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Lonicera etrusca with a flowerpot filled with straw to attract earwigs that eat aphis.
Looking north.
Saturday 10:10

                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2009 May 23 & 24, Saturday & Sunday

The very wet spring has remarkable effects on the vegetation. I have already mentioned the explosion of French Hawk's-beard (Crepis nicaeensis) but other species are also doing exceptionally well. Honeysuckles (Lonicera) are flowering like never before and are much less affected by aphis than other years. Some plants of Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare) have grown to unusual large proportions.
 

Crepis nicaeensis on the central terrace.
Looking north.
Saturday 9:24

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Pure red is not a very common colour for flowers. The Red Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) stand all the more out, but are not very abundant this year.

Nice palette of subtle colours on the higher terrace.
Saturday 9:36

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Orchids are also doing very fine this season. I detected 4 plants of Woodcock Orchid (Ophrys scolopax) on a new location on the lower terrace.

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A diversity of species is germinating and growing on the green roof of the garden house. I cut all the stalks of the Barley plants with some garden scissors to avoid the setting of its seed and stimulate horizontal growth. Goldmoss Stonecrop (Sedum acre) and Wooly yarrow (Achillea tomentosa) started flowering.

Sedum album, Sedum anglicum and Sedum acre along the 'path'.
Even some earth worms made it onto the roof.
Sunday 9:37

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A juvenile Ocellated Lizard (Timon lepidus) was sunbathing near the caravan. It was not too shy and when we approached the animal, it started a kind of hide-and-seek game.

This game is also popular with this Praying mantis (Empusa pennata) here on the left. I only detected it because it just landed near my feet but its camouflage is outstanding. It even seems to adapt the position of its body to the surrounding grass stems.

This must be the caterpillar of Rhyparia purpurata, a night-moth, eating on Cynoglossum creticum.
Saturday 15:36

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In the vegetable garden the results so far are quite mixed. Straw is still playing an important role and not always a beneficial one. In (early) spring it is doing probably more harm than good. These are the three mayor problems:
- it puts a temperature barrier between the upper plant parts and the soil, killing these parts by early morning frost
- it avoids the warming up of the soil, retarding the development of plants by weeks.
- it forms an ideal habitat for slugs and snails.

The advantages are not to be neglected though. It protects and stimulates soil life, suppresses effectively undesired weeds and retains humidity.
I am also experimenting with the sowing of green fertilizers between the rows of vegetables, namely: White clover (Trifolium repens) and Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). Depending on the results I will substitute little by little the layer of straw by a coverage of these leguminous species or maintain some kind of mixed system.

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Pond life is thriving with a new detachment of Natterjack recrutes (Epidalea calamita). The water is still quite turbid but getting more transparent every week. The level of the water is lowering also significantly.

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2009 Jun 10
<< 2009 May 16