The Ash Tree

We have a wonderful ash in our garden, about forty to fifty feet tall, and very broad for the height, although it may reach as high as one hundred feet. This tree is common throughout the UK, a true native, but is no less special for it's frequency. It has very open foliage, due to it's branched leaves (leaflets), and therefore plenty of light is allowed to penetrate the crown, making it rather good for the larger garden and a little too large for mine! These leaves are sometimes a foot or more in length, but the leaflets prevent them from appearing heavy or ponderous.

The bark is grey in colour, both on the trunk and branches, and on younger trees is quite smooth. As the ash matures, however, this bark splits into fissures and furrows, and is often found covered with shaggy lichens. The flowers are barely noticeable, and are often bypassed even by insects - the tree relies on the wind to disprese it's pollen. These flowers have no petals or sepals and are also rather irregular, some showing stamens but no pistils - a flower without a pistil cannot produce seed.

The fruits (or 'keys') containing the seed ripen in autumn and hang upon the tree in bunches often throughout the winter. Each key has a propeller shaped 'wing', allowing it to travel long distances upon the wind.
The ash is of the same family as southern Europe's olive tree, and is related also to the common privet. It's wood is tough and elastic, and is used for tool handles and hockey sticks, and in past times in the construction of tennis raquets.

Many of us, I think, are guilty of passing by, and indeed under, our wonderful trees without noticing their great size and beauty. I will endeavour to remedy somewhat this personal fault, and perhaps bring to this blog a few more posts about this countries woody crowning glories. If you have any suggestions, please comment and let me know - I will be more than happy to open my eyes, do a little research and write a small piece....

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Winter Work

Winter is surely with us, as evidenced by my repeatedly frozen garden in the mornings, but there is still plenty to do in the garden. Here's a top ten list of jobs for the next month:

1. Tidy all your hardy perennials, ready for next years growth.
2. Sow early peas and broad beans.
3. Clear untidy borders and put some mulch down.
4. Service the lawnmower and clean up summer tools.
5. Put shrubs in pots in the greenhouse or growhouse.
6. Check fences and sheds for damage, ready for those windy days!
7. Check hose pipes and micro irrigation / auto watering systems for wear, then pack away.
8. Prune established trees, and plant new ones.
9. Take rose cuttings, and set in trenches.
10. Plant rhubarb crowns, but manure the ground properly first (horse is my favourite).

I normally uncover about another 50 jobs, but I'm happy if the 10 most important get done by Christmas!

Love this quote:

"Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art of winter gardening and even the most experienced gardener
can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them."

 -   Vincent A. Simeone

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Shed Mad Weekend

This weekend I built a small shed, purchased from B and Q in the UK. It's only a basic model, and will be used for storing my tools and mower, and also for blocking off a small corner of the garden at the side of the house. This portion is a little dark and contains the gate to the front of my house, the (hot and cold!) outside taps, hose pipes and micro irrigation hose connections, plus various garden odds and ends like stored timber and so on.

 The construction process was pretty straightforward, really, the only difficulty being adding the roof felt. The felt with which it came was a little on the cheap side, and I found that it tended to tear rather easily and made the job that bit trickier. With liberal use of felting tacks, though, I sorted it out and tidied it up fairly well.

I found also that it was useful to have a helper or two when screwing the sides together, just to hold things in place and enabling me to make sure that everything was square and solid. The most time consuming part of the entire thing was preparing the base and ground. I had to level out a very rocky area in dribs and drabs between rainy days, and then proceeded to lay out paving slabs for the shed base to sit on. It's common to use a full concrete base, especially for larger buildings, but I wanted to retain the flexibilty that comes with a removable or mobile footing - if I decide I want to move the whole thing to the left a bit, then I'll simply empty the shed, drag it onto the patio, relay the slabs, and move the shed back.

The next task on the list, probably for this coming weekend, will be to fit some shelves and hooks, and perhaps brace a couple of weaker spots. Then I'll fill it up beyond normal capacity so that nothing can ever be easily found or extracted, as is customary. Come spring it will need painting, then I will probably add a small lean-to structure on one side and re-felt the roof.

Care for your shed - it's not just for Christmas, you know.


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