Some notes on Huish/Dumont/Witcher family history, from brush makers in Chard towards end of 19c, through a generation in South Wales to London. Includes notes on Dumonts as jewellers of french extraction. View/Download PDF
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Planted seven rows of nine plants with lots of manure.
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Taken with a mobile phone so a bit blurry: it has its own idea about where the focus should be set.
Red Admiral – It’s hard to snap them landed, they dart about so much
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Shed garden Our “front” garden is really just a utility space, used for the washing line and occasional overflow parking. It is currently rough weedy grass and the project is to turn it into a wildflower meadow.
A key feature of wildflower meadows is low soil fertility. The soil here didn’t start off too good, so I have cut the grass closely and removed the cuttings a few times, resulting in the brown patches in the picture.
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Comparing Oct 2013 to May 2015 Oct 2015 May 2015 Even allowing for differences in photo technique you can see how the hedge has thickened up over 18 months.
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Before and after The sitting room, with the stove in, but before being re-plastered and the view now, with the shutters closed against the evening sun. Same window.
Old plaster stripped off Shutters with sun coming through
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Flag on Pendeen Church at half mast Flag on St John’s Church, Pendeen at half mast Sunday 31 August 2014 for the death of Andrew Coak, with whom I shared a great great grandfather William Thomas Floyd. He was a good man, who will be missed.
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Pendeen Carn Quarry Rockery in the garden of a fine country house? No, the quarry at the back of Pendeen Carn in late summer sunshine. Click on picture for full size view.
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Trewidden Nursery had its twice annual opening today and we got a Banksia ericifolia, a native of eastern Australia, to
Banksia in the foreground plant on the north bank of the big garden. It needs a low pH or will get iron deficient so may need some iron chelate. Apparently phosphate fertilisers must be avoided, so no growmore! See http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2002/banksia-ericifolia.html for more details.
Splashed out £14.60 to rent a lawn raking machine from HSS in Pool.
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Autumn 2013
It’s a year now since we planted the windbreak hedge on the south side of the part of the big garden nearest the house.
Garden with hedge
Click on picture for full size image
It is mostly Olearia virgata laxifolia with some Rosa rugosa and the old bay tree and olive we brought from Ipswich. The olearia has been a real success. They have grown from about 600mm when we planted them to over two metres. I cut them back to about 1.8 m a and thinned them out to lighten them a few weeks ago. I fed them well in the summer and they got a bit top heavy for our rather light soil.
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