On 15/3/06 9:22, in article , "Holly, in
France" wrote:

snip

Thanks for everyone's comments. I'll try to reply to them all in one go.
Yes, the bank needs something to keep it stable, and what I was hoping
to do was to replace the brambles and nettles with something more
attractive, as Sacha suggests. Also I forgot to mention there is bracken
at the bottom which is quite attractive and can stay there. You're right
too that mulch won't work, mainly because it will just fall off! There
is another area downstream a bit from the area I am working on here
where some of bank was less steep and some was about the same as part of
this bit. The mulch, not terribly well rotted farmyard manure, worked
well and got some shrubs established on the less steep part, but when it
dried out on the steeper bit and was picked at and trampled by birds and
dog it just worked it's way down the slope. More was lost from the lower
areas when the river level rose. Most of this current section is steeper
still so mulch is a non-starter.
snip of lovely description
Apart from the nettles and brambles, it sounds absolutely idyllic, Holly.
Maybe you better had just start making bramble jelly after all. ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Holly, in France wrote:
Basket making, you must be joking! I am helping run a building business,
looking after the house, the gite, four children, two horses, a dog, a
swimming pool, a garden and a polytunnel, cutting a couple of acres of
grass and trying to keep the rest of the place in some sort of order!
Maybe when I retire :-)

mince - c'est foutu pour mon armagnac ... ;o)

I took all of your info on - and keep the view of the lake, erosion
etc. so I've got a couple of ideas: why not introduce with your already
there bramble, another bramble but a nice one, rubus biflorus, with
white stems. I've never seen it at home growing, by our stream (Notre
Dame de Sanillac) we just left the leaves and bracken do their things,
and the brambles too.

For the willow ... there's many, but either you coppice/prune, or you
leave it to grow and the smaller I thought of is the Salix integra
Hakuro nishiki. 4 metres though, but really lovely shape. Don't know if
you'd like that ... I don't like the weeping type willow that you find
in everywhere these days. They look ridiculous. Both my neighbours (old
ladies) bought one - both died and they both came running to me!! The
grafting was terrible, the pruning far too complicated, tutu shaped
silly little trees ... ;o)

Nettles are used as a fungicide in teas or after cutting and drying for
storage in fermented liquids along with garlic cloves...

Nettles are used as a fungicide in teas or after cutting and drying for
storage in fermented liquids along with garlic cloves...

If you have so many nettles you could sell them after cutting and
drying to a local flower shop they seem to be used both as a fertiliser
and a fungicide (in mixtures with other plants or in teas).

Sacha wrote:
On 15/3/06 9:22, in article , "Holly, in
France" wrote:

snip

snip of lovely description
Apart from the nettles and brambles, it sounds absolutely idyllic,
Holly.

Thanks Sacha, it is idyllic, it took us a long time to find it and it's
a wonderful place to live. But inevitably there is alot of work involved
just trying to keep things even vaguely under control! I'm on a real
bramble mission at the moment.

Maybe you better had just start making bramble jelly after
all. ;-)

I made it once, turned out too runny but delicious anyway. I also do
sloe gin and wild cherry liqueur if get the round tuits at the right
time of year. But regular jam/jelly making will have to wait for a
while, along with the basket weaving :-)

--
Holly, in France
Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr