This gallery contains 39 photos.
Significant subtle shifts since the last post. Shorter days, a return to rain at some time on most days and lots of seasonal observations – some familiar and, as always, some completely novel for this blogger. (last year almost no … Continue reading
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Over the few years I’ve written this blog I’ve occasionally referenced the poem, “In Translation” which Mark, my younger brother, wrote about a stay here some 17 years ago. But until this year the last verse has never seemed appropriate.(Thanks … Continue reading
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After recent comments following a previous post, how do I rattle through the multitude of topics I intend to cover without seeming even more incoherent than usual? The link HAS to be synchronicity. Click here for a brief resume. John, … Continue reading
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Almost exactly a year ago, the same issue seems to have preoccupied my gardening notes. Midges. After several days when midge numbers increased daily to the point that I had to use a deterrent spray, I’d wandered outside first thing. … Continue reading
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Possibly my longest gap between posts since I’ve started this blog. Why?Well perhaps the teeniest disappointment at not winning at the Hay festival, (clearly, I have a small residue of competitive spirit which I thought had long since left me), … Continue reading
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In the third week of May, I dropped Fiona off at the station for her trip to London to visit The Chelsea Flower Show for the first time. And how different it was in its centenary year, with planting challenges … Continue reading
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Just over a week ago, I had the chance to join my brother-in-law on the last day of his ‘holiday’ walking the Pembrokeshire coastal path. Having completed Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2011 in a continuous walk, I was … Continue reading
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It seems the appropriate time to write a post with this title, since it was 8 years ago, in the first week of May on a hot sunny day, that we visited the garden of artist Claude Monet at Giverny. … Continue reading
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Let’s get the melancholy bit out of the way. I finally heard ten days ago, that we have a potentially wrecked engine (blown turbo on the way back from a lovely day trip to Highgrove to see the gardens. After … Continue reading
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The first swallow arrived on Monday morning. Summer’s nearly here? Tuesday saw four chattering enthusiastically as they checked out the barn to see if the accommodation was up to last year’s high standards, and changing to a more alarmed “Look … Continue reading
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Around the time that the ice crystal appeared, we’d been fortunate to experience another event so special that I have to mention it on the blog. I’ve frequently referenced other inspirational sources or ideas, that get the creative juices flowing. … Continue reading
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I don’t often do urgent, short(ish) posts – they’re not my style. But something happened this morning which was so bizarre, even by the sometimes magical and unexplainable rhythms of life here, that I really had to slot in a … Continue reading
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We feel fortunate to have been spared the heavy snow in the latest blast of this extended winter. But the freezing Easterlies are with us again, and after feeding and sympathising with the sheep and poultry on Monday, I thought … Continue reading
This gallery contains 39 photos.
I’ve just come in and peeled off the water proofs after the morning stock round, on a bitter, miserable morning. Lashing rain and gale force cold South Easterlies. No sign of ‘March going out like a lamb’ as I catch … Continue reading
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Winter will return next week, but for now we bask in the after-glow of 3 dry WEEKS, and much new life bursting onto the scene. The frogs have dodged, or diced with, death via the heron, otters, and last night … Continue reading
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Over a week without rain, so the blogging takes back seat to the logging. A long winter has taken its toll of our wood stocks. But a huge amount has happened in the last 2 weeks. Can anyone tell me … Continue reading
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Few tasks a gardener undertakes are likely to leave a mark in a century or more. Unless you happen to be a part of one of those all too rare gardening dynasties – think perhaps of the Banks family of … Continue reading
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As I write the text, all the snow which features in the images below has finally melted, and been washed away in further deluges, preluded by a brief power outage inducing storm on Saturday, with savage thunder and lightning which … Continue reading
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After taking the hair dryer to the ice encrusted satellite dish this morning, and getting connected again, I can write this post and feature an Ice vase. Until last weekend, I didn’t know that such structures existed. I’d been walking … Continue reading
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It’s now over 7 weeks since I set up ‘The Reactor’, an external compost bed designed to heat the ‘inner zone’ in our 14 X 8 foot cedar framed greenhouse. Thanks again to Fiona’s patience and wizardry with Excel, I’m … Continue reading
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So, Christmas has been and gone for another year. And in this part of Wales, as in most of the UK, it was a very soggy grey time. In fact, to date, we’ve only had 3 rain free December days. … Continue reading
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Having been caught out by the severity of the last 2 winters, we were a bit better prepared this year, when the cold weather arrived early. The last week has been very cold, but the carrots we lifted at the … Continue reading
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To put everyone out of the suspense left after my last post, I’m going to show the starting point of the mystery image. Thanks to Carolyn for having a go at the identification. As you can see it’s an image … Continue reading
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Most of this post will be devoted to the detail of constructing ‘The Reactor’ – a compost bed designed to help to heat the greenhouse and keep it frost free over the winter. (Addendum: – There are a lot of … Continue reading
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As the light seeps from the grey wet scene at 3.30pm, I’m taking a pause from work on “The Reactor” to catch up with a blog post. More about this project later, but first a few of the gorgeous and … Continue reading
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I always loved my university courses in physiology and biochemistry. I didn’t find them that easy, but even all those years ago they confirmed that life wasn’t just amazing at the whole organism or species level, but even more so … Continue reading
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The last swallows have finally fled, the sun hasn’t showed for the last 3 days, the forecast shows more of the same and the nights have really drawn in, so I thought it might be appropriate to explore a topic … Continue reading
This gallery contains 30 photos.
Butt. Tip. Slype. Wale. Scallum. Back. Belly. Rod. Dark Dicks. Light Dicks. Bodkin. The unfamiliar lexicon of a new activity had to be assimilated quickly, along with practical skills, when Fiona and I headed off last weekend for an intensive … Continue reading
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“Gosh, I LOVE your fabulous hips“. “Would those be mine or Fiona’s, you’re referring to, Rosemary?” Not the conversation I was anticipating with our lagging and glamorous garden guest on Friday, as we enjoyed the sunshine on a post prandial … Continue reading
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I had great expectations for Monday morning. A new day, week, month (just) and season. And the fact that summer had ended with an appropriate blue moon on the penultimate day of August seemed a good omen. For those unfamiliar … Continue reading
This gallery contains 33 photos.
Lightning. Thunder. And fifty shades of grey. Followed by sunshine, and the strangely vibrant fifty shades of green that are the very stuff of August Welsh landscapes. Pretty much every year, but in this year more so as the weather … Continue reading
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The challenges of the rural blogger. As I sat down this morning to write this post, with heavy rain and strong winds forecast by 10.00 am, the screen went dead – the power was off. Ah well, into the greenhouse … Continue reading
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As I waited for the first home grown tomato and nectarine of the year, quite a lot more thoughts and ideas on tomatoes have gelled over the last couple of weeks. Before we’d headed off on holiday I’d installed reflective … Continue reading
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We’re just back from our annual week’s holiday. Strangely for reasons I won’t bore you with, we can’t actually choose the week we’re away and so this year it landed in early July. Hardly the best timing for keen gardeners, … Continue reading
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Intrigued by the email mentioning the basket making event held last week at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW), we headed down and thoroughly enjoyed the display and demonstrations in the marquee by various basketry and rope work experts … Continue reading
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So, the nights are drawing in. Having just passed the longest day, we’ve also now notched up the wettest month in 2 years (even though we’ve over a week to go in June, and well, it’s JUNE, for goodness sake). … Continue reading
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The day began well with a pristine Green silver-lines moth, Pseudoips prasinana, resting up on the barn door. I’ve only ever seen this moth 3 or 4 times before, so when we had a phone call a couple of hours … Continue reading
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It started with time. And a watch ad. And another full-page colour supplement watch ad, four pages further in, and both were featuring sponsored aeronautical display teams behind the shiny complex watch face. And both, no doubt, were hugely expensive … Continue reading
This gallery contains 31 photos.
All I gotta do, is take a look at you, (as Phil Collins sings on Groovy Kind of Love). A busy 10 days and more cold wet weather. At this time of the year even rainy days and Sundays don’t … Continue reading
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“Dewi‘‘ the cuckoo should have stayed in Cameroon. After getting a mention in my last blog for making it back to the UK ahead of the 5 tagged birds from East Anglia on April 16th, Dewi wasn’t heard again until … Continue reading
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A special day last week when on the 16th, whilst concentrating on some log splitting, I picked up a faint but distinctive sound from the far side of the valley. And paused. Was it a cuckoo? As is often the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 31 photos.
Every year the Canada geese fly into the valley sometime during February or March to breed. I guess that the 5 or 6 ponds in the immediate surroundings of the village are a sufficiently good draw. This last week I … Continue reading
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The last week has seen our first garden visitors of the year, happily visiting on days of glorious sunshine. But the most dramatic event was on a very sunny Sunday 10 days ago when we ate our lunch outside under … Continue reading
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How to begin this week? Moral capitalism? (Actually this post has been delayed by a bout of glyphosate induced illness, so the text might seem a bit out of date, but the issues with using this widely promoted herbicide will … Continue reading
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It’s been one of those spells since the last blog, when the rain has held off, the days have lengthened, and the blog takes back seat to all the other tasks and events going on. One of the major outdoor jobs … Continue reading
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Another blog, another torch-light discovery. A consequence I suppose of no TV to while away the dark evenings and the appearance of a new trial rabbit burrow amongst the snowdrops, primroses and hellebores. Trying to spot the culprit, I nipped out … Continue reading
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Last week was the time for Caroline Spelman M.P. and Environment Secretary to gather the movers and shakers for a drought summit. Why? Because many parts of Eastern, Southern and Central England are at risk of severe shortages of water … Continue reading
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Ready for a ramble? Visual and verbal? A lot of thoughts have churned around the simple word “green” over the last few days. Kicked off by a couple of necessary long walks to work off the slight excesses of a … Continue reading
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I decided to slot in a quick post to record a trip out after cabin fever was descending following the rigours of the recent cold. A planned all day electricity outage for another cold, but as it turned out slightly … Continue reading
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So the “Beast from the East” has swept in after all. The initial derision on BBC Radio 4 of newspaper reports of a Siberian blast approaching at least alerted us to the risks of proper wintry weather, which has hit … Continue reading