Crevice Gardening ......in defence of rock.....

[Hoy]

All I want for Xmas is a cliff with crevices and reliefs! (No, not you, Cliff )

[ranunculus]

All I want for Xmas is a cliff with crevices and reliefs! (No, not you, Cliff )

Well, that's a relief!!!!!   

[Hoy]

All I want for Xmas is a cliff with crevices and reliefs! (No, not you, Cliff )

Well, that's a relief!!!!!   

Hope so - you'd better paid a visit in summer to look at the cliffs

   

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Earlier I posted pictures of the crevices on the top of the cliff.  After many, many hours, it looks quite different without the weeds and with new plantings started.  The plants are quite young but happy so far.  Everything up here will be covered with chicken wire for the winter as protection form the antlered rats.

I already looks absolutely stunning Anne !! 
No wonder the plants are happy in the environment you manage to give them !!
Looking forward to see how things develop ! 

[kelaidis]

I believe I have definitive proof indeed that  Zed Zed is IN FACT a "Stone Rider"....

[Maggi Young]

Yup, it's definite!

[Panu]

The lead singer of ZZ Topless

[David Nicholson]

 

[astragalus]

There IS something you can do in the crevice garden in the winter (not technically here yet but might as well be).
You can start preparing for daily forays by hungry deer.  The chickenwire goes up to the top of the cliff, and various rocks are placed to keep the wire from sagging on the plants.  Deer are very fussy about where they place their feet.  It may not look pretty but it's effective and has really become necessary.

[astragalus]

Another new crevice garden that I've been working on since September with a break due to an unexpected October snowstorm.
This one is at the north end of the cliff and was nicknamed years ago "The Last Outcrop", because I promised I wouldn't develop the garden beyond that point.  I  made no promises about the other end and have been developing that for the last ten years with many raised beds and crevice gardens.  In the meantime, "The Last Outcrop" became a jungle of brambles, poison ivy, saplings and more poison ivy.  The first picture shows it in October covered by snow.

[astragalus]

The crevices of "The Last Outcrop" are all sizes and mostly deep.  All the junk is coming out and when I have an empty crevice I pour in wood chips that have been put through a chipper a second time to speed up decomposition.  Most of them are half rotted already since they have been sitting for four years.  I'm trying to get it all in before snow comes and stays but it's a big area and it may not happen.  But at least half of it will be ready to sit out the winter and settle.  It's fairly open north with an apple tree and a hop hornbeam to give some extra shade.  It will be space for very different plants.  It's been a lot of fun and a few backaches but I can't wait for spring to start some planting.  A case of poison ivy in November, however, is not fun.

[ranunculus]

Good grief Anne ... I can testify to JUST how much work you must have put in to clear 'The Last Outcrop' ... it's larger than my entire garden.  Enjoy the planting, you have earned every second of it.

[ichristie]

Wow now that is what I would call big rocks very nice.   We have problems this year with moss growing in the crevices despite the planting material being 75% sharp sand, never seen so much rain have had twice our annual rainfall over 4 ft (250cm) and yes it is still raining. We well remember last year when everything was buried in snow not sure which is best, cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[Lesley Cox]

Anne, you make me feel such a wimp that I'm complaining about over-the-road's cats padding about, now that Teddy is no longer with us. One had left a shallow indentation on many seed pots overnight and one sat in MY driveway and watched me from just a few metres away as I raked up strimmed grass today. I heaved a clod at it but it just sat there as if it had a right to.

Great news though for me, first seed up of Primula wollastonii (sown 9th June) and the first of Wim's Pinguicula grandiflora seed also. Result of several days of persistent rain I expect.

[Maggi Young]

I can IMAGINE the effort needed to clear the last outcrop... and that's without any knowledge of how tricky it must be to work with the poison ivy... my admiration for your work is tremendous..... but it is no less for the yearly effort you have to put in to spread the chicken wire to try to ward of the antlered rats!

No-one could ever call you lazy, Anne, that's for sure!