Summer 2009 Hot and Dry

Well, it has been a while since updating the blog but I am pleased to report that the Mole(s) have stayed away. We are amazed!!

Perhaps it has had something to do with the hot and very dry summer the area has experienced. Our family has just returned after a 5 week stay and during that time there has been very little rain, only 2 or 3 short showers and lots of hot sunshire, with temperatures reaching aorund 38 degrees and regulary being in the 28 - 32 range.

This has meant that the grass has not needed cutting and has been left parched & straw like. We are not complaining, everyone enjoyed a great summer and returned to the UK refreshed and relaxed.

Joshua had a great summer using his new camera and having some horse riding lessons every 2 or 3 days. He even set up a website for Mazeirat Centre Equestre for Lisa and has been thrilled by the response and number of hits it has produced.

Missing Moles

We have had a few problems with moles over the last few years and as the garden has developed, but during our Februrary visit one had invaded the orchard area and was leaving new mounds every night,. This was too much to bear!

The campagin of war started then.

Last year, we installed one of those solar mole vibrators, that buzzes every minutes or so and whilst it is still operating, it does not seem to deter them. Having researched the internet we deduced that very few solutions seemed to work, other than perhaps the explosive traps and we were no at home long enough to make that effective.

However, keen to try something we went for a simple option and one that involved drinking a few bottles of beer, and then burying the bottles in a few of the mole mounds with bamboo canes. The idea is that the moles do not like the noise of the wind whistling on the top of the bottle or the rattle from the cane.

We were very surprised when we arrived back at Easter to discover that there had been NO new mole mounds since our last visit and that the beer bottle solution may have worked!!! To prove the solution, we have now removed all of the bottles to see if that mounds return, indicating a mole is back. In which case we will certainly replant the bottles and we may do so regardless, in an attmept to keep them away.

Riding Lessons In France

One of the opportunities that we have taken advantage of over the past year is for Joshua to have Riding Lessons during our visits to France. We were lucky in meeting Lisa of Mazeirat Equestrian Centre, who with her partner Graeme have built a menage in a wonderful setting not far from La Souteraine, complete with the ability to go Horse Treking in their own forest woodland.

Joshua has been fortuntate to have had around 10 'one to one' lessons with Lisa and mainly on his favorite horse Viking, one of 12 horses and ponies that Lisa has available. This has resulted in his growing confidence 'on top' and as the video below will show, Joshua has now progressed to starting to canter with Viking, as well as succeeding to go over a 0.7 meter jump.

We strongly recommend anyone to visit Lisa and her facility and take advantage of the wondeful horses, and friendly, professional service.

Springtime in France

Easter 2009 arrives and our visit finds the garden in bloom, the daffodils bursting and the grass just stating to grow fast. Our planning and work over the preceeding few years is starting to produce the results we hoped .

We decided to plant slow growing, small and dwarf daffodils in the hope that they would not flower until mid to later April each year and they woudl not droop; it seems to have worked. Mind you, it does not look like there are 500 bulbs planted!

The mulched grass cuttings appear to help keep the weeds to a miminum and hopefully continued application will help improve water retention over the coming months and years. We have also used wood bark in the borders and particulary the Herb beds, which is working.

We were given a selection of Willow that has been planted in the trellis I built and these will hopefully provide a screen and work with the Clematis and Wisteria we planted.

Joshua has created a video show of the garden and we have included some views here, so please take a look .

Life continues to get better - February 2009

Well, it has now been more than 2 years since our dream came true and the French Adventure continues.

We have had a busy 2 years or so and nearly all of our time during each visit has been dedicated to the garden, or as I keep saying 'the taming of the field'. It really is not possible to have a garden like we do in England out here in this area of France, if you rely of holiday breaks to attend to things.

Every shurb we have planted has grown without any problems, as a result of the mixture of the rain and sunshire here in the Creuse, but that also means the weeds and grass grow quickly as well. We have only succeeded by finding a reliable local to regularly give the grass a cut and it is essential this is done every 2 weeks in the height of the season, otherwise the field take overs!

We have put lots of effort every visit into weeding in the shurb borders and it appears that our hard work is starting to bring success. Weeding is getting less, as the shrubs grow stronger and compete for the space and light.

Around the perimeter we have planted around 400 Berbris bushes in an effort to create some definition and keep weeds out and these are growing strong. We have used grass clippings as a mulch inbetween and around each bush to make weeding easier and it has helped loads.

At the recommendation of a local friend, we have also started to use wood chippings as a mulch covering in the borders to help keep the weeds down. The best thing is we have found a wood yard that lets us load up and takeway some chippings. The owner would not accept any Euro payment and even seemed disgusted when I presented him a bottle of fine wine in thanks. Perhaps my choice of wine was not agreeable!!