In a mild winter climate, there's not much excuse for retreating indoors at the first sign of gloom.
OK, I'm as susceptible as the next normal Southern U.S. gardener to whine when we have long dark rainy days for more than two days in a row. Hmm, are we wimpy, or what?
But what our long seasons mean is that we can grow winter vegetables (some with a bit of protection) quite well, and that we can have winter interest in our gardens from berries, bark, seed heads, dried foliage, etc. that continue our gardening season through the winter and beyond.
I was reminded of this today by an excellent article by Piet Oudolf in Fine Gardening's regular e-mail.
In the long winter days in the Netherlands, he relies on many of our North American natives for winter interest in perennial borders. He includes plants whose fruits, seedheads, or berries are interesting to look at throughout winter. Totally wonderful.
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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Bearded Lady.
Driving up the hill this morning the first specks of snow began to fall. The road was clear for the journey in but there was a proper covering of snow on the playground by 9.00. Many very excited children. Later it all melted but it was sleeting on and off all day. Taking the view that if it was sleeting down at sea level it was probably snowing at home I rang Peter and asked him to collect me on his way back from work. This gave me time to turn my classroom into a Christmas grotto, sort of, as our school Christmas starts on 1 Dec. The Advent Calendar is up, slight panic when we thought that half the numbers were missing but they had stuck on the back of a sign in my folder of laminated Christmas pictures and labels. Threw some tinsel along the windows, hung up the squares the children had been measuring and hey presto, it's Christmas. Peter turned up as I was frantically hanging decorations so there's still some stuff to put up tomorrow. Same story as yesterday, not a sign of snow or ice as we drove out of town. Then snow in the fields and once we turned onto the back road more snow and ice on the road. Going up the long hill by the Lewis' farm there was a big articulated metal truck/ trailer type vehicle simply not moving. Ahead we could see a car parked on the side of the road with its hazard lights flashing. At first we thought the car had slid and got stuck but when I pulled on my boots and went out to investigate it was the truck that was stuck. Luckily there is a wide verge there and Peter squeezed the Rav past, I was still out on the road because I don't like being in the vehicle when he's doing things lie that. From there on there was a significant amount of ice on the road and by the time we got to the top of the drive we were driving through small snow drifts. 2-3ft high drifts were already forming across our drive as the wind was blowing straight across the field. We left the Rav up on the road and plodded our way down through the drifts. Down in our garden there are several inches of snow. Thank goodness we left the heating on all day.
We had to laugh when we saw ourselves after the walk down. Peter looked like a creature from Tatuine,
and I was doing a good impression of a bearded lady!
We had to laugh when we saw ourselves after the walk down. Peter looked like a creature from Tatuine,
and I was doing a good impression of a bearded lady!As I sat down at my pc in the sitting room I could a frantic banging on one of the windows. We had thrown the cats out for a moment when we got in but I had thought they were all back in. I opened another window and called for whichever cat it was to come in. Then I looked down and saw that all the cats were behind me. I closed the window and went to investigate, a thrush was there frantically trying to get in. I went outside and caught it as it battered itself against the kitchen window. I can only think that it was totally disorientated and was looking for warmth. Bringing it indoors would probably have been too stressful so I took it up to the scree garden sheds and left it in a sheltered corner. I hope it survives.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Leaf mulch
Those of us in deciduous forest habitats (and with lots of deciduous trees in our gardens and neighborhoods) have plenty of free organic mulch.
First, save your own leaves -- don't let any of those go to the curb.
Second, snag your neighbor's leaves. We collect bags full of them.
Finally, corral the leaf-vacuum trunk (if available) and have them dump a load or two in your driveway!
Why buy hardwood or pine bark mulch for your garden when leaves are free?
First, save your own leaves -- don't let any of those go to the curb.
Second, snag your neighbor's leaves. We collect bags full of them.
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| one of our leaf stashes! |
Why buy hardwood or pine bark mulch for your garden when leaves are free?
Brrr .
It's been a dry but bitterly cold day today. (-18C recorded in a shed in Wales last night.)
Dawn was breaking as Peter drove me up the hill this morning. My brave little micra had been sitting up there exposed to the elements since last Thursday night yet it started first go. Took me longer to scrape the ice off the windows so that I could actually see where I was going.
School now is all about Christmas- rehearsals, costumes, glitter and glue. I did manage to combine maths with decoration making and was rather taken aback by how difficult many of my class found drawing and cutting out squares of set sizes (on squared paper). Obviously they need a lot more practice. Later we were all happily involved in an art afternoon so much so that I nearly forgot to send them out to play. Then I thought it was Tuesday and stood out in the cold on playground duty (we often choose to stay outside and chat rather than sit in the staffroom but today a coffee would have been my choice.) Driving out of town it was as if the snow and ice had never been. I was trying to decide if I should leave my car up at the top anyway in case the weather worsened during the night when I realised that either side of the road the verge was covered in ice/snow. This was at Shirwell which is my first high point on the homeward journey and is north facing. I was thinking that leaving the car up top would be a good precaution when I turned off the main road into the back roads. The road surface appeared to be a lot lighter than I remembered. Was this just my aging faulty memory, dried mud from the farm vehicles or ICE ? I decided to err on the side of caution slowing down and thinking that at least I would be ok while travelling in a straight line. I kept peering at the road and came to the conclusion that it was icing over so drove extra carefully around the corners. On the last hill crest there was also a thick central ridge of ice along the road which rang warning bells in my cautious mind. Driving all the way down the hill would have been quite safe but who knows what it would be like tomorrow morning. Walking down the last stretch in the dark I could see that the fields either side of me were still totally white. I'll catch a lift up with Peter in the morning and not spend the night worrying. The tv news is full of pictures of snow covered landscapes and warnings not to drive in the affected areas unless necessary.
Dawn was breaking as Peter drove me up the hill this morning. My brave little micra had been sitting up there exposed to the elements since last Thursday night yet it started first go. Took me longer to scrape the ice off the windows so that I could actually see where I was going.
School now is all about Christmas- rehearsals, costumes, glitter and glue. I did manage to combine maths with decoration making and was rather taken aback by how difficult many of my class found drawing and cutting out squares of set sizes (on squared paper). Obviously they need a lot more practice. Later we were all happily involved in an art afternoon so much so that I nearly forgot to send them out to play. Then I thought it was Tuesday and stood out in the cold on playground duty (we often choose to stay outside and chat rather than sit in the staffroom but today a coffee would have been my choice.) Driving out of town it was as if the snow and ice had never been. I was trying to decide if I should leave my car up at the top anyway in case the weather worsened during the night when I realised that either side of the road the verge was covered in ice/snow. This was at Shirwell which is my first high point on the homeward journey and is north facing. I was thinking that leaving the car up top would be a good precaution when I turned off the main road into the back roads. The road surface appeared to be a lot lighter than I remembered. Was this just my aging faulty memory, dried mud from the farm vehicles or ICE ? I decided to err on the side of caution slowing down and thinking that at least I would be ok while travelling in a straight line. I kept peering at the road and came to the conclusion that it was icing over so drove extra carefully around the corners. On the last hill crest there was also a thick central ridge of ice along the road which rang warning bells in my cautious mind. Driving all the way down the hill would have been quite safe but who knows what it would be like tomorrow morning. Walking down the last stretch in the dark I could see that the fields either side of me were still totally white. I'll catch a lift up with Peter in the morning and not spend the night worrying. The tv news is full of pictures of snow covered landscapes and warnings not to drive in the affected areas unless necessary.
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Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sustainable Gardening
I've been thinking quite a bit about 'sustainable gardening' lately. I promote (what I consider) are sustainable gardening practices in the classes I teach -- minimal inputs of water, fuel, pesticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, don't let leaves leave your property, don't kill things, promote diversity, plant mostly natives, think naturalistic planting design, minimize areas devoted to lawn, etc.
We've been happy with our 'natural garden' created with this approach in our own home landscape in the Piedmont of South Carolina. And we're continuing this in our second home in the mountains (where we'll probably 'retire'), where we're populating the slope around our small mountain house with native understory shrubs along with native trees.
Vegetable gardening is a bit more problematic; vegetables, by their domesticated nature, are nutrient and water hogs, so the gardener is ALWAYS grubbing around for more sources of organic matter and nutrients.
Homemade compost is excellent, but it's hard to produce enough that's high nitrogen, unless you have chickens, rabbits, cows, or horses. Chickens and rabbits are feasible in an urban environment if you're at home most all of the time, but not so practical if you're away for weekends or holidays.
But what exactly is sustainable gardening?
I'll assert that it is creating an ecologically-balanced landscape on the property that you inhabit, and that restores most of the ecology that once was on that site, along with making sure that no extra inputs of fertilizer or pesticides get washed into the stormwater drains.
That's what we've tried to do, in our attempt to create natural woodland and forest habitat and meadow on what once was almost 2 acres of lawn in the Piedmont, and incorporated organic vegetable gardens into the mix as well.
In the mountains, trying to restore an invasive-rich ravine into a rich cove forest of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers is an amazing effort; my gardening companion has made remarkable progress already.
And converting part of the driveway and bare area below the house to vegetable garden beds is productive, too.
So, my first 'take-home' message, is let's get planting natives instead of 'ornamentals' in our gardens and landscapes.
We've been happy with our 'natural garden' created with this approach in our own home landscape in the Piedmont of South Carolina. And we're continuing this in our second home in the mountains (where we'll probably 'retire'), where we're populating the slope around our small mountain house with native understory shrubs along with native trees.
Vegetable gardening is a bit more problematic; vegetables, by their domesticated nature, are nutrient and water hogs, so the gardener is ALWAYS grubbing around for more sources of organic matter and nutrients.
Homemade compost is excellent, but it's hard to produce enough that's high nitrogen, unless you have chickens, rabbits, cows, or horses. Chickens and rabbits are feasible in an urban environment if you're at home most all of the time, but not so practical if you're away for weekends or holidays.
But what exactly is sustainable gardening?
I'll assert that it is creating an ecologically-balanced landscape on the property that you inhabit, and that restores most of the ecology that once was on that site, along with making sure that no extra inputs of fertilizer or pesticides get washed into the stormwater drains.
That's what we've tried to do, in our attempt to create natural woodland and forest habitat and meadow on what once was almost 2 acres of lawn in the Piedmont, and incorporated organic vegetable gardens into the mix as well.
In the mountains, trying to restore an invasive-rich ravine into a rich cove forest of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers is an amazing effort; my gardening companion has made remarkable progress already.
And converting part of the driveway and bare area below the house to vegetable garden beds is productive, too.
So, my first 'take-home' message, is let's get planting natives instead of 'ornamentals' in our gardens and landscapes.
A Brisk Walk.
No more snow today , at least in this corner of the UK. The weather people are saying it's the worst early cold snap for 17 years. Out in the garden the snow was sparkling in the sunshine.
The road was completely clear so I walked up to bring down the Rav. (Photos never show just how steep this section is.)
When I got up to the bad weather car park, (field gateway), it was so bright that I simply had to continue on for a brisk walk up to Indicott.
This used to be my running road before my knee made it clear that my running days are over.
I went as far a the gateway that overlooks our valley. Our house is hidden in the trees but our neighbour's barns and house are in the middle of the shot.Back home I felt invigorated by my walk and after climbing up in the loft to get the decorations I sat down to write up my plans for next week. Then I decided to tackle a form that had been bounced back to me with insufficient information. I spent over an hour detailing every little thing I do in my class to make sure struggling pupils get sufficient support. Then saved the document following exactly the same procedures that I used successfully at school. But my pc runs windows 2003 not 2007 and it got lost forever! Took another hour to redo the form, Blah !
Saturday, November 27, 2010
A Little More Snow.
It was so nice to have a lie-in this morning, all warm and cosy while yet more snow fell. On the radio there was a countrywide severe weather warning. The east and north seem to be the most badly affected. The snowfall here didn't last long and has been gradually melting during the day.
After a bit of housework and popping the ingredients for a fruit loaf into the breadmaker I wrapped up well (2 layers of everything) and went out for a long walk.
The snow cover was very patchy even in our valley with not a scrap to be seen on the moorland on the top of the cliffs to the north.
Further east I could see a good covering on Exmoor.
There were 8 cars parked up in the gateway that we use as our 2nd parking space, people weren't taking chances with getting out of our valley. If things keep on improving I'll bring the micra down tomorrow afternoon. But there is more snow due in at the beginning of the week. I spent a couple of hours out and the roads are fine for now.
After a bit of housework and popping the ingredients for a fruit loaf into the breadmaker I wrapped up well (2 layers of everything) and went out for a long walk.
The snow cover was very patchy even in our valley with not a scrap to be seen on the moorland on the top of the cliffs to the north.
Further east I could see a good covering on Exmoor.
There were 8 cars parked up in the gateway that we use as our 2nd parking space, people weren't taking chances with getting out of our valley. If things keep on improving I'll bring the micra down tomorrow afternoon. But there is more snow due in at the beginning of the week. I spent a couple of hours out and the roads are fine for now.I haven't done much in the way of school work apart from lots of thinking. I have been a bit stressed by getting an email asking me to produce analysis of figures I've not been given and also for more details on various bits of paperwork. Ho hum is all I can say and put it to the back of my mind until Monday. This weekend I'll be thinking much nicer thoughts about Christmas such as which decorations I'll be bringing into school to decorate my classroom and where all the display materials are to change the theme from India to Christmas. We've made most of the things the children will be taking home for Christmas, just the cards to make and then we can do instructional writing on 'How to make a Christmas card'. Lots of play rehearsals, and rehearsing for the Nativity service at the church to come along with a whole school visit to the pantomime, Christmas lunch and Christmas parties.
Home plan and elevation - 6544 Sq. Ft
Architect : Praveen.M
moyacheri (ho)
kottakkal
vatakara(via)
Phone:9645457494,9388744505.04962275234
Email:praveenarchitect.m32@gmail.com
Total Area-6544 Sq.ft
Ground Floor-4262 Sq. Ft
First Floor-2282 Sq. Ft
Friday, November 26, 2010
Removing invasive species
We've been freeing the slope below our small (urban) mountain house of invasive species.
Or, really, I should say my gardening companion has been doing it, with my encouragement. It's made a huge difference to date; first, he tackled the Japanese honeysuckle, English ivy climbing up trees and walls, and now is rooting out English ivy sprawled along the forest slope. He's all the way down to the intermittent creek in the ravine, and is making great progress along the creek bed.
Enjoying the hard physical labor, he's ventured forth on the lower slopes of adjoining lots, too, clearing trash as well as weeds. The results have been great. What was a sea of green honeysuckle and ivy in winter is now bare branches and a rich understory of fallen leaves (with bags and bags added from our neighbors' collections).
We're plotting additions of woodland wildflowers to accompany the shrubs and trees that have already been added (all characteristic of cove forests). That'll be my gardening challenge, as we 'landscape' the paths down to the garden studio (now in the planning stages, but hopefully construction to begin in the new year) and beyond.
It's fun to think about restoring a weedy, overgrown ravine to a semblance of a natural plant community.
Maybe someday, if and when a greenway is established along the creek, folks will talk about the enthusiastic homeowners (the botanists) who transformed the slopes along the creek.
Or, really, I should say my gardening companion has been doing it, with my encouragement. It's made a huge difference to date; first, he tackled the Japanese honeysuckle, English ivy climbing up trees and walls, and now is rooting out English ivy sprawled along the forest slope. He's all the way down to the intermittent creek in the ravine, and is making great progress along the creek bed.
Enjoying the hard physical labor, he's ventured forth on the lower slopes of adjoining lots, too, clearing trash as well as weeds. The results have been great. What was a sea of green honeysuckle and ivy in winter is now bare branches and a rich understory of fallen leaves (with bags and bags added from our neighbors' collections).
We're plotting additions of woodland wildflowers to accompany the shrubs and trees that have already been added (all characteristic of cove forests). That'll be my gardening challenge, as we 'landscape' the paths down to the garden studio (now in the planning stages, but hopefully construction to begin in the new year) and beyond.
It's fun to think about restoring a weedy, overgrown ravine to a semblance of a natural plant community.
Maybe someday, if and when a greenway is established along the creek, folks will talk about the enthusiastic homeowners (the botanists) who transformed the slopes along the creek.
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Let It Snow.
Woke this morning to ice on the road so I opted to take the 4x4 Rav for my journey in to school.
All along the top of the hills the road, hedgerows and fields were a festive white. It was only as the road took a turn southwards could I see the fields in the distance showing green and of course by the time I got to town there was not a hint of ice or snow.
Up on our north facing hills we are in a little micro climate that seems to change dramatically once you get to the main road.
The garden this evening.
We had a fun filled Indian themed day in school with everyone dressed in Indian clothing ( or some approximation including belly dancer and Aladdin outfits), games, lots of food, samosas, bahjis and naans, for the children to eat and the afternoon filled with a celebration assembly with everyone showing some of the things they had been doing as part of the India topic. My class put on their dances which of course weren't half as good as when they practised in the class but still pretty good. It was during this assembly that I was given a message that someone had just come in from Shirwell with several inches of snow on their car. I wasn't too worried as I had the Rav but I headed out from school the minute the last of my class had been collected. Driving out from town each successive view of the hills showed whiter and whiter fields with low hanging mist/snow clouds. When I got up to Shirwell there were accident signs and police about as a car had crashed into a school bus (no one hurt I was told). Once I turned onto the back roads I kept my speed right down as I'm not sure what the grip of the Rav is and I don't want to find out the hard way. At the top of my drive I met my neighbours who had been for an emergency shop, we left our cars up by the top field where I left the micra last night, and walked down the hill together. I keep my spotty wellies in the back of the micra for such occasions. We've been forecast more snow for tomorrow and the beginning of next week. Only this morning on the radio they were saying it has been the hottest year ever (globally I think) and then remarking on how this is the earliest we've had a cold spell for many years.
It wasn't quite as dark as this when I took this picture of the scree garden, shows that I need to look at the instructions and/or the menu of my baby Nikon.
All along the top of the hills the road, hedgerows and fields were a festive white. It was only as the road took a turn southwards could I see the fields in the distance showing green and of course by the time I got to town there was not a hint of ice or snow.
Up on our north facing hills we are in a little micro climate that seems to change dramatically once you get to the main road.
The garden this evening. We had a fun filled Indian themed day in school with everyone dressed in Indian clothing ( or some approximation including belly dancer and Aladdin outfits), games, lots of food, samosas, bahjis and naans, for the children to eat and the afternoon filled with a celebration assembly with everyone showing some of the things they had been doing as part of the India topic. My class put on their dances which of course weren't half as good as when they practised in the class but still pretty good. It was during this assembly that I was given a message that someone had just come in from Shirwell with several inches of snow on their car. I wasn't too worried as I had the Rav but I headed out from school the minute the last of my class had been collected. Driving out from town each successive view of the hills showed whiter and whiter fields with low hanging mist/snow clouds. When I got up to Shirwell there were accident signs and police about as a car had crashed into a school bus (no one hurt I was told). Once I turned onto the back roads I kept my speed right down as I'm not sure what the grip of the Rav is and I don't want to find out the hard way. At the top of my drive I met my neighbours who had been for an emergency shop, we left our cars up by the top field where I left the micra last night, and walked down the hill together. I keep my spotty wellies in the back of the micra for such occasions. We've been forecast more snow for tomorrow and the beginning of next week. Only this morning on the radio they were saying it has been the hottest year ever (globally I think) and then remarking on how this is the earliest we've had a cold spell for many years.
It wasn't quite as dark as this when I took this picture of the scree garden, shows that I need to look at the instructions and/or the menu of my baby Nikon.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Snake Shaped House - 33 Pics
Quetzalcoatl Nest is an unconventional housing complex created by Mexican designer Javier Senosiain, and named after the Aztec snake/bird god of learning and knowledge.
Architect, Javier Senosiain
Architect, Javier Senosiain
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