Week 3
I am very excited, as the first shoots of several plants are beginning to appear. These days I am quite good at recognising flowers, but I can see none at the moment. I am an order of magnitude worse at recognising shoots. Basically, to me the shoots can be anything, but there are plenty of them as my slumbering, renatured land springs into action. Clearly much is taking place out of sight. The grass is looking slightly greener, it is more vertical, so it will not be long before a Stripy Lawner tells me to wield the lawnmower I do not have. Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder[i]. I come out in a cold sweat at the sound of a lawnmower, or for that matter a chainsaw, certainly if they are powered by fossil fuels.
If I was a betting man, I would wager the shoots are daffodils[ii], at least many will be, as they usually appear hot on the heels of snowdrops[iii]. As yet I cannot see any snowdrop shoots, but they cannot be far away. I normally expect daffodils to be in flower from February for several months, but this year, who knows? Global warming, it seems, even affects daffodils. Daffodils can handle soggy soil well, which is a good thing bearing in mind the huge rainfalls we have been recently seeing.
Rain can so easily become snow, here in the far north-west, so I became terribly excited yesterday when the weather forecast predicted snow. Even the Lake District Ski Club[iv], of which I am a member, sent a message that we should prepare our skis. Yet this morning my land looked much as it did yesterday. It had snowed, but any that was lying was high up the mountains and far above me.
Snow is a very important part of land management, as it is broadly a large overcoat that covers the land and keeps everything warm beneath it. It also restricts the thickness of any frost layer, as it is below the frost that animals and plant life call home[v]. There are plenty of insects, worms, bacteria, and fungi that thrive beneath the frost. There are even some frogs that have a natural antifreeze made from urea and glucose[vi], so they can be frozen solid for long periods of time without damaging their cells[vii].
For areas where snow cover is not a regular feature, the frost layer can be thicker. When water in the ground freezes, so it expands by approximately 9%[viii]. This increases the spaces (voids) in the soil and pushes it upwards, something called ‘frost heave’. Builders hate this, or perhaps they love it, as frost heave can crack concrete and tarmac easily and leads to plenty of repair work in the summer.
When looking at climate change, snow is essential, thanks to what is called ‘albedo’. This is the ability of a surface to reflect sunlight and is measured on a scale from 0 to 1. A score of 0 is the same as a black body and reflects no light at all. A score of 1 is as good as it gets. Fresh snow has a score of 0.9, while charcoal’s score is 0.04[ix]. The earth’s overall albedo is 30-35% (0.3-0.35) but is declining fast as snow cover recedes. No wonder the planet is warming. Should you see snow outside your window, it is truly time to rejoice.
Despite the delights of snow, both for adults and children, so far this year there has not been much. Frost has been more common although there are not many above-ground plants to damage yet. Frost damage can be a real problem if it arrives later than normal. When damaged, leaves can grow with yellow edges, dry areas can develop, and evergreen foliage can go completely brown[x], or fall off completely. Low temperatures can also slow down a plant’s growth.
The rewilding/renaturing message is building up a head of speed and a fascinating report from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)[xi] is well worth reading. It encourages the rewilding of urban areas because domestic gardens are key components of urban ecology. For example, the United Kingdom’s Greater London area comprises 24% private gardens, although this percentage is declining fast as residents build extensions, exchange green space for parking, and even cover grassy areas with Astroturf[xii] for simplicity. Greater London now has only 14% vegetated private garden. A mindset change is needed, and speedily, too.
I have two hollies[xiii] that are not doing well. I planted one, an Ilex heckenfee, nine months ago and all went brilliantly, with red berries dotted everywhere.
However, in recent weeks it has begun to lose its lower leaves, while berries still adorn its upper portion. The land around it is extremely damp, not helped by the recent, copious rainfall, and there is bamboo immediately alongside as well. I will have to keep an eye on the thing. I have surrounded it with compost, and what leaves remain are still good, but something is happening that worries me, so my fingers remain tightly crossed. The other holly is a native English holly, Ilex aquifolium, that predates my time in Lakeland, and which toppled during Storm Arwen in 2021. The holly was immediately beside the toppled Algerian fir. I brought the holly back to the upright, and for a while all looked good. Yet now it is struggling. The trunk and branches look fine, but the leaves are dropping steadily. Anything is possible by springtime.
There are ten bare spots on my land that I have tried to regenerate, seeding them with grass last September. I guess that is not true renaturing - it is certainly not rewilding - but the bare spots were doing nothing for appearance. So far a few of the spots are showing signs of recovery but plenty are still looking exposed. Bare areas generally appear when a patch of land is undernourished, or where it has been worn out. My first attempt at seeding the bare areas, and I did not use protective netting, created plenty of happy birds, mostly pigeons, who were convinced I had seeded the patches specifically for their benefit. Within a few days my land was covered with waddling pigeons that were putting on weight rapidly, as my seed steadily disappeared. I am wiser now and use netting in the hope it will keep the pigeons away.
A hole has also appeared, where an animal has clearly been digging overnight. Plenty of animals dig holes, but most are small - hedgehogs, voles, rats, moles, even squirrels. Each will have a go at digging. However, my hole is a big hole, slightly oval, and I feel sure is a badger’s snuffle hole, as it searches for worms and beetles. The other choice is a fox, which scratches away at the surface, looking for grubs in the ground. Foxes are especially messy when the ground is wet, and it has been truly damp in the last few days. The hole looks more snuffly than scratchy, but I have no real clue.
***
Acknowledgement
Take it from me - none of this would be possible without the help of RSG Horticulture. Rufus, who runs it, has far more energy than me and is full of ideas and skills.
References [i] https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder.html. Accessed 15 January 2023 [ii] Name comes from Middle English “affodil” (“ramson”), which is a spring-flowering bulb known as Narcissus pseudonarcissus. There are many subspecies of this wild daffodil, a perennial. It is the national flower of Wales. Bulbs, which can occasionally be confused with onions, and leaves should never be eaten as they contain the poison lycorine. This said, lycorine has promising antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Bulbs also contain galantamine, which the Welsh have shown is effective against Alzheimer’s. Seen from February to August. After blooming, do not remove their leaves for 6 weeks, to allow the bulb to absorb nutrients and grow for the next year. [iii] [iii] Galanthus nivalis with approximately 20 other species. Native to Europe and the Middle East and normally flower before the vernal equinox (20/21 March in northern hemisphere). There are some snowdrop gardens in the UK. Said to contain a mysterious and magical herb called “moly” that features in Homer’s Odyssey. Moly is likely galantamine, which could have acted as an antidote to Circe’s poisons. It may also be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The snowdrop also contains lectin, which is being studied for possible use in the management of HIV. [iv] https://www.ldscsnowski.co.uk. Accessed 12 April 2023 [v] https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2017/02/15/why-is-it-good-to-have-the-ground-covered-by-snow/. Accessed 15 January 2023 [vi] https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/nature’s-antifreeze-holds-answer-preserving-human-organs. Accessed 15 January 2023 [vii] https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/what-happens-to-soil-in-winter-does-everything-die/. Accessed 15 January 2023 [viii] https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/ice/activities/ice_action/expanding_ice/. Accessed 15 January 2023 [ix] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo. Accessed 15 January 2023 [x] http://www.oakleafgardening.com/problems/low-temperatures-including-frost/. Accessed 15 January 2023 [xi] https://www.zsl.org/science/news/rewilding-our-cities-could-reduce-impacts-of-extreme-weather-says-new-report. Accessed 15 January 2023 [xii] https://www.artificialgrassdirect.co.uk. Accessed 15 January 2023 [xiii] Ilex heckenfee et al. Ilex heckenfee comes from Germany and was only patented in 2000. It is a female variety whose male form is Ilex heckenstar. The English or European holly is Ilex aquifolium (“Christ’s thorn”). The red berries are called “drupes” and are an important food source for birds. They cause vomiting and diarrhoea in humans. Its fruits (drupes) ripen in winter, hence their use as a Christmas decoration. The tree has a long history and was already widespread in the Cretaceous period (145 to 66 mya). It is at home in a laurel forest. Druids believe that the leaves of holly offer protection against evil spirits and Harry Potter’s wand was made from the wood of holly. Preparations of holly leaf have been used for coughs, digestive disorders, water retention, jaundice, joint pains, and plenty more besides.
Comments