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The wave of white Orlaya grandiflora precedes the coming wave of Daucus carota.
8 Jun 9:31

                         a   S T A M M E R  project              

2010 May 30 to June 10

The passing weeks are probably the time of the year when the most plants are flowering on the terrain. This year the flowering of Vicia tenuifolia is exceptionally abundant and also the beautiful Orlaya grandiflora is a protagonist in the vegetation tapestry.

The flowering of the different orchids is fairly spread out over the season. The numerous Lady orchids (Orchis purpurea) are now setting fruit while Anacamptis pyramidalis has begun to flower.  I counted 32 flowers in a limited, half-shaded area near a Holm oak, which is quite more than past years.

The violet patches of Vicia tenuifolia spread out on many places.
31 May 20:10

Prunella laciniata abounds on four distinct places.
10 June 11:03

This year just one specimen of the parasitic Limodorum abortivum
30 May 10:08

Anacamptis pyramidalis, with the greenhouse on the background.
8 Jun 9:22

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The fertile spring, with warm and dry periods alternating with colder wet spells, has favoured a lush and healthy growth of some species that in other years suffered from diseases and pests. This refers especially to the Lonicera species, normally heavily attacked by aphids and Silene vulgaris, frequently predated by a beetle.

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Water isn´t exactly missing in the different ponds but something strange is happening to the first, higher pond. In the south-east corner, where water flows in from the higher terraces, there is an area where plant growth is exceptionally weak, even Mentha pulegium doesn´t want to grow here and, moreover, quite some Iris pseudacorus  plants simply disappeared.  Animal life is OK, with some Great water beetles,  absent in the other ponds. The water was transparent until the advent of tens of thousands of tadpoles which seems to have dirtied the water, but it is slowly getting transparent again. One possibility is that some kind of herbicide, car oil or other noxious substance left by previous owners entered the pond from a higher terrace. Suspicious is also that none of the surviving Iris pseudacorus in other areas have flowered this year. Perhaps it is a question of a bad adaptation to much chalk in the substrate, as I read in some article on the internet. We are curious how this will develop in the future.
At least from now on the pond will receive the cleaner water from the garden house roof as I connected the old wine barrel which collects the rainwater and seems to generate enough pressure to feed this pond, 125m away.

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The recently installed pond that drains the shower water is teeming with animal life. The water is getting greener and algae are growing fast. I hope that the equally proliferating water snails can cope with them. On the 9th of June, after some substantial showers of rain, I discovered again some strings of toad-spawn.

The ugly pond edges with the protruding EPDM liner are here quickly covered by Fumaria officinalis.
9 June 11:44

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The walls of the greenhouse are slowly getting covered with the climbing plants. To the Hedera helix, Hortensia petiolaris and Amelopsis veitchii, I recently added the vigorous Clematis montana  (var ‘Rubens’). Hopefully this climber disposes of sufficient impetus to cover the greenhouse roof with its leaves in summer and provide the necessary shade. At the moment the roof is partially covered with a PE sheet for that matter, letting in sufficient sun to heat the solar power shower. Up to now and thanks to the abundant ventilation, temperatures inside get only 2ºC above the regular shade temperature at midday.

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In the vegetable garden, a wire fence was installed to offer support for the vines and kiwis.  Apart from fruit, they have to provide a nice wind screen. In general I don´t like fences but this one is quite indispensable and probably temporal.

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We painted again the interior walls of the house. This time with the appropriate slaked lime as the Hydraulic lime (NHL5) we used last October wasn´t really suitable (in spite of the favourable information I got from the internet): the finish was more grey than white and very irregular, showing the individual brush strokes, probably because of the higher content of impurities of sand and clay. Now the result is much more satisfactory. The extreme whiteness makes the wall look flatter and seems to open up the space. 

The inside climate is keeping its promises: the first week of June was quite chilly and rainy with temperatures hardly passing 18ºC but inside they oscillate between 21º and 24º. Part of the warmth inside is produced by our new refrigerator (A+ category) while the rest will be the result of our own warm bloodiness.

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>> 2010 Jun 18
<< 2010 Apr 27