It's raining again this morning. Like yesterday morning. Yesterday, though, it was mostly sunny most of the time, with frequent periods of big threatening clouds blowing over, bringing brief downpours of cold rain. Walt said this on his blog a couple of days ago: it feels like we are in a holding pattern. We're waiting for the ground to dry out so that we can plant the vegetable garden. We're waiting for the weather to warm up. We've been waiting for months for the two companies we've contracted with to give us a start date for the work we need to have done in the yard and on the front deck.
Meantime, here's a farewell to the Château de Carrouges — a slideshow finale. This coming Wednesday, May 19, non-essential businesses will be opening up again in France after the latest Covid lockdown. That includes not only cafés and shops but châteaux, museums, and other cultural and tourist attractions. I don't know where I'll go next as far as the blog is concerned. Maybe I'll be able to venture out and take some pictures locally.
There is also some good news on the contractor front. The owner of the landscaping service we hire for hedge trimming and tree removal sent Walt an e-mail yesterday and said he has scheduled our job for late June/early July. There are three trees, maybe four, that need to be taken down before they blow down. Part of one birch already fell and knocked down a section of the fence that keeps the dog in the yard and the deer out. That fence needs repairing so the deer won't come in and feed on our tomato, kale, and zucchini seedlings once we plant them.
We also need to have this overgrown juniper plant dug out. It's 15 to 20 feet (four or five meters) in diameter. Above is a photo from August 2019, when I had been cutting down and pulling out out unwanted plants, including small trees and blackberry brambles, that were growing in it. That was the last trimming work I did on it. It's gotten so big that I can no longer reach invasive plants toward the center of it. It needs to be cut down and then the roots need to be dug out. The work was supposed to be done last December or January, but the lockdowns... Well, you know.
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Thank you for this interesting series on "K-Rouge". Also, nice slideshows and excellent photos, especially the dramatic ones of the main staircase.
ReplyDeleteThe positive side of the continuous rain you've got is that it replenishes the water table. However, I hope it will stop so you can plant your vegetable garden.
Merci, CHM. I know about the water table but it sure is depressing to have to wait so long for the ground to dry out before we can plant anything.
Delete"We also need to have this over-gown juniper plant dug out."..... horizontal junipers are a "marmite" plant.... lovely for the first few years.... then it gets its feet in.... and that's when the problems start.... I had one [inherited with the house.... possibly like yours was?].... I cut it right back and let it grow back to the shape of the bed I had created around it.... I then planted through it... three different columnar junipers... spring and summer bulbs and a blue flowered clematis. It looked very strange... but very pretty!!
ReplyDeleteBut, the original purchasers of these monsters are to blame for our need to do something with the useless things.... they don't even give berries for cooking.
You are lucky with this one.... there's one massive "one" in a garden we pass regularly in the car.... a Parisian's second home probably! In the last fifteen years I've watched it grow from three large ones into the monster "single" thing!!
Still, it probably saves mowing!!!!
We did inherit it, and I kept it cut back slightly. Then brambles and trees started growing up in the middle of the thing, and I could no longer reach them to cut them down. I'll be glad to get rid of the thing. There's no telling what lives in there. And mowing that patch of ground will be easy compared to trimming the juniper and keeping it tidy. I've added a couple of photos above to show what it has become.
Delete"There's no telling what lives in there." Careful -- it could be the portal to another dimension.
DeleteLOL, Emm!
DeleteYes, quite a monster!!
DeleteDespite the trimming, it does look to have intentions towards the hedge!!
I’ve really enjoyed the visits to this chateau, thank you. What a monster juniper!
ReplyDeleteNew & Improved! LOL!, Ken. You added two more photos from when I checked your post first time!
ReplyDeleteHere's to continued projects!
ReplyDeleteNice visit to Carrouges. If they internet is to be believed, your juniper is already about as big as it will get. I think it's attractive, but then I don't live with it.
ReplyDeleteDiogenes.... don't believe the interweb!
DeleteI would say it has another foot or two to add to the radius.... we are all in ideal juniper country in this part of France.
I like the juniper also, but see why it needs to be gone. The last thing you need are deer! Good luck with your projects.
ReplyDelete