Pics.
....and so it goes on.
T.
Gardening
Re: Gardening
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Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
Re: Gardening
To bore you all stiff, this refers to gardening of a different sort:
Continuing perfect Summer weather has me out there in a little red mini, which is cool & comfortable & fun. Having managed to get the place under control for an event there last Tuesday I set out to tackle the lake which has in 12 years become infested with local reeds from the nearby canals, brought in by birds. This requires me to don my chest waders and wade in up to 4 feet deep with a large rake for the floating weeds and a pair of manual hedge clippers for the reeds. I tried to dig them out by the roots with a spade, but that was unsuccessful, so I've resorted to leaving the root systems behind and just cutting the tall reeds below the waterline. Not an enviable task.
T.
Continuing perfect Summer weather has me out there in a little red mini, which is cool & comfortable & fun. Having managed to get the place under control for an event there last Tuesday I set out to tackle the lake which has in 12 years become infested with local reeds from the nearby canals, brought in by birds. This requires me to don my chest waders and wade in up to 4 feet deep with a large rake for the floating weeds and a pair of manual hedge clippers for the reeds. I tried to dig them out by the roots with a spade, but that was unsuccessful, so I've resorted to leaving the root systems behind and just cutting the tall reeds below the waterline. Not an enviable task.
T.
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crfriend
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Re: Gardening
I quite like the mini, but it seems I don't have the body-type for them. 
On the reed and weed harvest, I'd just put on the wellies and head out minimally attired; after all, most of the body is below the waterline so it shouldn't much matter unless there are biting things in the pond. Digging the plants up with a spade will be a problem if you can't (a) get a proper sight on where the root-ball is likely to be and (b) can't exert proper force on the spade. In either case, larger pumps may be required (and would allow working in the dry).
On the reed and weed harvest, I'd just put on the wellies and head out minimally attired; after all, most of the body is below the waterline so it shouldn't much matter unless there are biting things in the pond. Digging the plants up with a spade will be a problem if you can't (a) get a proper sight on where the root-ball is likely to be and (b) can't exert proper force on the spade. In either case, larger pumps may be required (and would allow working in the dry).
Retrocomputing -- It's not just a job, it's an adventure!
Re: Gardening
MOH and I have just spent this week turning our overgrown back plot into a tidy garden once more and put our pond back in. We filled it last night and already have a small frog in it - we noticed him/her yesterday in the ground-level plants. In the heat that we have had here this week it has been really hard work as the heat just drains the energy from me. I also have a back problem and have to stop off frequently before it seizes up. But at least the grandchildren can play out there now. And our African Grey parrot can be let loose to enjoy the sun in the outside aviary that we have cleaned out. I did enjoy the coolness of a short skirt whilst gardening but the acid comments from my wife soon put paid to that. Even though our back garden is only minimally overlooked she was so concerned in case somebody stood on a chair in their bedroom and got the binoculars out to look out of their very top window in the off-chance of seeing me in a skirt. Apart from most people being out at work I don't think that our neighbours are really that interested as we are at best only on nodding terms with most of them. Not a close-knit cul-de-sac. Normally I only burn in the sun but this time have gone a nice brown and will be going on holiday in September to Egypt to me, a nice healthy colour.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
Re: Gardening
Carl,
The chest waders are to keep my immersed half dry. After 12 years' fall of deciduous leaves into the lake the bottom is now mostly covered with an unpleasant vegetable ooze nurturing the rampant growth of pondweed and of course those accursed reeds, which like nettles have an undersoil network of horizontal propagating roots.
Like the Inland Waterways people I have had to admit that the only way of ensuring navigation is to cut them below water level often and dredge every so many years with a big machine which can scrape deeply enough to physically remove the roots network....at least for a time
Read your garden rehab. story with great interest, Sinned.
The trick nowadays is to create an attractive place for grandchildren to be in. My MM has a veritable adventure paradise for them and their friends here.
T.
The chest waders are to keep my immersed half dry. After 12 years' fall of deciduous leaves into the lake the bottom is now mostly covered with an unpleasant vegetable ooze nurturing the rampant growth of pondweed and of course those accursed reeds, which like nettles have an undersoil network of horizontal propagating roots.
Like the Inland Waterways people I have had to admit that the only way of ensuring navigation is to cut them below water level often and dredge every so many years with a big machine which can scrape deeply enough to physically remove the roots network....at least for a time
Read your garden rehab. story with great interest, Sinned.
The trick nowadays is to create an attractive place for grandchildren to be in. My MM has a veritable adventure paradise for them and their friends here.
T.
Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
Re: Gardening
Thanks krbstn,
The pond is in now with some goldfish in it and some plants being introduced gradually. We have our first frog in the pond - a medium-sized specimen. He's sitting down at the bottom adjacent to the water lily. We still get plenty of birds in the garden and the starlings have returned from their holiday. We can always tell when they have arrived as the chatter they make is noticeable even through patio doors. In fact they have just arrived now, about twenty of them. From their plumage they are young birds and I notice that one of them has white, pink and blue rings on its legs. Their beaks are the ideal shape for poking along the cracks in some of the paving stones we have laid and I can see them working their way along the cracks. We love to watch them feed and bathe.
BTW I like the colour and style of your skirt - I have two like it in white that MOH gave me.
The pond is in now with some goldfish in it and some plants being introduced gradually. We have our first frog in the pond - a medium-sized specimen. He's sitting down at the bottom adjacent to the water lily. We still get plenty of birds in the garden and the starlings have returned from their holiday. We can always tell when they have arrived as the chatter they make is noticeable even through patio doors. In fact they have just arrived now, about twenty of them. From their plumage they are young birds and I notice that one of them has white, pink and blue rings on its legs. Their beaks are the ideal shape for poking along the cracks in some of the paving stones we have laid and I can see them working their way along the cracks. We love to watch them feed and bathe.
BTW I like the colour and style of your skirt - I have two like it in white that MOH gave me.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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skirtingtoday
- Member Extraordinaire
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Re: Gardening
Sinned wrote:...Even though our back garden is only minimally overlooked she was so concerned in case somebody stood on a chair in their bedroom and got the binoculars out to look out of their very top window in the off-chance of seeing me in a skirt...
It is virtually the same in our garden where we are fairly secluded and even though there is a main road and footpath at the foot of the garden, it is screened off by a (mainly) 6' fence and trees. One short section of the fence reduces to about 5' 6" so if anyone of a reasonable height wishes to crane their head round over 90degrees, they could see over for a step or two at the most.
I believe there was a complaint to the police some years ago in the papers (not about us!) which confirmed that a "little old lady" was in fact standing on a chair ans stretching outwards to spot scantily clad or nude sunbathers. The case was thrown out as she "had taken unreasonable measures" to spot such things. So it would seem that the police take a reasonable approach here - but no doubt it would depend on where you live if that is a general view.
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" - Winston Churchill.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" - Joseph Goebbels
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" - Joseph Goebbels
Re: Gardening
Re: Privacy.....
There's a lot to be said for trees &c. to keep the paparazzi and peepers at bay. When we bought our field in 2000 it was a flat low-lying area with clumps of gorse, brambles and short tough reeds, was poor grazing but had road frontage which allowed it be saleable 'for development'. We had the lake dug too shallow at first and the first structure I built was that bridge to the island which was fully visible from the road some 150 yards in, so privacy was zero. Later we had the lake dug much deeper with a tracked Hi-Mac with a 10-meter arm & big bucket, so it's now naturally filled to water table level In 12 years the planted trees have reached more than 50 feet high and there is a dense band of variegated conifers which make privacy in our garden total. I could take a pot-shot at the hovering helicopters, of course. Surface-to-air missiles come to mind!
Btw. Frogs, Sinned....We've got Thousands of the beggars!
T.
There's a lot to be said for trees &c. to keep the paparazzi and peepers at bay. When we bought our field in 2000 it was a flat low-lying area with clumps of gorse, brambles and short tough reeds, was poor grazing but had road frontage which allowed it be saleable 'for development'. We had the lake dug too shallow at first and the first structure I built was that bridge to the island which was fully visible from the road some 150 yards in, so privacy was zero. Later we had the lake dug much deeper with a tracked Hi-Mac with a 10-meter arm & big bucket, so it's now naturally filled to water table level In 12 years the planted trees have reached more than 50 feet high and there is a dense band of variegated conifers which make privacy in our garden total. I could take a pot-shot at the hovering helicopters, of course. Surface-to-air missiles come to mind!
Btw. Frogs, Sinned....We've got Thousands of the beggars!
T.
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Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
Re: Gardening
I have been busy in the various vegetable gardens lately and the tomato plants are bolting along nicely now, with the hot weather. These were just tiny seedlings when I put them in three weeks ago. Extending the bed has been a chore with the removal of Kikuyu runners. The Kikuyu is a grass that could be called couch on steroids. A good pasture grass but sheer hell in the garden. The Silky oak is in full bloom just at the laundry door. This is a tree that is in the Grevillea family, though all other grevilleas are shrubs. They are full of nectar and, consequently, bring plenty of birds which poop on any washing during flowering. Moving the clothesline would be a big job and isn't practical when it is for such a short time span every year.
It will not always be summer: build barns---Hesiod
Re: Gardening
Hi SM, With nine months of our year teeth-chatteringly cold up here on the 53rd parallel North I am fascinated by what's possible gardening in the tropics.
A few pics. of your exotics would be nice.
At the end of October this year everything is still green as there has been no frost to date. I can't help thinking we'll pay dearly for our benign spell later on...
T.
A few pics. of your exotics would be nice.
At the end of October this year everything is still green as there has been no frost to date. I can't help thinking we'll pay dearly for our benign spell later on...
T.
Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
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couyalair
- Member Extraordinaire
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- Location: Malaga or Grenoble
Re: Gardening
I tend to skip the "off-topic" threads, and have only just now been reading about your various gardening exploits. Tom's energy amazes me! We too bought a couple of hectares in Ardèche, southern France, years ago, but although I was only in my 30s, I never got more than a fraction of it under control and minimally productive.
Part of it was on a steep hillside that had once, so I was told, been a vinyard. I found it exhausting to work on a slope such as this, and once the first crop of tomatoes and beans had been eaten, I abandoned it. A pity, as it had a spring for summer watering. Instead, I concentrated on the only flat land, which was at the top of the hill and out of reach of the spring. We were far from self-sufficient, but by bottling, preserving and freezing, we never went hungry.
My constant fight was against brambles that spread by seed, creeping roots and 3-meter branches that grow roots at the tip. One solution was to keep goats, which ate everything in sight. They were just as time-consuming but much more fun. Sheep needed less attention but did not eat anything tougher than cabbage leaves. Two of them found their way into the freezer, and three escaped never to be seen again! It was a lovely bit of countryside and a great environment for the children to grow up in.
I missed the garden a lot when we moved to Grenoble, but the small roof terrace with plants. Now, near Malaga, we have 150m2 of terrace up on the top floor, and little by little, I have replaced the dead plants that the previous owner left us with flowering bushes mainly from seed (so much more satisfying seeing them grow than buying them ready-made), and a few that were given us. Not too much work involved, but it suits me well -- at the same age as Tom K, but with only a quarter of his energy!
Martin
Part of it was on a steep hillside that had once, so I was told, been a vinyard. I found it exhausting to work on a slope such as this, and once the first crop of tomatoes and beans had been eaten, I abandoned it. A pity, as it had a spring for summer watering. Instead, I concentrated on the only flat land, which was at the top of the hill and out of reach of the spring. We were far from self-sufficient, but by bottling, preserving and freezing, we never went hungry.
My constant fight was against brambles that spread by seed, creeping roots and 3-meter branches that grow roots at the tip. One solution was to keep goats, which ate everything in sight. They were just as time-consuming but much more fun. Sheep needed less attention but did not eat anything tougher than cabbage leaves. Two of them found their way into the freezer, and three escaped never to be seen again! It was a lovely bit of countryside and a great environment for the children to grow up in.
I missed the garden a lot when we moved to Grenoble, but the small roof terrace with plants. Now, near Malaga, we have 150m2 of terrace up on the top floor, and little by little, I have replaced the dead plants that the previous owner left us with flowering bushes mainly from seed (so much more satisfying seeing them grow than buying them ready-made), and a few that were given us. Not too much work involved, but it suits me well -- at the same age as Tom K, but with only a quarter of his energy!
Martin
Re: Gardening
Martin,
From what you write it appears that all the labour of gardening was up to you. Back breaking stuff and worth delegating the less creative bits.
I married an ardent gardener who strives to emulate her mother and other now departed family, so when we were in England we had just half an acre into which she packed serious energy.
We've been here now 12 years and she has succeeded in re-creating a 'bit of Olde England'. We couldn't afford stone, so most things like pergolas, arches, gazebo, Greenhouse, Dovecote &c &c were constructed out of wood by Yours Truly.
As to tending of fruiting or blooming plants I am allowed only to be the exterminator. Big decisions are made by Her, as are most of the repetitive tasks, like lawn & path mowing, So I get to prance about in it & enjoy it.
T.
From what you write it appears that all the labour of gardening was up to you. Back breaking stuff and worth delegating the less creative bits.
I married an ardent gardener who strives to emulate her mother and other now departed family, so when we were in England we had just half an acre into which she packed serious energy.
We've been here now 12 years and she has succeeded in re-creating a 'bit of Olde England'. We couldn't afford stone, so most things like pergolas, arches, gazebo, Greenhouse, Dovecote &c &c were constructed out of wood by Yours Truly.
As to tending of fruiting or blooming plants I am allowed only to be the exterminator. Big decisions are made by Her, as are most of the repetitive tasks, like lawn & path mowing, So I get to prance about in it & enjoy it.
T.
Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
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couyalair
- Member Extraordinaire
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Re: Gardening
No, Tom, I did not do everything. My wife spent plenty of time admiring the flowers and enjoying the fruit!
To be honest, she even tried getting the brambles down, but found she was losing too much blood.
In any case there was nowhere near as much work to do as you undertook transforming your field into a beautiful garden. I felt my garden was very beautiful, but visitors used to content themselves admiring the views of the hills all around. Things have n't changed much here in Spain; visitors walk past my plants on the terrace and exclaim "What a wonderful view from here!"
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think I look quite handsome in skirts and kilts, but other people ... !
Martin
To be honest, she even tried getting the brambles down, but found she was losing too much blood.
In any case there was nowhere near as much work to do as you undertook transforming your field into a beautiful garden. I felt my garden was very beautiful, but visitors used to content themselves admiring the views of the hills all around. Things have n't changed much here in Spain; visitors walk past my plants on the terrace and exclaim "What a wonderful view from here!"
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think I look quite handsome in skirts and kilts, but other people ... !
Martin
Re: Gardening
Martin,
You obviously chose very beautiful places to live, e. the Ardeche, Grenoble and Malaga, all of which are surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery. I've been to all three.
Here in flat Co. Kildare there's nothing much to look at except the garden. We have a little pad by the sea in Kerry from which the views are amazing (in an Irish context) and people who sit in our little garden there just admire the view from it.
I agree brambles are a real curse, but at Season's end they yield a bumper blackberry harvest, which this year will keep us in jam for a long time.
T.
You obviously chose very beautiful places to live, e. the Ardeche, Grenoble and Malaga, all of which are surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery. I've been to all three.
Here in flat Co. Kildare there's nothing much to look at except the garden. We have a little pad by the sea in Kerry from which the views are amazing (in an Irish context) and people who sit in our little garden there just admire the view from it.
I agree brambles are a real curse, but at Season's end they yield a bumper blackberry harvest, which this year will keep us in jam for a long time.
T.
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couyalair
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Re: Gardening
Can't compete with an Irish garden, but I thought I'd just show you how hard I have to work on my terrace :
(old photo)
This is the one plant that grew well. I've never seen anything grow so fast : I liked the shape of the leaves, but had no idea what it was -- or how tall it could become with a few more weeks. It just appeared out of the earth and soared skyward. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a particularly dangerous plant, giant hogweed, that can leave you with long-lasting rashes and exptreme sensitivity to sunlinght for the rest of your days, so it had to be cut down.
Martin
This is the one plant that grew well. I've never seen anything grow so fast : I liked the shape of the leaves, but had no idea what it was -- or how tall it could become with a few more weeks. It just appeared out of the earth and soared skyward. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a particularly dangerous plant, giant hogweed, that can leave you with long-lasting rashes and exptreme sensitivity to sunlinght for the rest of your days, so it had to be cut down.
Martin
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