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| I spent today planting 350 enormous alliums for a customer. I prepared an order for him costing �200.....but his assistant had mischievously added noughts to the bulb order, upping the cost to well over twice that (but he is a lawyer and can afford it) - should look totally spectacular next May. This was after an epic tree-felling weekend (7 poplars, well over 30m tall). The site looks traumatised, the noise was tremendous and the smell of fresh hewn poplar was quite horrible......but light poured in from a huge opening in the canopy. I confess to being quite wimpy about this operation, keeping the woodburner alight and watching the dogs, as well as providing hot carb-laden food and many cups of tea. Years ago, I would have been insisting on my female right to wield a chainsaw but have happily consigned that tool (along with Kango hammers, angle grinders and nail guns) to an ever growing list of ones I just don't want to have to use anymore. My boys, Tas and Rowan, with Reuben (aka Mr.Campanula) and Chas, our young arbourist. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by kittymoonbeam (My Page) on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 12:38
| That sounds fun to me. Think of all the things you can grow in that open spot. I spent the weekend on a farm in Moorpark with the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. We all camped in a walnut grove and when I walked in the encampments, there was a group of Union soldiers who were sleeping on piles of hay under a great walnut tree and they were lying there after the first battle cracking walnuts which had fallen while another man played some music. We have a young boy who plays the fiddle for us while we cook and he is so very cute. The weather was ideal and I loved spending the weekend with friends under the trees and now I feel energized and ready to plant. I'm glad you have help and thanks for sharing your progress with us. The 350 Alliums will be magnificent. Some belles from the Civil War town at Moorpark |
This post was edited by kittymoonbeam on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 19:21
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| BIG project! Pleas so post a pic next spring when they bloom! |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 13:52
| There is a definite primitive (or wimp) component to my character that has always made me willing to leave the power tools in the hands of others. I love a good trowel or pair of pruners, a digging fork, or, in the kitchen, a French knife or a cast iron skillet. The tree felling does sound epic. The bulb planting too. I think I could harden my heart to cutting down poplars, especially from a plantation, and then think about all that lovely firewood. The landscape in your shot looks amazingly friendly: flat, grass--not Bermuda!--and fallen leaves covering the earth, nice shrubby things in the background. Didn't you say the soil was good? I was out today lackadaisically improving moldable clay and am in the mood to appreciate such a thing. I'm filled with respect for the work you and Mr. Camp and the young men accomplished. Keep us posted on your progress. Melissa
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| From woodlands in Norfolk to battle re-enactments in the Deep South, what a forum! |
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- Posted by jeannie2009 PNW 7/8 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 14:42
| Titian1, I second your thought exactly. Over here can only report that we celebrated Veterans at Church on Sunday Morning. We had a visiting Military Chaplain who made it so special. Just thinking about it will always choke me up. Jeannie |
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| Do your squirrels not feast on Alliums? |
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- Posted by sherryocala 9A Florida (My Page) on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 20:48
| Love your post, Suzy, and your pic. Can you take a few wide shots, please? Guys really are handy to have around with their power tools. Without them some things would not be possible. My first thought at Ann's comment was "party pooper". But I know the destructive power of squirrels. Maybe England doesn't have them - or has tamed them. I wholeheartedly agree with Titian! Sherry |
Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...
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| oh yeah, we have them (squirrels) - I did ask for recipes over on the tree forum (if they were good enough for Elvis.....). I anticipate some wildlife wars in the coming years - already somewhat battle-scarred by the huge host of biting stinging things which infest the countryside.....but we plan to (b)eat them into submission. |
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| I had a big possum problem when I was first living in this house. What really distressed me was that they ate all my roses, both flowers and new growth. As I bought this house so that I could have roses, I was a bit upset. After quite a bit of research I came across a machine which emits sonic and ultrasonic noises. It's got different settings for wallabies, possums, rats and insects, including mosquitos. The amazing thing is, it works! I put it on at night, each night for 4 months (I'm told one month is enough), and my roses were left alone, the paths were no longer littered with possum poo, and there were no more nightly screaming matches outside my window. I haven't tried it on mosquitos, so can't verify that. The website is www. birdgard.com.au Oh, and I have two dogs, which weren't worried by it, and they do say it doesn't harm them, cats or children. |
This post was edited by titian1 on Tue, Nov 12, 13 at 16:07
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- Posted by mendocino_rose z8 N CA. (My Page) on Tue, Nov 12, 13 at 17:58
| I hope it all turns out well. |
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| Ha ha - a few years ago, we (well not anyone I know but the govt.) were using such things to deter adolescents from loitering in shopping centres and other public areas. Pleased to note it didn't deter a single 'feral youth' so cannot imagine a possum being very concerned either. I am placing my faith in my trusty Black Widow (aptly named catapult). A few well-aimed dried peas soon sorted out the local bird murderers and poo machines - I know my own furry menace was regularly shot at with a supersoaker down the road. Us urban warriors - fearless. |
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| Sometime in the recent past, I read where feral youth were discouraged from loitering at the entrance of a store, from which they dispersed in disgust, when the store manager played a whole lot of easy listening elevator music over the speaker system. It seems their ears couldn't take those offending sounds. Maybe what our gardens need to be rid of pests is some Frank Sinatra and a tiny bit of those lethal "101 Strings". Diane |
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- Posted by kittymoonbeam 10 (My Page) on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 0:58
| Diane that's very like the thing I heard on the radio. The ships that play American pop music ( especially Brittany Spears and similar sounding music) were less likely to be boarded by pirates. They just hate it. A soda can filled with pennies will also chase cats off. I had a big roaming tom cat who bothered my cats but stopped coming here after being disturbed by the sound of that loud can full of coins and jingle bells. Cats are very sensitive and hate loud sudden noises. It upsets them enough that they will avoid places where they have been startled a few times. If you can catch them unawares, it works very well. Especially if they are just entering the property or area where you don't want them to be. You can also discourage cats from jumping on places you don't want them to be by putting down cardboard with masking tape sticky side up. They hate that feeling of the tape on their feet. How I wish it would work for raccoons. |
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| Wonder if the cardboard trick would work on the top of a car? I love my cats but hate them constantly getting on my vehicle. Also, how would you attach the tape to the cardboard? |
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- Posted by kittymoonbeam 10 (My Page) on Thu, Nov 14, 13 at 11:02
| lay out the masking tape gently on some scrap fabric sticky side down. spray the no stick side with super 77 or another adhesive spray and then attatch to the cardboard. Or you can make loops of tape so some is facing the cardboard and some is facing up but this takes twice as much tape. Another idea is to paint white glue on the cardboard in lines and lay the tape on that and let it dry. |
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| Two young bears were in the garbage cans Tuesday morning early. I burst out of the door yelling and pelted them with gravel from 25 feet away. One of them stood up on two legs and looked at me quizzically, while the other continued his excavations. They finally left when I hurled a shovel at them. So OK, garbage has to stay in the tool shed. But last night they tipped the recycling bin, which had nothing smelly or edible. So OK, recyclables have to stay in the tool shed. |
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| Bears! Bloody Hell! I am new to this wildlife lark - in Cambridge, the worst things we contend with are urban pigeons (flying rats) and house moths.....but in the woods, for a complete townie, it can be somewhat terrifying....and that's just the humans. Guns, as a rule, are something I encounter in films but I swear, the county of Norfolk is some rural backwoods with more shotguns per capita than any other part of the UK.......and they all lurk within blasting distance of our wood. Also, whilst we have not yet encountered rabbits (too wet) or many squirrels (they are all scoffing the oaks and hazels. ignoring the poplars), there are very noisy pheasants, owls and, oh yeah, 'our' marsh harrier. However, there are also deer, which are astonishingly horrid (they have tusks - Bambi did not look like these deer) which have, so far, ignored the one and only rose. However, if I had to come face to face to bears (or wildcats, coyotes or snakes), I would definitely be sh****ng myself. |
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- Posted by jacqueline3 9CA (My Page) on Thu, Nov 14, 13 at 16:07
| Bears do not need anything to be smelly - in the area where we have a cabin up in No Cal, bears have been known to break into cabins (right through locked doors), and eat all of the canned food (after opening the cans with their built in can openers, of course). We have mountain lions here in suburbia, and of course coyotes, and snakes in the summer, when they are about. Jackie |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Thu, Nov 14, 13 at 21:19
| Suzy, I knew there are tusked deer, but had no idea any of them lived in Norfolk. What kind are these and where do they come from? They do sound horrid. Hmmm: how would you like wild boars and wolves too? We don't have bears. Yet. Melissa |
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- Posted by kittymoonbeam 10 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 15, 13 at 22:57
| The canyons and hills near me have snakes, bobcats, mtn. lions, coyotes, screechy owls, hawks, eagles, a zillion rabbits, raccoons and skunks. The local neighborhoods have coyotes that come out of the drainage canals late at night, opossums, squirrels, raccoons, bats, turkey vultures and hawks passing through and rarely an owl can be heard. I love seeing owls. There are more of them in the Inland Empire ( Riverside County) and when my sister lived in Desert Hot Springs which is right next to Palm Springs she had families of desert ground burrowing owls. Smart owls, they hid out of the desert heat and waited to come out at night to hunt crickets. We used to put out corn chips to attract crickets for them. I miss those tiny owls peeking out of their burrows. Snakes don't scare me, most are harmless. I wish we had the little ribbony ones. We just have lizards instead. The other animal I miss are toads. They used to be around but hungry possums have eaten them all along with the pesty large brown garden snails that used to plague me years ago. |
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- Posted by Kippy-the-Hippy 10 Sunset 24 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 0:05
| Wednesday night, mom thought she had left the water running so late in the night she went out to double check (thankfully I have lights everywhere and it was not far from the door) She heard a loud horrible dog noise and thought her tenant must have found a howling puppy and had it hidden in his place. Next day she asked, it was a Coyote, probably on the other side of a low fence, but still far too close. Hope coyotes do not eat roses! Bears, ugh! Before we go to Yosemite, we do a through wash down of the interior of the car. Making sure no forgotten tube of chapstick is forgotten in the glovebox etc. Once we get to our camp our food/stove etc goes in the bear locker. I check, double check and then check one last time to make sure that locker is closed But yet, one year we were woken up by the sound of pots and pans flying and deep grunts. The dog, cocker spaniel in the tent with us, had giant eyes but was too scared to make a sound. The bear raided our locker, ate everything from peanut butter to deodorant, with his hairs often brushing out tent. Other campers were yelling trying to scare him off...the only thing he left was the dry dog food! and it was a good $$$ brand. I learned bear proof lockers might not be bear proof. Bring a lock to lock the locker! Rangers said they were supposed to not know how to open, but a few they had figured out. Lucky us. |
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