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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2009 May  16 & 17, Saturday & Sunday

Temperatures are reaching just above 20º and some 15 litres of rain were collected in our rain gauge. 
The wet conditions this spring must have played an important role in the outburst of a newcomer on the terrain: French Hawk's-beard (Crepis nicaeensis). Surprisingly proliferating  now on many places, its yellow flowers only open for a few hours in the morning. It needs some disturbance of the soil for germinating and for this a fox or badger must have been responsible, in their hunt for the fat worms.
P.S. 26 May '09: I probably confused Crepis nicaeenis with Hypochaeris radicata in previous years, so the plant is not a complete newcomer.

Overview of the higher western terrace. The yellow
Lotus corniculatus and Hippocrepis comosa on the right, the white Helianthemum violaceum on the left.
Sunday 9:30

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The bee colony has disappeared, but other creatures decided to make their home on the terrain: two of the nest boxes are being occupied by tits. The smaller nest boxes I had made from mouse cages  have not attracted any birds so far and will replace them next season for decent ones.

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In the collection of curiosities it's a nice moment to present the flowering Aristolochia pistolochia, a westerm-mediterranean Birthwort species. The strangely formed flowers act as traps for flies who in this way carry out the pollination.
Mysterious is also the parasite Clove-scented broomrape (Orobanche caryophyllacea), which I commented on some weeks ago. It is flowering now on many places and attracts especially bumblebees.

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This is another Boraginaceae species: Italian bugloss (Anchusa azurea).

Close-up of Anchusa azurea flowers.
Sunday 12:19

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Two sub-species of Purple Salsify (or Oyster Plant): respectively Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. australis and porrifolius. The latter is the one that has been cultivated for its edible roots since ancient times. The taste seems to be somewhat like that of oysters and we will certainly try them out, raw and grated in a salad or cooked in a soup or stew.

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Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) and Dwarf Mallow (Malva neglecta) were detected before but haven't been properly introduced in the species catalogue. Asparagus is of course edible when properly selected and cultivated but also Dwarf Mallow is reported to be edible: its seed contain more than 20% protein.

Malva neglecta on the remainders of the stones we used for the foundation of the garden house.
Looking north.
Sunday 12:36

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In the vegetable garden the edibility of some plants is such that little remains for human consumption. For example of the amply sowed Lamb's lettuce (Valerianella locusta) I haven't been able to see any seedlings and also the Beans have been heavily predated. Plants of the onion family (onions, garlic, leeks) are mostly doing fine though, as do the potatoes, peas and carrots.
 

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A practical new feature of this web site is the improved index page. Apart from an overview by date it is now possible to search by topic. I selected four important topics, whose development in time can now be traced easier, respectively: the garden house, the green roof, the two ponds and the vegetable garden.

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2009 May 23
<< 2009 May  9