I think one of the reasons is that many years ago at a previous house we had a plate glass window in the sitting room blow in during a storm. It happened around 6am so we were both in bed, but had it been later, someone could have been seriously hurt.

Needless to say I haven’t been in the garden today, because the wind is too strong and the wind-chill is seriously cold, taking several degrees off an already cold day. There is snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow, so prospects for getting out and about in the garden in the next few days are not good.

Not long after moving here, there was a very bad storm. It really was scarey and I feared for the house and more particularly the conservatory. Fortunately these were both spared, but a couple of things in the garden weren’t.

There was a lovely, mature viburnum near the garage, viburnum opulus ’sterile’, commonly known as the Snowball Tree. It was blown almost horizontal by the gale, and despite our best efforts we were unable to save the main part of the plant. Fortunately the little bit that was left intact, seemed unwilling to give in, and over the years it has made a bit of a comeback.

We had the idea of training and pruning it into a ’standard’ shape, but we feel after last year when it took another hammering in a storm, it’s top growth is too heavy for it’s slender stem, so we’re having a re-think on that one.

The other victim of the storm was one of our 3 old apple trees. They must have been 50 years old, and were just planted in a line at the back of the garage. The storm ripped the end one right out of the ground. I’ve never seen anything like it. Fortunately it didn’t fall on anything important.

You don’t realise how big a tree is until you see it laying down, and as trees go this wasn’t a particularly big one, yet it was still vast. Cutting it up and burning it was a major operation. Things like this are just a reminder not to under estimate the power of nature.

    

]]> http://ravendalehouse.com/2009/02/01/wind/feed/ 0 http://ravendalehouse.com/2009/01/17/apple-trees/ http://ravendalehouse.com/2009/01/17/apple-trees/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:43:29 +0000 Cloudybutnice http://ravendalehouse.com/?p=23 I might have been pleased with Billy the shed the other day, but I’m not so pleased with my apple trees today. Something is eating the bark from round the bottom of them. Could it be rabbits? I don’t know, I haven’t seen bunnies in the garden since last Spring and there are no droppings apparent on the ground, but something is certainly eating my trees.

We bought these 10 apple trees about 5 years ago so they’re just nicely getting into their stride, and we’ve had some tasty apples already. They make a lovely apple walk between the bench and the arch so we can’t do with losing them now. I need to protect them against whatever it is that is eating them alive.

It’s at times like these that I usually turn to Schweppes, a strange thing to do I know, but I’ve discovered that their plastic drinks bottles, topped and tailed, make excellent, free cloches. These have protected my young peas and other tender plants in the past, keeping them safe until they’re big enough to look after themselves.

Now I’ve discovered that these cloches cut down the side also make excellent protection collars for the bottom of small apple trees. I just hope I’ve caught the problem in time. Only time will tell. Watch this space.

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