nature
Posted: Thursday, 13 September 2007 |
I have been working in the garden this last week and in the heather part where it is still as nature made it I found these lodgepole seedling growing out of the moss, so is this where I should plant any seeds I want to grow I wonder, I would like to move the seedlings to a place where I would prefer them to grow and (hopefully) help make a wind break, any tips from gardeners out there would be most welcome, thanks,
Radio 4鈥檚 programme has started again and next weeks programme is on Islay, if you can get it on your radio you have 2 choices Monday evening at 9p.m. (that鈥檚 2100 for those on the 24 hour clock) and repeated on Tuesday morning at 11a.m. or you can use the beebs listen again service where it will be available for 7 days after it has been on the radio, enjoy,
As radio is sound this series of is about the sounds of places so the programme is the sounds of Islay, so if you do not live on the islands and want an idea of natural sounds we enjoy then you can listen online till next Tuesday 25th Sept. I enjoyed it,
Radio 4鈥檚 programme has started again and next weeks programme is on Islay, if you can get it on your radio you have 2 choices Monday evening at 9p.m. (that鈥檚 2100 for those on the 24 hour clock) and repeated on Tuesday morning at 11a.m. or you can use the beebs listen again service where it will be available for 7 days after it has been on the radio, enjoy,
As radio is sound this series of is about the sounds of places so the programme is the sounds of Islay, so if you do not live on the islands and want an idea of natural sounds we enjoy then you can listen online till next Tuesday 25th Sept. I enjoyed it,
Comments
I don't know that I would grow lodgepoles as a first line of defence (and that is not a pun...). Here in Orkney in a slightly less exposed spot than some, I used escallonia, new zealand honysuckle (a bush lonicera), olearia hastii (one of the nz daisybushes), olearia microdonta, but not macro which has a very leggy habit and doesn't easily bush, Swedish whitebeams,rowans, flowering currant (cat-pee bush to some) and rosa rugosa. I have one small lp pine and it is sheltered on all sides - if you can get cuttings of some of the faster growing of these it's a good start. And don't let the grass grow around them until they cast enough shade to cope with it. If you would like some hardwood cuttings from here, ask Anne to give you my email address. I think your climate is less hospitable than mine, esp if you are on poor acidic soil, so someone local might give more site-specific advice.
Flying Cat from peering over fpu's shoulder
PS I love your boggy bit....it's a tiny ecosystem all its own.
FC from as before
thank you Flying Cat, interesting that you mention so many plants from NZ as I have found the 3 plants that are growing best are NZ plants, the NZ Broadleaf and NZ Flax which were given to me as cuttings from my friend on Scalpay and I bought an Olearia Virgata because I liked the grey thin leaves as a contrast to other plants, I like different textures, also a book I am reading says that plants from the west side of New Zealand do well on the west side of Scotland, apparently the conditions are similar, there are LP's growing here, that is where the seedlings came from but I do not want them where they have seeded so that is why I am thinking of moving them, there was a small seedling a few years ago which I stupidly left and now it is getting bigger but not where I would like it, I have Swedish whitebeam and Rowan but they are not doing as well as I was told they would, where as the Willows are growing really well, I think one of the things that really 'hit' all the trees I planted was the storm in Jan 2005, I had planted most in Jan/Feb 2003 they were one year old and all were bought as bare rooted plants, most of the cuttings were planted a year earlier which made them all 3 years when that wind hit, I was given some Escallonia cuttings about a month ago and some Sea Holly and Weigela which have all started to take, I am down the hill so not as exposed as most but Ness is on the west side of Lewis and you can see the Atlantic so the south westerlies come in with nothing to stop them and being on the northern tip of Lewis the north easterlies are just as bad, I know I have got to seriously consider a manmade wind break to give plants a chance to get started and I have made a start on it this year but it was soooo expensive and some locals say it won鈥檛 last so we鈥檒l see what this winter holds, yes you are right a very peaty acidic soil and stony I am slowly adding compost but it is a large area and will take time, thanks again for the help,
island threads from lewis
I'm sorry it wasn't actually the answer to the question...got a bit carried away! You could remove the little lodgepoles and pot them up, bring them on in the pots for a year or two and then replant somewhere else when they're bigger and stronger. Artificial windbreak is very expensive. Some people try to shelter individual plants/groups with old pallets, which usually get dumped anyway! Does fuchsia do well over there? It is a rampant self-propagator on IOM and Orkney.
Flying Cat from bottom of the class
Thanks FC, as the lp's have seeded into the moss I am wondering if I move them to soil which will be dryer will they died and also is the moss a good place to start other seedlings, no I am not asking you I'm just thinking allowed, I have found another 2 seedlings so that is 4 in all and so I think I will leave 2 for another year in the moss and move 2 and stick some cuttings into the moss to see what happens, yes we do have fuchsia here but it is not growing so well in Ness as it did in Scalpay, there is a fuchsia growing in the ditch (more sheltered) just outside my garden and I have some in the garden from cuttings my Scalpay friend gave me, I made a fence out of pallets when on Scalpay but there are none (that I know of) to be had here on Lewis, thanks anyway for all suggestions and help, pleased to see you out of clink,
island threads from lewis
This is all most interesting. I think gardening is a bit hit or miss regardless of where you are. I'm surprised that fuchsias grow vigorously in Orkney. Rowan trees: when we moved to this house there was a rowan in the front garden, planted by the builders (every house had a tree, to make a "tree-lined avenue"). It died and was replaced by the builders, but this also died. Then I had a flowering cherry planted and it died too. <sigh> So now I've let the grass grow over the spot, and I'm thinking that there's some kind of toxic waste buried underneath the ground at this point.
Jill from EK
Sounds like a bad case of builders rubble/ish Jill. You know when you watch the gardening programmes and someone is in a relatively new house and the builders have covered over all their cr*p (must be careful now Anne's back) with turf and the Titchmarsh or whoever says "The only thing to do is to have all the rubble and hard pan removed and replaced with topsoil and compost"? I think that might be more likely than toxic waste. Builders are notorious for leaving people with compacted earth which no young plant could possibly root into. You've got comeback on the house but not the garden.
Flying Cat from Fastbuckland
There's certainly plenty of rubble about, FC, I've seen it and dug it up, but I think the problem also lies with the EK soil, which is pure clay. I think these trees were sitting in a big bowl of clay and just drowned. The cherry tree man dug out a big area and put good stuff in it, but nonetheless the tree died. Other people seem more successful, mind you, an identical tree is growing well just up the road (different builder though!). It's not an area where a keen gardener would want to live! I could give IT a run for her money with the moss, though.
Jill from EK
Jill I agree with FC sounds like a bad case of buried rubble and compaction and some of the buried rubble could contain toxins, Jill forgive my ignorance but where is EK just roughly, clay is not good my mum's garden near London is mostly chalk and clay sticky and heavy in wet weather and as hard as concrete in the sun, I have read that if you dig a planting hole in clay what you in effect do is create a sump hole, you need to work in lots of compost, it would be nice if we could swap some of my peat for your clay, I like the moss, I have been amazed at the numerous types of moss I have and would love to create a moss garden over part of the garden, I have a photo of one in Japan, I wish they would come up with a product that killed the grass in the moss instead of the other way around,
island threads from lewis
East Kilbride is just south of Glasgow. If you like moss you would love my "lawns", which are as soft and spongy as the best-quality carpet to walk on. The amount of grass collected in the lawnmower is pitiful. I too would like to make a moss garden, I thought of doing one in a container with some rocks 脿 la japonaise. But digging up the moss would just ruin my lawn :-) The farmland hereabouts is used for sheep and sometimes cattle, or for growing feed for same, no other arable farming at all, and where I live is built (to my shame) on former farm land so my garden is the same as the fields I can see from here, alas!
Jill from EK
Fpu used in her kittenhood to live on the main road between Glasgow and Eek.
Flying Cat from trying to be boring with other things to do
aah so you are on the mainland, thanks, some of the moss I have is in with the heather, my garden (like all the gardens here) is a little corner of the moors, some parts had been cleared in the long and distant past but some bits are still moor and I have been interested in the many different mosses that grow there as well as the stonechats that nest there so want to keep some of it as is but with some control, the strands of grassy leaves in the photo are more cotton grass than horrid grass so I do not mind them, I have read that if land was grassed then it should be fairly good as it has been fertilised ;o)
island threads from lewis
FC, did your fpu live in Burnside? After that there aren't many dwellings apart from a couple of farms. Or maybe she was on the other road via Busby? IT, your moss sounds fascinating, lucky you having stonechats nesting! Cotton grass: someone told me that the crofter women used to collect it and spin the cotton for knitting etc but I was never sure if he was pulling my leg or not. Tote that barge, lift that bale...
Jill from EK
Almost Burnside...
Flying Cat from trying hard to be posher than Ruglen
I am intrigued, FC, I lived in Ruglen myself (the better end...) for 19 years, on Stonelaw Road to be precise, where I used to see the cars from EK coming past with snow on their roofs in the winter. Little did I know then... I lived facing the little park near Buchanan Drive, in the middle of the terrace. Do tell!
Jill from EK
Belhaven Terrace??????????
Flying Cat from gobsmacked
How is fpu's Glaswegian? Will I need a translator if I were to check out Rolling Acres?
mjc from NM, USA
Fpu can do chantin' with the best of them so no need for a translator thank you for asking...
Flying Cat from a hard stare
Textile Artists Notebook, 
RSS Feed