasty warm.The polyhouse is 7 x 4 metres and contains around 15 square metres of in ground growing space and a propagating area. The beds are 80cm wide –one goes around the edge and then there are 2 beds in the centre.Between the beds are narrow 30 cm paths made from tiles and pavers. These help define the beds and add some therm...
Willow Update
ReplyDeleteToday the other half of the tree crashed onto the driveway- blocking it completly until we could cut it up this afternoon.