Practical Ecology

Nature Switched On

 

 

 

 


in the Pyrenees  the first 10 years

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-

map
>> 2009 Feb 14
<< 2009 Jan 24

                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2009 January 31, February 1 & 2,  Saturday to Monday


Temperatures just above zero, some rain, some snow on the higher hills, so the winter is still in full swing, making you long for spring.
But the garden house offers now a convenient workplace and I could do the work on window and door entirely inside.


WWW   NSO

 

The hill in the distance covered with some recent snow.
Looking north.
Monday 9:28

 

___________

The smaller window (102x67cm)  won't be openable so it was relatively easy to build a typical casing for the double-glazing.

 

 

Window casing in place but not fixed. Definite fixing will be done after the purchase of the custom made double glazing. 
Sunday 9:58

Detail of the window casing.
The OSB triangle is just a temporal brace to maintain the window box rectangular.
Sunday 10:00
 

______________

 

The door is a more critical affair. It should be strong and fit perfectly in its casing when closed. I used 46 mm thick boards that were left over from the roof. Abundant glue and tightly fixed clams were needed to make a solid structure.
The three 'teeth' in the boards look like a professional anticipation of the need for using the clams but it was in fact pure coincidence. These boards were just left over and couldn't probably be used for something else. A nice example of serendipity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The extra foot fixed on the floor, the door casing and the door box helps to keep the door in place.
Sunday 10:04

 

The skeleton of the door, glued and clammed together. It will have one week to dry.
Sunday 17:11

The skeleton of the door before being glued.
Sunday 15:34
 

______________

The garden wall was more or less finished. As commented before, the PE sheets were removed from the top and, instead, used for separating the ground and the bottom of the bales of the new western wall. The northern wall has a foot of salvaged wooden boards to overcome the slope and lift the bales from the ground.
So the bales are now relatively unprotected from rain but they are at the same time well exposed to wind and sun. I suppose that the wall will stand long enough to give support for the many vines we plan to plant and that in the future these vines will take over the function of the wall.

 
  Overview of the future vegetable garden, seen from the south-east.
Sunday 9:50
 

______________

On many parts the terrain offers a remarkable green aspect thanks to the abundance of mosses and lichens. They respond of course to the wet weather conditions but I think another important factor is the inflow of water from higher grounds. The position of the terrain, more or less at the foot of a minor mountain ridge, will be responsible for this effect.

 

 

 




 

 

 

Along the edge of the upper pond I had put lumps of moss last year and most of them had started to grow quite energetically. The black EPDM liner is giving some extra shade and humidity and perhaps in time will be overgrown by the moss.

 

Moss covered soil between the dwarf shrubs of Satureja montana on the lowest terrace.
Looking east.
Monday 9:48

 

Central, middle terrace where moss growth is exceptionally vigorous.
Looking south.
Monday 9:34

 

 


Central, middle terrace.
Monday 9:37

Upper pond with moss partly covering the EPDM sheet.
Monday 9:41

 
 

______________

The walnut (Juglans regia)  is a 'permaculture' favourite, especially because of its record production of nutritious nuts. It is adapted to drought and prefers chalky soils. A mayor problem is that it only starts to produce nuts after 10 or more years of age. On the terrain there are 3 small spontaneous trees of which one has started to produce nuts. One young tree was having a hard time, trying to survive in the shade of a Holm oak and I decided to help it a bit cutting the Holm oak back.

 

 

 
  Young Walnut tree in the centre. On the right, the Holm oak with an amputated arm.
Looking east.
Sunday 9:48

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-

map
>> 2009 Feb 14
<< 2009 Jan 24

 

 

 


 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Latest revision on:  01/08/2018