Some flowers, to cheer us up

It's STILL raining here! I feel maybe I should start building an Ark?

I went on a very soggy walk around Moors Wood today, so here are some Snowdrops.

Wild weather

We had thunder, gales, rain and hail here this morning and the  fields on the other side of the lane and either side of our property are flooded. Fortunately we are on a small mound well above any risk of flooding and we are lucky enough not to have rivers close by.



But the sheer volume of surface water and the saturated ground means no water is draining away. More water falling from the sky makes the situation worse.

At the moment ( late afternoon ) we just have gales and heavy rain to cope with here but the ground is awash. I just went out to shut the chickens away and even the raised veg beds are full of water!

I also just had to duck to avoid a (head height!) flying cold frame lid.

Compostgirl has made it home on the school bus, although it had to divert from the usual route due to flooding - I wonder if she will make it to school tomorrow? 

The weather forecast for here is really dreadful and I suspect tomorrow will bring more flooding and damage to our area as well as further problems for the Somerset Levels and the Thames valley 

- how any one can still doubt that we have affected the climate with our profligate, wasteful, polluting use of fossil fuels is beyond me...

Anyway, with all the animals fed and bedded down for the night and as much stuff tied down or put away as we could manage, we have retreated to eat food, watch TV and stay warm by the woodburner.

We also have candles, torches and the generator prepared, in case the power goes off...
 
Stay safe everyone. xxx

Drowning in Money

This is a really interesting and thoughtful article by George Monbiot about the issues involved with the whole " blame the lack of dredging"  with respect to the current flooding situation here in the UK.

I agree with the basic argument George puts forward about tree planting absorbing loads of water in the soil , as I know it works from observing what happens here in our wood.

 Go and have a read and then come back and comment on your views?

Drowning in Money

It is still very bad weather here and the South West is really getting a hammering from the rain, wind and waves. My heart goes out to all affected by these dreadful condition. We are soggy here and buffetted by storms but so far no flooding of anything which actually matters.

Grass, what a mess it is in and how to fix it (maybe)

Today we had a few hours where water did not fall from the sky so I went around and had a good look at the damage and water logging in the garden and wood.

The land is sodden, far too wet to do anything on or with it and where ever anyone has walked over the  ground, footprint shaped holes rapidly fill with muddy water.

We have paving slabs to walk on alongside the poly tunnel to the hen runs, but areas of grass where we have had to walk even once are just liquid mud. One of the drawbacks of being on very heavy red clay!

There are areas in the garden where the grass looks suspiciously like it is dead - I suspect that some of the lawn, where the JCB has driven over and where the soil was still very compacted, will not recover from the damage.



and we have standing water on the grass, the soil, the flower beds are under water in places and there is even water standing on the surface of the raised beds - that is how waterlogged the soil is. The area around the old pool, where we are slowly filling in the large hole, is like something from a battlefield - churned up mud and subsoil with muddy pools of water.

I have been taking photos of the worst areas (I have odd hobbies!) with a view to re laying some of the paths around the garden and I have been thinking of replacing some of the damaged lawn areas. I was originally thinking about buying grass seed with a view to  re seeding, but I have also now been looking into buying turf, as the small areas we turfed last year seem to have withstood the rainfall rather better than other parts of the lawn.  I suspect that is because we dug over the soil underneath and so it is rather better aerated than the old area of lawn.

As I would have to dig and level the soil regardless of sowing seed or laying turf, I might go for the slightly easier option, especially as the cats and the chickens are less likely to destroy turf, rather than a nice seedbed! I can also  grow and then plant out wild flower plug plants through holes in the turf into the soil beneath, which is an easier way to get a wildflower filled lawn more quickly.

If I do decide to buy turf rather than seed I am thinking of using Turf Express as the supplier. They deliver all over the UK and offer a hard wearing grass mix at a good price, with a minimum order of only 10 m2 and with next day delivery at no extra charge. The small minimum order is attractive, as I don't want to re do the whole garden, just certain selected areas ( although re doing the whole lot would be lovely, it just is not going to happen!)

I found an interesting and helpful guide to laying turf on the  BBC Gardeners World. website.  Has anyone else re turfed large areas of lawn? Any comments or experiences to recount? I would be interested in your experiences, if so.

Interestingly we often go to Hereford via Stoke Edith, where the B road cuts across the flood plain of the River Frome and there are very flat fields where turf is grown - it is a fascinating process to watch how it is cut, harvested (rolled up just like strips of carpet!) and taken away.

xxx

Thinking of building an Ark

Wow we have had so much wind and rain here recently! We are both rather exhausted as the violent weather kept us awake over the last few nights, with worry about what was happening outside and due to the sheer noise and buffeting.

We have been fortunate enough to escape major damage here; a few trees have come down in the wood (only small dead ones) and there has been a small water leak in the loft around the chimney stack due to a combination of the severity of the rain and the wind direction; not serious and did not damage anything and can be easily fixed BUT it needs the wind and rain to stop before Compostman can go up on the roof to fix it. Apart from that we have not lost anything as we had tied/nailed down or put away pretty well everything which might fly away or get damaged.

Our lane floods at the far end where it joins the main road and so was impassable for a few hours, several times in the last few days. Near to us there has been major flooding, not just impassable roads but houses with their ground floors under several feet of water, so sad for all the people concerned.

The land is sodden, far too wet to do anything on or with it - and we have standing water on the grass, the soil, the flower beds are under water in places and there is even water standing on the surface of the raised beds - that is how waterlogged the soil is.

Compostgirl returned to School today and so Compostman and I have been catching up lots of indoor jobs  - but to be honest mainly we have been snoozing in front of the fire as we are sleep deprived. Maybe we are turning into Bears and are hibernating!

I hope you are all safe and not flooded ( if in the UK) or frozen (if in the US of A)

Please stay safe and warm during this extreme weather.

xxx