A few weeks back we planted winter pea plants, variety Twinkle, and with this warm weather recently, they have started growing well- so well in fact that they are twining themselves together. According to the label that came with the mini pea plants, they are self supporting if planted in a block together.
This certainly seems to be their habit from observation, but they are also pulling each other over, so we decided to put in pea sticks, which are tall twigs, to allow the peas to climb- they should reach 50cm in height when fully grown.
We were going to go to a local hedgerow and see what we could scavenge, but remembered that the hedge at the edge of the green, which was cut in such a way that the stems were bent over in an interwoven style, by being partially cut through, and this allows side shoots to form and grow upwards.
Normally these shoots are trimmed back by the local authority to maintain a neat height, but not been done yet, so these became the source of our pea twigs.
Now we have a little forest of twigs sticking up from the raised bed, looking like they are ready to repel any invader. Hopefully the peas will begin to climb these instead of each other.
Whilst walking to the hedge, we had to stop and pick up more walnuts. The last few weeks or so has seen many of the walnuts falling off the trees (four of them) at different stages. Each tree has a different walnut size or shape. Currently we are finding mostly large walnuts, but another tree is dropping very small smooth shelled nuts, and another has medium sized nuts with an orangy tint to the shell.
We collect them to use for cooking - to make cakes to raise money for the local church, but we especially collect them to prevent the squirrels burying them in our lawn and flower beds. We have had a squirrel invasion twice in our roof before now- but I have worked on plugging the gaps over the years to stop them getting in- seems to have worked in the last few years. They hang around our area precisely because of the plentiful supply of food.
The squirrels have poor memories, so often don't dig the buried walnuts up- some are found by rooks and crows, but many start to sprout and grow and if they get a toe-hold, can be very difficult to dig up as they throw out a long tap root which makes pulling them or digging them up a chore.
Rosie had a pleasant surprise this morning on her walk- a cat ran across her path, that always get her excited, followed closely by a monkjac deer- not sure if the two were connected, or just both spooked by an approaching dog. Luckily she was on her lead, as she pulled me along in an attempt to get to one or both. The deer must have jumped the gate to the cemetery as it was long gone, and the cat did what cats do and disappeared.
Also in the garden today, was covering the potato plants with fleece in an attempt to stop them getting frosted- they were supposed to grow and be ready for Christmas harvesting, but the warmer weather has made them grow rapidly and despite constant earthing up, the growth has exceeded the capacity to protect them with soil anymore.
And to round it out daffodil bulbs have gone in to the front garden beds ready to give a show of colour next year.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Friday, 14 October 2011
Cave Canem
Means roughly, "Beware of the Dog".
This is the subject for my mosaic project- all the lessons are learnt, now to make something of my own choice.
First saw Cave Canem in Pompeii, in an early spring holiday to Piano Sorrento, in the south of the bay of Naples. Using the Circumvesuviana train, Pompeii can be reached quite easily.
Whereas we would put up a sign on our gate to say beware of the dog, the Pompeians and other Romans, had a mosaic depiction of a dog and the Cave Canem warning, in the entrance to the property.
I chose to use as an inspiration, a similar, but easier to construct mosaic from the Isle of Capri.
here is a picture of the dog - made of pre-cut marble tiles, ready for the background tiles to be laid and the words to be created and grouted to finish it off.
As you can see - it is a stylised dog. I did not know until using marble for the first time , that although you can cut the tiles using the nippers we use for other tiles, it takes more effort and the resulting cut tile shape is unpredictable as they shatter easily. This meant that I did not cut many of the tiles (also had just about enough to make the shape so scared to waste them) just laid them in as flowing a way as possible, so in some places there are some weird gaps. Still it should look OK when grouted.
The dog is wearing a reddish brown collar and will have a lead attached as well.
We have next week's session and a follow up session after half- term if needed to finalise the mosaic.
Today finished the mowing strip around the lawn, so that was good- the lawn looks neater in having the edge, and also a more defined shape as when it was seeded in the spring, we made it a little wider than the original lawn that this replaced, to allow for trimming later.
This is the subject for my mosaic project- all the lessons are learnt, now to make something of my own choice.
First saw Cave Canem in Pompeii, in an early spring holiday to Piano Sorrento, in the south of the bay of Naples. Using the Circumvesuviana train, Pompeii can be reached quite easily.
Whereas we would put up a sign on our gate to say beware of the dog, the Pompeians and other Romans, had a mosaic depiction of a dog and the Cave Canem warning, in the entrance to the property.
I chose to use as an inspiration, a similar, but easier to construct mosaic from the Isle of Capri.
here is a picture of the dog - made of pre-cut marble tiles, ready for the background tiles to be laid and the words to be created and grouted to finish it off.
As you can see - it is a stylised dog. I did not know until using marble for the first time , that although you can cut the tiles using the nippers we use for other tiles, it takes more effort and the resulting cut tile shape is unpredictable as they shatter easily. This meant that I did not cut many of the tiles (also had just about enough to make the shape so scared to waste them) just laid them in as flowing a way as possible, so in some places there are some weird gaps. Still it should look OK when grouted.
The dog is wearing a reddish brown collar and will have a lead attached as well.
We have next week's session and a follow up session after half- term if needed to finalise the mosaic.
Today finished the mowing strip around the lawn, so that was good- the lawn looks neater in having the edge, and also a more defined shape as when it was seeded in the spring, we made it a little wider than the original lawn that this replaced, to allow for trimming later.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Lawn edging update
As we are struggling to find a fence colour we like to re coat the now much longer fence and then find enough of the one we chose (it is end of season for this type of thing so shelves are de-stocked) the Lawn Edging has begun.
The blocks I brought home a few weeks back were accusing me of neglect, and as the days looked to stay mainly dry where I am, the job commenced.
Following the advice of the interweb, I bought sharp sand and am using up the rest of the weed suppressant cloth (used on the raised beds earlier in the year) to line the mini trench that needs digging for the sand and then the blocks to go on top. The trench was dug 10cm or so deep and filled to about 8 cm or so with the sand. Blocks placed on top were truly embedded, level with the grass surface, using a wooden mallet - using a nylon cord and pegs to get a straight edge.
However, the OH indoors came out and told me the line looked a bit off straight and asked if I had measured from the edge of the drive when I set out the nylon cord. "Of course" I replied, but on re-checking I was a centimetre out at one end- it is interesting how we can notice such a small deviation from the straight line!
So a quick lever with the spade was enough to line the blocks up to both our satisfaction.
Doing it in stages as there is a lot of kneeling down to do - however as with all things it is getting quicker to do each stretch as a routine begins to develop. The lawn is roughly square, but has a rectangular protrusion in to the soil area in it to allow access to a fruit bed and also at another point there is a gentle curve where the lawn runs around some existing trees and shrubs. The straight bits are fairly OK, (once they are set out correctly!) and just on to the curved bit now and so far so good.
As I mentioned the fairly dry weather above, it started to rain, the sort of mizzly rain which soaks you through as you work, so eventually come indoors to write this -it may not stop until tomorrow if the forecasters have it correctly predicted.
The blocks I brought home a few weeks back were accusing me of neglect, and as the days looked to stay mainly dry where I am, the job commenced.
Following the advice of the interweb, I bought sharp sand and am using up the rest of the weed suppressant cloth (used on the raised beds earlier in the year) to line the mini trench that needs digging for the sand and then the blocks to go on top. The trench was dug 10cm or so deep and filled to about 8 cm or so with the sand. Blocks placed on top were truly embedded, level with the grass surface, using a wooden mallet - using a nylon cord and pegs to get a straight edge.
However, the OH indoors came out and told me the line looked a bit off straight and asked if I had measured from the edge of the drive when I set out the nylon cord. "Of course" I replied, but on re-checking I was a centimetre out at one end- it is interesting how we can notice such a small deviation from the straight line!
So a quick lever with the spade was enough to line the blocks up to both our satisfaction.
Doing it in stages as there is a lot of kneeling down to do - however as with all things it is getting quicker to do each stretch as a routine begins to develop. The lawn is roughly square, but has a rectangular protrusion in to the soil area in it to allow access to a fruit bed and also at another point there is a gentle curve where the lawn runs around some existing trees and shrubs. The straight bits are fairly OK, (once they are set out correctly!) and just on to the curved bit now and so far so good.
As I mentioned the fairly dry weather above, it started to rain, the sort of mizzly rain which soaks you through as you work, so eventually come indoors to write this -it may not stop until tomorrow if the forecasters have it correctly predicted.
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