From Sheep Butt to Shooting Butt

Guilford free Public Library

67 Park St Guilford CT

Thursday 7th Feb 7pm

Come see what the sheep and the shoot have in common, if anything

Sheep Butt  

Shooting Butt

 

https://www.guilfordfreelibrary.org/the-stone-walls-of-england-new-england-with-andrew-pighills/35211/

Wild Flower Meadow/Lawn/Patch

Have you ever stopped to think how much effort and money you put into keeping your lawn a blue/green, fertilizer drunk, mono-culture?

and then you never get the chance to really enjoy your lawn, because you are constantly working to pay your lawn care professional to apply fertilizer, to grow the grass, so they may cut it down all year long.

not to mention the herbicides, insecticides, fungicides etc which are applied all year long, which turn your lawn into a toxic green desert, to the point where even the deer will not eat it. 

 

 Nevertheless that does not stop us from allowing our children and grandchildren from running barefoot on it and rolling around in it.

Eventually all these toxic applications leach into the rivers, lakes and ocean where we go swimming and fishing.

I don't apply fertilizer or pesticides, and yes I do have all manner of plants growing in my grass. clovers and dandelions to feed the pollinators.

A multitude of birds to snatch the emerging early summer insects from the turf.

But I still mow throughout the summer.

This year, after several years of procrastination I have finally set about creating a wildflower meadow, or at least a wildflower patch. The leaves are to improve the soil structure, while not altering the fertility. The netting is to keep the leaves in place until the spring when I will till them in. I will return to this topic in the spring

Until then. Wishing you and yours A Happy New Year.

Propagation success.

A followup to my "Propagation" post from May, when I layered a number of shrubs.

Most of them have rooted.

Azalea

I will leave them attached to the parent plant, where the new roots will continue to grow over the winter.

Deutzia

Before replanting in the spring

Viburnum 

This is a simple and rewarding way of increasing your desirable plants.

Hydrangea

Horse Chest Nut.

Have you ever wondered why Aesculus hippocastanum is known as the Horse Chestnut tree?

The upright candle like flowers appear every spring, creating a spectacular display

and later in the year produce the spiky fruits which contain the nut, or conker as they are known in the UK.

Before modern veterinary medicines, these nuts were ground and fed to horses to cure respiratory illness, which maybe the reason for the name, 

but I like the second possible reason. When the leaves abscise from the tree, what remains is a leaf scar which resembles a horse shoe.

Hibernating is for bears, Spring will soon be here.

Spring plantings are subtle, yet still vibrant. With lots of pastel shades as the sun climbs to its June zenith.

Sure, you can have your Grasscutter/Landscaper throw in a few mismatched plants looking like a rabble of soldiers marching to their Waterloo, or with careful planning and preparation, you can have a garden of complimentary plantings full of flora and fauna.

860-575-0526

failing to plan is planning to fail.

Woodland wonder.

A few weeks back, on route to my job site, I caught a glimpse of these remains of what was once a dwelling.

My curiosity was piqued and I stopped to take a look. The well is still sound and in the background the remains of the central chimney can still be seen.

 Even the large granite slabs on which the wooden frame was built are still there.

A derelict farmstead, garden sculpture, or garden planting. Attract the eye and the mind will follow.

The Yorkshire Dales

 The Yorkshire Dales from Herriot to Home

I will be presenting my new talk at Essex Meadows on Thursday Nov 15th at 11am

 Starting in Wensleydale, home of the famous Wensleydale Cheese, where James Herriot first entered the Dales, we will travel south through the dales and over moors

to arrive in the southern most dale of the river aire where I spent my formative years.

I believe this talk is open to the public.