Archive for February, 2015


PicPost: Blue Period

Filed under: PicPosts- great photographs — Leave a comment
21/02/2015
Anemone by Andrea Mc Donagh

Anemone by Andrea Mc Donagh

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Mrs. Murphy’s Laws of Gardening- Trees and Shrubbery

Filed under: Pests and diseases, Wildlife and Nature — Leave a comment
20/02/2015

Large-trees-HD-picture-5-44992A few more clippings from a book I bought in a charity shop last summer ….

Celsius Curse:

Anything that survives the coldest, wettest summer since records began will perish during the mildest winter on record.

First Law of Arboriculture:

The magnificent mature tree you spotted in the National Trust garden and a similar sapling bought later at your local nursery at great expense take a hundred years to mature. no one told you this. Even if you did live to see it, the full-grown tree wouldn’t look the same in your garden.

Au Soleil:

The carefully selected, ideal situation chosen for the specimen, shade-loving shrub in November will get the full force of the sun all summer.

Law of Planters Can’t Be Choosers:

A gardener who is hunting for shrubs or trees looks first at the specimens suitable for his land, then at the substitutes on his list, and finally buys the one he can afford.

Incredible-Flowering-Shrubs-Design-ideas-for-pretty-Landscape-Traditional-design-ideas-with-columns-flowers-grass-hosta-landscape-design-Porch-shade-garden-shrubs-turf-vineFrom : ‘Mrs. Murphy’s Laws of Gardening’ – Faith Hines (Temple House books, 1992)

Old School Gardener

 

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Sutton Hoo?

Filed under: Historic landscapes — Leave a comment
19/02/2015

sutton hoo via national trust‘An Anglo-Saxon king and his treasured possessions were unearthed here. Sutton Hoo is a hauntingly beautiful estate with far-reaching views, where you can explore ancient burial mounds, and see replica treasure as well as original finds. A reconstruction of the king’s burial chamber adds some adventure to the story. Inspired? Read on here ‘

Via The National Trust

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Dell Boy at Blickling

Filed under: Blickling Hall- rebirth of the Walled Garden, Community Gardening, Heritage Gardens & gardening, Soils and soil improvement — 1 Comment
18/02/2015

WP_20150212_15_36_39_ProMy latest session of voluntary gardening at Blickling Hall focused on the Winter Garden and Dell once more- my there are a lot of leaves out there!

We volunteers continued to clear and tidy the Dell and Winter Garden. I had the pleasure of planting some wonderful pale yellow Hellebores to bulk up the flower show in the Winter Garden with Joan, my ‘planting partner’  for the day. I also got a few blisters from forking over the borders around the trees and shrubs, but it was well worth it- several visitors commented very positively.

I’m now away from Blickling for a couple of weeks, but I’m continuing my voluntary gardening at Gressenhall from next week, beginning the ‘pre opening’ tidy up.

 Further information:

Blickling Hall website

Blickling Hall Facebook page

A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall

Old School Gardener

 

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Branching Out?

Filed under: Wildlife and Nature — 2 Comments
17/02/2015

branches ident

Get the Woodland Trust’s Winter Tree identification sheet here

Old School Gardener

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12 tips to save time in the garden: 3

Filed under: 12 tips to save time in the garden — 1 Comment
16/02/2015

arboristEquipment-

Use the right tools, garden products and equipment to get the job done fast. If a task is easy to do, don’t leave it to become a problem. For occasional big tasks, consider hiring specialist tools or employing a contractor to do the job for you.

Further information:

Garden tools and equipment

BBC guide to buying tools

RHS guide to hiring contractors

Source: ‘Short Cuts to Great Gardens’ (Reader’s Digest 1999)

Old School Gardener

 

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John Evelyn’s Monthly in the Garden- February

Filed under: Gardening and Gardeners: historical snapshots, John Evelyn's Monthly in the Garden — 2 Comments
15/02/2015

hot beds‘Naile yet and prune: sow all sorts of Kernels, towards ye later end Melons and rare seedes on the Hot-bed.’

John Evelyn 1686 (published 1932)

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Vertical Farming

Filed under: Climate change and gardening, Design — Leave a comment
14/02/2015

Orchard-PerspectiveGo to these links for a fascinating look at different Architect’s visions of the future of farming…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/multimedia/2010/12/designing_vertical_farm?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/vi/inventinganewarchitecture

http://http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/12/vertical_farming

Old School Gardener

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Conflict & Food Security: Two sides of the same coin?

Filed under: This and that — Leave a comment
13/02/2015

canwefeedtheworld's avatarOne Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?

By Stephanie Brittain

Food insecurity and malnutrition can be ended sustainably within a generation, it is said. However, with one in eight people in the world today still undernourished and approximately two billion suffering from micronutrient deficiencies, the challenge is immense.

Further, the world’s population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and at the current rate of development, the number of people at risk of hunger in the developing world will grow from 881 million in 2005 to more than a billion people by 2050.

78 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and agriculture remains fundamental for their economic growth and for food security for our expanding global population. Further, agricultural development is found to be about two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest than growth in other sectors.

Conflict impedes agricultural development

Credit: UN/Tobin Jones 2013 Credit: UN/Tobin Jones…

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Liverpool’s Interwar Multi-Storey Housing: Building an ‘A1 community in a properly planned township of flats’

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Municipal Dreams's avatarMunicipal Dreams

The alleged English antipathy to multi-storey living (the Scots are different) is well attested but Liverpool – in this and much else – is an exception.  Its Corporation embraced tenements for practical reasons, as we shall see, but also as a conscious mark of the city’s urbanity and global status.  In so doing, it created some of the most striking council housing of the interwar period though sadly very little of it remains.

Gerard Gardens Gerard Gardens

The immediate context for the drive to inner-city multi-storey accommodation was a scale of slum housing unparalleled in the country.  In 1919, 11,000 Liverpool families were living in one room – over 6 per cent of the city’s population.  The Medical Officer of Health estimated 8000 new homes were needed and Liverpool – a pioneer in municipal housing – acted quickly to build the new cottage estates that the Tudor Walters Report recommended and Christopher…

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