Spring Update

Well, in the last 10 days or so Spring has definitely arrived - with temperatures in the mid-20's and the trees and bushes 'pinging' into blossom and flower:

We have collected the oak that we will use for the pergola and walkway leading from the house to the swimming pool. In arranging to collect the oak with the car, using the roof-rack, I had forgotten just how heavy solid oak is - and it worked out to be about 1800lbs weight ... so, 6 car journeys! But well worth the trouble - here are pictures of the posts and planks we'll be using and, below that, pictures of the oak that is in place around the doorways of 'Nichoir' - you can see how the oak has weathered to that beautiful grey-silver:

Meanwhile, we have prepared the area the other side of the pond - about half and acre or so, for the wild-flower planting. This requires killing off the existing turf with an eco-friendly treatment that will allow immediate planting of the wildflower seeds. After the turf has been killed off, we will plough the area, and then rotavate it to provide a fine tilth for seed planting. We have chosen a seed mixture that is suitable for the clay soil that we have and that include wildflowers particularly attractive to bees and butterflies; it includes:

Red Poppy Papaver rhoeas
White Campion Silene latifolia
Cornflower Centaurea cyanus
Corncockle Agrostemma githago
Corn Marigold Chrysanthemum segetum
Corn Chamomile Anthemis arvensis 

If all goes to schedule, we will have the seeds planted by the end of April and would expect growth to show by early June, with flowering fully in place by the end of June, carrying through to the end of October. Fingers crossed! We will provide updates of how things go. Our small experiment with wildflowers last year certainly provides encouragement: