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                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2009 February 14 to 16, Saturday to Monday

With our trailer we transported 33 fifty-litre-bags of expanded clay pellets (Arlita F3) for the green roof of the garden house. The 5º slope of the roof would probably be enough for drainage, but these pellets also offer good insulation and add very little weight. As they substitute soil (3 out of 10 cm substrate) they offer better conditions for Sedum plants. Abundant competing grass growth would give the roof a somewhat desolate aspect in midsummer when the grass dries.
The pellets will be placed on a clothing of geotextile, which is placed on knobbed rolls of HDPE. These rolls protect the EPDM liner underneath and the holes of the knobs offer water storage while the geotextile will protect them from clogging.
For the moment I left the pellets in their bags. If poured on the roof without any soil, the wind might blow them all away.

The bags with Arlita on the white geotextile and black knobbed roll on the roof.
Sunday 12:58

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In the vegetable garden I outlined the plant beds. I improvised the typical kind of leveling tool for following contour lines (joining points of equal height) to make the paths that separate the beds. These paths will facilitate maintenance  and irrigation (with grey and rain water) and offer a natural, pleasant view, taking the somewhat irregular width of the beds for granted.
 

The garden is often visited by birds, especially Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs), looking for the seeds of barley I suppose.  Every time I approach the place a flock of them takes off.

A Chaffinch in a sea of chaff.
Monday 12:30

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With frost gradually disappearing, it is time to think of planting shrubs. In the vegetable garden I planted Laurel Laurus nobilis), Black currant (Ribes nigrum), White currant (Ribes sativum ‘White Pearl’) and Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa  'Hinnomäki Rot’). They were planted near the straw bale wall to take advantage of the sun and heat trapping.

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In a local garden centre I stumbled on some very interesting saplings of Dwarf juniper (or Savin, Juniperus sabina). These dwarf shrubs  are quite common on rocky and stony grounds in the south of Aragon but in the Pyrenees they are limited to the higher ranges. I planted 7 saplings on the upper terrace with scarce vegetation and tucked them in with straw to help them thrive.

Again I couldn't withstand the temptation to buy 3 plants of Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus). Two years ago, I had planted one that perished and also the results of last year's planting were a bit shaky. This time I tucked them well in with a lot of straw and will take care to water them on time.

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Another example of proliferous moss growth, here on a stone group near the entrance. There is only a gap of one year between the two photographs.

introduction
floristic catalogue
faunistic catalogue
contact
index
gallery 1: 2006-2012
gallery 2: 2012-
map
>> 2009 Feb 28
<< 2009 Jan 31