Gardening

[Stanley]

Luckily I am very good at prioritising. The garden looks a mess but isn't impinging on my life.

[plaques]

Not much going on in the garden, mainly tidying up and cutting back. The one thing we do have is thousands of snow drops. Just leave them alone and let them die back naturally and they just keep multiplying.

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The daffodils are just starting to open. At 750 ft altitude and exposed to every bit of weather that you can think off things tend to be a bit late in coming to bloom.

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[Sue]

We tidied the garden last week and now we can see the display of crocus , snowdrops and the little tete a tete daffodils more clearly. I don’t bother with the ordinary ones now as the wind always flattens them . We are at about 650 feet. The snowdrops are fabulous this year, really spread

[Stanley]

Barlick (550ft) must be poorer land, I haven't seen a snowdrop yet and the gardens aren't as green as P's.
Must tidy the front up!

[plaques]

Don't be kidded by the green 'grass' its actually 3 inch of moss. Its got so deep that the lawnmower won't go through it. I'm now having to rake it up, it rolls up just like a blanket. At 3 sq metres = 1 green bin, and 400 sq metres to do its a mammoth job. As you say, one bite at a time.

[Stanley]

I once had to deal with a lawn like that P and I'm sorry to report that it never recovered! I remember at the time reflecting on going to whole hog and making a Camomile lawn. I always remember Roy Strong's hatred of lawns and on the whole I tend to agree with him.

[Tizer]

We are now `lawn free'. The birds don't mind, they come down onto the shrub borders and have a great time turning over the ornamental bark covering them and picking out worms.

[Tripps]

I've mentioned this chap's blog before, but these photos of the daffodils are very good I'd say.

Daffodils

Ironic that the Thriplow (where Betty Boothroyd lives ) Daffodil Festival which has been an annual thing for a long time, has been cancelled because of the Virus.

[Stanley]

Speaking from the wilds of the Northern Uplands they look positively tropical David.

[Cathy]

Thanks Tripps, I really enjoyed looking thru all those articles. Might visit it again from time to time.

[plaques]

The stained glass windows are fantastic. Is it becoming a lost art?

[Tizer]

Is that Kev's garden, the one with the two green wheelie bins? (see the Attention thread)

[Stanley]

From what I have seen, the art of stained glass is still alive and well.
What struck me was the gate in the altar rail being open and a wooden wedge in the pic. In 'Rewards and Fairies' Kipling has a conversation between two carpenters and they mention that the gates were made so that they could never be closed but were hung so they always swung open. Knowing Kipling this will be an old tradition. Has any one else come across it and is it still observed?

[Tizer]

This is agriculture news rather than gardening but this thread will do. The story is one of Stanley's favourite topics!
`Huge knowledge gap over health of soil' LINK
`A vital knowledge gap about England’s environment has been uncovered by soil campaigners. They have discovered that just 0.41% of the cash invested in environmental monitoring goes on examining the soil. That’s despite the fact that soils round the world – including in the UK – are said to be facing a crisis. The figures are startling: £60.5m goes to monitoring water quality, £7.65m to checking on air – but just £284,000 to auditing soil. The mismatch was revealed in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA). Its director, Ellen Fay, told BBC News: “This figure is staggering – but not surprising. It reflects the widespread under-investment in soil health compared to air and water..'.

[Stanley]

Absolutely correct Tiz and about time we addressed it. We see the first signs in the growing movement back to mixed farming of enlightened farmers caring for the soil. This regime naturally increases micro nutrients and the take up of trace elements from the soil, another neglected area of nutritional science. This is what the Vegans don't understand, the relationship between nature and overall health and grazing animals are a vital factor. Apart form anything else things taste better and are cheaper to produce. There are some good people out there who have proved that non-intensive farming with minimal inputs is good for both their profits and the land. Even 'pests' like insects have their role in overall soil health. I listened to a woman rhapsodising about blue bottles on a wildlife programme not long ago, we need more people like her!

[Stanley]

I've been watching this brave little bush getting on with flowering near Cravenside care home. So bright and lovely dark green foliage, it really does cheer me up! Question is, what is it?

[Wendyf]

I believe that it's a berberis.

[Stanley]

Thanks Love. It's beautiful isn't it.
I looked it up and you are right, Berberis Darwinii.

[plaques]

Yes, we have one just coming into bloom. God aren't they a spiky plant.
Got the lawnmower out for an introductory run. Nothing like the smell of new mowed moss to tell you spring has arrived.

[Stanley]

I liked that P.....
Wendy, I had a closer look at the Berberis as I hadn't noticed the thorns. I found them, very fine and extremely sharp thorns further into the bush.

[Tizer]

We like Berberis darwinii (barberry) and had to have it in our new garden. There are many species and some are red. Some species are evergreen, some deciduous. In a churchyard in the centre of Bridgwater there is a tree, probably about 3 metres tall, of Berberis stenopylla which has yellow flowers and thin rosemary-like spiky leaves. In flower it's spectacular!

[Stanley]

This one is certainly an eye catcher in an otherwise colourless situation.

[plaques]

Last year we had an old beech tree felled stuck a Buddha on the stump and planted some daffodils round it. Something to stop and look at on the way down to the green house.

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[Stanley]

Nice!

[Whyperion]

Yes, we have one just coming into bloom. God aren't they a spiky plant.
Got the lawnmower out for an introductory run. Nothing like the smell of new mowed moss to tell you spring has arrived.

Two notes
(1) most councils have stopped the green waste collection (either free or paid for ) and closed the tips, if your compost space is nil or overflowing you have a problem

(2) Planting near nursing homes, etc, keeps the undesirables out.