Category: Garden And Wildlife

Preparing bird-boxes and birdy things

9/3/2016

With Spring approaching (despite the very wet, cold weather of the past week or so), we have been checking and cleaning our collection of bird boxes:

- and this has included the bird box with the camera in the roof, linked to the monitor in the Guest dining/sitting room:

we have changed the size of the entrance to the box and we hope we've timed this right for the start of the nesting season. We have just noticed that in the last couple of days there are signs of the moss on the lawns (lawns ...?!) being collected by birds for nest building:

So, whereas last year we set up the bird boxes a bit too late, we reckon we may have timed it better this year.

While the smaller birds are getting their nests prepared, we've seen that a pair of ducks appear to have claimed rights to the pond - they've been there every morning for a week now. And the big heron is still circling the garden, flying from tree to tree. Not sure what his plans are, but in fact he's spoilt for choice around here, as there are lots of ponds and small lakes dotted all over the countryside - but it's good to see him, even if it's only temporary:

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The tale of a door ....

24/11/2015

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Since the last post winter has decided to arrive - but without the usual 'November rain' - so the ponds, lakes and rivers are still dry:

- and the few days of fog and rain there have been have made little difference. Then in the past 48 hours the temperature has gone suddenly down and last night was minus 6 degrees C and the garden and hedgerows have been spray-painted with frost:

Anyway, this post is about the replacement of an ancient door. You may have noticed on our main website, old, red-coloured doors on the east side of the house:

We really like these doors, but the problem has been that the wood is starting to seriously degrade and the doors have simply been fixed in position - they do not open, and there is lots of silicone filler trying to fill the gaps ... which does not work, so there are big draughts into the sitting room:

What we thought might be possible was to make new, opening doors, with a maximum amount of glass and then remove the ancient doors, renovate them, and re-hang them to open outwards as shutters.
We spoke to our good neighbour, Laurent, who is an artisan du bois. On Laurent's website we had seen some of his beautiful work, particularly with doors and windows. So we got Laurent to come and look at the work to assess whether it was possible. He confirmed it was possible and provided us with a quotation for the work that was a very pleasant surprise ... so, of course we accepted. Within a few days Laurent started work, firstly to take all the measurements for making the new glass-panelled door. He then made the new door in his workshop and once this was completed he returned to remove the old door. The first thing was to take out all the silicone filler .... there was a huge amount of it:

Then it was a question of gradually working the doors fully open ... which, as soon as it was done, showed the view that would be open up from the sitting room, with a splendid view of Orsey's olive tree!

The doors then needed to be lifted off the old hinges:

- and the panel that sat above the door was very carefully removed:

We will not be able to refit the panel, as the new door needs take the full height of the opening. But we'll reuse the panel, as it is obviously original and very attractive - talking of which, the removal of the door revealed a carving on the beam above the door with a date of 1811 and a rather strange carving ... I will put up a photo of these in a later post, as they are interesting.
Laurent now brought in the door frame and glass that he had made and fitted it - quite something to do this from the original measurement, with irregular shaping of beams within the opening to work around; so, it was a slightly 'tense' couple of hours as the framework and glass panelled doors went in:

But everything fitted perfectly and we are hugely pleased with the result. It lets the morning light flood into the sitting room, eliminates the draughts with the double glazing and proper fitting, and the additional height of the glass doors gives it a balance within the overall building that feels 'right'. This additional height, higher of course than the original doors (as they had the panel above them), means that the original doors' restoration is more than just making good the deterioration of the woodwork - a whole panel needs to be added at the base, to match the height of the new doors. This will be done, using chestnut wood again, and mimicking the old carving at the top of the doors:

So, Laurent is working on this at the moment - and he will also colour the overall woodwork of the old doors, using traditional materials. We are really looking forward to seeing the restored doors and how Laurent fits them as outward-opening shutters .... and we hope we will have achieved 'the best of both worlds' ... with new, fitted doors, while preserving the old ones in a new 'role'. Hoorah!! Watch this space ......

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O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being ...

2/11/2015

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Well, that poet Shelley knew a thing or two ..... we have had it calm, sunny and really very warm for a few weeks now - so that the leaves have been able to just absorb the sun and show off their palette of reds and golds:

There have been a few mornings with light frosts and mist:

- and then, two days ago, powerful southeast winds sprung up - still warm, and stripped the leaves like filleting fish, so just the bones of the stalks remain in place clinging to the walls:

- and the leaves pushed up against walls and doors in multi-coloured drifts:

The weather forecast is saying that next week the temperatures will be in the twenties centigrade - and then, who knows - there is an apprehension that winter may suddenly appear, sighing in with frost and ice. But in the meantime .......

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Pergola Plus

25/9/2015

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We have finally got around to sorting out building the 'walkway' structure that will lead from the pergola back to the 'nook' by the house. We have decided to continue 'building' in solid oak, because we want to match the pergola wood, and also because the local sawmill's price remains so good and that it is a totally sustainable local product. So, we measured everything up (gulp!), placed the order and on Tuesday hired our good friend Nigel's trailer to collect the wood:

Then it was a question of digging all the holes, running from the pergola back to the house .... the earth, heavy clay, has been very dry and like digging into oak itself ... but last week we had a couple of days of rain, and - hoorah! - we had a visit from Theo who was immediately hired to help with the digging!

Then it has been the same discipline as the pergola - so, ensuring the posts were correctly aligned down the line of the pathway and the posts are exactly opposite one another, so that the cross-pieces are parallel:

The one difficulty has been that down half of one side we have the stone slope up to the upper barn - and this slightly 'interrupts' the line of the walkway. So, on the last part of one side we could not dig holes and concrete the posts in, but had to place steel fixings into the bricks of the walkway and then the posts are mounted on these:

So, once we had all the tools and fixings in place it has taken only a full day to complete all the uprights. The next stage will be to fix the horizontals - that will take a bit more time!

And this Sunday we are off to a big plant fair, where there are (we hope!) some experts on climbing plants (grimpantes) so we can plant out all along the walkway by mid-October, so that by next Spring the overall shape will be taking off!

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And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core!

7/9/2015

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... bit of the old Keats, as Autumn has arrived and we've got lots of mellow fruitfulness.
The very warm summer, punctuated by the occasional day or two of heavy rain, has resulted in lots of very tasty and plumptious fruit. The blackberries are everywhere, very large and often hanging like bunches of grapes. Nollie has made batches of blackberry jam and we will be making syrup for putting on ice cream and yoghurty type things; and we will be making some blackberry vodka.

Traditionally, one gathers the rose-hips (for syrup and jellies) and the sloes (we'll be making sloe vodka) after the first frost - so, we don't know when that might be, but there are certainly enough fruits to make a larder full of preserves.
As for tomatoes, there continues to be a huge crop:

- so, there has been lots of passata made, and chutneys, including tomato and courgette and, extra yummy, tomato and peach:

And in the flowerbeds we still have a lot in bloom, but also many of the flowers have dried out into seed heads - so we are lightly digging the soil and rubbing off all the seeds into the turned soil .... takes a long time, but the results from doing this last year have been quite spectacular:

As for the wild flower pasture ... as we said, the results of the annual seeds have not been exactly impressive - it is because we planted quite late and then ran into the two month drought. But in the last couple of weeks there have been more cornflowers and daisies showing and we are now in the process of taking lots of seed heads from other wild flower areas in the garden and piling them on to the pasture ... and in a few weeks we will strim the whole area, spreading as many of the seeds as possible. Then, we hope that next year the perennial wild flower seeds will germinate fully, backed up with other annuals. That's the theory!

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Later Summer

19/8/2015

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We have continued to have a 'real summer' Summer - very hot and dry really all the way through June, July and early August. So, the watering from the well has continued on a daily basis. And some rather curious jobs have been undertaken - like filling the holes left by the many moles/molehills and made worse by the very dry weather!

The dry weather has meant that it has been impossible to keep the new wildflower area watered - and we are not really sure whether what has now appeared is predominantly weeds!

But the majority of the 2,700,000 (!) seeds were perennial rather than annuals - so, should lie dormant until next year. In the meantime we'll strim the current growth - and then 'fingers crossed' for what appears next April/May.
In early August we had three days of storms and very heavy rain - and the results have been fascinating .... with the speed of growth being more like springtime than late summer. The vegetable garden, that was still doing fairly well due to constant watering, has put on a real burst ..... with the beans, brassicas and spinach putting on terrific growth in about 48 hours:

And the tomatoes, which had been doing well with all the sun, but have been quite small, have now suddenly got a lot bigger - with varieties like the 'Russian Reds' growing to half a kilo each:

In the hedgerows, that have been wilting in the heat, there are now swathes of sloes, blackberries and damsons:

It has been fascinating to see just how fast this can happen. The same 'revival and growth' has happened in the flower gardens - with rose bushes now on a third flowering; the wisteria also on a third flowering and growing three metres in as many weeks ... it is now near to reaching he back door, so growing half way around the house, a distance of over 60 metres; and flowers appearing in just a few days in the newly seeded beds by the pergola:

So, what the Autumn will bring is going to be very interesting - I have a feeling that the colours are going to be extraordinary.

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... and Summer hots up ...

8/7/2015

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Not only has summer arrived, but in a very decisive way - we are now over a month without any significant rain and temperatures have been in the upper 30's/lower 40's Centigrade for some days now.
Certainly Oska was pleased with new pergola - and commutes between the shade there and cold showers:

While Snufkin has a cat's usual ability to find the right place:

The water level on the pond has sunk a lot and it is necessary to aerate the water, so that 'the wrong sort of weed' does not start to form - luckily we have the pumping system that does the job:

The cracks forming in the lawns tell the tale of just how dry things are becoming - and it has been difficult to keep up the watering of the new wildflower area:

But the well continues to be our saviour:

- and the vegetable garden is in quite a good state, with courgettes, tomatoes, leeks and brassicas all showing well, although the spinach and chard is far from happy:

The raised beds, for herbs and salad crops benefit from being quite close to the well and we're still managing to keep the flowers watered - they have been particularly beautiful this year:

But, much as we love the sun some rain (preferably at night!) would be very welcome..... but at the moment there is no sign of that on the forecasts.

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Pergola complete - hoorah!!

8/7/2015

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Well - it has been quite a long haul ... but our pergola is now finished:

A bit about the process after we had set up the main frame: as planned, we put brushwood panels for the roofing ... but we were aware that this only provides a certain amount of shade and was not UV protective ... so, we added some UV protective sheets on top of the brushwood:

- these are quite unobtrusive, but that have definitely increased the shade value and will mean that children in particular are better protected from the sun within the pergola - and there is plenty of room for a large dining table, sun loungers and children's playmats and paddling pools ... so, it should be very good for families:

The next thing to do was to build the 'balustrade/fencing', leading from the pergola and running along the pool-side facing the house .... the idea being to 'soften' the rather stark rectangle of the pool and also provide some privacy for those using the pool. We used the same sized oak upright posts and these had to be set into concrete in what was now very, very hard clay/earth - taking care that the height of the balustrade was going to work with the pergola and that a simple framework of horizontal rails provided a framework to take the brushwood panels:

At either end of the balustrade we set the posts wide, to take some 'planting room' for the climbing plants that we will grow along the balustrade ... but this meant that some angled joints were required to allow the horizontal bars to fit the uprights - well, we had a bash and they are not too bad! We also decided to sand down the 'rough' oak, as people ( and children particularly) are bound to lean against, swing from etc the balustrade - and oak splinters from rough wood are not at all nice .... so, the whole thing was sanded. As the whole construction has been made of pretty substantially-sized oak, we have used a combination of high-quality, rust-free screws and long bolts - so, the whole framework is very strong:

So, we are pleased with the result - and now we have to work on the design of the walk-way that will lead from the pergola back to the house ... but the building of this is an Autumn job!

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Summer starts in the garden

8/6/2015

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We have had it very dry for the last three weeks - and very hot, with temperatures in the mid-30's C. This has made us rather anxious for the new wild-flower meadow and we have pumped the well water to provide a daily soaking. It seems this might be paying off, as we can now see the start of a carpet of seedlings .... and just hope these are the wildflowers and not weeds!

The vegetable garden is planted out with tomatoes, courgettes, and a range of brassicas and beans:

- and the herbs in the raised beds are doing well, along with some earlier courgettes and tomatoes. We have planted about 30 tomatoes, with 9 varieties ... and we'll see which do well ... there is everything from those producing (allegedly) fruit of over a kilo to those that provide clusters of small red and yellow fruit:

As I walked round the garden this evening there were rolls of thunder and some very particular cloud formations:

- so perhaps we'll have a storm and some rain. But the weather has been good for the blossoms and fruit this year - the mulberry tree is thick with its little red, furry fruit:

- and the roses and honeysuckle that surround the house are prolific, with powerful, heady perfumes in the warm evenings. Very beautiful:

And what about our wildlife cameras? Well, we are still being rather disorganised about setting these up each evening ... so, some disciple is required - more of this soon. In the meantime, here's a night prowler who was around a couple of nights ago.

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Pergola Progress ...!

8/6/2015

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Oh dear, I've been neglecting the Blog .... I must plead 'pergola fixation' among other things. Staying with the pergola theme - as described, we ordered and collected the oak some time ago. Well, we actually started construction work about three weeks ago - beginning with measuring up and then digging the first of the eleven holes for the big 3 metre posts ... these had to be quite deep, about 0.75 metres, and into very dense clay - so thick that you could make pots with it:

We started with the centre two posts on one side to then take a height and plumb line across to the other posts, as the ground has various sloping areas. We placed a bed of gravel with a centre stone in each hole and then placed the post .... quite tricky to manoevre, as each post is about 40 kilos. Once in place, in went the concrete mix; and after double-checking the position was correct then wooden supports were fixed to ensure it would stay in place:

- and this process then progresses from post to post:

Well I don't want to induce 'pergola boredom' - heaven forfend ... so, I can report that yesterday the main pergola was complete ... with all the cross-pieces in place and bolted and, miraculously, it appears that the structure is only some 2 centimetres 'out of true' when checking the alignment from post 1 to post 11. Hoorah!

The next thing will be to mount the shade sails for the central section and roof the side two sections with the brushwood panels; and plant climbing plants around the edges. After this we'll build the oak fencing along the swimming pool front and bring that in to merge with the pergola. En avance .....

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<<Previous

Preparing bird-boxes and birdy things

The tale of a door ....

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being ...

Pergola Plus

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core!

Later Summer

... and Summer hots up ...

Pergola complete - hoorah!!

Summer starts in the garden

Pergola Progress ...!

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